Elijah sat staring blankly at the wall. The clock, just above his head, was ticking on his last nerves. He was the lone body in the waiting area, and he was longing to be out of there as soon as humanly possible.
A woman- Vivian- opened the door and motioned for him to come in the office. He sat in the chair beside her.
"Elijah, isn't it?" she asked calmly as she skimmed over his file.
"Yes ma'am," he replied blandly as if uninterested.
"Elijah Telford," she paused to think for a moment, "Peter, I think, told me about you!" She shook her finger at him.
"Oh God." He looked up towards the roof briefly.
"He didn't say anything bad. He just told me that you do good in school and aren't as talkative."
"You know, I don't know why I hang around him. He's real annoying and never leaves me alone." Elijah leaned forward in his seat holding himself up with his elbows against his legs.
"Oh well. Now, do you have any allergies?"
"I'm highly allergic to dogs."
"Anything else?"
Elijah shook his head.
"Okay," she typed something on the computer, "Now I need you to remove all of your clothes, except for underwear, and stand on that scale over there." Vivian pointed at the scale sitting on the floor against the wall.
Elijah did as he was told and took his clothes off and stood on the scale.
"One hundred eighteen pounds. Good. Now clothe yourself, and let me measure how tall you are."
Elijah quickly slipped his shirt on over his head, pulled his pants on, and slipped his feet into his converse tennis shoes. While he was tying the laces of his shoes, Vivian began speaking to him, "While you're doing something, I'll go on and tell you that you'll need to bring a copy of your transcripts to the next test."
"May I ask why?" He tied his other shoe.
"If you aren't passing your classes, then you can't miss school to come to these tests. You would automatically be kicked off the try-outs if you weren't passing a class."
"I'll have no problem with that. Plus, it wouldn't matter anyway. I know I'm not going to be chosen. I'm just doing this because Peter sort of made me."
She looked down at his feet. "Elijah, you know I can't measure your height when there are shoes on your feet."
Elijah groaned as he crouched down once more to untie his shoes. "You know, you could've told me that before I took the time to put them on," he said with a hint of irritation in his voice.
"I would think that you would have enough sense to realise something like that," Vivian retorted. Elijah, after reluctantly removing the shoes from his feet, stood and allowed the nurse to measure his height. "Five feet and seven inches. Good."
"So, can I go?" Elijah asked impatiently as he tied his shoes back onto his feet.
"Sure, but you still need to go the second floor for the actual physical test."
Elijah exhaled deeply as he walked out the door. He walked to the elevator, pushed the button with the downward-pointing arrow, ad waited. The door opened, and he walked onto the elevator. An elderly woman was already on it. She smiled at him as he pushed the button with a two in it. The elevator doors closed and it began moving slowly downwards. He just stood awkwardly next to the woman who kept looking at him. The elevator reached the second floor, and Elijah hastily walked off and down the hallway.
Again, he sat waiting in front of a small office. Carl opened the door and motioned for him to come in.
"Elijah Telford, right?" Carl asked with his deep voice.
"Unfortunately."
"Why does your name sound familiar?"
"Oh God, did Peter talk to you too?"
"That's right! That talkative boy that acted like a child, said something about you."
"What do I have to do?" Elijah quickly changed the subject.
"Pull-ups."
"Fine."
"Go through that door," Carl pointed at the door behind him, "and the last door on the right is a gym. When you walk into the gym, walk straight across the floor, and there will be a door with a sign on it that says 'Expedition'. Go in there to do your pull-ups. Then, you're free to go home."
"Thanks, and sorry you had to meet Peter." Elijah walked through the door and followed Carl's directions through the gym.
After his test, Elijah had done a total of eleven pull-ups. He met Peter in the lobby, called his mom, and they went home after stopping by the Varsity for lunch.
