Alice sat in her desk, head hung low as her blonde locks brushed against the wood. Her spirits were, if possible, felt even farther than her frown. All evidence pointed to today not being a very good day for very obvious reasons'
The room around her was an unfamiliar one, with Mel being the only recognizable installment to bring her any sort of comfort. The air conditioner ran way too loudly, and it seemed to be a good twenty degrees colder in this part of the Academy. The posters that hung on the wall, though motivational, were hung sloppily without any thought given to decorum and flow. The white board didn't have any signs of use, and the lights flickered annoyingly.
It didn't seem like this room was very well taken care of, in the sense that it was hardly used. In fact, Alice doubted that this room in particular got very much funding'everything seemed a little shoddier than the rest of the Academy'
Which just made her all the more nervous. Everything seemed very artificial here, whereas she had learned a sense of familiarity from the classrooms she'd spent in every day. In fact, it made it worse when she spotted the similarities to the other rooms'it just reminded her that she wasn't in Clothing Construction or English Class, and that any minute now Coach Knight was going to break down the door and yell at her'
Mel'that is, her sister, had told her some about Coach Knight. When she told her everything that had happened, and how she and her friend had signed up for Athletic Classes after school, the older Carlyle girl seemed delighted to frighten her younger sister with horror stories of one of the meanest teachers ever to grace the halls of Buttercombe Academy.
She whimpered, shrinking slightly into her shoulders as she folded her arms in front of her and laid her head down.
'Oh come on, Al.' Melissa goaded her from the desk over in the otherwise empty classroom, 'Don't tell me you're still worried about what happened yesterday.'
'I-I'm not'' Alice squeaked, lifting her head just enough to make eye contact with her friend, 'I just wish Coach Knight would hurry up. The waiting is the worst part''
Melissa glanced aside knowingly.
'Ah come on, I'm sure she's not that bad.' Melissa coaxed with proper hesitation, 'I mean sure she's gonna be a little mean. She's a gym coach, right? That's how my coaches always motivated me.'
'I heard she made some girl cry.' Alice added shortly, 'My sister said she yelled at her students every day.'
'So?' Mel asked, unphased, 'That's just how some coaches are. There's nothing to worry about. Besides it was either this or yoga with that Guidance Counsellor.'
'Y-Yeah'' Alice mumbled, longing for the awkward stretching and bones cracking on an uncomfortable yoga mat right about now, 'I guess but I've heard that Coach Knight is mean. Like' really, needlessly mean.'
'And who told you that?' Mel asked with a little laugh, doubting any of the girls at this school were in the proper position to judge anyone for their athletic motivation
'Megan.' Alice stated affirmingly, 'And Ronnie, and my sister and I heard some girls in my Clothing Construction class talking about how they had class with her too. All of them said that she was really mean and really loud' I want exercising to be fun, not somewhere where I hate having to go.'
'Alice, come on.' Melissa urged, 'I'm sure that Megan and your sister were just trying to scare you a little, and Ronnie would say anything if it meant we'd stay in and try her pies on Tuesday and Thursdays after classes.'
'But Mel, I''
'Tell you what, we'll give it a week.' She pleaded with the bulgy blonde, 'We'll give it a week and if we don't like it we'll find some other way to get in some exercise. I promise.'
'But Ms. Polluck pulled so many strings for us and'' Alice was close to breaking down again, caught between a real rock and a hard place in this. On one hand she was more than afraid of the impressive rumors that followed behind the terrible Coach Knight, and the other petrified at the thought of gaining any more weight this semester. Even disappointing Ms. Polluck seemed like an unforgivable sin! There was just no winning here'
'Okay.' Alice said after a deep breath, 'One week and' and if we don't like it, we'll''
'Find some other way to get some exercise.' Melissa said with a smile, 'But trust me, I don't think there's any way this woman is half as bad as people make her out to be. She's probably just really tough on people because she's really into fitness, and this place kinda isn't' like at all.'
Alice giggled a little, the tension having broken a little. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad so long as Melissa stayed with her through the whole thing.
However as the doorknob twisted and the hinges creaked, Alice felt her blood drain. Her heart pounded and her face grew ghostly pale as the door opened to reveal...
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