..........." by the way do you know what?" "What?" I asked "He fancied you," she replied. "No he didn't!" I said a little indignantly. "Yes he did and you fancied him too," Meryl responded. The Price To Pay - Vol. 4.7 - Gym by Alys

I waved at Mum as she drove off in the heavy Autumn rain. I turned and strode towards the entrance of the PPL health and Leisure centre, pulling the hood, of my coat, over my head to keep my hair dry. I walked through the automatic doors and looked around in the foyer.

"Hey Celyn!" a familiar voice shouted from the other side of the foyer, in the small lounge.

I looked to see Meryl standing and waving. I walked up to the young female receptionist. She was typing something on her keyboard, she looked up and smiled at me.

"Hello, I think my friend has signed me in for a visitor's pass, she's over there," I said pointing in Meryl's direction.

The receptionist looked over and then flicked through a series of cards on her desk. She took one and held it up.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Celyn Morus," I replied.

"That's OK, Celyn, you can go through," the receptionist said pressing the button to open the turnstile, "did you want one of the trainers to show you round?"

"It's OK," I responded," my friend said she would explain everything to me"

"OK, but if you change your mind Phillip and Fiona are around somewhere. I hope you enjoy yourself," said the receptionist, before returning to whatever she was doing on her computer.

I hugged Meryl and she then led me to the changing rooms. There were only a few women, of various shapes and sizes, in the place. After storing our outdoor clothes in adjacent lockers we made our way back to the gym area.

"Wow, we have our own TV's," I said as I started my warm up run on the treadmill, referring to the small LCD TV that was part of the control panel.

"Did you bring your earphones?" Meryl asked.

"Yes, but I want to hear all the 'goss' about Franklinstein first," I said.

Meryl laughed and proceeded to tell me about the meeting she, Sioned and the other eight pupils, who had joined the boycott, had had on Friday afternoon. Part of my reason for coming to the gym for an induction had been to get a first hand account of the encounter.

"Did he really say that?" I asked, when Meryl had described his reaction.

"Yes, I quote verbatim, 'No ex-boy is going to tell me what to do', was his final comment before he shut the door on us", she replied.

"Well I suppose technically he is correct, I am an ex-boy," I said quietly. I felt annoyed with myself at feeling upset at the reported jibe and pushed the pace of my treadmill up to try and burn off my anger.

"It was the tone that was nasty, not just what he said," Meryl continued," but listen you know we all think of you as one hundred percent girl"

I pounded into the treadmill, wishing that I was running on top of the loathsome teacher's head. Meryl upped her pace to keep up with me. Soon we were both dripping from our exertions. The programme on the machine changed to cool down and we both began breathing more easily.

"Oh listen, there was something else," Meryl suddenly said.

"What?"

"I was talking to Rachel yesterday, you know in the Netball team," she continued.

I nodded my recognition of the name.

"Well, listen to this," Meryl said with a smile on her face," she was so disgusted with Franklinstein that she said she was going to tell her boyfriend that he had to drop Biology too!"

"Who's her boyfriend?" I asked.

"You know, 'The Hulk'," she replied.

"You mean Tom, in the Rugby team?" I asked.

"Yes and do you know what that will mean?" she asked.

I thought for a few seconds and then the implication of what Meryl was hinting at struck me.

"There won't be anyone left in the class at all!" I said jubilantly.

"Ten out of ten, give that girl a gold star, the other two Neanderthals in the class are bound to follow his lead" said Meryl laughing, " come on let me show you some of the other machines here. Fancy doing a bit of rowing?"

I followed Meryl and we spent twenty minutes rowing, and then some further time on the cross trainer and exercise bikes. I was very impressed by the newness of the equipment and the fact that we didn't have to queue for anything, compared with the local authority gym that I had used a few times.

"Well what do you think?" asked Meryl as we made our way back to the changing rooms after a short session on the weights.

"It's brill," I replied," how much did you say it was?" I asked.

"Twenty a month, off peak for students," she replied.

"Sounds ideal, just the thing I need to build up my strength for football," I said.

Meryl, gave me a strange look and then smiled at me and we changed to relax in the spa and steam room.

"Thanks for suggesting this Meryl," I said as we sat in the darkened steam room, listening to relaxing classical music.

"I'm glad you came, Celyn, " she responded, " it's strange I think this is the longest time I've spent alone with you since we....." she struggled to complete the sentence.

"were together?" I suggested.

"Well yes, that's what I meant, except that feels like it was with someone else, a different Celyn. It's all a bit confusing" she said.

I put my hand gently on hers.

"Meryl, I am so glad we can be friends after everything that happened and remember I owe you an awful lot"

She squeezed my hand in response and smiled at me. I felt the need to change the subject.

"Listen," I said in a light hearted tone, " tell me how Rachel managed to persuade 'The Hulk' to join the boycott"

"It's a bit obvious, what do you think she said," Meryl smirked at me.

I looked at her, she smiled at me, she made an obscene gesture. Realisation dawned. I put my hand to my mouth.

"Oh, you mean that!"

"Yes," she said laughing.

I joined her and soon the two of us were almost doubled under with our merriment. The four adults in the room, along with us, looked on disapprovingly.

Later on after long, luxurious showers we were sat in the members' lounge drinking our complimentary coffees. Phillip the trainer passed me the bank forms to sign to complete my membership.

"That's great Celyn," he said," glad to have you as a member"

I was aware that he was appraising me and his body language indicated an attraction, I was aware that he was very hunky too.

"So, tell me, what sort of programme would be interested in following?" he asked.

"I mainly need to build up my strength and speed," I replied.

"Why is that?" Phillip asked.

"I need to keep up with the rest of the team," I replied and then continued further on seeing confusion on his face," the school football team"

"I'm not sure I understand, what is the problem?" he inquired.

"She plays for the BOY'S football team in school," interjected Meryl, " she was captain of the Welsh schools' under sixteen team last year"

A strange mixture of emotions flashed across Phillip's face. He recovered his composure and responded,

"That's no problem, I'll draw up a suitable programme for you and it'll be at reception the next time you come"

I thanked him and we both left the warm, comfortable surroundings of PPL's little sports' outpost in Casnewydd.

"I can't wait to get to school tomorrow to see what the reaction of the Biology department is," I said as we put our coats on brave the inclement weather outside.

"It should be fun," responded Meryl," by the way do you know what?"

"What?" I asked

"He fancied you," she replied.

"No he didn't!" I said a little indignantly.

"Yes he did and you fancied him too," Meryl responded.

"He's a handsome man, but don't be silly, I love Siá´n" I stated firmly.

Meryl's father pulled up in his Zafira, with the rest of Mery's family inside.

"See you tomorrow, but think, you won't always be with Siá´n you know," Meryl said before running off through the heavy rain into the refuge of the car.

I waved back to her as she left and pondered her last remark.