• —————— ᯽—————— •
chapter thirty: pushing limits
{a/n:
*read the a/n at the end of this chapter*
thank you all so much for the support. i mean c'mon, almost 30k reads!? that's crazy. thank you all so so much <3
hope you enjoy! voting and commenting are greatly appreciated:))
• —————— ᯽—————— •
ADAM BANKS WAS EXHAUSTED. His thighs throbbed and his lungs ached. Sweat beads trickled down the sides of his face as he huffed on the gym bench; eyes tightly shut as he tried to suppress a painful headache.
'Again.' He told himself. 'Again, just a few more times. You came all this way, you can't stop now.'
The boy blew out a quick breath before cautiously rising to his feet. He felt nauseous, and everything seemed to spin with each step he took towards the plate rack. He slid off a couple weights and calculated them to 275 pounds.
Adam tried everything to ignore the dizziness after numerous attempts of trying to relieve it; triple the ibuprofen dose and 5 liters of water were no match. His body was telling him to stop pushing it. His limits had already been reached a couple hours ago, but he was too blinded. The soreness and pain was 'worth' it.
Anything to get noticed, right?
After placing the weights on the bar, he laid flat on the bench. His calloused hands wrapped around the cold metal, gripping tightly as he inhaled.
Adam immediately felt his muscles strain as he began to lift. His teeth clenched as he pushed through the pain, disregarding the warning signs his body was sending him, determined to prove his strength.
He refused to give up.
Blurred spots began to cloud his vision. He could feel his eyes watering, and his arms began trembling. He had enough strength in him to give one final push, racking the bar with a grunt before everything went black.
When the blonde regained consciousness six minutes later, he found himself slumped over a chair; his walkman, now smashed, was resting beside him alongside his water bottle, which seemed to have been knocked over in the accident.
The staff had rushed to his aid then, and medical assistance was already checking his vitals with some hand-held tools.
Concerned faces of the few people in the gym surrounded him, one of them being Guy. "You couldn't have waited a minute?" He sighed. "You know it's stupid to bench without someone spotting you, man."
A slurred, "Going all the way back to the dorms is longer than a minute..." made its way past Adam's lips. He was still adjusting to his current state when he noticed the nurse wrapping his left hand.
His eyebrows pinched together. "What's that for?"
"Your hand." She replied nonchalant.
"No, I can see that." He mumbled. "I mean, what happened to it? It feels fine-" When he tried to flex it, the throbbing burn told him otherwise. He hissed through his teeth.
Cutting the bandage with a pair of small scissors, the nurse answered. "We found it lodged between the bar and rack. Some of the plates added pressure and it must've crushed your hand when you fell unconscious."
Panic began to well up in his chest. "Crushed? You mean, like, broken?" His voice faltered as he spoke.
This couldn't happen. Especially not now — not ever.
Fortunately, "No. Neither is it sprained. There's just a big, nasty bruise that should clear up in a few days. The wrap is just for support and so that nothing interferes with the healing process."
"Damn, you guys sure take your jobs seriously." Guy laughed, but he was the only one.
Adam gave him a look.
The nurse left a moment later, leaving the boy with an extra roll bandages and some painkillers. As soon as she was out of his sight, Adam got up and started his way back towards the weight bench.
Guy placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him with a jolt. "Dude, are you joking?"
The blonde acted oblivious. "What?"
"Blacking out wasn't enough of a sign for you? Your body had to fucking shut down to tell you to stop. I think it's best if you were done for the day."
"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Guy." Adam scoffed. "I know when to stop."
"Do you? Do you really? You've been here since five this morning! Julie just called and asked if she could bring us dinner-"
"-I'm just going through a lot right now, man." He could barely get through this sentence as his throat seemed to close up. "I need this." He said, clearing his airway.
"No, you need therapy."
Guy's attempt to lighten the conversation wasn't successful as his friend didn't bother to reply. Though, he decided that maybe it was a good idea to stop there for today, especially now with an injured hand. He could always come back tomorrow.
Adam returned to the gym bench and began collecting his things, still without a word. Guy's mouth curled in thought as he followed. It had only been a couple days since that night when Adam couldn't sleep; tossing and turning and blabbing on about sex. But the following morning, his mood had changed completely. He seemed more focused on himself, and always deep into his head.
Maybe too deep.
At first, Guy thought that the alter in his friends' behavior had something to do with just pure exhaustion, but it still didn't make sense. It was something deeper, but Adam wouldn't tell him.
"Here," The boy dug out a granola bar from his bag. He handed it to the blonde. "You have to eat something or you're gonna pass out again."
All he got was a measly, "Thanks," as Adam took the bar and shoved it in the water bottle pouch of his backpack. "I'll have it later."
It was then Guy decided that he had enough.
When the two exited the gym, he lowered his voice and said, "Okay, Banks, you gotta' tell me what's going on."
Adam pretended that he hadn't heard him, and just kept on walking down the hall.
"Y'know I'm here for you, right?"
"Mhm."
"Adam."
Eyes flashing, he stopped and turned to him and said, "Guy, you don't need to be on my ass about this! I'm fine, I swear!" Raking a hand through his hair, the boy continued. "I've just been a little on edge about my dad n' school shit."
