No Pain, No Gain

"I don't know about this." I puffed in complaint to Mom. The two of us were trying out a new exercise idea of hers: powerwalking. Ok, so it wasn't her idea specifically, she didn't come up with anything other than makin me try it with her. I looked completely opposite of her, decked out in a baggy pair of sweats while she wore a tight pair of leotard pants and a tank top.

What a weird sight we must make.

"Straighten your shoulders, Linds," was her only reply. With a sigh, I dropped my shoulders until they were level enough for her standards.

"Good." She nodded down at me. "Now suck in your stomach. It should feel like you're stretching your spine, making you a little taller."

"Hey, now that idea I could go for." I smiled.

"That I'm not so sure I could fix," Mom smiled. She knew how much I hated being as short as I was. Sometimes I wonder if I'd look thinner if I was just a few inches taller. But she was right, not much I could do about my height.

Not that I really wanted to change my weight either, but in the end I'd decided that the hockey team was too dear to me to abandon, the last social thread in my life. Besides, hard practicing aside, I'd felt a small change in my body since I'd started. Although worn out to the point of having barely any energy afterwards, the practices had tightened the muscles in my arms and legs to a tension I never knew I had in me. If only it didn't hurt so much, it'd be great feeling.

"This.. is.. actually tiring." I found myself loosing a normal breathing pattern. Tiny beads of sweat were starting to form across the top of my forehead. It wasn't like hockey though, where they poured down the side of my face, fortunately. Nevertheless, this was still exercise, i.e., it still sucked.

"Oh, we've just barely started." I glanced at Mom and found her totally unphased by the last three blocks we'd walked, swinging our arms, bent at the elbows, back and forth. My least favorite part was the way Mom'd told me to take small, rapid steps and swing my hips a little so I'd work my gludeus maximus. Only thing I felt was my ass wiggling back and forth.

Elbows bent, arms above waist level, stomach in, shoulders down, back straight, breathe in through nose and push air out through mouth, what the hell happened to walking normally? I wondered. My eyes widened as I recognized a familar house in front of us: the Hanson's. In all my efforts to walk 'correctly,' and I use that term loosely, I hadn't noticed which direction we were walking in. Darn thing had just snuck up on me.

"Umm.. Can we turn around now?" I immediately asked Mom, eyeing the gray, two-story house on the corner. Glancing around for members of the blonde-haired Hanson clan, I let out a sigh of relief when I found their yard abandoned.

Good sign so far.

"You can't be tired now, Lindsey." Mom looked at me in surprise.

"Um.. yeah, I guess I am." I lied.

Anything not to stay here.

"Well, tough. No pain, no gain." I stared at my mother with wide eyes. I didn't think she'd actually turn mean on me, let alone on the first day.

"What?"

"This isn't going to be easy and I'm expecting you to get crabby at me about this. Whatever complaints you have, I want you to know that I'm not going to take them personally."

"... What?"

All I'd said was I'm tired.

"Save it, Linds." Mom held the palm of her hand up to my face, shushing me. "Just keep it to yourself."

"Where are we going?" Anything to change the subject, but I also wanted to know.

"Actually, we're headed downtown."

"Downtown?" I squeaked in surprise.

That's at least three miles away. She nodded.

"We're stopping at Pizza Palace."

"We're getting pizza? Isn't that against the code books of dieting or something, Mom?" Not that I'm against that idea..

"We're not getting pizza." She informed me.

"Sandwiches?" I tried to think of what else was there besides pizza.

"We're not getting food, kiddo." She grinned at me. "Jamie called today and asked if you'd come in to pick up your uniform. Now come on, let's pick up the pace."

I sighed as I quickened the rate of steps I was taking to match her speed. I made sure to keep my head down as my cheeks flushed pink, with embarrassment. I could only imagine how funny we must've looked for anyone in the Hanson house as we walked on the sidewalk in front of their house and rounded the corner, walking past the side of it. Fortunately, nothing happened; no one came out to chat. I breathed a sigh of relief, lifted my head up again, and continued walking in silence.

Uniform, huh? Great.

"Hey Zac!" Taylor called to his brother from their living room, where he was relaxing in a LazyBoy. Something more amusing that the blaring television he'd been watching had just caught his eyes: me and Mom.

"What?" Came the muffled response. Zac entered the room with his head buried under a towel. He rubbed at it his hair to get the water out.

"Did you just take a shower?" Tay asked him in surprise. After all, it was the middle of the evening. Showers for no reason at all were unheard of in Zac's case, as Taylor knew full well.

"Duh, yeah." Zac replied. "We had hockey practice earlier today for some reason. I'm getting sick of these practice times bouncing around."

"Awww.." Taylor replied in mock sympathy. "Poor baby can't take the workout?"

"What do you want?" Zac asked, irritation slipping into his voice.

"Oooh, someone's cranky on this glorious afternoon." His brother noted. "Couldn't be from a certain girl that called here earlier, now could it?"

"Samantha?"

"Yeah, whoever she was. My baby brother's growing up; he's got girls chasing after him now. Every mother's dream." Taylor sighed and clasped his hands dramatically over his heart.

"Shut up. She's just a friend."

"Suuuure, I believe you Zaccy."

