a Lesson of Lumine

Chapter Six: Just you Wait for Phys-Ed!

The next morning, Lumine woke up quite early. She took a shower, ate a full breakfast, and was dressed before Aether even woke up. It was easy for her to get motivated that way. Normally this would be time for spare homework but instead it was spend laying around. Finally, Aether woke up. He took a shower as well (he was quite quick, so it wasn't the biggest deal) before going to microwave mini pancakes. Ever since he was six and a half, he had mini pancakes every single day without fail. Had a sleepover? Would eat mini pancakes when he got home. Woke up too late for breakfast? Pancakes for lunch. If you knew Aether, you had to know his meal routine. After that, it was off to school for the twins.

Xiao on the other hand had slept until Zhongli was almost out the door. He threw on another hoodie and sweatpants, put his hair in the tiniest ponytail, and ran out the door. "Keep up that speed and you're sure to impress the gym teacher!" Zhongli laughed.
"Please just leave that alone. I don't even want to go back to the damn school."
"Watch your language young man!...Now if you promise to not cause a scene today, I'll take you to quickly get some coffee."
"I promise," Xiao replied instantly. Coffee was his best friend - besides Aether and Venti. It was like free energy! Zhongli pulled into the drive-through and said "This is the order - Green Tea and Coffee with a shot of nutmeg. That'll be it." After that quick exchange, Xiao was dropped off at the front of the school to blend in with the other students. He did run into Aether on the way though, which was honestly what he needed. "How late did you wake up today?"
"Shut up."
"Eh, I'll just start calling you when I get up, how's that?"
"If this is some plot to get me to stay up all night dealing with your bullcrap, I'm good," Xiao chuckled softly. Aether simply laughed before continuing their conversation. "I'll have you know that I'm being very mature with my parents gone! Yesterday I managed to make pizza rolls!"
"And how many of those did you burn?"
"One."
"Improvement. Good for you."

The two friends continued to talk until it was time for their first class. Nothing of importance happened during those classes until it came to after lunch. After a short study hall, it was time for...Phys-ed. It was a large class that had half of the grade. Though it was nice due to the fact it was all of our beloved characters; everyone from Yun Jin to Amber. Everyone changed into their gym uniform (which was simply enough a t-shirt and shorts) and walked into the gymnasium. Bennett had extra help during this period which is why he had it earlier. Nevertheless, Lumine stayed cautious and remembered his words regarding their teacher. There wasn't much time to think when Mister Itto walked out of the gym office and strutted like a supermodel. Behind him was his assistant, Miss Shinobu. "Welcome one and all to the second period of whats going to be your favorite class of the year. If you remember, I'm Mister Aritaki Itto and I'm going to make sure you all look as good as me when we're done!"
"Mister Itto, please be more respectful," Shinobu scolded before facing the students, "Welcome back everyone. Your warm up task is to run five laps around the gym. When you're done, meet in the middle, alright?" Nods and murmurs of agreement echoed throughout the gym before Itto blew his shiny red whistle. Like clockwork, the students all began to run. Amber and Xingqu were on the faster side and had ended up racing. Lumine was not of the running sort and was jogging the entire time. Aether tried his best to shove Xiao towards his sister but ended up running face-first into a wall. "Shake it off! Shake it off!" Itto yelled from the corner, eating a bag of chips. Quite the model gym teacher, am I right?
Everyone eventually finished their laps and had taken a spot in the middle of the room. Shinobu took over (thankfully) to spare the students from more of Itto's rambling. "Good job everyone. Now today, we'll be diving in to actual gym activities; We'll be doing a relay race. The rules are simple. There will be three teams. You run to the first marked line and back to your group. Then you run to the second marked line and go back to your group. The same for the third line. Following that, you run to the bucket of beanbags, and take one back to give to your team. Those with the most beanbags at the end of the period will get bragging rights for winning. Does that make sense to everyone?"
"N-"
"Great! Move aside Shinobu, I've got this," Itto butted in, "One last rule - if any of you throw a be-bean bag at me, I'm sending you to Principle Gun-hill-deer, even on accident! Now that that's done I'll be separating you in to random groups. Shinobu, help me out here." The two teachers went around in a completely random numbering system consisting of one, two, and three. There was no pattern, which meant nobody could automatically know where to be to go with their friends. Classic teacher rouse. Whatever it was, it resulted in what you all would have guessed. Xiao was on team two, and Lumine was on team three - Amber was on team one by the way. Everyone sorted into their lines and awaited the whistle blow to signify the beginning. As soon as that sound came out, it was time to begin.
As Xiao waited in line, he couldn't help but glance at Lumine. She was nervously fidgeting with her hands due to the fact her turn was next. He wanted to cheer for her so badly, but couldn't. Maybe it was his team stopping him or maybe it was his own emotions. Whatever it was, Xiao couldn't help but keep glancing. Lumine had felt like there were eyes watching her, so she turned to see where they were coming from. Her eyes met with Xiao's and she simply smiled and waved. Xiao waved back and wanted to smile. There wasn't time for that though - Lumine had to take off for the relay. Watching her run, Xiao almost didn't realize Venti was resting his elbow on Xiao's shoulder. "Ah, young love!~"
"What?"
"You heard me, ehe!~"
"What do you mean 'ehe'? You're quite confusing sometimes."
"And so are you. Now, tell me about our lovely Lumine!"