"I don't believe you." It was a true statement. Guy could read his friends like a book and none of this was convincing. "Overworking yourself wont get rid of that burned out feeling from Vera and hockey."
"Who said anything that this was about Vera?"
"I did." Guy deadpanned. "Well, kinda. I had speculations but now you've just confirmed it."
Adam rolled his eyes and then continued to walk.
"I'm just saying, you don't need to hold in everything all the time. The build up from all this stress is what drove you to basically kill yourself in the gym today. That's not healthy."
"Don't you think I already know that?" Adam didn't mean to snap like that, but he did.
The tone of his own voice startled him and he took a sharp inhale, directing his eyes towards the floor.
"Sorry, I..." He didn't finish. Instead, he said, "You're right. I have too much pent up, but I don't know how to get rid of it. I thought working it off would be the best option bu... but I guess I was wrong."
It was silent between them, just for a moment.
"Bro, I'm always right."
And finally, Adam laughed.
With a playful jab to his friends' arm, and a small, 'shuddup," the two boys made their way out of the training facility and headed back to the North dormitory. Guy suggested a short dinner and a nap once they got there, but the broken walkman was the only thing on Adam's mind.
And with caffeine from the energy drink he had consumed an hour prior still pumping through his veins, he decided to go out and buy a new one.
-
VERA WAS FINISHING up a biology essay when Julie, JJ and Reina barged in carrying bags of miscellaneous items from Party City. From the 'Ghostface' costume Reina appeared to be wearing, the brunette guessed they went shopping for the upcoming halloween party that the Bellucci's were hosting.
Mr. and Mrs. Bellucci we're going to be gone that night and they gave their daughter, Cher, free reign to throw a party. All the students at Westbrook were allowed to attend, and it was heavily encouraged to invite friends. Julie had already spilled to her old teammates from Eden Hall and almost all of them were going to be there.
The only person who needed a little more convincing was Vera herself.
"No," She said, almost laughing as she saw the pleading look on Julie's face. "I already told you, I'm not going!"
"But weren't you talking about costume ideas like a week ago?" JJ asked. He had a 128 ounce jar full of gum balls tucked underneath his arm. "You know, at the gym? I ran into you and Julie there."
Vera was more concerned about the amount of gum that boy was holding.
"He won it at the store." His girlfriend answered upon noticing the girls' expression. "JJ may appear dumb on the outside but man, he's really intelligent."
"It was easy, really." JJ was blushing at the compliment. "I just converted each piece as its own unit, then counted how much were along the length and width of the jar. Then, I divided the length and width by two, put that to the power of two, multiplied it by pi, then multiplied that by the length and I got the exact number!"
The room fell quiet as the blonde finished talking.
"And you did that all for gum?" Vera questioned.
He simply nodded.
"Uh, anyways..." Julie cut in with a smile. "I found you a really hot costume to wear. Now you have to go since I bought it... and don't even think about bringing it back because there's a no return policy." She tossed a brown paper bag towards Vera.
"Julie."
"What?"
"No." And the bag was thrown back. "I'm not going."
The blonde girl folded her arms over her chest. "Look, I don't know what's holding you back, but you are going to go, even if I have to drag you." She took the costume out of the bag then and held it up to her body. "See? This is going to look so fuckin' sexy on you!"
"You actually got a vampire costume?" Vera chuckled. "I thought we were joking about that."
Truth was, Vera was glad that they weren't. That outfit was indeed hot, but it still wasn't enough to convince her.
Julie could tell she managed to pull the string just a bit by the way Vera's face flushed. Fortunately, the girl had a few more days to persuade her friend into going. "C'mon, once Banksy sees you in this, he'll already have you out of it. Now, that is no joke!"
"Julie!"
Vera's eyes flickered to the couple snickering by the doorway. A red wave flooded onto her face when she snapped her attention back to Julie, whom had a big, stupid smirk on her lips.
"Just, think about it at least." The blonde sighed, folding up the costume and tucking it back into the bag. "You know you'll have fun."
The brunette wasn't worried about having fun. She knew that she would and honestly, she did really want to go. But there was just this feeling deep in her chest, yearning her not to. Vera didn't know what it was, but she didn't want to find out.
To please her friend, she mumbled a quick, 'I'll keep it in mind,' as she returned back to her essay.
"Yes!"
-
mari speaks!!
ok, hi!
it's been awhile. how are you all doing?
apologies for such a random chapter. i wrote most of this almost three months ago and was too lazy to revise it lol.
also, i totally didn't mean to disappear like that. things have just been so crazy this summer and there was always one thing after the other.
but now that school is starting up again, i should have way more free time! also, the break has given me a moment to think about the direction i wanna take this book and boy do i have some ideas :)
thank you all for those who've stayed and were patient. i really appreciate it!! you're in for a longgg ride
i hope you guys enjoyed this somewhat heartwarming chapter because next update starts the main drama... and man, will some of you guys be PISSED! like i'm even trying not to rip out my hair while writing it.
but really, thank you for all the love and support. truly <3
-