Valhalla High (A Magnus Chase Fanfic)

Dance Friends

December 4

     We spent the first half of gym class doing an aerobics lesson led by Coach Thor. This time it was hip hop influenced and people seemed more at ease. I, however, still felt like a fish flopping onboard the deck of a ship whenever I tried to copy Coach Thor's movements.

     After the lesson was over, Coach Thor told reminded us of our group project. "I want you all to get in groups of four to five today," he said. "Each class, we will spend the first half doing an aerobics lesson and the second half practicing for your project. Remember to use this time wisely as you will be graded on effort. Now: go find a group."

   I admit that I was a little nervous since I had bad memories of group projects. There had been several times when I was only assigned to a group because the teacher intervened or worse — I was stuck doing it all alone. Before I could worry too long, however, Alex came up to me and poked me in the side. "Ready to dance like the stars?" she asked.

I found myself grinning. "Maybe more like a starfish."

    "Nonsense," Jack said. "I'll have you dancing better than the stars in no time."

    "Well, I don't think they can dance since they're balls of hot, burning gases," I said, "so it shouldn't be hard."

      Jack just rolled his eyes. "I'm going to train you guys hard and you'll be tired afterwards, but it will be worth it."

    In the end, Jack's words proved to be true (mainly because he made Thor's aerobic lessons look easy. TJ joined our group, while Mallory and Halfborn joined up with Magni and Mothi. They were planning to have a dance-off, which I thought would be interesting. This entire project was seriously making me wish I had followed Blitzen and Hearthstone's lead and taken walking Learning Lab to get my last PE credit. At least the class was only a semester long.

    Jack had the complete opposite attitude towards the project. He proposed outfits for us, volunteered to bring in his speakers so we'd have better audio than Coach Thor provided, and said he could get someone to do our makeup. "No," Alex flat out told him. "I am not letting anyone stab me with eyeliner. I'll do my own makeup if I feel like it."

    Jack looked a little crestfallen. "I'll consent to it," I said, "as long as they don't blind me."

     "They won't," Jack assured me.

"How about we decide on a song first?" TJ suggested. "And discuss the rest later?"

"Good idea," Alex said. "I propose the Cupid Shuffle."

Jack turned to her. "And I suppose you want us to dance the Cupid Shuffle too?"

Alex nodded. "Exactly, I already know the dance. We'll get an easy A."

Jack looked like he was going to argue. Just then, Coach Thor picked up his megaphone and said, "And no doing the Hokey Pokey or Cupid Shuffle or any other song that tells you how to dance."

"Rats," Magni and Mothi, his own sons, said.

Alex spouted a few cuss words. "Okay, I guess we'll have to choose something else."

    We all suggested some songs and we watched them on Alex's phone. In the end, we decided on "Together" by Ella Eyre. "It totally describes our friendship," TJ said.

   I nodded in agreement. It was much better doing things together than apart. We didn't have much time to start the choreography before we had to change out. "I'll work on it this weekend," Jack promised.

"You don't have to," I said.

"I want to," Jack said.

"How about I create a Google docs and share it with everyone?" TJ suggested. "That way we can all pitch in and see what's going on."

We all agreed to do that. I made my way to the locker rooms and grabbed the clothes that I was going to change back into. Between asthma making me kinda scrawny and a general sense of awkwardness, I had never really felt confused le changing in front of others. Instead, I made my way to the bathroom where I hung the clothes I would be be changing into over the door.

    I closed the stall and undressed. I looked up to grab my jeans and t-shirt and saw that they weren' there. I blinked. This couldn't be happening. I heard laughter and then saw a hand swiping my gym clothes off the ground before I could react. A feeling of cold dread settled over me. This wasn't my clothes falling over the side; someone was intentionally doing this to me.

      There were more giggles. "Want your clothes back, Magnus?" someone said.

    My stomach flipped. I knew that voice. It was Utgard-Loki. I was internally panicking, but I simply said, "Yeah, that would be nice."

     More laughter. Seriously. Why did anyone find this funny? "Well, here you go," Utgard-Loki said.

    I saw something sail over my head and before I could grab it, it fell into the toilet. There was a second splash as my t-shirt followed my jeans. The bell rang and there were more giggles. "Hope you don't get in trouble with your next teacher!" Utgard-Loki snickered.

    I felt bile rise in my throat as I heard their cruel snickers fade away. I had dealt with this before, but after being treated as a living, breathing person with human thoughts and feelings, it hurt worse than I expected. I started crying, glad none of them could see me, no because I was ashamed, but because I knew that my tears were the dopamine of bullies.

     A few minutes passed and I heard a knock on my door. "Is someone still in here?"

    It was Coach Thor. I decided not to lie. "It's Magnus," I said. "Some kids took my clothes."

    Coach Thor sighed. "It must have happened when I was opening up my private locker for Alex. You still need clothes?"

     "Yes," I said, my voice small.

      Coach Thor sighed. "This is not what I signed up for. There are only a few kids left. Let me ask if anyone has stuff. Don't worry Magnus: we'll get this sorted out."