Chapter 9: The Exam

Once Mr. Cross had Cookie on the boys' side of the gym, he blew his whistle loudly and all the boys stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the teacher.

"Gentlemen," he barked like a gunnery sergeant, "I want you all to sit on the floor here, in front of me, in five rows of six."

All the boys walked up to where Mr. Cross now stood and fell into rows, sitting cross-legged on the hardwood floor. The whole time, every one of them had their eyes glued to Cookie who Mr. Cross still held by the upper arm.

"This, guys, is little Cookie-pants. She's our new class member and I expect you men to treat her as one of the guys which," he laughed now as he looked her up and down, "obviously she isn't."

Some of the boys laughed now too while some of the others groaned their disapproval at this curious idea.

"Take a seat on the floor," Mr. Cross told her, pointing to an empty space behind a red-haired boy in the second row.

Feeling an odd embarrassment, Cookie walked to where Mr. Cross had indicated and took her place on the floor, sitting Indian style like the rest of the class but in her white, girls' uniform among all the yellow and blue ones.

"As I told you yesterday," Mr. Cross said now, hugging his clipboard to his chest, "we're all men here," he nodded toward Cookie now, "except, of course, for candy-britches over there ... and I'm going to treat you like men. I don't want any pussies in this class," he again looked over at Cookie, "except for her and she can't help herself."

Cookie could feel a heat in her face now as the boys all seemed to glance sideways at her and laugh at what Mr. Cross was saying. She felt as if she were sitting in some alien, world that she just shouldn't be a part of in any way.

"Today will be physical testing day and I want you guys to form groups out of your rows and we're going to pass out sheets that list the exercises I want you to do. We're going to see how many sit-ups, push-ups, leg lifts and chin-ups you can do today. This way we can judge your progress during the year. Now, the front man, in each row, is the group leader and I want each of you to come up here and get you a paper and pen. Write the names of your group members in the spaces and then do the exercises and write down the number of reps, each man can do, next to their names."

Mr. Cross blew his whistle and all the row leaders ran up to him as everyone else stood and walked, in groups, to various parts of the boys' side of the gym. Cookie went with her group of boys and stood with them.

"What are you doing in this class?" The question was asked by Andy Pasco, a short, freckle-faced boy from her grade-school class last year.

"I don't know," Cookie told him. "I really don't."

"Well, I don't like it," a tall, dark haired boy said as he stepped to her, a hint of anger in his voice and his hands balled into fists. "What the hell are you trying to prove?"

"Shut up, Reynolds," another even taller, black-haired boy said to him, pushing him away from her. "This could be fun, having her here with us." Cookie saw him appraise her slowly and lick his lips before he added, "Think of the possibilities."

As the red-headed boy who was to be their leader arrived with his paper and his pencil, he knelt before them and set the paper on the floor. "Give me your names," he told them as he prepared to write and then each member of the group took their turns giving their names.

"Joey Reynolds," the dark-haired boy said.

"John Shanahan," announced the larger boy.

"Andrew Pasco."

"Mike Sherzer."

"Henry Giesman."

"Cookie Mullins."

"Okay," Mr. Cross called from the front of the class, "sit-ups are first. Three in each group should lay on the floor while the other three grab one of them by the ankles and hold them down while they do as many sit-ups as they can. Hands folded behind your heads. Then you group leaders write those numbers down. After that you holders can switch with your partner and take your turn.

John Shanahan, the large, black-haired boy who had said having Cookie in the class could be fun, stepped to her and, towering over her, said, "Okay. You lay on the floor and I'll hold your ankles for you."

All the other boys had paired off and half of them were laying on their backs, starting to do their sit-ups, while the others held their ankles. Cookie sat on the floor and then lay back as the big boy got down at her feet and grabbed her ankles, just above her new, white gym shoes.

"Go ahead now," he told her, seemingly staring down at the juncture of her upper thighs and lower torso, "see how many sit-ups you can do."

Mr. Cross was now standing next to them as Cookie locked the fingers of her hands together, behind her head, as she had seen the other students do.

"Pull yourself up using your back and belly muscles, Sugar-bumps," Mr. Cross yelled down at her, "knees apart and then touch your left knee with your right elbow and alternate until you've done fifty."

Cookie scooted down so that her knees were up and then gritted her teeth in determination as she tried to lift her upper body. She could feel her stomach muscles strain as she pulled her upper body from the hardwood floor and, with much effort, was able to touch her left knee with her right elbow and then her right knee with her left elbow before the strain caused her to settle back to the floor.

"Two?" Mr. Cross yelled down at her. "You can only do TWO?"

"I'm trying," she called up to him.

"Trying? You don't TRY, honey-britches. You DO!"

Cookie strained upward again and actually did three more of the exercises before she fell back to the floor, winded and with her stomach muscles aching.

"You're a sad, weak, waste of my time," Mr. Cross yelled down at her before he turned and walked away.

John Shanahan, still looking down at her legs, laughed and let go of his grip on her ankles.

Big John Shanahan then did fifty-six sit ups as Cookie tried her best to pin his big feet to the floor.

She then failed miserably at push-ups, chin ups and all other tests of physical strength that morning.

When the hour was up, Mr. Cross had everyone gather around him as he passed out slips of paper to each class member. "These are your passes to leave your classes and come back here for sixth hour. Every student enrolled in Phys-ed has to take an exam, this afternoon, and be okayed by a doctor to do physical activity. He'll be here from two until three so get your asses back here and get this done. Now hit the showers!"

Back at the girls' locker room, Cookie was shunned by the other girls as she took her shower and changed into her school clothes. They just avoided her, sat far away from her, or flashed her dreadful, curious looks as they went about showering, dressing and primping in the bathroom mirrors.