Olivia walked into the school gymnasium and placed her things in her patent corner. She then took off her jacket and placed it on the clothes rack.
"Woah!"
"My god she's good!"
A few newbie gym addicts who practically lived there, exclaimed upon seeing Olivia in a body-hugging suit. She could not be called buff by their standards but she was muscular enough with those well defined abs and biceps.
Olivia ignored them and did some warm-ups. After that, she took off her shoes and trousers and kept them near her jacket. Then she started streching.
"Look at that!"
"Even her calves are toned."
"I want my thighs to look like hers!"
Another hushed murmuring rose.
Olivia landed on a clean split.
'It's so much more comfy doing stretches in leggings.' She looked at her toes touching the ground.
'Mm. Should I take off my socks? Nah, It'll be too much work to put all that on later.'
After doing some simple stretches she did some handstands and headstands. After that, she did a wall stretch and a few contortions.
"Woah!"
"Damn! She's so flexible!"
"That was such a perfect posture! Infinity out of ten!"
"Is she part of any of the sports clubs? I wanna join!"
"You can't even do a proper arch and you're thinking about her agreeing to mentor you? Dream on!"
They were squabbling amongst themselves.
'Hm. That's enough warm-up.'
She chose two weights from the stacks and picked up a handle. Then she pressed a button to adjust its length and attached the weights on either side. Next she started doing curls on both hands simultaneously.
She was completely oblivious to the tennis ball-like eyes and football-like mouths directed towards her.
'So for the past thirty minutes, all those wild stretches were just your warm-up? You're not going to take a break to catch your breath?' The newbies froze in their places.
After some time one of them suddenly noticed something and said, "Waiiit a minute. Do you notice those dumbbells?"
"Why? What's wrong with them?" The person beside her asked.
"Tch, look closely! What do you see?"
The second person narrowed her eyes and focused on the dumbbells. In the next second she whipped her head back and stared at her friend with her mouth hung wide open.
"I.. is that what I... think..? Do you see the same?" She stuttered.
The other girl nodded in a daze.
"F*ck! That's the one of the heaviest weights here! Only the students practising for weightlifting championships use those. Even the coach warns against using it by ourselves alone! And she... she's making it look like it's a f*cking bag of wet cotton!"
"I think she also picked it randomly." The girl who first pointed it out mumbled.
Her eyes were glued to Olivia, especially her biceps which expanded and contracted periodically.
"Don't forget she has been doing this for quite some time too now!" The boy who wanted to be Olivia's mentee said.
Meanwhile, the person who was the centre of all these discussions was in her own world. After doing some curls she started doing push-ups. And then some crunches. Again some stretching.
Two hours had passed.
At this point, the three students simply sat on the ground thinking about life. Here they were trying so hard to add one more set to their routine meanwhile this person was working out like her rent was due. When they got accepted in Ketu they felt very arrogant but only after looking at Olivia did they realise the standards of the school.
After finishing forty pull-ups Olivia stood still for a moment with her hands on her hips.
"Hey, I think she's tired. Look she's squinting."
"Yes! Definitely! This time she must be tired. Look she's opening her mouth. She must be trying to gasp for air after doing so many exercises."
"Heh, of course, she'll be tired. How can someone not be after doing all that?"
Just as they thought Olivia would sit on a stool and take a break they saw...
"Haaaaa " Olivia opened her mouth wide and stretched her arms, bending backwards.
Their smiles froze.
'Please tell me I saw wrong.'
"Did she just f*cking yawn?" One of the girls said with a blank face.
"Yes. Are you blind?" Her friend rolled her eyes.
"I'd be glad if that was the case." The former girl said.
"Well, I suppose it's not, unfortunately." The boy patted her shoulder.
Koushik entered the gym with a towel, water bottle and headphones. He was surprised to see several students looking at someone with a dazed expression. He followed their line of sight and spotted Olivia who was busy yawning. He frowned in confusion.
'What are they looking at?'
He shrugged and proceeded to take off his jacket and trousers like Olivia did. Underneath that he was wearing a fitted black top paired with leggings.
In Ketu, the black fitted tops that the students wore underneath their khaki blazers could be one of the three available types — high-neck with full sleeves, high-neck with short sleeves and regular with short sleeves. Meanwhile the black leggings worn inside the khaki trousers, brown belt and black laced long boots were common for all. While in gym the students simply took off the blazer and trousers for better mobility.
After doing some warm-ups and push-ups Koushik went to the bench press.
Olivia massaged her neck and looked around.
'Is there anything more to do? Shall I go back?'
The bench press caught her eyes. One, because it was in the farthest corner away from all those gazes trying to drill a hole through her. Two, because that was the only equipment she was left to use.
Reaching there she spotted a familiar face.
"Hi." It was obviously Koushik who greeted her with his smiley face.
Olivia nodded and started on the machine beside him.
Koushik bench pressed for a while and decided to take a break. He turned his head to find Olivia still at it.
"Wow, you're so strong! You also have good stamina." He placed his face on the cradle of his palms and grinned.
"How else am I supposed to carry someone if they fall in a pit?" Olivia replied with a straight face.
Koushik nodded.
"Wait! Did you just joke with me?"
"Nope."
"No, you did."
"So what?"
"See? My vitality and youthfulness are rubbing off on you. And by the way, it was a terrible joke. Are you looking down on my strength?" Koushik crossed his hands.
"Yes," Olivia said nonchalantly.
"Hmph, I'll show you how strong I am."
Saying that Koushik put on some heavier weights and laid on the cushion.
Olivia sat up and watched him curiously.
Koushik attempted to lift the weight but realised it was too heavy. He was about to get up when he noticed Olivia looking at him. To save his face and prove his earlier words he tried harder to lift it. His face became red but he still refused to give up. Just when he thought he would have to give up, the weight moved up. He was shocked and then beamed in happiness.
Just as he was about to show off his achievement his hands slipped. Koushik saw the barbell coming towards his face and in fright, he covered his face with his hands and screamed. But after several seconds nothing happened. Koushik opened one of his eyes and saw the barbell hovering over his face. Just a few inches above.
He blinked in confusion and looked around carefully only to find that a pair of eyes were staring at him.
"Are you trying to get injured?" Olivia said reproachfully.
One of her hands was holding the barbell while the other one was on the other side of the cushion across Koushik.