Sophia's P.E.'s teacher was a middle-aged man who was a little overweight. He blew his whistle and ordered everyone to stand in line in height order.
"Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Mr. Cromwell. You can just call me Cromwell. I will be taking your P.E. class. I'm not sure about the length or timing of the class because other subjects may take priority."
He sighed as he spoke.
The students couldn't help but protest in a monotone, "No! We can't allow P.E. to be replaced by other subjects. Sir, this is a part of our subject, and removing P.E. is too drastic. We still want extreme activities rather than a boring subject,
Carol had already studied in the eleventh grade the year before. She explained to Sophia, "We'll have three months' P.E. at most. After that, the lesson will be taken over by other subjects. And we also won't have music, art, or I.T."
Sophia understood the situation. There was no P.E. test in the college entrance exam, so in order to have more time to study the school would stop the P.E. lessons.
Mr. Cromwell got everyone to line up for a run as a warm-up, and then he prepared the students to practice long jump.
He made the students line up behind a white line in front of a long sandpit.
When they were ready, Adam blew his whistle, and the students began to jump, throwing their bodies as far forward as possible.
Sophia stood behind the line, swung her arms, kicked her feet, and jumped out. She turned around to see that she had left the other students far behind.
She knew she was in good shape, but she was still recovering from a serious injury. She hadn't expected to jump so far.
Mr. Cromwell glanced at the ruler on the ground, and beckoned to her, "Sophia, come here!"
It was the first P.E. lesson. Sophia hadn't expected the teacher to know her name. It seemed that her previous troublemaking had made her famous. Without ever having taught her before, Mr. Cromwell knew who she was.
"What's wrong, Mr. Cromwell?" Sophia asked.
He smiled and said in a warm voice, "I have been paying attention to you ever since you entered the school all those years ago, due to your physical skill. I just never spoke to you about it before. I've seen your grades, and I know that they're not great, which may make it hard for you to enter college. Well, I think you could try for an athletic scholarship. That jump was excellent. With more training, I really think you could get into college as an athlete."
Sophia knew that Mr. Cromwell had her best interests at heart, but she replied, "I'm sorry, Mr. Cromwell, but I don't want to be an athlete."
She knew she would have no trouble getting into Glinton University with her grades. She didn't need all the effort this would entail.
Mr. Cromwell felt sorry for her, "You know, Glinton University wants athletes. You could even get a place without taking the college entrance exam. This would be a good opportunity. And you have the ability. You should have a go."
"I know you mean well, but I still want to take the college entrance exam and maybe become academic research when I'm older," said Sophia.
Mr. Cromwell could only nod when he heard her say, "Fine. You have your own ideas. But don't be too quick to say no. Think about it. Ask your parents for advice when you get home. This is a big decision. Consider it carefully."
"All right," she said.
Seeing her teacher so enthusiastic, she was afraid that it would hurt him if she rejected the idea point-blank. She would just turn him down a few days later, and then it would show she had seriously considered it.
After the long jump, the class was given a little time to get some rest.
It was hot, and there was not much shade in the playground. Sophia and her friends walked under the nearby trees to enjoy the cool air. There were quite a few students there already with the same idea. When they saw Sophia, they seemed a little intimidated and began to edge away from her.
Sophia smiled at her classmates and said, "You don't have to be afraid of me. You can do whatever you want. Stay if you like. I won't do anything for you. I won't beat you."
The second she had finished speaking; all the other students quickly got up and ran away from the shade of the trees into the sunshine.
Carol looked pleased, "Boss, now there are just a few of us! It's much more spacious!"
***
Sophia wondered how to show her classmates that she was kind. She really didn't want them to think of her as this frightening monster.
"Carol," Sophia looked at her, "If you tell them that I really don't beat people up, will they believe you?"
Carol shook her head firmly, "No! That you don't beat people up? I don't believe that!"
"Well, can you get them to come back?" said Sophia.
Carol was surprised, "You want them to come back? If that's what you want, Boss, I can get them back."
"Actually, forget about it," Sophia replied.
As she spoke, Carol suddenly pointed ahead of her, "Someone's coming."
Sophia turned to look in the direction she was pointing and frowned slightly.
It was Barry Malone again.
Barry strode over to Sophia. He stood in front of her, saying, "We haven't been properly introduced. My name is Barry. I'm Dave's cousin. I just transferred to this school today. Sophia, I really want to compete against you."
Sophia found that there were only two kinds of students at this school, the kind who were afraid of her, like the ones who had just run away from the tree and the other kind who were not afraid but rather were always trying to challenge her, like Barry Malone and Molly McDowell.