Chapter 4
It was two minutes before the class was due to begin when Esmeralda found the body attack/pump class in the dance studio. The room was quite large with the same flooring as the main reception and had large bricks on the walls which were painted a light green colour. To Quasimodo's delight, there didn't seem to be any mirrors.
The room was already packed with people getting their things ready for the class. Upon hearing the door open, most of them looked round with curiosity but upon seeing the sight in its frame made them keep their focus. The rest of the class who had not looked up at the sound of the door to begin with had begun to stare too. The entire room was now looking at Quasimodo.
Esmeralda strode in whereas Quasimodo just stood in the door frame, paralysed with nervousness at the many eyes fixed upon him. He gradually dared to look up and around him. Many were looking at him with anxiety, many with disgust and only a few were looking at him with pity. He decided to copy Esmeralda and stride in as confidently as he could to the corner of the room where she was getting out her bottle of water and towel. She looked up at him and smiled. He returned the smile gratefully.
"So, ever done a fitness class before, Quasi?" asked Esmeralda whilst stretching her hamstring.
"No, I haven't actually...this should be interesting..."
"Oh don't worry; it's just like the gym so you should feel right at home"
Quasimodo, again, didn't bother to correct Esmeralda, as he now spotted what must be the teacher making her way to the front and sorting out the stereo. She looked a fairly young woman, probably late twenties or very early thirties, with a slim frame and dyed long brunette hair that was kept in a tight pony tail. From seeing the woman's profile as she bent down to sort out the CDs, Quasimodo could tell she looked friendly. This gave him a slight boost in confidence.
After taking off her jumper to reveal a simple black t-shirt with a logo Quasimodo didn't recognise on the right side of her chest, Esmeralda gestured they both move forward to join the back row. Quasimodo was glad that she chose to stay at the back of the room. Quasimodo just stood awkwardly in the line, clenching his fists every now and again to tell himself that he could do this. The people standing next to and nearest to him were still shooting glances at him but he told himself to just keep looking ahead at the instructor.
"Ok, I think we're just about ready to start!" shouted the instructor when she'd decided she was fully ready. "Hello everyone, my name's Becky and welcome to body attack/ pump- the class that will get you into that bikini you've been dying to show off at the beach this summer. And for the men here...well, I'll just say that you, too, will soon look great- in your bikinis! Ok! Anyway, let's see if we have anyone new with us today..."
The woman scanned the room of people poised in front of her. She smiled at the faces she recognised but her smile faded and her eyes stopped abruptly when she began to scan the back row.
"Oh my..." muttered Becky as her eyes landed on Quasimodo. The very unusual sight in front of her made her gasp slightly. She continued to just stare at him in wonder. Why did she have to do that in front of everyone thought Quasimodo as he darted his eyes to the other walls. And, of course, everyone else in the room noticed her behaviour and immediately followed her gaze.
The instructor cleared her throat and averted her eyes after noticing the frightened expression on the boy's face. "Excuse me everyone, sorry about that. Ok, where was I? Yes, we do have some new faces- welcome, welcome. Now... let's begin!"
The instructor bent down to switch on the CD player, causing the room to be filled with some sort of upbeat music Quasimodo didn't recognise. Esmeralda gave Quasimodo another smile of encouragement, which Quasimodo returned appreciatively, before beginning to follow the moves of the instructor.
This was probably the most embarrassing thing Quasimodo had ever done. Esmeralda looked like an angel as she copied the moves perfectly with the occasional sway of her hip to accompany the steps. There couldn't have been more of a contrast between Esmeralda and himself. As Esmeralda was spot on with every single step, Quasimodo couldn't have been more out of time. He tried to follow the instructor's steps as best as he could but the moves always changed so abruptly that Quasimodo found himself doing completely different steps to the rest of the class. He couldn't wait for the class to end so he could get out of this humiliation. He was also very aware of the instructor shooting frequent glances at him from her spot at the front of the room. The occasional momentary look he made to her showed she seemed fairly nervous around him, as her eyes appeared to shoot hastily to the back wall every time she saw Quasimodo glimpse at her.
At very long last, after continuing to feel like an absolute idiot as he attempted each move, the dance bit of the class was finally over. Quasimodo couldn't feel more delighted when the instructor finally announced this to the room.
He followed Esmeralda to the corner of the room where she was gulping down her bottle of water. Though she looked tired and her hair was beginning to come out of her pony tail, Quasimodo thought she never looked more gorgeous. He couldn't help gazing at her as she drank her water. Quasimodo completely forgot to bring water from being so nervous about the class so he was thankful when Esmeralda offered him her own.
