Of Love And Hate, You Were My Greatest Mistake

Of Love And Hate, You Were My Greatest Mistake ~5~

Laila was just starting to get winded when Doctor Green finally blew his whistle. She slowed to a walk, then finally stopped completely. Amanda was panting loudly beside her, bent over with her hands on her knees. Her entire face was pink and her forehead was covered in beads of sweat. 

“Im... dying,” Amanda huffed, pausing to take a big gulp of air. “That... was.. ridicu--” She cut off to start coughing. Laila patted her roughly on the back, trying to look concerned instead of amused. She had told Amanda numerous times that she should really get more in shape. If this wasn’t proof enough she didn’t know what was.

“Everyone sit!” Doctor Green barked. Students dropped to the floor where they stood, scared of being forced into more laps or pushups if they took too long. “Grab a partner.”

Laila reached out to take Amanda’s hand in her own, watching as everyone paired up with their friends. “I hope we’re not doing more laps.” Laila muttered. She was the first to agree to a good workout, but more laps would just be ridiculous.

“Is everyone paired up?” Doctor Green paused as a few students nodded, and a few others shouted “yes sir!” He looked across the students before his eyes landed on Jace. “Good. Now get up while I assign your partners.”

Laila’s mouth dropped. She stood, sighing angrily. She could already tell she was going to hate this class and the man teaching it. She stood, hands on her hips, as Doctor Green pointed to random students and assigned them new partners, making a point of separating friends. Laila watched sadly as Amanda was sent to work with some random girl, and a second later Doctor Green’s finger was in her face. She blinked, taken aback.

“You! Over there, with british boy.” He commanded, placing a hand on Laila’s shoulder and turning her toward Jace. She grimaced, walking over to him. She smiled at him, to no avail, and turned aimlessly to avoid the awkwardness of his hostile stare. She caught Amanda’s eye and pouted, silently complaining about her less than friendly partner.

“Everyone, sit!” The general blew his whistle again, and Laila put her hands up to her ears.

“I hate that damn whistle.” She muttered, lowering herself to the ground beside Jace.

“Pick a partner to lay on the ground,” He ordered. Laila looked to Jace with the unspoken question, and he held out a hand for her to lay down. She obliged, laying on her back, stretching her legs out, and resting her hands over her stomach. “Now that’s partner A. Partner B, stand up with your legs on either side of partner A’s shoulders, facing the same direction as their legs.

Jace grumpily stood and positioned himself over Laila, opening his legs to shoulder width on either side of her. She pinched her face up, closing her eyes to avoid the awkward view. She heard Jace snicker at her immaturity but she didn’t care, she’d rather not get a faceful of crotch. 

“Partner A, lift your legs up to ninety degrees and grab hold of your partner’s ankles.” Doctor Green continued, walking between all the pairs of students and stopping to make corrections as he saw fit. Laila grabbed hold of Jace’s ankles and tightened her abs, lifting her legs straight up in the air. “Now I’m sure you must all know where this is going,” He paused beside Laila and Jace. She only knew by the sound of his footsteps, as her eyes were still tightly squeezed shut. “Leg lifts, go!” He blew his whistle and Laila tightened her abs even further as Jace gave them a rough shove down. “Don’t let your legs hit the ground! Lift them up, lift them up! Keep them straight!” 

The general was shouting now, squatting down beside people who were cheating. Laila gracefully pulled her legs back up, keeping them straight and perfectly together. Jace pushed again and she brought them up second time, and by the tenth one she found herself gripping his ankles tighter. She finally opened her eyes as they continued, curious to see how others were doing. She could see Amanda from where she lay, who was turning so red in the face she looked like a tomato. Laila let out a small laugh, but it was enough to get the general’s attention.