The Dolbin School: Book 2-The Dark Cloud Rises--Chapter 1 Friday

I am going to serialize my middle grade novel The Dolbin School Book 2: The Dark Cloud Rises.

I serialize the first book in the series Dolbin School for the Extraordinary back in the summer.  You can get this book on Kindle and in paperback.

The book is leveled for 4th grade readers and up.  

Chapter 1 Friday

Jake Cooper’s week began with a fight.  On Tuesday, he fought Brad Cushing, and threw him through a window.  It was obvious there was something different about Jake.  He was an Extra.  He had super strength.  Someone who had Extra-abilities beyond other people, regular people.  The Basics.  He was whisked away to the Dolbin School for the Extraordinary that night.  His week only got stranger.

On Wednesday, his best friend, Mark Daniels, learned that he could outrun bullies and cars.  He ran over eighty miles an hour.  By Wednesday night, Mark was also enrolled in Dolbin.  

 While learning to run fast, Mark broke his ankle and his wrist.  He spent Thursday night in the medical wing.

That evening was unsettling.  Jake was tossed from his bed as something shook his dormitory.  Because of his strength he was called to assist on the roof of the school where a helicopter had crashed.  Watching other, more experienced, Extras use their strength was intimidating.

But Friday morning’s breakfast was the most upsetting.  It turned out the student that was in the crashed helicopter was Brad Cushing.  Jake’s bully from Kane Elementary School was now enrolled at the Dolbin School for the Extraordinary.  

Brad’s Extra-ability was healing.  In spite of being burned and injured in the crash on Thursday evening, he was perfectly healed at breakfast.  Jake was devastated.  He hoped that his old school would have been the last he would have seen of Brad.  But, here was Brad joining him in Professor Guinness’ class. Brad was scared and different.  Being alone and new can effect anyone.  It certainly seemed to have changed Brad.  

Being intimidated by Brad was no longer useful.  Jake was the strong one, Brad couldn’t hurt him physically anymore.  Plus, he had more friends now.  Cal, Henry, Bruce, Red, and Mark all backed Jake and informed Brad in no uncertain terms that bullying was not going to be tolerated. If he messed with Jake or Mark then Brad would be messing with them.  

It was now Friday.  It was time for gym.

        Mark followed them in his wheelchair.  Jake and Brad got into their navy blue T-shirts with the Dolbin crest, To Educate, Serve, and Protect, printed over the heart.  Gold shorts with the words Dolbin School written over the left thigh completed their gym uniforms.  The three followed several other boys out into the gym.  Mark’s wheelchair sounded like a robot was following them.

The gym was almost completely white, with a dark gray quarter-mile track loop on the outer edge. 

        On the left side of the gym, was a wall that looked similar to a rock climbing wall, but instead of very small footholds, platforms stuck out from the wall. The platforms were several feet away from each other.

        Near that wall sat racks of weights with wide mats to allow students to drop the weights quietly and carefully.   

To the right was the obstacle course.  Ropes, walls, and high pull-up bars were set near each other.  Facing them was an open space.  The cushioned floor of the gym gave a little with each step Jake took. 

Mr. Banner was standing there in the middle of the opening.  He blew his whistle, causing Jake to put his hands to his ears.  

       “Okay!  Fourth grade!  Line-up and let’s begin with thirty jumping jacks.” Mr. Banner stood with his hands behind his back as twenty-four fourth graders jumped. The twenty-fifth student sat in his wheelchair and raised his one good hand over his head doing what he could.  He pointed to Mark, “Mr. Daniels, with you in your obvious condition you won’t be able to participate with us.  Get your tablet and go into my office, I have uploaded several videos on proper running technique and I will quiz you later.”

“Yes, sir.  Later guys!  Enjoy your exercises!” Mark rolled away to Mr. Banner’s office.

“Next, on the floor with twenty push-ups.  One!”

Twenty four fourth graders got down on the floor, some faster than others, and did a push-up.

“Two!  Let’s do these together.  We are a team.  Three!”

Some students struggled with three, others performed them with military precision.

“Four!” Banner walked around the students, with his hands behind his back.

“All the way down Cushing, this is called a push-up, not a neck bounce.”  There were chuckles at the comment.  Mr. Banner always called students by their last name.  Brad went down to the floor and then pushed himself back up, his face was beet red.

“Five!”  There were more groans. Some students did them easily. Banner continued counting.  For the next moments students did their best to keep up. 

“Twenty!” Several students jumped up with no problems. Many were slow to get up, their arms aching with sweat dripping down their faces.  Some just collapsed before twenty and never bothered to get up until everyone was finished.

“Okay, Mr. Cushing I know today is your first day with me.”  Banner looked at his tablet.  “So, you’re a Healer.”  He looked back at his tablet, and then he looked Brad over again, “Those push-ups didn’t seem to be too difficult for you.  You look to be in good shape for someone new to Dolbin.”

Banner motioned to another student, “Crenshaw!”  A girl with a long black curly pony tail came over to Banner.  “I want you to show Cushing the track, jog a quarter mile, and then show him the weights.”

