Falling Too Far

Chapter 45- "About seven camels. Maybe a few chickens."

Dedicated to: SincerelyJulie :)

"Shut up and line up, Greenberg!" The gym teacher yelled. I flinched as I watched Charlie line up with me in the middle of the gym with everyone else.

I hate PE.

"Alright, you pansies!" Coach Jamieson yelled. "We'll be something different today- not basketball, as we were meant to." All the boys groaned, including Harper, who I had made sure I didn't have to stand next to. He was next to Bethany, and I was next to Emma and Charlie, Joshua on the other side of me.

"Coach, but basketball is fun, and it will really help us- "

"I don't give a damn, McCall!" He yelled. "What we're going to be doing is going to help you in life a lot more than basketball." Coach Jamieson turned to face all of us, raising an amused eyebrow. "I don't know if you pansies can handle it, but the school wants us to do self-defence. Like karate."

I let out a little yelp of surprise.

CoachJamieson spun towards me. "You got a problem with that, Ms Richards?"

I shook my head quickly.

Oh my gods, we're doing karate. We're sparring. Finally, something that I can actually do in PE.

As soon as the coach had turned away, Emma nudged me. "You got this!" She squealed quietly.

"Maybe," I replied. "Everyone here is probably stronger than me." Emma rolled her eyes. "Believe me, you've got this."

"Alright, pansies, yeah, yeah, you get it, karate," Coach yelled. "We're going to run through the basics before we do some actual sparring. Go grab some safety gear. Chest pads, sparring gloves, sparring footwear. Don't worry about getting hit- it doesn't hurt. Everything is padded. Now get a move on!"

I rushed to get my equipment on, and I, doing this on a weekly basis, had everything on much faster than everyone else. I awkwardly stood up from the ground, scanning over the rest of the struggling class.

"Richards, go help out some people if you're done." Coach ordered. I nodded meekly and went around, helping people buckle up the chest pads, fit on the strange foot/leg wear, and tighten the sparring gloves. When I got to Harper, I tightened my lips into a straight line. He didn't look directly at me, and I didn't look directly at him.

Let me just add that it was extremely hard, too. What with his gym shirt being very well fitted.

I gestured for him to turn around, slipping the chest pad over his shoulders and around his waist, before tightening it to fit his body snuggly. I moved so I was in front of him so I could I could tighten the buckles on his front.

"You might want to- " I looked up at Harper in surprise, a little shocked that he had spoken after I walked in on him and Bethany making out.

"Yeah?"

He brushed a strand of my loose red hair and tucked it behind my ear. "You might want to tie it up if you're fighting."

I blushed slightly. "Oh. Um, right." I flipped my hair down and pulled it up in a pony tail, before looking back up at Harper to resume helping him tighten the straps. He was biting his lip gently, but he didn't meet my eyes.

A few minutes later, Coach was teaching us how to do jabs (a type of punch) to the face, practicing on punching bags.

"You have to dart in and out quickly, pansies!" He yelled. "Use your hips to generate power! Use your legs! Lunge forward!"

He continued yelling, coming by to check all of our jabs. "Emma Jillington, you need to move forward and back much faster than that if you want to win a fight. Joshua Lloyd- is that even a punch? Bethany Rosewood- stop being a sissy, I don't give a damn if you broke your nail!"