Boy Oh Boys! (Season 1)

Chapter 5-4

Charlie followed her dormmates into the building and looked around. The Break-a-Sweat Recreation Center was enormous!

"Does anyone see Pace?" Demeter scanned the atrium.

"I do not," Max shook his head.

"Well, we're gonna have to find him in order to convince him!" said Rib. "Let's split up," he decided, and before Charlie knew it, she was left alone in the entry hall.

"Great," she sighed, glancing at the navigational signs. An arrow with the word 'gymnasium' pointed to a corridor ahead. "Well, I guess I have to start somewhere. Maybe I can also meet some gymnast girls in there who can help me practice my cheers!" Now starting to feel a bit excited, Charlie started down the hall, hopes high.

The gym was bigger than any she had ever seen- and filled with boys and girls.

"Hey! Those girls are practicing cheers over there!" Charlie's face lit up as she spotted a blonde girl with pink streaks and a tiny girl with a pixie-cut across the room. "Excuse me," she ran over. "Are you cheerleaders?"

"Can't you tell?" the blonde grinned towards a set of nearby pom-poms.

"Do you think I could practice with you?" Charlie asked them, completely abandoning her task of searching for Pace.

"You cheer too?" the tiny girl raised her brows. "I don't recognize you from Juno. Are you new?"

"Oh, no. I don't go to Juno Academy," said Charlie. "I go to Olympus," she told them before she realized how strange it must have sounded.

"Olympus???" the blonde made a face. "You're a boy???"

"No!" Charlie shouted quickly, but the girls only stared at her, clearly not convinced.

"Are you trying to hit on us or something? You'd better leave us alone before our boyfriends come back," warned the blonde.

"Yeah! I hope they beat you up!" yelled her friend. "Oh! There they are now! Madsen!!!"

Charlie spun around to see mega Madsen crossing the gym, Bradford bouncing a basketball behind him.

"Babyyy, this guy's messing with us!" the blonde grabbed Bradford's shoulder.

"Yeah! Make him go away, Maddie!" the tiny girl pouted at her giant boyfriend.

"You've got it all wrong! I'm a girl!" Charlie tried to tell the cheerleaders, but the Spartans instantly turned on her.

"It doesn't matter what you are," growled Bradford. "We don't let Athenian scum bother our girls!"

Madsen nodded and crossed his arms, and Bradford bounced his basketball hard onto the wall just above Charlie's head. Charlie winced, but as the ball sprung back towards Bradford, someone else caught it.

"I think you need to leave now," said a voice, and Charlie looked up to see Pace standing there, basketball in hand.

At this, Madsen took a step forward and for a moment, Charlie thought they were going to fight. However, Pace simply glared at them. Then, in a fake-out motion, he acted as if he was going to throw the ball right into Bradford's face. Bradford flinched, but Pace only kicked the basketball across the gym as if he were playing soccer.

"Go play," he said, and to Charlie's surprise and glee, the Spartans and their girlfriends scurried away.

Charlie gratefully turned to Pace.

"Thank you, Pace," she told him in awe. "But... why did you do that?"

Pace stared at her hard before answering.

"Because you're mine to mess with," he smirked and walked away.

"Pace! Wait!" Charlie ran to follow him down the hall and under an archway connecting to the natatorium. "Wow!" she halted fast, staring at the large, rippling pool. The water stretched across the room, and a ton of kids were swimming and splashing around.

"I'm telling you, I can win in a race any day, any time," Demeter was treading water next to Zenith.

"You're on!" Zenith narrowed his eyes. "It'll be good to practice losing now, since I'm gonna beat you at the Olympics, too!"

At the mention of 'Olympics', Demeter frowned slightly.

"Okay, in 3, 2,-" Demeter began to count down, but Zenith took off early.

"Hey! You cheated!" Apollo shouted from poolside.

"That is not fair!" Max turned to Rib.

"I'll take care of it," he grinned. "SHAAAAARK!!!!!" Rib screamed, sending the room into a panic as everyone hurried out of the water.

"Wha?" Zenith popped up at the other end of the pool to find no one else around and Rib turned to Demeter, looking very pleased.

"Hey! Charlie's here!" cried Apollo, noticing her presence.

"Charlie! Are you here to appreciate my beautiful build?" Demeter climbed out of the pool and flexed.

"Uhh..." Charlie glanced away awkwardly.

"Can we go now?" Pace said suddenly. He was leaning against the wall and looking very unamused.

"You found Pace?" Max smiled at Charlie.

"We can't go already!" Rib frowned. "We just got here! You haven't even seen the track yet! It's awesome! I can show you-" Rib started for the door, but Pace remained still.

"Don't think I don't know what you guys are trying to do," he said, looking stone-faced. "I'm not gonna change my mind. We're not entering the competition." With that, Pace exited the room, leaving five very unhappy dormmates behind.