Brad pointed to the very large weights that were leaning up against the wall.  “I can’t lift those.”

“No, you can’t.”  Banner held his tablet at his side, “But you can lift those.”  He pointed to a rank of regular looking dumbbells. “Crenshaw here will show you her workout and I will be in here to check on you.  You can begin by running a lap around the track.”  He pointed to the opening in the track where people entered and exited.  “Okay, off to it!”

Crenshaw started jogging across the gym and Brad followed.  “I’m Brad,” he waved his hand.  Crenshaw turned around and spoke curtly, “I’m Maggie.  You must be a Healer.  I am a Healer.  Mr. Banner likes to put new people with people who share their skill.”  Maggie entered the track and began jogging.

She was fast.  Brad sensed she didn’t want to be stuck with him.  “So how long have you been here?” he asked.

“I came at the beginning of the year.  I learned about my Extra ability over the summer when I was in a car crash.  Both of my legs were broken, but by the time the ambulance got me to the hospital my legs were completely healed.  At the same time I learned that my mother can also heal very quickly.  Something I never knew until a car crash.”  She was still running fast.

“That’s a rough way to find out about your skill,” Brad was keeping pace with her.

Noticing that he was struggling, Maggie slowed her pace. “So, how did you get here?  How did you find out that you could heal?”  

Brad ran several steps before he answered. He pointed to Jake, “Jake and I got into a fight.”

Maggie looked at Jake and then back at Brad, “Oh, you’re the one he threw through a window.”

“Oh, you know the story.”

“Everyone here does.  Jake got here just a few days ago, and then Mark showed up the next day, and then you show up.  Complete with a helicopter crash!” 

Brad was embarrassed.  His helicopter crash the evening he arrived made it impossible to be unknown. Dolbin was a smaller fourth grade than Kane elementary, so everyone could possibly know everything about everyone.  That was going to be another change for Brad to get used to.

Maggie finished the lap and walked back into the main part of the gym.  Brad followed.  “I always to go to the weights next,” she said.

She walked past the start of the obstacle course where five students were stretching and getting ready to run the course.  Brad watched as Jake bench pressed very large weights.  Jake didn’t seem to be breaking a sweat.  Lifting weights that were the size of car tires didn’t seem to be much an effort for him.  Brad walked past, trying not to stare at Jake in awe.  He wasn’t doing a very good job of it.

“Here’s where we work out,” Maggie pointed to a row of regular looking dumbbells.  Maggie grabbed a couple of five-pound weights and began to press them over her head.  Brad looked at the weights and inspected a few by picking them up and seeing how heavy they were.  He finally settled on a pair of twenty-pound weights and then followed Maggie’s lead, pressing them over his head.  He did ten reps and then put them down.

“So, what do I do next?”  Brad asked.

“How many reps did you do?” Maggie asked.

“Ten.”

“Try something heavier. That doesn’t seemed to have challenged you enough.  Put those back first,” she pointed the weights on the floor, and began lifting each dumbbell straight in front of her.

Brad picked up thirty pound weights.  He pressed them over his head.  They were more of challenge.  By the time he reached nine reps he was struggling. When he did ten, he dropped the weights.  They hit the padded ground with a dampened thud.  Maggie, and other weight-lifting students turned at looked at Brad, “We don’t drop the weights.  Accidents happen that way, not everyone is a quick Healer like us, and…”

“It shows you don’t have control over the weight or yourself,” said Mr. Banner walking to toward him.  Mr. Banner picked up the weights, and looked them over.

“Thirty pounds.  Not bad for a fourth grader that isn’t listed as a Strong-Extra.  You must have played sports at your old school.”  He put the weights back.

“I was on the swim team in the summer, soccer in the fall, and played lacrosse in the spring,” Brad replied.  

“So you have a sports background, good.  But for your weights let’s work on lower weights.  It does you no good to begin showing off and hurting yourself.  See what Maggie is doing?  She’s working, but not hurting herself.  Pick the fifteen pound weights and follow her routine, she is good at this.”

“Yes, sir.” Brad picked up the fifteen-pound weights and followed Maggie.  Banner turned around and left to go observe students on the obstacle course.

Jake put down his weights and walked over to Brad.

“Don’t worry, everything is new right now. It’s all new to me as well,” Jake said, trying to make him feel better.

“You seemed to be doing fine over there,” he motioned to the bench press.  

“Banner made a workout routine for me, and Bruce makes me stick to it.”  Bruce waved from the weight area.

“I have a routine too,” said Maggie coming over to join the conversation. Plus ,we are both Healers, and that is why Mr. Banner wants us together.”

Bruce joined in.  “Why are you all not working out?  What gossip am I missing?”  He put his hand on Jake’s back.

“Brad’s just feeling new,” said Maggie.  “He’s wondering how all of this works.”

Bruce smiled and put his hands in the air, “I’ve been here since the start of the year. I’m still trying to figure out how it all works.”

“I also think he is a little mad about being paired with a girl,” Maggie said furrowing her brow.

Brad blushed, “I’m not!”

Mr. Banner came up behind Bruce, “Okay, why are you four not doing your workout?”

