Author's Note: And here we have chapter 3, all edited and fixed up.
Michel & Josette
Chapter 3: Crazy Fitness Test
Three days later, Michel was lying in bed, rubbing his sore head. He looked absolutely terrible. His skin was covered in ugly, purplish red bruises, there were claw marks embedded into his skin, and bandages covered some of the wounds. However, he was dressed in his usual attire.
"Bad things keep happening to me…" Michel mumbled, wincing and sighing as he sat up from the bed.
Bartholomew was on the ground, curled up and napping, seriously hungry and getting a bit skinny.
"I'm…not good at taking care of pets, am I?" Michel muttered, looking down at his pet cat. "I have to feed her something…anything. However, I don't have any more cat food."
Bartholomew opened one of her eyes, watching him very closely and hungrily. She thought, would a human taste good?
Michel dragged himself into his kitchen, clicking his tongue a few times, calling for Bartholomew to follow him. The white cat slowly got up and quietly followed the young man.
Michel opened one of his cabinets and pulled out some potato chips. Then he went to his fridge and took out some leftover noodles. He then sat both items onto the table. He stared at them for a long moment before looking down at his pet cat.
"Do you…like potato chips and noodles, Bartholomew?" Michel questioned the cat.
"Meow…" Bartholomew replied uncaringly.
"I'll take that as a yes!" Michel declared, grabbing a plate and pouring the leftover noodles onto it along with a couple of potato chips. When he was done, he put the plate down onto the ground for Bartholomew. "Bon Appétit, Bartholomew!"
Bartholomew stared at the food before eating it, forcing the food down her throat.
Michel smiled at her before grabbing his coat, slipping it on and then grabbing his apartment keys. "I'm going out to get you some food and some stuff…you know. Who knows? I might see Josette again!"
Bartholomew began to wonder why he wanted to see her again when he knew something bad was bound to happen.
"I'll see you later, au revoir!" he said goodbye to the cat before leaving, slamming the door behind him.
Outside, Michel was extremely fortunate and lucky to see Josette walking along a sidewalk, dressed in some dark violet colored, exercise getup.
Michel was confused, but also thrilled to see her. He merrily made his way over to her, completely forgetting about her laughing at his pain three days ago with the pigeon attack and everything. He began to wonder why she was dressed like that though.
"Josette!" Michel called out to her in a sing song voice.
Josette immediately stopped walking at the sound of his voice and turned around, a frown on her face.
"Melville, is that you?" she spoke.
Michel collapsed to the ground (anime-style) before getting up again, facing her and grinning like a fool.
"Actually, it's Michel!" he tells her cheerfully. "It's good to see you again, Josette! What are you up to?"
Josette turns away from him and starts walking again, ignoring his question and wearing a grin on her face.
Michel blinked a few times before quickly following her. "Josette! Where are you going?" he repeated.
"If you must know, Merkel, I'm going to a fitness center. You know, that's where people get fit and stuff. I'm going there to do some intense exercising," Josette finally replied. "You might not want to follow me. I doubt you've even been to a fitness center anyway."
"Nope. I haven't! However, there's a first for everything!" Michel says very optimistically, wearing a giant smile.
Josette rolled her eyes, but her grin did not falter. "Fine, come if you dare," she tells him.
Michel didn't know what she meant by that, but continued to follow her anyway, completely forgetting about going shopping for some cat food and groceries.
Once they reached their destination, Josette entered and immediately walked over to a counter, handing whoever was behind the counter a card. She began chatting away with the person behind the counter, but Michel wasn't paying any attention to them. He was too busy looking around at everything in the fitness center.
From afar, he could see lots of weight lifting machines, dumbbells, barbells, pulley machines, and many other contraptions. He even saw people on rubber balls doing some kind of aerobic exercises. There was some fast music blaring out from speakers on the walls and everyone was just working hard.
Michel was fascinated.
Suddenly, a pair of fingers snapped in front of his face, breaking him out of his trance.
"Hey, Meredith, are you there?" asked Josette, snickering a bit at the dazed expression on his face.
Michel blinked a few times before looking at her, giving her a short nod. "Uh…yeah, I'm here. What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, Merlin," Josette answered, still snickering a little. "I'm finished signing in. I paid for you so you could join me on my exercising. Are you ready or what?"
"Oh thank you…" Michel felt a little bad that she had to pay for him. He made a mental note to pay her back.
"Don't be surprised if people start giving you weird looks," Josette tells him as she walks out onto the workout floor, heading towards the machines.
Michel quickly followed her. "Huh? Why would they be giving me weird looks? Is my hair alright?" he reached up towards his hair, fingering it delicately with a baffled expression dancing on his features.
Josette laughed loudly. "Nothing's wrong with your hair, Merrick!"
Michel let his hands drop to his sides as they both stop in front of an unoccupied treadmill. Then he started smirking. "So you think my hair is nice?" he asked her.
Josette sighed in pure annoyance and rolled her eyes, getting onto the treadmill and starting it. It started moving, causing her to move as well in a slow walk. "No, Merrill. I don't think your hair is nice or anything. It's rather plain if you ask me," she said.
Michel looked very annoyed now and he got onto another treadmill beside her, starting it and moving in a slow walk, like her. "First of all, my hair is not plain, it is very attractive! Second, I am very attractive; period! And lastly, my name is Michel!"
Josette rolled her eyes and picked up the speed on the machine. Now she was jogging normally. "Whatever, Merry!"
Michel narrowed his eyes and started jogging on his machine as well, not wanting Josette to be moving faster than him.
Josette knew what he was thinking and picked up speed on her treadmill, now going into an ordinary run. Of course, Michel picked up speed as well, going into a run too.
Josette shook her head at his antics before picking up more speed, running a bit faster and never breaking a sweat. She also made the treadmill go into incline so it would be like she was running up a hill.
Again, Michel did the same from beside her, breaking out into a sweat and breathing a bit deeply. He suddenly realized why Josette said he might get some weird looks from people.
He wasn't dressed properly for this.
Michel shook his head and continued on, not giving up. This is a test! This is a test to see who is the fittest! I will not lose to Josette! I will show her how strong I can be! He thought, determination burning in his eyes. I can go much faster than her and I can run for a long time without stopping!
Josette picked up the speed until she was sprinting, not even breaking a sweat or breathing that heavily. She also moved the incline higher.
Michel did the same, but going much higher than her and sprinting much faster than her. He was breathing wildly and groaning in pain. His chest felt like it was on fire! Also, he was sweating uncontrollably. He knew he looked terrible right now with his bruises, wounds, bandages, and sweat.
People were starting to stare and gawk at him.
Josette was still sprinting quickly, still not breaking a sweat or breathing that heavily. Her breathing was controlled and normal. She looked to be in deep concentration, staring straight ahead, but also watching Michel from the corner of her eye.
Michel looked like a rabid beast as he breathed wildly and tried not to pass out. His chest was getting worse and he felt like collapsing.
And that is exactly what he did.
He collapsed right there on the spot, falling onto his face on the still moving treadmill, and then falling onto the ground.
People rushed over to see if he was alright, but he had already begun to lose consciousness.
He thought he heard Josette snickering in the background before everything went totally black…
Looks like Josette was the fittest…