6 Approval

It was kind of an awkward moment for the three, as they didn't have much to say to each other. Thankfully, Mr. Johnathon came for the rescue starting the conversation among them. "Looks like you guys know each other, right?" he asked.

Aiden replied with a smile, "Yeah, we are class fellows." He had no idea that he had been staring at Emily, which made her feel uncomfortable. Linda waved her hand in front of his eyes and he shook his head and gave a little laugh, "I am so sorry!" Emily grinned, "Haha, it's okay!"

Mr. Johnathon again interrupted this cringe worthy scene, "Well then, you gotta show 'em around, Aiden!" Linda sat on the chair near the counter, taking out her phone and signaling Emily to go ahead. Thus, he lead Emily towards the tread mill, saying, "Obviously you know what this is, right?" Emily couldn't help but laugh, "Do you think I came from another planet?" They both laughed and moved on to the next machine.

"This is called a stair mill. It is almost like a treadmill, except that it has stairs." Explained Aiden. Emily wanted to add a funny comment, but held it back, thinking that it might be a little weird. Instead she gave him a thumbs-up, and they moved forward. "This is a spin bike. A cycle that doesn't actually moves forward", smiled Aiden.

"Moving on to the next machine, we have an elliptical. A cycle without a seat, plus your hands also move." Emily replied while chuckling, "Understood… You make a good teacher by the way!"

After Aiden introduced all the machines, he started to work on the treadmill for a warm up and Emily headed towards Linda, "Wow, I learnt a lot today!" she said. Linda smirked and said, "And had a lot of fun today, you even forgot all your worries and…" Before Linda could finish Emily punched her on the shoulder and laughed, "Well, yeah, I did forgot my tensions. Thanks for reminding." They both laughed.

After a little chat with Linda, she went towards the stair mill. Hmmm, I have never worked on this before, she thought and stepped on it as Aiden told, pressed the start button and started to climb up, the stairs. Huh, it's quite easy!

After quite a while, another person came towards her and started a conversation. "Hey there! I am Henry." He greeted enthusiastically. Emily replied almost running out of breath, "H..Hey! I am… Emily… N.. Nice to m..meet you."

Henry giggled, "You are almost out of breath, you can take a rest now!" Emily nodded and quickly turned off the machine, stepping down and falling on the chair nearby, gasping for breath. He sat on the chair beside her, passing her a bottle of water. "You shouldn't push yourself too hard on your first day. Don't want to have sore muscles on the very first day." Emily nodded again, "Lesson learnt!" They both chuckled.

Seeing the two, Aiden came over drinking his water, "Hey Emily, tired already?" Emily replied slightly embarrassed, "Yeah." Henry looked at Aiden, then Emily, "You know each other?" Aiden rolled his eyes, "Yeah, we are class fellows." Emily smiled, "Looks like you know each other too." Henry got up and put his arms around Aiden, "Yup! Buddies since childhood!" Aiden wriggled free from his arms, making the other two laugh. "So, you never mentioned about her, Aiden." Henry asked with curiosity. "Uhmmm… We never got to that topic!" Aiden replied.

As they all laughed, Emily heard her phone vibrate in her pocket, taking it out. It was a message from Linda, saying: Looks like you are having fun, maybe I can go? Mom is calling me. Emily put the phone back and said, "Well then guys, it was really nice and fun meeting you both. But I gotta be going now, thanks for showing me around, Aiden!" "Anytime, Emily." He said smiling. She waved them good bye and went to catch up with Linda who was leaving.

"I am happy you had fun! Let's call it a day for now." Linda said, as the two parted ways, waving each other goodbye.

When Emily reached home, she looked up on her phone for the time, 4 o' clock. Kinda late, she thought. As she entered through the door, she threw her bag on the sofa and fell on it, exhausted. Her mom came and sat in front of her, drying her hands from the towel. "Hey, mom." Emily greeted her with her eyes closed, taking deep breaths. "Emily." Her mom started to talk without even greeting. Emily realized that she was late, sitting up she started her explanation, "Oh, mom. I was out with Linda." Her mom shook her head, "I have to talk to you." Oh no, she thought.

"I have been thinking about yesterday, I was upset by what you said, but, I thought about it, and I discussed this with your dad as well." Emily couldn't help but frown slightly, but her mom continued, "That is why, I have decided, that… We want to give you permission to participate in the games, with an open heart. We want what makes you happy. There was nothing wrong in this, our job is to guide you, not to control your life."

This brought Emily to tears, and she jumped to hug her mom. "Thank you so much!" she said it repeatedly. "Well then… Where's the forum!?" She asked enthusiastically. Emily's eyes brightened up. And she quickly opened her bag, and pulled out the forum, handing it to her mom, with pride.