Before long, the sweat forming on my hands was beginning to make the bar slick, and the sweat trickling down my forehead was making my face itch. I didn't want to give up. I wanted a max score. Not only because I had yet to attain it but because I was also aware of a pair of devilish eyes that were hooked on me. My facial muscles contorted as I worked feverishly to keep myself up, not wanting to allow my arms to fully extend before time was called. I gritted my teeth and yelled, trying to do anything to combat the hurt expelling itself throughout my muscles as I worked tirelessly to hold my body weight up.
My arms began shaking as I felt my muscles begin to break down from the excessive weight. My body began lowering as I tried in vain to keep it up, but before I knew it, my arms had fully extended and Cpl. Collins was yelling, 'Time.'
'Sixty five seconds, Bennett. Good job!'
'Thank you, Cpl. Collins,' I said through short, quick, breaths.
I pulled the neck of my t-shirt up to my face to wipe the excess sweat away. As I pulled it back down, my eyes met with Cruz. He sent a wicked smirk in my direction before turning and making his way back over to the male side of the field.
'Sixty five seconds. That's bad ass, Bennett,' Dalton said, high-fiving me.
'It's my best yet. In bootcamp, the best I ever did was a full minute.'
'Sweet. Before long, you'll hit seventy seconds and max out on points. Let me know if you want to work out with me. I'll get ya there.'
'Will do.'
Our conversation was broken up by death harrowing cries that came from none other than Allen leaving the pull-up bar. He had maxed out his twenty pull-ups and was celebrating his feat with caveman-like cries that seemed to garner the attention of everyone in attendance. Jensen walked up to him, patting him on the back while whispering something in his ear. He smiled and laughed before making his way over to the water station to hydrate. I had no desire to get tangled up with him again, so I quickly turned my head around before he could catch my stare.
Next was the crunches portion of the test. We were all herded to the grassy area not far from the pull-up station and instructed to grab a partner to count our pull-ups. Once again, Sgt. Cruz took the lead, barking out the directions.
'You will have two minutes to belt out as many crunches as possible. Remember, your arms must stay folded over your chest, your butt must stay in contact with the ground, your feet must remain in contact with the ground, and your elbows must touch your thighs and then back down to the ground in order for it to count. Partners, do not count them if they are not executed correctly. Do you understand that?'
'Yes, Sergeant!' we all yelled.
'Go!'
I partnered up with Angelica since she was near me. She seemed to be taking her frustrations from the bar out on her crunches because she was moving like a well-oiled machine. She worked fast and furiously, taking slight breaths with every upward motion that her body made. At the call of the end of two minutes, Angelica had easily knocked out one hundred, flawless crunches.
'Your turn,' she said, grinning at me. I wasn't sure if she felt like she was in competition with me since I had lasted longer than she had on the bar, but honestly, my effort on that apparatus had nothing to do with her.
The call to begin was given by Sgt. Castillo and I got to work, pumping out crunch after crunch as easily as I breathed. This event was much less strenuous for me than the flexed arm hang had been, and shortly after beginning, I heard Castillo's voice call time. By my own count, I had matched Angelica with one hundred crunches.
When our scores were taken by the instructors walking through the row, I gave the one hundred count for Angelica, but when they turned to her to get my count, she called out, 'ninety.' My mouth hit the floor.
'Ninety?' I shrieked, pissed off at her.
'Yeah, some of those didn't count. You lifted your butt off the ground.'
'Bullshit. I did every single one of them perfectly, and you know it.'
She pouted her plump lips. 'Maybe you thought you did them perfectly, but Sgt. Cruz wasn't far behind, so I don’t know if you thought him seeing your ass would help, but for this, they don't count.'
I wanted to slap the smirk off of her face, but that wouldn't help matters.
'You're a fucking bitch,' I blew out, trying to keep my voice down.
I got up and walked away, feeling like I would let out every ounce of wrath that had suddenly piled up inside of me if I didn't get some space between us. She knew exactly what she was doing. If she was pissed about Sgt. Cruz, Sgt. Jensen, or the fact that I had performed better than her on the bar, she was being petty, and it was beginning to wear thin on me. Unfortunately, before I could figure out how to handle her, I had to get my mind right because we were heading over to the water station to hydrate and stretch before making our way to the three mile run course.
'You ready to give me a run for my money?' Dalton asked as we snapped our reflective belts around our waists. Part of the run course ran alongside the road, and base orders stated that we must wear reflectives anytime we ran before or after daylight as a safety precaution.
'I'm not sure about that. Long distance running has never been my thing,' I responded, trying to be honest about my shortcoming.
'Try to keep up with me. Running with a partner will sometimes surprise the hell out of you.'
'Will do.'
We stood at the line, waiting to be given the command to start.
'You will have twenty-eight minutes to complete your three mile run. One second beyond twenty-eight minutes and you fail. Pace yourselves so that you don't burn out too quickly. Go!' Cruz said, leaving his husky voice as the last thing on my mind as I took off with Dalton by my side.
We started at a medium pace, not too slow, but definitely not as fast as some of the others. Angelica was one of the first off the line, almost moving in a dead sprint as she started her run. That didn't appeal to me at all, knowing if I started that way, I would definitely burn-out by the second mile.
The sun was beginning to rise as we ran, sending scorching rays of heat down on us. My t-shirt and my shorts filled with sweat as I ran, trying desperately to focus on the course instead of the voice of sex coming from Cruz's mouth into my ears. Dalton spoke to me as we ran, but between the living inferno we were running in, and the voice that was assisting in the task of melting me, I could barely make out what he was saying.
We hit mile three, and my legs were beginning to turn into jello. My skin had turned a lobster's shade of red, the sweat acting as a second layer of skin, coating every inch of my body, sealing my t-shirt and my shorts to me while my lips began to chafe and burn. I was slowing down, and even though I knew we only had one mile to go, I was finding it difficult to keep up the pace that Dalton had set for us.
'Come on, Bennett,' he said, through short, deep breaths. 'You can do this. Let's go.'
'Go ahead of me,' I blew out through labored pants. I didn't want him getting a worse time because he was trying to keep me on pace with him.
'You sure?'
'Yeah. I'll be fine.'
With that, Dalton picked up the pace, moving with the ease of a gazelle. He easily glided past other runners, almost as if he hadn't exerted a bit of energy already. I kept to my pace, figuring all I had to do was get to the finish line before twenty-eight minutes struck on the clock.
As I made the final turn, I saw Dalton at the line, calling my name, rooting me on. Angelica wasn't far behind him, staring at me as I inched closer and closer to the finish line.
'Come on, Bennett. You've got this,' he called out, just as I passed the line.
'Twenty-six fifteen,' Castillo called out. I had never been so thrilled. Usually my run time was inching closer to the cut-off mark. Running with Dalton had helped me, even if he finished minutes before I had.
I was panting, desperate for breath and water, when Dalton walked over to me, handing me a water bottle.
