Very. It can be very hard, I found myself answering towards the end of our fifteen-minute warmup. It was the most brutal thing I could imagine. If someone had asked me if I wanted to be tortured or do the warmup, I would have said the warmup was torture. Nobody else seemed to be struggling, so I tried my best not to show it. Finally, finally, Peter had us stop. I collapsed to the ground, my breaths sounding like a freight train. “Circle up. We’re going to work on a move called O-Goshi. Danny, can I use you?” Peter asked. The other purple belt walked to the centre of the circle, but on his knees. What was that? Then he stood up, using the weird foot-hand thing.
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A few minutes later, I was standing in front of one of the people wearing a blue belt, with three stripes of tape on a black swatch of fabric at the end. Her hair was spiky and rainbow. I’d never met someone with rainbow hair before. “Hello. My name’s Jade. What’s your’s?” The girl asked. “Hey, I’m… I’m Elias,” I said. She nodded. “Nice. You wanna give it a go first, or should I?” I hesitated before saying, “You can go first.” She smiled, almost giddy. “Awesome. I’ve been wanting to learn this for so long.” I didn’t even see what happened next. One minute, I had one hand on her sleeve, the other holding her collar, and the next, I was flat on my back. I blinked in shock as Jade offered me a hand. I climbed to my feet. “How was that?” She asked me. I raised an eyebrow. She was asking me how it was? I shrugged. “It worked, so I’m going to say good.” She laughed. “You’re funny. I like you.” I smiled, then started setting up the move. I shot my right hand under her arm, grabbing onto the back of her belt, my other hand not leaving her elbow. I put my feet into the correct position and turned my back towards Jade’s stomach. I bent my knees, then straightened them. Jade laughed again, as I picked her up off the ground. Then, I carefully rolled her off my back. She landed on the mat, sticking the arm I wasn’t holding out, and smacking the mat. What was that? I assumed by now that that was not going to be the last time I said that.
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Jade and I continued practising the move, alternating turns. As we worked, Jade and I talked to each other about ourselves. Whenever I tried to say something about why I was here, she would cut me off. Jade seemed much younger than the rest of the people I’d met on floor fifty. Why was she here? Was she like me, or was she just someone else who worked here? Eventually, Peter had us stop and we moved on with class.
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Once class was over, we all stepped off the mat. I peeled the gi top of me, my back drenched in sweat. Letie handed me a clear water bottle. I gratefully took it, draining the entire thing in seconds. Jade laughed. “Tired, huh? It gets easier.” I nodded and handed the bottle back to Letie. Once I’d finished taking off my gi, Letie ushered me out of the room. She marched me back to my room and closed the door. “Hey!” I shouted at the metal. “What did I do?” A message appeared on a screen. It read, Stay away from Jade. She is not someone to be taken lightly. Failure to abide by this rule will result in consequences and loss of privileges.This just made me more curious. Who was Jade? Add that to the list of things I wanted to know. And also, what privileges could they take away now? I was already a prisoner. I wasn’t sure it could get much worse.
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I sighed and sat down on my bed. Eyeing the file cabinet, I reached over and opened a drawer. It was filled with clothes. Every single drawer had clothing, except for the bottom one. In that one, there were three towels of various sizes and a bathrobe. On the side of the drawer, there was a button. I clicked the button, and another panel of the wall slid out. I cast a glance over my shoulder at the cameras monitoring me. I walked forward, into the opening. A light automatically turned on, revealing a fully furnished bathroom. I smiled at the small discovery. I turned on the shower, playing around with the controls. Once I’d found a temperature I liked, I climbed in.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCtNxgthTwf
