The next day was exactly the same, minus the whole parental issue matter. Josh did his classes, had lunch with his friends and actually smiled. And then he remembered he had P.E last, and that a particular angry jock and his team had taken a break from football and decided to join a normal class for the week. Josh was dreading it.
As soon as he walked into the locker rooms he was stared at with accusing and mocking eyes. Josh knew that everyone in here blamed him for Brads arm because they couldn't get to Parker, and they now hated him for turning one of the hot new guys gay. But the more they looked, the more he felt immune. In the few minutes it took to get changed and onto the field, he felt nothing from anything they did.
He spotted Parker all the way on the other side helping somebody haul something into the gym. That spiked his curiosity as when Parker spotted him, he intently hurried his actions, smiled and waved, then shut the door. Josh wasn't able to do anything as the coach decided to walk out and begin to scream at them at that moment.
"Time to get fit! Form teams of four! No whining, no complaining, and NO name-calling today or I will make you do push-ups and burpees AND LAPS! Got that!" Every student mumbled out a yes. "I didn't hear that!"
"Yes Coach!" The students yelled back in slight fear. No matter how many times the coach took their class, they would never get used to his antiques.
Everyone divided into groups of four, not minding the fact that there were three who were missing an extra person in their little outcast group. Some dude walked by them and whispered to his friend, "Who are they?"
"The misfit runners and the gay boy that was involved with Brads arm." The friend replied, both of them walking faster to get away from the group.
"We have a group with only three...It'll have to do! Line up in your groups and get ready for some relays!" The coach bellowed. He motioned for the kids to sprint to the start before he started to force feed burpees down their throats. "I want to see your hands clap! Better yet, I want to see you hold hands even if it's for a split second or your entire team will run laps!" The message was very clear as the students began to set themselves up.
Josh turned to his so-called misfit teammates and introduced himself. "My name's Josh, what about you guys?" There was a slight pause where the two others looked at each other as if for confirmation.
"Elijah and Issac, track team twins." One of the boys said, and afterwards, Josh slowly realised that they did in fact look very similar. His mouth formed into a small O as he felt oblivious to obvious facts.
"You didn't realise? What an observant shif... person you are." The other one spoke, looking away in embarrassment as his brother nudged him harshly in the side. He then proceeded to whack him up-side the head as if he had said something offensive. They both shook their heads at each other.
Twins, Josh thought, shaking his head to his wolf. No, shifters. You really are oblivious. His wolf replied before it went back to ignoring Josh for the time being.
"Why are you guys known as misfits?" Josh asked, realising only after their raised eyebrows that that was a very straight forward question. "If you don't mind of course." He rubbed the back of his neck.
"We're twins."
"Who can run fast."
"And are on the track team."
"Who can apparently read each other's minds."
"But it's just a twin bond thing."
"Nothing else."
"People are just..."
"Stupid. And very..."
"Clique-y."
Josh pondered over an idea silently as they began to set up at the last lane. Want to help me? He asked, squatting down in front of his wolf (in his mind). His wolf did nothing but raise its head, tilting it sideways. Help me be speedy? His wolf snorted. You don't need to ask me, you can already do it. Benefits of me being here in general, It replied rolling around and strutting away. Josh nodded. He looked over at the twins with determination. "Let's win."
"What?" They both said, surprised.
"Let's win. I'm sure if you're on the track team you can run fast, so let's beat them." Josh spoke proudly with the fact that he thought of it. Elijah and Issac glanced at each other and nodded slightly.
"If you can carry your weight, then lets do it."
Moments later the relay race was about to start, and people were finally in their positions. The coach mumbled something about how there is a team of three and if they don't beat you then their position doesn't really matter, which made said three smirk. They were most certainly winning.
As soon as the coach blew his whistle, Issac sped off down the track and quickly made contact with his brothers' hand. Elijah then sprinted towards Josh who was patiently waiting for his teammates to finish up their part. Once he and Elijah made contact, Josh began to rundown the track, but he started off slow. Some of the other teams caught up, but he was determined to win, and soon he was breaking the wind and crossed the finish line first.
Josh silently cheered and proceeded back to the twins who gave him high-fives and fist bumps. They had doubts about them winning, especially when Josh let the others catch up, but they were proved wrong. "We really doubted you for a moment." Issac said before being discreetly poked by his brother.
"But you proved otherwise so, nice job." Elijah spoke softly. He wasn't shy or quiet, he just disliked loud noises.
"I knew you two were fast but that was incredible. Really something special." Josh emphasized on the word special, hinting that he knew there was something being hidden. They eyed him but smiled none the less.
"HEY! I call a rematch! They must have cheated Coach!" One of the classmates called out. Everyone was furious that the bunch of misfits won against them and the football players.
So, the class did a rematch. And another one, and another one and so forth until the coach grew tired of the whining and forced everyone except the three now friends to do a full-out workout. Even Brad with his broken arm was not secluded to the harshness of the raging coach. Meanwhile, the twins and Josh sat on the bleachers quietly laughing as to not spark a fuse with the coach.
They all froze when they saw him marching over. Even held their breath as he stood in front of them. "Listen boys, I know this won't make any difference now, but I am sorry about the people in track. I just thought you boys were quiet and reserved, not that the others were being assholes. Oh, I eavesdropped on your conversation. Now, run into those locker rooms and get changed and if you're not back in ten minutes you'll join the class!" Coach said, only ever losing his harshness at the beginning of his little speech. He walked away and then looked at his clock, setting a timer for the three boys.
"Time starts now!"Josh, Elijah and Issac all bolted to the locker rooms and changed for the dear life of them, throwing their stuff randomly into their bags, before shoving each other to get out of the room.