"Hey...look at you out there...huh...you were very...good" spoke Esmeralda through heaving long breaths in and out.
Quasimodo smiled vaguely at how funny she sounded before making a face of utter disagreement.
"Oh...come on... you only think that because you were next to me; anyone would feel they did rubbish when compared to me" said Esmeralda, sniggering as she playfully punched Quasimodo's broad arm.
After a few minutes, the perky voice of the instructor filled the dance studio once more.
"Ok everyone, once you've had a cool down, if you'd like to grab your mats we'll now begin the second section of the class- our floor routines."
At this, the empty space in the centre now gradually began to fill once more with people laying their mats down on the floor in front of them. Neither Esmeralda nor Quasimodo brought a mat so Quasimodo followed Esmeralda to the other side of the room to collect two. Quasimodo copied exactly what Esmeralda did as she gracefully laid her own purple- coloured mat upon the wooden floor in front of her. He had no idea what they were going to do with these mats until he noticed everyone around him was sitting cross-legged on them- so he did the same. His mat was a lot less comfortable on the hard floor than he thought it would be.
Once the instructor laid her own navy professional-looking mat on the floor at the front, she began showing the class what to do.
Oh no thought Quasimodo as he saw what the instructor wanted the class to do. No way was he going to be able to do what she was now demonstrating. The instructor had positioned herself into a pose that involved lying on your back with both knees bent and taking both arms above your head and onto the bit of the mat behind you to then push your body up into a bridge shape. He knew he wouldn't be able to do it due to the fact that his spine was so misshapen that he wasn't able to bend his back backwards. He now became very nervous once again, knowing that everyone would see him struggling and laugh at the cause of it. He really didn't want the attention.
But Quasimodo still lay down on his mat, like everyone else, to start the routine. The music played once again, upbeat as ever, which signalled everyone to begin. Thankfully, the routine started off with everyone starting on their hands and knees. Quasimodo actually enjoyed this and found it very easy since it required a lot of arm and leg muscle which he had a lot of. They now had to stay in plank for four whole minutes which, again, Quasimodo found incredibly easy. His body was just as straight and still as an actual plank whilst everyone around him was either shaking madly or had already collapsed onto their mats. He heard Esmeralda make a noise from his left which made him spin his head round to face her. She gave him a look of envy before giving in to her shaking arms and collapsing onto her mat too. He gave her the same joking look of pride and smugness that he had made earlier as he remained absolutely motionless in his plank position. It had been three minutes when the instructor, whilst also still doing the position but now with shaking arms, looked up from her mat to see Quasimodo as the only one still remained in the plank position while everyone was now lying face- down on their mats. She raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes before faintly smiling at him. Quasimodo smiled back; slightly proud of himself.
The four minute mark was signalled when the instructor eventually turned onto her back, gesturing everyone to do the same. This was the bit Quasimodo was utterly dreading and, as he expected, the instructor brought her arms behind her head to push her body up into a bridge position. Everyone followed suit. Quasimodo looked to his left to see Esmeralda, of course, doing a perfect bridge shape with her legs totally straight. She saw him from upside down and copied the joking smug look he had given her a minute ago. This made him snigger which then gave him the confidence and motivation to at least attempt it. So, Quasimodo copied the others by lying on his misshapen back. He then put his arms up over his head and placed his hands onto the bit of the mat behind him. He began straightening his arms so his body could move upwards but this was now causing him great pain in his back, even with it being only three inches off the ground. He attempted to straighten his arms even more but another zap of unbearable pain made his back jerk, making his arms involuntarily give way and causing him to collapse onto his back on the thin mat with a thunderous thump.
Though his eyes were closed from the shock of the tumble and the immense back pain, Quasimodo was still able to hear sudden movement to his left followed by the shuffling of feet which announced Esmeralda had got down from her own bridge position and had come to help him. What he also heard, though he really wished he hadn't, was the unmistakable sound of cruel laughter beginning to root from various places around him. He opened his eyes and slowly sat up to see that every single person had come down from their own bridge positions and were sitting on their mats and laughing cruelly at his fall.
Then a man next to him announced loudly to him, "I knew you wouldn't have been able to do that, lad!" before joining the others in pitiless laughter.
Quasimodo had never felt more humiliated in his whole life. This was much worse than getting the steps completely wrong earlier, for sure. The instructor, to Quasimodo's relief and gratefulness, was firmly hushing the laugher whilst telling everyone to continue with their bridge positions. She then smiled at him pityingly before mouthing, "are you alright?" to which Quasimodo hastily nodded with a sheepish smile to show his appreciation. He then turned round to Esmeralda to gesture to her that he was alright before deciding to just sit on the mat for the rest of the song.
