Jumping master

Date: 8/27/2017

It's high school gym class, and we have a visiting pro sports team. They're all basketball players, but the sport is not strictly basketball. All the guys have those springy stilt things on, so they all just bounce around, really high, and do flips and such in the air. There are basketball hoops, but they are much much higher than normal, so you could really only use them if you were in the springy stilts. Everyone in my class is awestruck. "So. Cool." After an introduction and stuff, we are each given a pair of springy stilts, called "boots", but beginners ones that are easier to control and don't bounce you quite as high. The basketball players and the instructors would go around helping people, and most of my classmates fell a lot at the beginning. They put out a whole bunch of tennis balls, which we would toss to each other as we tried out our boots. They kept saying how we needed to start small and learn the basics before doing anything else, so that we didn't get hurt, but it felt really natural to me and I hadn't even fallen yet. I took a running leap and bounced myself up on top of the collapsed bleachers (about 25 feet up). I didn't find it difficult at all, and I landed quite smoothly. My classmates were stunned, and the instructors were nervous that I was going to hurt myself. "Relax, I can do this," I say as I jump, spring off the gym floor and do a front flip, landing it easily. All I did was try to imitate what I'd seen the players do. Now all my classmates want to try flips too, but most of them are either too scared to actually go for it, or they can't execute it well. Bouncing around feels a lot like flying, and I absolutely love the feel, so I try some more flips, and going higher and such. Some of the players have started a little game on one side of the court so I join in. After a bit, it's time for our class to take our boots off, so some people head off to the locker room. I want to stay as long as possible so I keep jumping around, doing aerials and twist flips and such. One of the instructors, the coach of the pro team (Laurence Fishburne) has been quietly observing from the back corner. He comes over and says I look like I have a lot of talent, so he tells me he's going to allow me to use a pair of regular boots rather than the training ones. He says that he doesn't really know how I managed to do a lot of tricks almost the same as his players when I had only training boots on, and wants to know what I could do with a real pair. I'm really excited, but a little nervous now because everyone is watching me. I get the new boots on and instantly feel the difference. Jumping is way easier now, and I can go much higher with less effort. The players are in disbelief. They've spent years of their lives perfecting their skills, and here I can do just as good as them after ten minutes. I channel my gymnastics skills and do a bunch of tumbling, but because of my boots, I don't ever have to use my hands. There are still a few of my classmates hanging around with boots on, and there's this one really short kid who just can't seem to get the hang of it. He wants so badly to know what it feels like. I decide to help him out by offering him a piggy back ride. The players warn me that something like that is too advanced, that I won't be able to do it with someone else on my back. I don't listen, I know I can do it. The kid hops on and I jump up onto this huge platform (looked like a step up box but like 50 feet tall). Everyone goes "woooooah!" Wordlessly I jump back down towards the floor then spring up waaaay high until I grasp onto one of the beams on the ceiling. The kid clinging to my back is amazed, but also a little terrified because we're hanging several hundred feet off the ground. I tell him to just hold on, and then I drop back down, gently, and let him off. The players can't believe I just did it. "Do it again," they say. "Alright." I bounce up to the platform, and this time I take my boots clear off, so I'm barefoot. I leap down, absorbing the shock by bending my knees as my feet touch the floor, then spring back up and shoot towards the ceiling, grabbing on as I did before. The players grumble to each other. Back on the ground, I get back into my boots. The instructor coach guy gives me a bunch of tests to complete, different tricks and stuff. A few of them take a few tries, since it's stuff I've never heard of and I have to figure out what exactly he's describing, but for the most part it's pretty easy. His face is pretty stoic the whole time, thoughtful. He leaves for a minute, then comes back to tell me privately that he thinks I should join his club thing or whatever. I ask if he means I'm going to be on his pro team, and point out that they're all guys, but he says that I'm beyond their skill level, he thinks I can go further than that. He gives me a little business card thing and explains that he's a part of this elite secret club/group whatever that are the best of the best in the world. He explains that it's very hard to get into and can only happen by invite. (I think it might've been a superhero thing where they'd save the world in secret idk) He tells me that he's willing to train me, to try and help me pass the entrance tests, but that it will be extremely hard work and I'll have to pretty much give up the rest of my life for this thing that isn't even a guarantee. I could pass all the tests and be super good and still might not get in. "Teach me everything you know," I say decidedly. I'll probably never see my classmates again, or my family, but I'm okay with that. This is what I was meant for, I can feel it. I head to the locker room to change. I can't say anything to anyone, it's all very secretive of course. That's not much of a problem for me, I don't talk to my classmates much anyway. Some of them though want to know what the coach guy was talking to me about. I stay quiet as normal. Then we're all back out in the gym, waiting for the bell for next period, so I decide to jump around some more, but without boots. Somehow I'm just reaaally good at jumping. I'm up on a platform when I hear my phone ringing from inside my bag which is over on the other side of the gym. The coach guy is standing over in the doorway with his phone to his ear, staring at me. "Why aren't you picking up?" He questions. I just kind of stare at him like "really dude..." He walks away. I sigh and jump off over to my phone. I pick it up on the last ring, but happen to answer right after it goes to voicemail. "I'm sorry, but you're two seconds late, your chance is over." The automated voice sing songs to me. I roll my eyes, tossing it back in the bag. This guy is going to have to learn sooner or later that I don't play silly games like this. I'm not worried about him giving up on me, because I know there's no way he's going to let my kind of talent slip through his hands--I could tell he was desperate, he wouldn't have told me about his secret club otherwise.