Finals: The Dolbin School Book 4 -Chapter 8 The Work Out----Also the book is now available for Preorder on Kindle
Finals: The Dolbin School Book 4
I am serializing my next book here first before it is available anywhere else. It is still in the formatting stage at the moment. I have serialized the other three books here on Steemit in the past year. Here are the first chapters from where I serialized each book.
Dolbin School for the Extraordinary
You can click here to see them on Amazon.
And Now this book is available for preorder on Amazon. Click here to have it delivered to your Kindle when it is released.
Hope you follow along! Click here for Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7
Chapter 8--The Workout
“You’ll have your summative assessment tomorrow. Be prepared for that. Review the videos we used in class, which can found on your tablet. Have a good afternoon, and message me if you have any questions,” said Dr. Fisher, wrapping up her fourth grade math class.
The class stood up from their desks and headed for the door. Brad stood up from his table in the back corner of the room, he dragged his feet as he waited for Jake and Mark to leave, he wanted to avoid contact with them.
Jake and Mark headed for the elevator to head back to Craven Hall. Brad ducked to his right and headed down the stairwell to the first floor, and made for the gym. High school students were heading out of the gym. They towered over Brad and didn’t notice him. Brad weaved in and out and dodged the taller students and made it into the gym. Banner was standing in the middle of the gym looking at his tablet. Banner looked up.
“Afternoon Mr. Cushing, get dressed and I will see you at the weights after you run your four warm-up laps,” Banner motioned to the track that ran along the edge of the gym.
Brad quickly changed and began running his laps. It was just him and Banner in the gym. Brad ran one lap and picked up his pace. His breath quickened as he ran. Sweat formed on the back of his neck. He was running faster at the start of the third lap.
“Remember Mr. Cushing you’re here to lift weights not to become a faster runner,” said Banner from the middle of the room. Brad did not slow down, but he did not pick up the pace either. He finished his fourth lap, sweat dripped from his forehead. He breath deep. He put his hands on his knees and his head dropped.
“Is there a reason you ran so hard for a warm-up Mr. Cushing?” Banner tucked his tablet under his arm.
“I just wanted to,” Brad stood up and walked to the bench press. He put two plates on each side of the barbell. He laid down. Banner put down his tablet and stood over the bar. With both hands Banner helped Brad lift the bar off the holds. Brad held the bar he slowly let the bar down to his chest and pushed it back up. He did it again, he face turned red and he held his breath as the bar hit his chest and then blew it out as he pushed it back up. Banner held out his hands in case he dropped the bar. After the fifth time Brad’s face was beet red and his arms shaked. He placed the bar back on the holds. He sat up and took a few breaths, “How much was that?”
“135 pounds,” said Banner.
“How much can your strongest student bench?”
“Well over a thousand pounds,” replied Banner. “Stop thinking about them and focus on your own improvement.”
“I want to be your strongest,” Brad shot back.
“You maybe getting stronger, but you’ll never be the strongest Extra,” Banner was calm and measured in his response.
“Maybe I can be. I am only in the fourth grade.”
“Harely Evans is my strongest student here at Dolbin. He is currently in the eleventh grade. Do you know how much he was benching when he was your age?”
Brad didn’t respond.
“He was benching 800 pounds when he was your age, and he wasn’t doing it with the help of science. He was fully a Strong-Extra.”
Brad rolled his eyes.
Banner continued, “Maybe you need to talk to O’Grady about how dangerous your procedures are. If you becoming belligerent is a part of the process then you may have other health issues going on. You two may need to reevaluate the goals here.”
“I’m fine. The procedures aren’t hurting me. I want to get stronger. I need to get stronger. Think about it. Extra Strong ability with Extra healing power. Why has no one else ever thought of this before?”
Banner raised his eyebrows, “Are you arrogant enough to think that you are the first person to have ever thought of that combination before? You think that you’re so brilliant that you are the first here at Dolbin to have thought of that idea? I suggest you stop talking and continue your workout before I dismiss you from my gym.” Banner was clearly frustrated, as his voice continued to raise in volume.
Brad kept his mouth shut. He sat on the bench not moving, he held his gaze on Banner. Banner returned the gaze. Brad relented, stood up and walked to the weight rack where he picked up a pair of 40 pound dumbbells and pressed them over his head. Banner walked over and stood behind Brad. He watched his form.
Brad continued to works and Banner continued to watch him. For several minutes they did not speak one word to each other. Brad broke the silence. “What difference does it make that I get stronger through a medical procedure? Is there something that O’Grady isn’t telling me?”
Banner blinked a few times before he responded, “You will have to ask him. I don’t want to speak for him.”
“That’s what I thought,” said Brad as put down a sixty pound dumbbell. His frustration clear.
Banner clinched his jaw, and then responded, “Let me tell you, we’ve been here before. Students wanting medical science to make them something mother nature did not make them. We have very smart people here at Dolbin, but there is a limit to even what we can accomplish.” Banner pointed to a rope that hung from the ceiling. “Climb that to the top five times, run four laps around the track, and then we will be done for the day.”
Brad did as he was told, and he finished his workout.
Middle Grade is such a hard demographic to write for, wouldn't you agree?
You end up caught between the megalithic genres of Kids' Lit and YA. The audience expects the readability of the former yet also some of the more sophisticated storylines of the latter. And like the planet Earth, if you move too far in either direction, it can spoil the whole thing.
I don't want to discourage you by any means, but I have noticed some marked improvements over your older stuff. And I wonder if the difficulty inherent in Middle Grade fiction has been a boon to your progress, or whether your evolution would actually be faster were it happening in a different environment.
But don't take anything I say too seriously! I am, after all, just idly wondering things aloud on my couch while reading Steemit. There are a lot more people who are a lot more qualified to give such input.
Cheerio.
I call these middle grade because as a teacher I know the reading level. And these would be aimed for those about 10 years old and older.
And thanks for saying my writing is getting better, that certainly is my hope. I keep reading other works and try to add it here, and with anything the more you do it the better you should get.
I started my book writing career off doing 1st grade and 2nd grade picture books, and then as an experiment I wrote the first of this series, and was told by both students and adults that they liked it. And then the sales followed. This series is my biggest seller, so that motivates it.
As a fifth grade teacher I got immediate feedback on the first books, and could tell what worked and what didn't, and adjusted.
But I call them middle grade, because of my teaching experience.
i think it going to attack me and getting more interest to read this, thanks@mctiller