Calvin stood in front of the open gym gate, his eyes following Braeden and the ball in his hands. It was the gym class and they were playing a sort of reverse dodgeball game, where the one who is 'it' will have to hit everyone around them with the ball, anywhere except the palm and the head.  You can catch the ball with your palms and if the 'it' touches you while you are holding the ball you are out.

(A/N: I am not making this up, there is a game called 'king')

Calvin wasn't the most athletic guy in the class, not by far, but he made up for it by his brains. There was a rule, that the thrower can't walk with the ball in their hands. They would have to throw the ball from where they are standing. So what Calvin did was dabble the ball as he walked closer to his victim until he was close enough to hit. 

He wasn't technically walking with the ball in his hands. Braeden, the cheater, was using his own trick against him. 

'But dear bro,' he thought, 'if you are the smart parrot, I'm the sly fox.' He was standing in one if the narrower part of the pitch, which was open from behind, so when Braeden throws his ball at him he would catch it and throw it out of the pitch and that would give him time to escape.

But Braedon knew Calvin like the back of his palm. He knew Calvin was going to catch the his ball and throw it out of the pitch, so instead if throwing it softly and coming closer to Calvin, he threw it fast.

The area was narrow, and there was no place for Calvin to dodge. And then, it was like his body went on auto mode. His entire body gymnastically twisted to the right, with his feet remaining in the same place, and his right hand shooting out to push the already fast flowing ball out. 

"Calvin, please tell me you're not a part time gymnast."

Calvin grinned and ran away to the other end of the pitch.

*******************

The obstacle course was impossible to complete. 

Period.

He felt like he was in a video game and the person behind the remote control is either high or a baby.

Calvin started talking to himself, a habit he often uses to calm down.

"Okay, relax. One by one. First, you have to pass this." In front of him was a horizontal ladder, that you have to hang on with your hands and do an upside down hand stand. 

Calvin, couldn't do that.

He had tried before with Braedon and he knew he couldn't. On the top of the already impossible challenge that was passing the monkey bars, there were various bats below the bars that were swinging at regular intervals. So, he'd have to pull himself up by his arms when they came. 

If by some miracle he actually managed to pass the monkey bars he'd get his butt whooped by the bats.

But he wasn't going to give up before he tried. 

"Okay, time to get creative." The ladder wasn't too high. If he had enough momentum....

He went back a few steps, took a run, put his hands on the first bar and immediately fell back on the ground. 

Huh. 

His plan was to pull himself above the ladder with enough momentum. He tried again two to three time but failed. They made it look too easy in the movie. 

"Okay. No need to panic." Calvin took a deep breath, wiping his sweat covered hands on his pants. He walked closer to the first bar and held it tightly. Then he, very ungracefully, flung his right feet on the ladder and rolled him on the top of the ladder like he did when tried to climb a fence.

 Now, he was on all fours, above the ladder he was supposed to hang on.

Yeah, he was definitely failing this.

He shrugged and started crawling. He picked all the golden balls on the ladder on his way. The balls disappeared the moment he touched them and he hoped it meant collected. 

They were often on the extreme corners of the bars or in between the bars floating so it would be difficult to collect them when you're hanging upside down. They were also almost everywhere on the top of the bats so you had to be quick or you get hit by a bat.

Calvin's way, he didn't have to dodge the swinging stuff that was below the ladder either. He reached the end of the ladder easily enough. 

Now came the issue. 

The ladder ended in a circular plate with a upside down dome above it. Normally, he'd just have to jump down the scaling ladder into the circle, but since he was above the ladder, it wasn't that easy for him.

He could balance and stand up and try to jump into the sphere from above, where there was a hole in the sphere surrounding a metal pole just enough for him to squeeze through, probably for the mechanisms. He could jump onto the pole and slide down it. 

It was a long shot and he doubted even Braedon could do it, but he wasn't going down without trying. 

He was going to be really unprepared for whatever was inside the dome, but oh well...

He stood there balanced for two minutes, steeling his nerves. "Okay, you can do it, Calvin." He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and jumped.

He found the pole!

He slid down the pole easily enough and with some pleasing dings! collected three balls down the pole. 

The inside of the sphere was empty, so he supposed the task was climbing up the pole and getting the balls. Which was pretty impossible. 

You can't climb up an almost frictionless metal pole with no support. At least, Calvin can't. 

So, in a way, he got the balls because he came the way he did. 

Yep. He was definitely failing this.

He went to the other side of the sphere, which was a pool of water, with different coloured steps floating on it. 

(Imagine a colourful version of this)

Calvin smirked, "This...I can do." He picked up the pebbles in the circles he had previously dismissed as maintenance defect. 

He could pick out the steady and unsteady steps easily enough. But, the real issue was that the steps were moving. He was going to stumble and fall.

He was pretty sure swimming across the pool wouldn't count.

He plopped a pebble on the first red step and when it stayed firm, jumped on it. He nearly fell on the first step itself when it moved. He threw a stone at a nearby step, it stayed firm, but by the time he was ready to jump, it had floated too far away.

The next step sunk down when he threw a pebble. So did the one after it. He missed the aim when he threw the fourth pebble, and he was running out if pebbles. 

He stopped, calmed himself and looked at the pattern in the movement of the steps. He stood there for a whole five minutes, until his eyes nearly went cross. 

He realised that while most the steps moved in completely random motions, the red ones only moved horizontally. Also, all the pebbles he threw on the red ones showed that they were firm.

After that, he crossed the lake in a breeze. He only almost fell in the water thrice, got his feet dunked in the lake twice, and stumbled countless times. But at least he got all the balls. 

He finally ended up at the floor at the edge, and stumbled and fell.

"Wow, Calvin," he said sarcastically, "Cross a pool of water without falling, and promptly fall on land." 

"You're right." A voice said from the door on the other side of the room. "You're one of a kind." 

It was the teacher from before.

"Uh...what are you referring to, sir?" He asked.

"Many things. For instance, you're polite. Not many nobles are. Next, unlike many students from before, you actually used your brains and waited and figured out the pattern of the steps. Your balance isn't the best, but it can be worked on. Oh, and you're definitely the first guy to go on the top of the scaling ladder." 

Calvin shifted on his feet nervously, "Do I get on trouble for that?"

"Oh no. You're creative, I like that. You're body isn't in the best condition, but it can change. Besides, you've collected all the golden balls. You're definitely getting an A here."

Calvin smiled with relief and walked out of the room to the ground outside, where he was supposed to wait for everyone to complete. 

He sat down on one of the benches outside. For a whole five minutes, he sat in a daze. 

I got an A in physical.

I definetly got an A in study.

I got an A in both!

That's not happened in so long!

But what if the coach was wrong?

What if the higher authorities didn't agree to give me an A?

He sat muddled in his thoughts, when he saw Susan come out of the study room. Her eyes scanned the grounds and Calvin gave her a thumbs up before she went to the obstacle course of doom. After that, Calvin looked around to see other people talking about their tests or waiting anxiously for their tests.

It was like that before he made friends with Braeden. He sat alone and looked at people and observed. It resulted in him knowing a lot of things about a lot of people, which often ended up in people thinking that he was a stalker, but he was just observant. 

The boy from his set of kids, not the jerk, ran out of the obstacle course room. His body was shaking and he was sweating. He was shivering anxiously. 

He sat down beside Calvin, put his head in his arms and started mumbling something.

What was Calvin supposed to do in such a thing?