"Alex, you were hired to be a PE teacher. Do you know what that means? It means that people expect you to be good at sports." Billy looked at Alex arrogantly.
He thought Alex would be scared, and looked him up and down, expecting to see his legs shaking and his face turning pale.
However, Alex didn't even look at Billy, as if he hadn't heard him. He might as well not have existed.
"Ready?" Alex asked Dylan instead.
Billy shot daggers at Alex's back as he and Dylan walked to the starting line of the racetrack. "We'll see how you feel after Dylan destroys you on the track," he snarled.
All the students from Class 6 gathered on the field, ready to watch Alex and Dylan compete. Apart from Heidi, they were all cheering for Dylan.
As the crowd grew, Dylan became more excited. He stood up and turned around to face them, waving his hands and grabbing everyone's attention.
"How about the 800 meters? You think Mr. Alex can manage that?" he teased. They hooted and hollered in response, jeering at Alex loudly. The noise attracted the attention of the other students on the field, and soon a large group of students had gathered to watch.
"Why would a teacher want to compete against Dylan in the 800 meters? Does he want to embarrass himself in front of everybody?" a student cried.
"Poor teacher. Obviously, Dylan's gonna win."
"Well, I guess we'll see if that's true."
Eric took out a timer and positioned himself on the side of the track. "Ready?" he called.
Dylan quickly settled onto the ground in a running start position.
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
Then he darted out, quick as an arrow. As was expected, he sped around the track, running like a rabbit that was being chased. It was obvious that he was a strong runner. There was no way an average PE teacher could outrun him.
But he had never encountered a man like Alex before. This man, with all his skill and experience, could actually do more than any of them could begin to imagine.
The students stared at him in confusion. He was still standing at the starting line, and Dylan was already on the other side of the track.
"Teacher, why aren't you running?"
"Teacher, are you worried about being embarrassed?" Alex wasn't listening to them though, busy watching his opponent as he raced around.
He's so slow, he thought. While the others were impressed with Dylan's speed, to Alex, it looked like he was running in slow motion.
"Enough of this. I'll be right back," Alex said, chuckling quietly. The students were shocked and looked back and forth between Alex—who still hadn't started to run yet—and Dylan, who sped like a whirlwind around the track.
"I told him to run first so that I wouldn't embarrass him." Alex shook his arms and legs to loosen them up, jumping up and down a few times to warm up his muscles. Then, in the blink of an eye, he sped off.
By this time, Dylan had already circled the track and only had one lap remaining in the race. He hadn't broken a sweat yet and was still running hard. He wanted to beat Alex by as much time as possible. He was thinking about how nice it would feel to cross the finish line to his classmates' cheers, when he felt a strong gust of wind swish past him.
What was that? He faltered slightly, almost tripping over his feet. He could only slightly make out the sight of Alex speeding by. The crowd's eyes lit up as they watched Alex zoom past, a shadowy blur of speed and power.
Dylan continued running as fast as he could. He didn't care that Alex had managed to overtake him. He was still ahead and was finishing up his last lap. There was no way that Alex could run fast enough to win.
He rounded the final bend of the track and came to the final stretch. All thoughts of Alex had left his mind, and he began to sprint to the finish line. He only had a hundred meters left to run when he felt a familiar gust building up behind him. Turning his head ever so slightly, he was dismayed and shocked to see the shadowy blur creep up behind him, again. To make matters worse, this time, the figure waved at him, then dashed past.
"Come on, Dylan," he mumbled under his breath. He had to win. He pushed himself as hard as he could, his legs burning and tightening as he sprinted down the track. But no matter how hard Dylan tried, he couldn't catch up.
Alex was close to the finish line when Dylan simply gave up. He ran to Eric, who was still standing on the side of the racetrack, and grabbed the timer out of his hand. They watched together as Alex crossed the line, and stared in shock at the time displayed on the screen.
"What the hell?" Dylan gasped. "Fifty-nine seconds?"
"My God, how's that possible?" Eric was frozen, his eyes opening so widely they looked like they were coming out of his head. "That was less than a minute. It's a new world record."
Not only was Dylan staring blankly at Alex, but everyone else on the field was stunned as well. They all felt like they were dreaming.
That was incredible, Billy thought. Where did that come from? I wasn't even that fast when I was younger. He blinked quickly, then rubbed his eyes hard.
"He's like Superman," the students exclaimed loudly, looking at each other and trying to make sense of what they had just seen.
"Superman?" Alex laughed. "Don't be silly. Come on, what's next?" He walked over casually and patted Dylan on the shoulder.
"You have got to be kidding." Dylan shrugged off his shock and was in high spirits again. "We'll do long jump next. You're a good runner, but you can't beat me in long jump."
He was particularly determined to win this round. Losing the race to Alex had been the first time he had been beaten by anyone in Baltimore. Alex had run faster than he had ever done, and he accepted that he would never be able to run at that pace in his life.
Of course, he didn't know that Alex was a man who could scale dozens of high-rise buildings in one jump or that he could run faster than bullets and had fought against bombs.
This time, Dylan didn't dare underestimate his opponent, and walked seriously to the long jump pit, followed by his classmates.
"Do you want to go first this time?" he asked. He wasn't nervous but stayed very alert.
"I know how far you can jump. It would be better for you to go first, so you don't get overwhelmed when you see how good I am," Alex said leisurely.
What he said was the truth, but no one knew who Alex really was or anything about his skills. As they listened to him, a wave of displeasure spread through the crowd, as they thought that he was very arrogant.
"Are you provoking me? Or are you just trying to intimidate me?" Dylan asked, turning to face him. "Because it won't work. If you want me to go first, then I will."
"Good." Alex shrugged. "Don't go crazy, though. I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself. I'll wait for you here."
Dylan angrily walked a few paces down the runway, stopping halfway down to stretch and loosen his body. He faced the pit and rocked back and forth—heel, toe, heel, toe—then he took off with all his strength.
He took long, quick strides, thundering past the crowd until he reached the jump board. He pushed off the board and soared through the air before landing in the sand.
"Eight-point-three meters!" Eric announced. The crowd cheered, the applause deafening.
"Dylan, you broke the world record! You're the world champion!" His friend, Lance, yelled as he jumped up and down excitedly.
Dylan stood up from the ground, so happy that he didn't even bother to brush the sand off his shorts and legs. He looked proudly at the cheering crowd and turned toward Alex, a conceited look on his face.
Alex remained calm and light-hearted. He simply looked at the long jump pit, his hands behind his back. He even wanted to laugh.
Then he strolled to the jumping board, his hands still clasped behind him.
"Don't tell me you can beat that." Dylan stared at Alex.
"Okay, I won't," Alex teased. "But I can."
"What?" Dylan was so mad that his veins started to bulge out of his neck.
"I won't even need a running start. In fact, I'll leave my hands behind my back and jump on one leg." Once again, Alex left the students shocked and confused at his confidence.
"This man is crazy," they mumbled. "He can't be human." Yet, the students listened quietly, almost believing him. After all, they had just seen him in the 800 meter race.
"You'll jump on one leg, with your hands behind your back, and land standing upright?" Dylan laughed at Alex. A few unconvinced spectators joined in.
Then Alex did it.
With just a little push, his entire body flew up into the air, moving past the end of the long jump pit.
"Is he flying?" The students were amazed. "Do you see that? He's gonna jump out of the country!"
Even Billy froze, his mouth wide open as he watched Alex land on the other side of the field, far away from the sand pit. Alex hadn't even jumped as far as he could have, because he was afraid of frightening everyone. He could have jumped out of the campus if he wanted.
Everyone was dumbfounded, and Dylan was completely petrified.