“Your girl just said some fighting words,” Perry spoke.
“I know. I guess we’ll have to prove her wrong, won’t we, boys?” Mateo's head tilted to the side, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. He didn’t argue with his friend calling mehis girl.I tucked that into the back of my mind for later.
Both Jake and Perry crossed their arms. “Guess so.”
“You guys are going to regret those words,” Erin said from behind me.
Before any of us could say another word, Ashley’s familiar voice echoed around the room, followed by a clap. Class was about to start.
Mateo sent me a wink, and I grinned back. This was going to be fun.
“Now breathe inand expand your diaphragm,” Ashley’s soft, almost hypnotic, voice instructed as she moved around the room.
“How am I supposed to fucking breathe like this?” Mateo muttered—scratch that, more like wheezed—next to me. We were currently in a plank-like hold, hands on the bar, the balls of our feet on the moving mat. It wasn’t the hardest position, but we had been here for over a minute.
I turned my head to the left to see Mateo’s arms shaking, face beet red. I pressed my lips together so I wouldn’t laugh.
“Now, let's do thirty pulses. Using your core, bring your knees forward into a crunch and then back out.”
“Wait, what?” Jake panted down the line, his voice echoing through the studio over the music playing.
“She’s fucking with us,” Perry chimed in, a quiver in his tone.
“Thirty pulses—and now!”
I sucked my core in and brought my knees inward. I kept my gaze on my hands, breathing in through my nose and exhaling out of my mouth, trying to control my breathing.
“I’m dying,” Perry moaned.
Jake echoed that same sound. “What kind of torture is this?”
Mateo's voice was hoarse. “I don’t think I’m going to make it.”
If I wasn’t so focused on doing the move, I would have let out my amusement. Erin laughed on my other side. For a bunch of athletes who claimed this class would be easy, they sure were doing a lot of complaining.
“Remember to breathe as you move,” Ashley instructed.
“Oh, I’m fucking breathing alright,” Jake grunted.
The last ten pulses were torture. My core was screaming, and I had sweat dripping off my nose. When Ashley finally ended the countdown, I slowly brought my knees down to the mat.
“Holy hell.”
I turned my head to see Mateo hunched over his machine, his whole body heaving as he took deep breaths.
“Having fun?” I asked, reaching to grab my water.
“Oh, I’m having a blast,” Mateo muttered. I sputtered, choking on my water.
“Just another moment before we continue,” Ashley spoke, stopping any sort of remark I was about to give Mateo.
“Wait, there’s more?” Perry asked, his head popping up to look over at Ashley. The other women in the class chuckled.
“We still have another twenty minutes,” Erin said.
“Twenty more?” He almost looked like he wanted to cry.
All three guys looked at each other in what I assumed was panic. Bet they regretted coming.
