XXXI. Hercules, November 1
Hercules felt like his head was about to split right in half. He rolled over onto his back and groaned as his eyelids were bombarded with a bright light. He put his arm over his eyes and squinted.
"Gooood morning, sunshine!" Shang sing-songed, crouching in front of Hercules, who was sprawled out, his limbs dangling over the edges of the small chaise lounge. "Time to get up for school."
"Go away, Shang," Hercules grumbled, grabbing a nearby throw pillow and covering his face with it.
"It's Monday morning, Herc, you gotta get ready," Shang said. "I can't have any of my team members being absent if I can help it."
Hercules heard a groan from across the room, a shifting of fabric and then a thud accompanied by a girlish squeal. He moved the pillow from one eye and squinted. Mulan had fallen off of the couch. Hercules couldn't remember much more than fragments from the night before, but he wondered how Mulan had gotten the couch and he had been delegated the less spacious lounge. The trio had gone to Jasmine's party together, with Shang as the designated driver. Originally, Shang was going to take both Mulan and Herc home after the party. Hercules couldn't remember when or why the plan had changed.
"What happened last night?" Hercules asked, sitting up and rubbing his head.
"It was really late when we left the party," Shang said. "You two were both too drunk to go home and I figured you could just crash here."
"My dad wouldn't care," Hercules snorted. "Heck, he'd get drunk with me."
"Yeah, well, Mulan's parents would."
"Shit!" Mulan said, finally sitting up on the ground and fumbling with her cell phone. "27 missed calls."
"What are you going to—" Shang began.
"Sh-h," Mulan shushed him. "Shut up for a second, both of you."
She had the phone pressed to her ear and was looking panicked.
"Yeah? Hi—no—stop stop—I'm sorry, yes—no—" Mulan sighed and paused to listen for a moment. "No, listen—at Rapunzel's house—we were watching a movie and we all fell asleep—yes, I'm sorry. Sorry. It won't. No. Yes, I'll be fine. I have to—Mom, I have to go get ready to go to school now. Yes. I'll see you tonight. No. Ugh. Okay. Love you."
She hung up and glared at Shang and Hercules.
"Rapunzel's?" Hercules raised an eyebrow as he stood and stretched.
"Well, I wouldn't live to see another day if she knew I was here," Mulan said. "My parents still think I'm in kindergarten, basically. They didn't even want me to join the football team—god knows what they'd do if they knew I was dating."
She pushed herself up off the ground.
"Well, I'm glad you are," Shang said, walking over to her and nuzzling her nose.
"I'm glad I am too," Mulan giggled, and Shang kissed her.
Hercules made fake gagging noises.
"Get me out of here," he joked. "I'm going to go take a shower and leave you lovebirds alone—cool?"
"Mm-hm," Shang said, though Hercules had a feeling he wasn't really listening.
It really did not help that he had Phys Ed with Mr. Shan first block. Mr. Shan was a ruthless drill sergeant-type gym teacher who expected top notch physical form from all his students, and set even more impossibly high expectations for those who happened to be athletes. The class always began with Mr. Shan having the entire class run five laps around the perimeter of the gymnasium. Hercules could only finish two laps before he had to jog out to the water fountain in the hall. He felt dehydrated and fatigued. When he skipped back up to the gym doors, Mr. Shan's hulking figure awaited him.
"Mr. Olympiou," he boomed, butchering the pronunciation of Herc's last name. "Slacking off, are you?"
"No, sir," Hercules said.
"What do you call this then?"
"I just needed a drink of water—I'm not feeling very well today. Sir."
"Ah, I see," Mr. Shan said, crossing his arms with disapproval. "Had a little too much fun last night, did we?"
Hercules ignored the question, "May I go finish my laps now, sir?"
"Start them over," Mr. Shan said, moving to let Hercules through the door. "I expect five more laps from you, right now. No breaks this time."
"Yes, sir," Hercules huffed, and jogged out into the gymnasium.
When he finished the laps, he sat with the rest of the class to stretch as Mr. Shan took attendance.
"You at that party last night?"
Hercules turned to see who was asking the question. He recognized Flynn Ryder—they had met before. Herc remembered Flynn was a senior who had tried out for the football team.
"Yeah, I was," Herc said quietly back.
"Hangover?" Flynn whispered.
"Yep," Herc said, stretching his arms to reach for his toe.
