Panem High: Freshman Year

Chapter 12

"Beep test," Gloss hollered as the last of the students filed into the gymnasium from the locker rooms. It was shortly after 8:30 in the morning, the Phys Ed class having just begun.

Annie saw her classmates' faces fall. "What's the beep test?" she whispered to her friend Nina, head spinning with anxiety.

"Sprints," she explained under her breath. "There's a timer and it beeps, and you need to run to the other side of the gym before it beeps again. If you don't, you're 'out' and Gloss marks down what level you get to. Each level gets faster and faster, so shorter times between the beeps. My sister Kali had Gloss last year, and she says he does the beep test every two weeks or so, and it's apparently a really big part of your Phys Ed mark, in the fitness part."

"Nina," Gloss shouted. "Do you want to run extra sprints?" Nina shook her head nervously. "Good. Then shush." She nodded, cheeks flushing.

"Sorry," Annie whispered, feeling responsible for her friend's scolding.

"ON THE GREEN LINE!" their teacher hollered. The class scrambled onto the green line at the front of the gym. Annie caught Cato's eye at the other end of the line and he grimaced. She took some deep breaths.

Gloss pressed something on his cellphone and an automated voice trilled through a Bluetooth speaker. "Level one." A beep sonned, and the students jogged across the gym to the green line on the other side before the beep went off. They repeated this five more times before the voice announced they had begun level two. Another beep rang out and they ran to the other end, the second beep sounding earlier. By the time level three began, Annie was out of breath. But most of the other students seemed fine, so she continued running. By the time the voice called out, "Level three," her head was hurting and she felt the blood rushing up, her heart thundering in her chest. The beeps were growing closer together, and she knew she couldn't go much longer, but she didn't want to be the first to quit.

"How long does this go on?" she asked Nina breathlessly as they sprinted.

"Usually until everyone quits or someone passes out. There's like fifty levels or something, but no one ever makes it that far. Twenty at the best. But it just goes on until people get really sick."

"Oh."

"I think throwing up is okay. I saw Daniella Marchent run out of the gym and throw up in the washroom last week, and my friend Elle said their class did the beep test that day." She started to say something else, but apparently decided it would save energy not to speak.

Annie did the same. She focused on sprinting, trying to use her arms for power.

Then she started to feel lightheaded. She conspicuously shifted down the line until she was on the very end. She sprinted as fast as she could so she had time to talk to Gloss.

"Can I stop?" she asked.

"It's a very poor mark," he replied sternly.

"But I feel sick."

"I bet they all do too," he said, gesturing to the other students. "Now run."

Annie complied. She sprinted across the gym and back three more times before she felt the bile rising up in her throat. She was about to run over to Gloss and say she was done when Klarisa Namslar ran out of the gym with a sickly green face, and the teacher snarled, marking something on a clipboard.

So Annie kept going. Even when she felt her legs burning, even after that when they were just numb, and the only pain left was a fire in her lungs that raged like a dragon, clawing at the rest of her.

She began running towards Gloss, who had moved to the other side. "Can't go any... further..." she tried breathlessly, but he didn't seem to hear her.