Quasimodo was very glad that the mat routines were finally over. Only one more section to go. He had no idea what this was yet so, like he did after the dance section, Quasimodo made his way to Esmeralda who was in their corner of the room, stretching her quadriceps with one hand on the wall in front of her for support. Upon seeing Quasimodo limp hastily towards her and upon hearing people still sniggering at him from behind, Esmeralda abruptly got down from her stretch and turned to face her friend.
"Quasi, are you alright? I am so sorry that happened-"
"Oh, yeah I'm fine now, I guess. I always knew I couldn't do anything like that I just...I don't know... I guess I wanted to try it. It was just from my complete stupidity, that's all."
Esmeralda looked at Quasimodo, still concerned for him, before handing him her bottle of water. She waited until he was finished drinking before making her way with him to the back row once again to begin the last section of the class.
"Ok everyone! This last section will really test your fitness so I wish you all good luck! Right, if you'd like to make your way to the right side of the room to collect a barbell each along with your choice of weights to attach onto the ends. Please make sure each end of your barbell is even with weights; you don't want muscle building in only one of your arms!" joked Becky as she, too, went to collect a barbell.
Upon hearing the last bit of the class to be weight lifting, Quasimodo suddenly beamed, knowing this was something he could actually be good at today. It was from those countless years of ringing the local Cathedral's immensely heavy bells that made this easy for him. He decided he would show the people who laughed at him what he could do. Esmeralda, on the other hand, sighed in frustration.
"Hey! This will be right up your street, Quasi! You can teach me how you use these things" laughed Esmeralda as the two collected a barbell each and some rounded weights.
This time, Quasimodo decided to correct Esmeralda.
"Well, actually, I've never used these barbell things either", explained Quasimodo simply. "I've also never been to a gym before."
Esmeralda raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief as she found a barbell for herself and picked up two small circular weights. She then laughed out loud when she saw Quasimodo reach for eight very large weights and begin to screw them onto his own barbell.
"Yeah, of course you don't do this sort of thing" mocked Esmeralda as they headed back to their spots in the back row.
Upon noticing Quasimodo with his barbell on the floor in front of him and the eight very heavy weights screwed onto the ends, some of the class sniggered, greatly pleased that they'd be able to laugh at the strange, deformed boy once more at his ungainliness. However, the majority of the class, though they had been laughing at him earlier, didn't smirk once. Quasimodo looked around to see that the majority of the class were now looking at him with panicked faces. He then saw a few whisper to each other from their distances in their rows. He even spotted a few people point to his arms which he found the most bizarre. But he was pleased all the same since he wanted them to regret what they had done earlier.
Quasimodo turned his head to the front when he heard the upbeat music play once more. The instructor then reached for her own barbell with a small/medium sized weight screwed to both ends before lifting it repeatedly into a bicep curl. She told everyone to do the same.
Esmeralda bent down to reach her own barbell before, too, lifting it into repeated bicep curls. She thought she could handle doing this but the weight gradually began to catch up with her. After a few minutes, her arms were beginning to really ache. She definitely wasn't used to weights. She noticed others had now stopped doing the bicep curls and were having rests. She didn't blame them. She turned to the right of her to see how Quasimodo was getting on with his own weights when something she saw made her eyes widen abruptly.
She saw that Quasimodo, aside from the instructor, was the only one still doing the bicep curls. It truly was a sight to see. With the large muscles in Quasimodo's arms now defined and flexed from doing the curls and the four very large weights on both ends of his barbell made it difficult for Esmeralda to take her eyes off him. The whole class had noticed movement from the corner of their eyes and were now gawping at him with almost impressed faces. The instructor even had her eyes completely wide in awe.
He had done it. Quasimodo wanted to show them and he had. He was, in no way, one to show off in the slightest but he did want to make those who laughed at him regret it a little. And make them regret it he did. Some even had their mouths open as they continued to stare at him.
After shaking her head from her fixed gaze on the unusual boy, the instructor began repeatedly raising her barbell above her head. She motioned for everyone to do the same. After pulling themselves away from staring at Quasimodo, they, with effort, began copying her.
Esmeralda smiled at Quasimodo who, of course, was now seemingly effortlessly raising the enormously heavy barbell repeatedly above his head. She then playfully whispered, "I told you so" to which Quasimodo playfully rolled his eyes before smiling warmly at her.