"Ah," Flynn said. "I feel you there."
"You too?" Hercules asked.
"Not this time," Flynn said. "But having one in this class is the worst fate ever."
"You're telling me," Hercules said. "Mr. Shan can tell and he's got it out for me."
"That's rough," Flynn said. "But it won't be too much longer. Good luck, man."
"Thanks."
Football practice was essentially a repeat of gym class. Hercules did poorly relative to his usual performance, Captain Hook gave him a harder time than usual, things were miserable.
"Come on, you miserable scallywag!" Hook shouted in his typically colorful language. "We aren't going to win us a championship with a weak link like yourself, ye' scurvy bastard. We won't even get the chance if you perform like this in the semi-finals, so come on!"
Overall, the team was doing exceptionally well this year—better than the WDHS team had done in decades, in fact. They might even get the chance to compete in the championship this year, and that was a huge monstrous deal. The whole community was brimming with excitement and the team's winning games frequently made front page news in the local paper the next day. The all-star team was getting noticed, especially since one of its key members was female. Despite Hook's current ravings, there wasn't a weak link in the lineup. They were all strong players. Gaston had been replaced, of course, and his replacement was an affable senior named Kenai Atertak. Kenai had never played for the school's team before but he frequently played recreationally and he was quite good. He was probably the least skilled player of the bunch, but he was getting stronger by the day, and he had a clear drive to win and the will to improve exponentially. Each of the other players had their own unique attributes that built up the team to a perfect whole. There was no doubt in Herc's mind, even in his current less-than-stellar condition, that this team could take them all the way to the championship, and win. He laughed to himself. Imagine what a sensation that would be—the championship team and its female MVP.
"What's so funny, smiley?" Hook barked.
Hercules didn't bother to answer. It was a rhetorical question, anyway. He considered to distract himself with his thoughts. Mulan deserved all the attention she would get, he thought. She was a great player and a hard worker—probably the hardest working on the team. She was cunning, too. She always came up with these clever plays and moves that none of the rest of them could have come up with. And of course, Hook would always pretend they were his ideas, but everyone knew where they were coming from. Hercules imagined Mulan on the cover of Sports Illustrated and smiled to himself. Maybe that was a bit grandiose thinking, but it didn't hurt to dream.
"Alright, take five, you bunch of blowfish," Hook barked, and everyone headed for the bleachers or to the water bubbler by the bathrooms.
Hercules was heading towards the bubbler himself when he spotted a girl sitting way up in the stands. He recognized her immediately from her thick mass of curly brown hair. But—it couldn't be, could it? He squinted. He changed paths and jogged over to the bleachers, then climbed up to the top, taking two steps at a time.
"Meg," he said when he got to the top. "I—how are you? I didn't expect to see you here."
"I'm okay," she smiled slightly. "I haven't seen you around much really, so…"
"I promised you I'd leave you alone," Hercules said seriously.
"What?" Meg asked, shaking her head and looking at Hercules with confusion.
"One chance, remember?" Hercules said. "I asked for one chance. You gave it to me, and I'm glad you did. But you weren't impressed, and I respect that. I'll admit I was confused after our date, but… you made yourself perfectly clear at the dance. So I won't try anything else. Cross my heart."
"I—" Meg's mouth fell open for a moment, at a loss for words. "I'm sorry I acted that way at the dance. It wasn't right. And I'm sorry I ran away after our date. I was scared. It wasn't fair to you."
"No, I'm sorry," Hercules said. "I shouldn't have pressured you to go on that date with me. You obviously weren't totally comfortable, and that… and I was wrong."
Meg looked at Hercules for a moment, then smiled. "You're different from most guys I've dated."
"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing," Hercules said.
"We'll see."
Herc's heart felt like it might beat out of his chest. He wasn't sure where this conversation was going, but it seemed pretty hopeful. He liked a bit of hope. Meg didn't say anything else.
"Well, I'd like to be friends, at least," Hercules said. "Can we start over?"
"Sure," Meg said.
"Hi, I'm Hercules," he said, extending his hand.
Meg laughed and took his hand, shaking her head, "Nice to meet you, Hercules."
"Also known as Herc," he said, still shaking her hand with exaggerated enthusiasm. "Or—"
"Wonder Boy," Meg filled in.
"Or Wonder Boy," Herc conceded.
"Nice to meet you, Wonder Boy," Meg said.