“Brad is just wondering why you paired him Maggie,” Bruce said.

Brad’s mouth dropped open and put his hands up, “I never said that!”

Mr. Banner took a deep breath and relaxed, he looked different from the wound tight coach he had been.  “Mr. Cushing, Ms. Crenshaw here shares the same Extra ability that you do, she is also very athletic like you.  And there will be times when you are paired with someone who isn’t your first choice.  There are reasons for my decisions, so just follow my instructions.”

Brad closed his mouth, “Yes, sir.”

“Plus there are plenty of girls in this gym right now that are much, much stronger than you.  So please, keep that old way of thinking to yourself.  Now Maggie, I believe, was showing you how to do forward lifts with the dumbbells.”  Mr. Banner pointed to the weights on the floor and left to go watch students jump up the side wall.  Bruce and Jake went back to their bench press.

“I’ll catch you later,” said Jake. He waved and stood by the bench press as Bruce lay down to begin his exercise.

Brad waved back then picked up his weights and followed Maggie’s lead.  He lifted one at a time holding it in front of him.  As he lifted, he watched three students at the wall where there were several ledges protruding out.  Each ledge was staggered and looked to be separated by six feet.  Brad watched a girl jump from the floor and land on a platform that was at least twenty feet off the floor.  She crouched down and leapt forward to another platform that seemed about fifteen feet away.  She made the jump easily.  A boy followed, and they stood on the platform together.  Above them a platform moved higher.  Brad noticed Mr. Banner inputting instructions into his tablet, and then he looked up at the two students up on the platform “Okay, Lindsey you go first.”  The platforms above them moved after Banner tapped instructions into his tablet.

The girl jumped, and this time she had to use her hands to catch the end of the platform and pull herself up.  She turned around and looked over the edge of the platform back down at the boy below her, “Okay, Jason, you may need to use your hands.”

The boy jumped, grabbing the edge of the platform, but his left hand slipped and he dangled holding on with his right hand.  Lindsey quickly reached and grabbed his arm and pulled him up.

“Nice job you two!  Now jump back down and do it again.”

Brad noticed that no one in the gym even batted an eye when Lindsey saved Jason.

“Okay, put those weights away.  Next we go to that wall and climb the rope.”  Maggie pointed to a ten-foot wall with a faded yellow rope.  The rope hung about a foot away from the wall.  Brad looked up and saw a beam protruding out where the rope hung from.  He looked at the rope and then at the wall.

“We just have to climb up that?  That doesn’t look hard.”

“Ha!” Maggie laughed.  “We’ll see about that.”

Maggie grabbed the bottom of the rope and pulled herself of the floor with just the strength of her shoulders.  At three feet she used her feet to prop herself.  The wall moved a foot back.

She hung on the rope and then smiled at Brad.  “The wall moves if you need help.”

Brad heard a low rumbling.  Maggie, smiling, turned and looked at the wall.

“See, it is moving ever so slowly back.  But the idea is to get to the top without using the wall.  Mr. Banner can set the wall to different difficulties.”

“What difficulty setting is this?”

Maggie’s smile widened, “The easy setting, silly boy.”  She began climbing again.  As she reached the top she struggled, but with a final kick she reached the top.  She hit a button, a bell rang, and she slid back down the rope.

“Nice job Crenshaw,” said Mr. Banner hearing the bell.

She reached the bottom of the rope and handed it to Brad, “Okay.  Your turn.”

He took the rope and pulled himself up.  Right hand over left hand.  His feet swung wildly.  Exhausted, he paused and glanced down at the floor.  He was maybe three and half feet off the ground.  Maggie smiled.

“Keep going,” she encouraged.

His shoulders were burning.  He lifted his left hand over his right hand.  He kicked to give himself some momentum.  His right foot hit the wall hard.  The wall moved back one foot.  Brad’s feet seemed to unconsciously reach out for the wall.  His body was now swinging wildly.  His burning hands finally had enough and they let go.  He landed with a thud on the mats below.

“You okay?” asked Maggie.

“Yeah.”  Brad felt more embarrassed than injured.

A whistle blew.  “Everyone on the track to jog and cool down.”

Maggie put her hand out to Brad, “Come on, we got to go jog a lap.”

He took her hand and smiled, “That’s good I don’t think my arms could take anymore lifting.”  He stood up and followed her onto the track.  The rest of the class also finished what they were doing and entered the track to run their lap. 

“So how was your first gym class,” asked Jake catching up and running beside Brad.  

“Quite painful,” he said and smiled as he rubbed his shoulders.  

There were laughs near him.  Brad looked around to see who laughed.  

“Don’t worry about it.  Everyone’s first day is painful,” added Bruce, who was running next to him.

“I certainly didn’t make it up the rope the first time,” added Maggie.

“Well, thanks,” replied Brad.

The class finished their lap and the girls exited first and entered their locker room.  “Nice to meet you. I’ll see you in class,” Maggie waved and went into her locker room.

Brad followed Jake, Bruce, and the rest of the boys into the locker room.  Brad’s first morning at Dolbin was over.

For Jake and Brad the rest of the school year was about to begin.