Uniquely Ordinary

Chapter 8

Our next period was physical education.  I didn’t really know what to expect.  The title of the subject suggested we would be learning about physical health  in a classroom like setting.  But social media dictates PE as being a battle of the social classes through rough games of dodgeball and other sports.  In elementary school, we ran laps and played games afterwards.  I didn’t really know which of these environments we were about to be exposed to.  We arrived a few minutes after most of the other students.  I had spent longer than I thought over the loss of my burger.  The gymnasium was a large empty area with bleachers on either end and two large basketball hoops on either ends.  Tacked up to the walls opposite them were smaller hoops, fitting three sets of courts in between the two larger hoops.  There were no basketballs or any type of equipment in sight.  Instead, the others, who had already donned their PE uniforms, sat in almost perfectly formulated rows and columns.  There were three sets of these rows, the head of which stood three different teachers.  One of them noticed Eli and I and motioned us over.  

“The teacher is to our left and wants us to go to him, probably because everyone else has already changed.”

“Does he look like the stereotypical gym teacher? Fat, with barely fitting gym shorts to his navel and a whistle?”

I gave the man a quick look over.  He was in no way fat.  He looked like a man fit for his age, which was probably in his early fifties. He did have a whistle hanging from his neck though.  I told Eli as such.  “Don’t you think that we should tell him about your situation?

“What? The fact that I’m a sarcastic asshole? Nah, he’ll figure it out soon enough.” I rolled my eyes at his smirk.  He laughed before answering me seriously.  “I guess.  If one teacher should know, it’s this one.”

We walked over to the teacher who then proceeded to explain how we were supposed to get our PE uniforms and locks.  We were expected to change and be ready to sit in our assigned squads six minutes into the period.  We were also supposed to address him as ‘Coach’. When Eli told him about his blindness, he was stumped for a second in how to incorporate him into the activities.  Obviously Eli wasn’t going to be playing dodgeball or any of the other games.  The good thing was Coach mostly made his class do conditioning, which both Eli and I were extremely familiar with.  With that reassurance we changed into loaner uniforms and joined the rest of the class on the track.  As long as Eli kept close to me while we did laps, he would be able to tell when the track curved without my saying so.  After laps we headed over to the gym to do some weight training.  

“You coming man?” Eli had stepped in front of me following the crowd of guys and girls to the weight room.  Even though I was used to much more excessive training I did not feel like doing much more.  I felt like going to bed and taking a nap or something even though I had gotten more sleep than usual in the morning.  I shook off my laziness and followed him inside.  The weight room we were led into was extensive.  There were multiple sets of weights, dumbbells, and machines.  I felt a slight thrill go through me.  I definitely saw myself spending time here in the future.  

Coach told us to work on our upper bodies including reps for our chests, arms, and backs.  What was surprising was that the girls were encouraged, if not required to do the same exercises with different weights.  I knew the stigma was that girls weren’t supposed to work out with weights or they would look manly, but I also knew that it was a horrible misconception and that girls needed to build up strength in those areas as well.  I was only surprised because the girls followed Coach’s orders without hesitation or complaint.  

Eli and I were alternating working biceps and triceps when one of the guys came up to us and asked if we were done using the dumbbells.  I only had half a set to do so I just let him have mine.  But before I could walk away, his friend stopped him from picking up the weights I had been using.  “Man you might want to wipe those before using them.  You don’t want fag sweat all over your hands.  You don’t know where he’s been.”  My thoughts muddled, I didn’t have time to react.  Eli didn’t have this problem and immediately dropped the weights he was using.  They landed on the matted floor with a loud thunk and bounced before settling.  Eli was already moving towards the speaker before the weights had properly even left his hands.  The menacing nature of his walk towards the person shook me out of my revere.  I had to stop him before he got himself suspended.  I barely made it to him in time.  I grabbed him by his upper arm firmly and slightly turned him towards me.