The next morning I pulled on my work out clothes and slipped on my trainers. It was 5:00am but it was the perfect time for a run. I loved running at this time of the morning when it was quiet and no one else was around. I don’t think I had ever left it this long between runs and it had only been two days. I gently closed my bedroom door behind me so I didn’t wake anyone up in the other rooms and skipped down the stairs. I pulled up my running playlist as I opened the door and then I skidded to a stop. Sex Shop Barbie was standing in front of me with six other girls. They were all milling around stretching and chatting. I recognised two of them from my History of the Race lesson, Harmony and Nix gave me a sheepish smile when I looked over at them.
“Erm what’s going on?” I said looking around the group with suspicion, and annoyance if I was being completely honest.
“We’ve come for the run, obviously.” Sex Shop Barbie said. She was wearing the most ridiculous outfit. Yes, it was technically workout clothes but she looked like she was about to step onto some porn set.
“What run?” I glared at her. If she had come here to fuck with my run, I was going to fuck her up. This was sacred time to me. It was the only way that I could control the rage and I could not afford to flip out.
“Ignore Della, she’s apparently grumpy in the morning.” Britt said skipping over to us. I hadn’t seen her stretching on the grass while my sole focus had been on the bitch witch herself. I was glad to see her as something instead of the cowering girl I had seen in the library.
“Well we’ve been waiting for fifteen minutes.” Della snarked as she flipped her ponytail over her shoulder and bent over to perform what I assume she thought was a stretch but actually just looked like she was shoving her ass at me and stroking it. Bitch was strange!
“Waiting for what?” I was starting to worry that I was looking a little slow on the uptake her.
“For you! God are you always this slow in the morning?” Della screeched at me.
“Okay, Della rein in the screaming bitch for now if you don’t mind.” Britt said shoving Della to the side, who just glared at the back of her head. “She doesn’t speak for the rest of us.”
“ I’m still a bit confused about what is going on here though.” It was 5:30am, everyone was supposed to be asleep. This was me time god damned it!
“Right yes, get right to the point, I like that. We want to train with you.” Britt at least had the decency to look embarrassed as she said it. Worst nightmare come true. Training crashers!
“Oh right, well if you speak with Caleb he’s going to be setting up some training routines and I’ll be helping him out so I’m sure he will be able to sort something out for all of you.” I could see where this was going already and if being purposefully dense about it was going to get me out of this, then I was happy to sing that song.
“No, I mean yes, we will do that, but that’s not quite what I meant. The other day in the gym you kicked ass. Like to whole new epic levels. You stood up to Isaac for me and he’s actually left me alone. Then in the cafeteria yesterday two packs stood down because of you. I don’t think you
understand how unbelievable that is. They stood down for a woman.” Britt gushed.
“If he values his balls, he better stay away from you. So, you want to learn how to stand up to them and make them listen to you.” I sighed. Crap! She just had to go for the only soft spot that I had.
“No, we want to learn how to be strong.” She said forcefully. Double crap! Now I couldn’t say no.
“I can do that. It’s not going to be easy though you know. In fact, it’s going to really, really suck for you lot.” I sighed in defeat.
“We don’t care about that,” the other girls murmured their agreement around her, “it would be more than worth it.” Huh, maybe this was going to be my way to elicit some change around here. “Well, you know me and Della,” my mind voiced over ‘sex shop barbie’ in my head, “and this is Mae, Aeryn, Harmony and Nix.” I gave them all a weird awkward wave.
“Okay then. Everyone stretched and warmed up?” I asked addressing the group. They all nodded their agreement. “It’s fifteen miles. It’s fifteen miles every morning. You run till you drop. Then you get up and keep running. You need to throw up. Throw up. Then you keep running. Once around the building is a five mile lap. I’m doing three laps for the full fifteen. I suggest that you start with one lap this week then increase from there. Okay ladies, you want to train, then it’s time to run.”
I started out slow. I wanted to see what they had and how far they were going make it. I’d seen them running in the gym the other day and they were not exactly in peak physical fitness. It would be interesting to see if any of them made it round one full lap. We lost Della by about half a mile but then I didn’t have high hopes for Sex Shop Barbie. A couple of them threw up around the third mile. I was actually impressed that all but Sex
Shop Barbie and two others made it through the first full lap. Brit was one of those that made it through the lap and I was impressed with her. She was barely still upright but none of them were. As soon as we made it back to the steps, they all collapsed in a heap on the floor. I could see her though eyeing the track. She had the stubbornness to attempt a second lap like she had something to prove.
“Don’t. If you push it too hard today you won’t make it back tomorrow.” I told her. To the rest of them I shouted “You did well. I’ll see you back here tomorrow morning same time to go again. Stretch. A lot. Try and soak your muscles if you can. We can discuss a proper schedule tomorrow.”
I turned to leave for two more laps when I heard the whiney voice of Sex Shop Barbie behind me. “What makes her think that she’s so special anyway. So what if she can fight, she can’t do anything that my magic can’t do.”
“Oh, good you made it back to the group. I was worried when you dropped out before the first mile was even over. It was nice of you to just hang out here and wait while everyone else ran five miles.”
“Running five miles is hardly a skill I need when I have my magic to protect me. I don’t need you, I don’t need this. I have everything I need.” With that she turned around and stormed back though the academy building.
“If anyone else feels the same way don’t come back tomorrow morning. I don’t have time to waste on people who don’t want to train.” I said setting off at a steady pace. The first five miles had been nothing but a warm up for me and I need to set a fast past for the last ten if I was going to get the work out in that I needed.
I was surprised when I got back to the front steps to find Britt still sat there waiting for me. “Something you needed.” I asked pulling my earbuds out and sitting down next to her.
“You shouldn’t listen to what Della says. She doesn’t even know what she wants. I can’t believe that she thinks that her magic is enough to protect her. We grew up together you know. She should know that magic isn’t enough to save us.” Britt said staring off into the darkness.
“Before I came here, I used to work for a woman who helped other women escape from abusive situations. None of those women thought they were entering a bad situation when they got into those relationships. Sometimes, things need to go to shit before people have the motivation to do something about it. You can’t force them before they are ready.”
“She should know better.” Britt sounded haunted but I got the impression that this was something that she wasn’t ready to talk about.
“The easiest person to lie to is yourself.” I said with a shrug. “All you can do is make yourself strong enough to stand beside her when she needs it.”
“I will.” I saw the determination in her eyes. I didn’t know what happened in the past but I could see her building her defences around her ready to make sure that it would never happen again. That was when I decided that I was going to make all of these women hate me by training them until they dropped. And they were going to be magnificent.
“I still hate her though.” I said seriously and that at least broke her out in a laugh.
“Mae and Aeryn are coming over to my room tonight to hang, you want to join us for a bit?” Britt invited.
“Yeah, maybe.” I shrugged. I don’t know if this is a good idea. I’m not good at this friends thing and I like what I have going with Britt. I really don’t want to fuck it up by showing them just how much of a weirdo I am.
“Something better to do? Like three tall, beautiful shifter males?” She laughed.
“Ha! Maybe.”
“Well ditch them for a bit and come and gossip with us about how gorgeous they are. There will be snacks, of course.”
“Oh, well if there’s going to be snacks.” I laughed, “You’d better count me in.”
