Somebody to Love ~ Joe Mazzello High School AU

Meet the Gang

         My gym clothes consisted of black workout leggings that ended at my calves, a somewhat form fitting Blockbuster graphic tee, and tennis shoes (of course). I walked back into the gym, throwing my hair up into a semi-tight ponytail, and joined the class that was still doing laps around the gym. I, personally, liked how small the class was; it probably only had about fifteen kids in it? As I was jogging, I kept near the wall and to myself; my hip was sending sharp pains through my body every time my foot made contact with the ground but I beared through the pain.

        "Okay class, that's enough running for today. Let's head up to the weight room." the teacher called out as she headed over to the same set of stairs I used to enter the gym. The class collectively stopped running and they all started following the teacher up the stairs. I stuck to the edge of the group, keeping some distance from the classmates. Once up the stairs, we went into this little room that had an elevator while the teacher was unlocking the doors to the weight room, the small room was heating up rapidly as it was collecting body heat. The teacher finally unlocked and opened the doors, the students filed into the room, each going their own way. The room was much colder than the gym and was loaded with a bunch of equipment, weight benches, treadmills, stationary bikes, boxes for jumping, machines to work out your arms, etc. "Let's consider this a free day, but everyone better work hard or we will do core workouts."

          Everyone went to their respective machines, some got out yoga mats, and I just stood there clueless. I glanced around and saw Joe in the back corner of the room by the weights and the bench press set up with Rami, two other guys, and a girl. I decided I didn't have anything better to do. 

         "Have room in this group for another?" I asked as I rubbed my hands together. Joe looked up from the weights at me and smiled widely. 

         "Of course! Let me introduce you to the rest gang." I silently chuckled at the word gang. "These two are Ben and Gwil, they're both British exchange students." Joe gestured towards them as the said their names. Ben had blonde, loose curly hair, bright blue eyes, and was very well built; he definitely was the buffest one of the group. Gwil was very tall, had to be past six foot, he had short brown hair, and blue eyes as well. "And here's the other Brit, but she lives here, Lucy." Lucy was very very pretty, she had blonde hair that blended into darker roots, and blue eyes as well! "Everyone, this is Cas." Everyone chirped in saying hello and welcoming me, I nodded in response and smiled.

         "So where did you move from? Joe tells us you just moved here." Ben crossed his arms, smiling at me, and nodded his head over to Joe. I couldn't help but notice how DEEP Ben's voice was. Like, dang. 

         "I'm from Georgia, almost all the way down south." I rubbed my hands up and down my arms, trying to warm up a little. 

          "Miss the heat?" Rami interjected. "I've been to Savannah before." 

           "Well, I'm not a fan of intense heat or intense cold. Pretty picky." This earned a couple chuckles, "But Savannah is beautiful, I went there for a fifth grade school trip." After the introductions, and small conversations, Gwil and Ben both grabbed some weights from the rack as they had a conversation, Rami and Lucy walked over to the stationary bikes, which left me with Joe. 

         "So.. what do you want to start on?" Joe asked. I looked around and saw this one machine that really interested me. 

        "What's that one?" I pointed over at it. Joe walked over to it and I followed. 

        "So you stand under these padded bars." I walked under the machine, there was some padding where I'm assuming my shoulders went. The padding section was a little lower than my standing height, so I was slouched a little. "You put your hands on these." Joe pointed at these handles that were parallel to the ground and above my head, they were right next to the shoulder pads. "So you're going to stand up straight, I'm going to lower the support bar, and the weight is going to be on your shoulders, okay?" I nodded. I straightened my back out and lifted the machine like he said. He moved closer to me, his face inches within mine. I looked down as he leaned in to where the support bar was and he lowered it. "Now you just do some, uhm, squats." I looked up at him and my face heated up, good thing I was already getting hot. I bent my knees and straightened them. 

        "Can you add more weight?" This machine was was lighter than I thought it'd be.

        "Sure, how much?" 

        "One hundred maybe?" I may be super weak and lazy but I knew my legs were the only strong part of my body. Joe walked off and came back with two fifty pound weights and put them on. The machine pushed down on my shoulders, but it was a comfortable weight. I squatted once more and felt the burn in my thighs. "This is good." I continued to do a set of fifteen, ignoring my aching hip. 

        "You can also jump with it, that's what basketball players do." I looked at him once more before squatting down and launching myself off the ground. I landed heavily, my knees receiving jolts of pain, and decided that my arthritis did NOT like that.

        "Hey Joe, can you put the bar back up?" Joe walked over, bent under the machine I was holding up, and put the support bar back up so I could rest it back down.  

        "Guess it's my turn." Joe went and stood in the place I was just in. "But could you, uh, take off fifty..?" I glanced at him and smirked.