"And you are?" Hercules asked genuinely.
"Megara, also known as—"
"Meg?" Hercules said.
"Meg," she agreed. "Or Wonder Girl."
"Wonder Girl!" Hercules said. "How nice it is to meet someone as wonderful as me."
"In your dreams, pal," Meg snorted. "I'm in a whole 'nother league of wonderful from the one you're in."
"Oh, is that so?" Hercules said, putting his leg up on the bench and resting his elbow on his thigh and his chin on his fist. "Well then, I hope I can spend some time with you and maybe absorb some of that wonderfulness—hopefully you can teach me a thing or two about how you manage to be so wonderful."
"I can certainly try," Meg said. "But I require an attentive student. This is a delicate art that requires massive concentration and—dedication!"
"I am your eager student," Hercules said playfully.
A whistle blew down on the field.
"Time's up, lover boy," Hook shouted.
Hercules turned red, "Well, uh—"
"Go," Meg said.
Hercules turned to make his way back down to the field, then he stopped. He turned to Meg and hesitated for a moment.
"Say, um…"
"Yes?"
"We've got this home game on Friday… A pretty big one, actually, it'll decide whether we get into the championship or not. I'd love it if you'd… come watch us win?" Hercules grinned.
"Oh, you're going to win, then?" Meg said, smirking and raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"Hell yeah," Hercules said confidently. "So you coming?"
"I'll see what I can do," Meg smiled.
"We're going to win this thing, you know."
"Hm?"
Shang was looking at the inside of his gym locker door. He looked up at Hercules blankly. Everyone else had hurried out and it was just the two of them left over in the locker room.
"The championship," Hercules said. "I have this feeling. I just know. We're going to win."
"Oh," Shang said, nodding, though he didn't look as sure as Hercules felt. "Yeah, we have a solid team this year—really solid. I think we've got a good shot at it."
"No, we're going to win," Hercules said. "And you know why we're going to win?"
"Well, the team's really good—it's maybe the best team the school's ever had, and—"
"More specifically," Hercules said. "We're strong, yeah, but that's not enough."
Hercules walked around to stand behind Shang. He could see now what was distracting Shang in his locker. Hanging inside his locker door was a small school picture of Mulan.
"We're going to win because of her," Hercules said, reaching over Shang's shoulder and putting his index finger right on the picture of Mulan.
Shang slammed the door shut.
"A team doesn't win because of one person," Shang said, walking to the bench and tying his shoe. "It's a team."
"She's the brains behind the operation!" Hercules said. "Everyone can see it but you."
"What are you trying to say?" Shang asked.
"You're the captain—and she's your girlfriend—and you can't even see that she's the best thing this team has going for it right now," Hercules said. "We're all great players, there's no denying that. But her strategy—it's incredible. It's like she's been doing this her whole life."
Shang looked peeved.
"Look, Shang," Hercules said. "If we win this thing—who's going to be crowned the MVP?"
"Well—I—"
"Were you thinking yourself?" Hercules asked. "You're a great captain, Shang, but don't be so selfish. Think about who the credit should really go to."
Shang looked at the floor, then stood abruptly. He pushed past Hercules roughly.
"Why don't you leave the thinking to me, Herc?" he said brusquely, then, slinging his bag over his shoulder, slammed the door open and stormed out.
Hercules shook his head, gathering his things together. He just wanted Shang to get his head out of his ass and start seeing things as they really were. Hercules could tell it was hard for Shang to accept the fact that the best member of his team might just be female. God forbid it was his girlfriend. Hercules not only wanted to save the team dynamic—he also wanted to save Shang's relationship. Not that it was in any trouble now, but Hercules knew it couldn't last forever if Shang didn't learn to appreciate Mulan and all her awesomeness.
Hercules had spent a lot of time thinking about women lately. Just in general, and one in particular, of course. He realized respect needed to be the number one priority—and giving credit where credit was due was also a major plus. He admitted that he, in the past, had thought of women as inferior. He hadn't intentionally had these thoughts, but it was so ingrained in him socially, that he felt a sense of entitlement. How dare Meg not give him a little bit of attention? But now he realized what was wrong with his previous line of thinking, and he knew that in order for their co-ed team to be successful, Herc had to make sure that the rest of the team was on the same wavelength as him. Most of the team members seemed to share his understanding. The only challenge now was Shang.