"Actually, if you must know, she called about ballet." Zac sighed at the thought of taking lessons. It was just his luck that Samantha had taken dance for years and was in fact, his coach's niece. The last thing he wanted to do was make an idiot of himself in front of anyone, but least of all her. His thoughts were interrupted by his brother's loud laughter.

"What did you want, Tay?" He asked again. The last thing he wanted was another round of teasing about ballet.

"Check it out." Taylor pointed to the side window, where Mom and I were walking past outside.

"Is that Lindsey?" Zac asked. It was almost as if he was looking at a stranger; it felt like ages since he'd even seen me, let along talked.

"Sure looks like it. What's the deal with you two?" Zac watched curiously as Mom and I passed their house and continued walking in the direction of downtown Tulsa, before speaking up again:

"What do you mean?"

"I saw her a few days ago. It was like talking to me was the last thing she wanted to do."

"No, talking to me is the last thing she'd want to do." He admitted with a sigh, taking a seat on the couch next to Taylor.

"It's not my nature to pry, but did something happen between you two?" All teasing tones were gone from Taylor's voice, he was genuinely concerned.

"I have no idea." Zac threw up his hands. "All of the sudden, a few weeks ago, she stopped talking to me."

"You must've said something to piss her off then."

"Me? I didn't do anything." He was surprised that Taylor had immediately pointed the guilty finger at him instead of me, unlike Samantha.

"Zac, you're a guy. There's a ninty-nine percent chance it was your fault. You're probably just in denial about it."

"I'm not in denial!"

"Whatever, if that's what you want to believe. So.. What are you planning on doing about it then?"

"Why should I be the one to do anything? She's the one with the problem." Taylor rolled his eyes at Zac's response.

"Have you actually asked her what's wrong?" He asked.

"Several times. She just says 'nothing' then practically runs away from me." Zac twisted his towel between his hands, frustrated at this whole situation.

"Does it have anything to do with that girl who called?" Taylor asked.

"Sam?" Zac asked in surprise. He'd never considered that option before.

"Yeah, her."

"I doubt it. They can't stand each other."

"So.. a girl who your best friend can't stand is calling you, and you're wondering why Lindsey's avoiding you? She probably thinks you like Sam and doesn't want to hurt your feelings with her own opinions." Well, at least he was partially right. But more importantly, he was much closer to the truth than his brother had been the last few weeks.

"I never thought about it that way.." Zac mumbled, tossing the idea around in his head.

It makes perfect sense.. Linds stopped talking to me about the time she joined hockey, when Sam started hanging out with me more. And it got worse after Sam joined our math class..

"Thanks Tay. You won't hear this from me again so enjoy: you're a genius." He stood up and left the room.

"I'll just send you the bill." Taylor called after him. He smiled and picked up the remote.

At least I've done my good deed for today.

"Thanks Jamie," I took the black and white uniform from my new boss. His redish-brown mustached stretched over his upper lip into a smile and his brown eyes smiled at me through a pair of glasses.

"Thanks yourself, Lindsey. We're really short on staff right now. Can you come in for training tomorrow afternoon?"

"Umm.. depends on what time." I thought of practice.

"Three-thiry all right?"

"Should be ok.. I have hockey practice at five, so as long as I can leave with enough time to get there, three-thirty is fine." I replied.

"Great!" Jamie grinned at me and led me back to the main lobby. He'd taken me to the back room to grab a uniform and a training manual, which he passed over to me now.

"Do you want to wait tables or prepare food?" He asked me.

"Umm.." I considered the options. The image of me spilling food all over someone and getting yelled at for it was more than enough to make up my mind for me.

"I'll do food prep, if that's ok." That option had another advantage: working in the kitchen, I'd probably see less of the numerous high school kids that poured into the place.

"Yup, fine with us. We're just glad to have you aboard."

"Thanks Jamie," I smiled in his direction.

"Read the first four chapters for tomorrow, then. We'll get you ready and started to work the day after tomorrow. Like I said, we're desperate for employees, so it may be a little stressful, but it's fun. You'll definently get in a lot of hours working here, I promise."

"Great," I tried to sound enthusiastic about that idea. Between hockey during the week and driver's ed on weekends, I was suddenly running out of any free time I'd had before.

This is insane, suddenly I'm leading a completely different life. I'm not sure if this is a good thing yet, though.

"Thanks again Jamie." I called to him. He held up his hand in a wave before dodging back into the kitchen to help out.

"What a cute uniform." Mom looked over my white shirt and black pants. I rolled my eyes.

"I've got training tomorrow afternoon at three-thirty. Can you give me a ride then?"

"Sorry, kiddo." She replied with a shake of her head. "I work until five. You're just going to have to ride your bike from school."

"Ride my bike?" I asked increduously. "It's like four miles. I have hockey practice at five too."

"Then you can just ride your bike over to practice after work." She said calmly. "We can count it as your rigorous exercise for the day."

I opened my mouth to object, but clenched it firmly shut.

No use arguing here, I figured. There didn't seem to be any other options. I could only hope all this exercise wouldn't kill me off. In some small way, I almost hoped it would. That way my life would be a little easier. Certainly less stressful.

"Let's go, Lindsey." Mom interrupted my thoughts.

"We still have the walk home." Inwardly, I groaned.

Talk about a pain in my royal, wiggling ass.