had more reserves than she did. So, she made him look bad, and she got him more work, and he had hated her before this started, so their relationship sat in the toilet and stank. Ell couldn’t seem to understand that he hated her guts. She frequently complimented him for helping out the weak dipwads in their squad—which did make him feel good. But the warm feeling from the compliment washed over him without reflecting back on her.
No one else seemed to hate her though. It was easy to see why—amazingly good looking young woman, trying unselfishly to help out others, even when she was in worse shape than they were. Hard to hate. Yes, her poor scores on endurance tests dragged the squad down. But, though Phil’s blind spot meant that he hardly noticed, her high scores on tests requiring speed or coordination brought the squad up. Rather than simply riding her, the upperclassmen actually seemed to be trying to help her!
For her part Ell worried a lot. Despite all the exercise, her endurance didn’t seem to be improving. Throwing up every day seemed to be sucking the life from her, to say nothing of the physical exhaustion that had made her puke in the first place. Other Doolies were dropping out of the Academy, and every day during runs their example led her to think of dropping out herself. But she couldn’t return home with her tail between her legs. She couldn’t stand the thought of seeing that knowing smirk on Jake’s face. So, day after day, she suffered the agony of the training. She suffered the embarrassment of being dragged the last part of any endurance endeavor by her classmates. When her classmates spoke quietly outside her hearing she worried that they spoke of her and her inadequacy. Her greatest fear was that there were some other ‘minimum’ physical standards in addition to the six minute mile that she would have to measure up to by the end of the summer and that they would “wash her out” despite all her agonizing efforts.
Phil couldn’t reconcile this “wimp” chick with no staying power with the woman who’d beat the crap out of him one night back home. The second thing that Basic eventually began to reveal about her, even to Phil, was her surprising speed. Her performance on the beginning of the obstacle course seemed freakish. She would start way faster than anyone else could. Climbing, jumping, swinging, leaping over stuff—Ell was the best in the squad, significantly quicker than any of the guys even. She performed some amazing feats at the start of the course. No one, not even any of the guys could stay close behind her in the first half of the route. But the obstacle course was pretty long and by the end, she’d be dragging horribly. A run that started out like it would break records would finish with her staggering across the finish line with a time that actually dragged the squadron’s average score down. When Zymonds told her to start slower, it just made things worse! She still dragged badly by the end and, without the lead provided by her jackrabbit start, her time on the course was even worse.
A few weeks into Basic, a long run took them out into the woods where they took a break in the shade for lunch. After lunch they had a short break while waiting for an instructor to arrive to give them a survival lecture. It was hot and a lot of the guys took off their shirts, Phil among them. Ell’s eyebrows ascended, the guy was built like a Greek God! Wide shoulders, narrow waist, ripped abs, huge arms, his physique was amazing. She found it hard to take her eyes off him. Then Phil got into a hand-slapping contest with Jason, another doolie who’d also been recruited for the wrestling team. It was that quickness competition where you put your hands out face up, and your opponent puts his hands over yours face down. Then you try to flip your hands out, over and down to slap your opponent on the backs of the hands. Phil’d always been very quick at it but, to his
No one else seemed to hate her though. It was easy to see why—amazingly good looking young woman, trying unselfishly to help out others, even when she was in worse shape than they were. Hard to hate. Yes, her poor scores on endurance tests dragged the squad down. But, though Phil’s blind spot meant that he hardly noticed, her high scores on tests requiring speed or coordination brought the squad up. Rather than simply riding her, the upperclassmen actually seemed to be trying to help her!
For her part Ell worried a lot. Despite all the exercise, her endurance didn’t seem to be improving. Throwing up every day seemed to be sucking the life from her, to say nothing of the physical exhaustion that had made her puke in the first place. Other Doolies were dropping out of the Academy, and every day during runs their example led her to think of dropping out herself. But she couldn’t return home with her tail between her legs. She couldn’t stand the thought of seeing that knowing smirk on Jake’s face. So, day after day, she suffered the agony of the training. She suffered the embarrassment of being dragged the last part of any endurance endeavor by her classmates. When her classmates spoke quietly outside her hearing she worried that they spoke of her and her inadequacy. Her greatest fear was that there were some other ‘minimum’ physical standards in addition to the six minute mile that she would have to measure up to by the end of the summer and that they would “wash her out” despite all her agonizing efforts.
Phil couldn’t reconcile this “wimp” chick with no staying power with the woman who’d beat the crap out of him one night back home. The second thing that Basic eventually began to reveal about her, even to Phil, was her surprising speed. Her performance on the beginning of the obstacle course seemed freakish. She would start way faster than anyone else could. Climbing, jumping, swinging, leaping over stuff—Ell was the best in the squad, significantly quicker than any of the guys even. She performed some amazing feats at the start of the course. No one, not even any of the guys could stay close behind her in the first half of the route. But the obstacle course was pretty long and by the end, she’d be dragging horribly. A run that started out like it would break records would finish with her staggering across the finish line with a time that actually dragged the squadron’s average score down. When Zymonds told her to start slower, it just made things worse! She still dragged badly by the end and, without the lead provided by her jackrabbit start, her time on the course was even worse.
A few weeks into Basic, a long run took them out into the woods where they took a break in the shade for lunch. After lunch they had a short break while waiting for an instructor to arrive to give them a survival lecture. It was hot and a lot of the guys took off their shirts, Phil among them. Ell’s eyebrows ascended, the guy was built like a Greek God! Wide shoulders, narrow waist, ripped abs, huge arms, his physique was amazing. She found it hard to take her eyes off him. Then Phil got into a hand-slapping contest with Jason, another doolie who’d also been recruited for the wrestling team. It was that quickness competition where you put your hands out face up, and your opponent puts his hands over yours face down. Then you try to flip your hands out, over and down to slap your opponent on the backs of the hands. Phil’d always been very quick at it but, to his
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