Benjamin arrived at school the next day.
Although he was tired from having stayed up so late, his body wasn't sore as it should've been.
Benjamin hadn't been keeping count of how many reps he did in total, but estimated it to be over 1,000.
Did absorbing that energy increase my stamina, he thought.
Even as a paladin, he should've gotten tired after about a hundred reps.
He walked into his first block class and sat down. Coach Richards, his math teacher, was writing an algebra problem on the board.
Corey stared at the problem, squinting his eyes.
Benjamin chuckled inwardly. Corey wasn't the best when it came to math.
On the other hand, Isaiah, who was pretty good with math, was scribbling down the problem and solving it.
"Chill out Isaiah," Xavier said, "It's 8 in the morning."
"I had coffee this morning," Isaiah replied, increasing the speed of his writing.
Benjamin took a look at Isaiah's work.
Isaiah was writing so fast that his handwriting was sloppier than usual.
Benjamin sat his bag down and pulled out his notebook.
Corey turned to Benjamin.
"I give up," he said, shrugging.
"C'mon Corey," Benjamin replied, "Just ask Coach Richards a couple of questions."
Coach Richards turned to Benjamin.
"Exactly," he said, smiling.
Coach Richards was built like a football player. Fitting seeing as he was a football coach.
He was black, had low cut hair, and a thick beard. He wore a suit and tie, making him one of the better dressed teachers in the school.
He sat down at his desk. "If you guys have any questions, just ask," he said.
Corey raised his hand.
"Yes?" Coach Richards asked.
"How do you do this?" Corey asked.
Coach Richards smiled and stared. He continued staring until Corey eventually looked down at his paper.
Benjamin found the whole scene rather amusing.
Suddenly, an announcement came over the loudspeaker.
"Could the following students please report to training gym one," it said.
It was the principal, Mr. Winston.
He began to read off a list of names.
"Jacqueline Perez, Corey Elliott, Evan Burgess, Meltwan Smith, Lennox Blackwell," he said.
Benjamin recognized the names of his friends.
Mr. Winston continued until he reached Benjamin's name, which was the last one on the list. He called thirty people, Benjamin thought, Could it be?
Benjamin walked with Corey, Isaiah, Xavier, Sean, Velena, Jackie, and Charles to training gym one.
The school had four gyms and an outdoor stadium. This was to cut down on the amount of people in each gym, allowing for better training.
The outside stadium was used for training and tournaments.
"I wonder why they called all of us to the gym," Corey said.
"Who knows," Isaiah said, "Maybe we committed some heinous crime or something."
"I don't think so," Xavier replied.
"You good Ben?" Corey asked.
Benjamin had been deep in thought, trying to figure out whether this related to the tournament or not.
"I'm fine," he said, looking at Corey.
"I mean, Mr. Winston did list the top 30 students in our grade," Isaiah said.
"We must be getting something," Sean concluded.
"I hope you're right," Xavier replied.
The group arrived at the gym to find the other 22 students already waiting for them.
The moment they walked in, Lennox, Miles, and Meltwan walked up to them.
"Have they said anything," Benjamin asked Miles.
"Not yet," Miles replied, "But Coach Chrisante's grin is way to big for it to be something good."
"That's suspicious as hell," Isaiah said, taking a glance at Coach Chrisante.
Benjamin did the same, looking around Miles to see Coach Chrisante grinning.
Benjamin walked through the crowd.
Though Benjamin had recognized some of the names, he had never met any of these people in his life.
He finally made it through the crowd.
"What's going on? And why are you grinning like that?" Benjamin asked.
"You'll see," Coach Chrisante replied, rubbing his hands together.
Benjamin raised an eyebrow before turning around and walking back through the crowd.
"He was no help at all," Benjamin said.
"That's what we said," Lennox replied, "It's obvious that they're planning something."
"Let's just have a little faith guys," Sean said, trying to keep the group optimistic.
"And not give them any ideas," Charles chimed in.
Suddenly, Mr. Winston walked into the gym.
"Good morning students," he said cheerfully.
"Good morning," the students said back in unison.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here," Mr. Winston said.
Several of the students nodded quickly and leaned in.
"Next Monday, there will be a tournament consisting of the 30 of you in one on one battles," Mr. Winston explained.
The students immediately erupted into excited chatter.
"Hold on, hold on," Mr. Winston said, holding up his hands, "You still need more information."
The students fell silent and gave Mr. Winston their undivided attention.
"This will be a double elimination tournament, where the early losers will get a second chance," he explained, "However, the winners bracket finalist does not get a second chance."
This confused Benjamin. How could it be a double elimination tournament if everyone couldn't lose twice?
"Don't worry," Mr. Winston said, reading their minds, "The person in second place will still get a reward. The person in first will simply get a reward that is slightly better."
That cleared things up.
"The main reason I called you kids out of class was to tell you that you won't have regular classes for the rest of the week," Mr. Winston said, "Instead, you will all be training here."
The students were completely silent. However, Benjamin knew they were all extremely excited.
"I'll leave you students to it then," Mr. Winston said, turning around and leaving.
The moment Mr. Winston left the gym, all of the students turned to Coach Chrisante.
"Well," he said, gesturing at the open gym behind him, "Go."
Author's note: Sorry for the short Chapter. They will start getting longer.