“Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s your fault I was almost late because you didn’t tell me what time to be out here! Who the hell even starts school this early anyway?”
He gave me a thumbs up. “I told you before I left to be ready bright and early!”
I facepalmed. “Yeah but that doesn't tell me…you know what never mind. There’s no saving you.”
“You are correct in the fact I am already saved but that’s not the point! This is your Fitness instructor Geraldo. We all just call him Mr. G.”
SMACK!
He smacked Milliard in the head. “Don’t use my government name with strangers!” He faced me. “Still though, it’s nice to meet you, James.” He gave me a warm smile and a handshake that was far too rough. “I’ve heard a lot of good things about you from Milliard. He’s one of the finest pupils I’ve ever trained. You have a strong build like him, and those calves are certainly impressive. Hopefully you can grow and one day become his new rival.” He glared at Milliard. “He’s got too much energy. He could use that sort of thing again.”
“Aww thanks’ coach. I’d love it if me and James could one day face off as equals. I doubt it though.” he jested. He turned to Mr. G. “In terms of enrollment he’s a bit of a special case. I’ll explain it to you later, sir. For now, James, let me introduce you to Jaren, he’s one of your squad mates.” He flagged down the social butterfly from earlier.
Jaren was about the same height as Mr. G, but his skin tone was closer to mine and Milliard’s. While his muscles were well defined, he wasn’t even in the same stratosphere as the three of us. He had bright green eyes and a nice afro that really made him stand out. I can see why the ladies like him.
He shook my hand very energetically. “Yo! Yo! Yo! Nice to meet you! I’m super pumped we’re getting another squad member! Hopefully you’ll be more energetic than Marcus and we can have a great time together!”
He’s certainly a disciple of Milliard.
“Nice to meet you too. I hate to break it to you but I’m not the most energetic guy. I still think we’ll get along though.” I turned to Milliard. “Now what is all this about squads?”
“Our squad is the best one in the whole academy, but I’ll explain later. It's about time to get started!” Milliard said.
I feel like that’s the only thing he ever says.
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The students converged and lined up on the field. Milliard helped us reach our assigned locations and the group began a series of basic stretches.
As we stretched Milliard explained the day’s proceedings. “First, we always stretch and perform conditioning exercises. Then we lift weights and after that we start combat training for the day. Before we begin, I’m sure Mr. G will test you to see what kind of Spirit Art or specialist ability you have. And then…”
“Well look who decided to show their face today!” Mr. G shouted. A lone student approached from inside the building. He was a few inches taller than me; we were a similar shade of black, and he had very good muscle definition. He was probably the most athletic looking guy I’d ever seen yet, and his long, dark dreads obscured most of his face. He wore a scowl, and I could tell this was the last place on earth he wanted to be. I empathized with him because I’m sure I had a similar look on my face when I walked into my football program for early morning workouts when my disdain was at its peak. He silently walked to the back of the stretching lines.
Milliard facepalmed. “Ugh! I woke him up right after you! He should have been here! It’s like he was late on purpose!”
Wouldn’t that have only left him like 8 minutes?
“That…is unfortunately Marcus. He’s another one of our squad members.” Jaren sighed.
“Answer me boy. When are you going to start giving a crap about yourself and take responsibility for your life! You will not be late for my class without consequences! You know what to do!” Mr. G barked.
Marcus walked off to the side and started performing push-ups.
“When you finish those, you can add in some squats today in the same format!”
Marcus scowled at him and continued his plodding pace of pushups.
“He has to do push-ups, sit ups, and run yardage equal to the number of days he’s been late. He’s up over 1600 at this point” Jaren said.
“What the…? Has he been late every day he’s been here?”
“Pretty much. He was the last new student we got before you. He’s not very enthused about the academy…or anything really….”
“I don’t want to be here either, but Milliard is dragging me along and this is probably better than sitting around doing nothing until May. Why does he stay here if he hates it? He could just go get a job if he doesn’t want higher education, right?”
“I guess he probably could, but everyone graduates from an academy. The question is which one. This is the nation’s top academy but with his attitude he wouldn’t make it through any of them. He doesn't try at all, but he always gets just good enough grades that Milliard can beg the president on his behalf to let him stay for another semester. I’d honestly probably just let him go at this point, but you know how Milliard is.”
“Interesting. Do you know what it is that has him so pissed off?”
“Nah, and he won’t really talk about it either. Not even Milliard can get through to him and he’s our squad leader. I’ve never seen him have a normal conversation with anyone before. Maybe it’s because he can’t use Spirit Arts.”
“That could be it…”
I froze.
OH NO! I DIDN’T KNOW THERE WERE LOSERS WITHOUT POWERS! AM I A LOSER WITHOUT POWERS?!
I chuckled nervously. “Is there anyone else like him who doesn’t have any Spirit Arts?”
“Nope, it’s unheard of. Everyone has at least one Spirit Art or specialist ability, even if it's a weak one. He does have Spirit Energy, and he’s the best at controlling it in our entire school, but it never manifests into any element or tangible skill.”
“Hmm, I’ll try to see if I can get through to him later.”
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