Posted: March 12th, 2010 | Author: Laryssa | Filed under: The Burn | No Comments »
The following excerpt is the third part of “The Burn”. You can read the first part here. You can read the second part here.
“Are you serious?” One of the women asked. “Jasmine used to work the front desk here, years ago when the club first opened. We haven’t seen her in forever!”
“What? What’s Jasmine’s last name?” I asked.
But the women were too busy fawning over Jasmine and helping her with a towel. They would never pay attention to me, the lowly front desk girl just trying to do her job. I went back to the front desk to report to Buck about the situation, which wasn’t looking good.
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Posted: March 11th, 2010 | Author: Laryssa | Filed under: The Burn | No Comments »
The following excerpt is the second part of “The Burn”. You can read the first part here.
Just then, a young man interested in signing up for a membership walked up to the front desk.
He introduced himself as Arthur. I thought he was cute. If Arthur represented The Burn’s typical gym member, I couldn’t wait for Sally to let me start selling memberships.
Sally excused herself and directed Arthur to her office to tell him more about the available packages.
“Am I going to be able to handle all this?” I asked Buck, once Sally was gone. I could feel myself sweating under the baggy, oversized shirt, even though the room was heavily air-conditioned. My feet, which dangled off the chair, were cold, and I was tempted to walk a mile on a treadmill to warm my extremities and ease my nerves.
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Posted: March 10th, 2010 | Author: Laryssa | Filed under: The Burn | No Comments »
The following excerpt is the first part of “The Burn”. You can read the second part here.
“Charge the net!” Shouted Buck. “Be more aggressive.”
My forehand was graceful, my backhand made perfect topspin, and my serve was lethal, but I couldn’t figure out how to forget about technique and simply unleash my fury on the court. For years, I had spent so much time working on my strokes that I wasn’t even sure how to play them out in a way that would help me win matches and make Saint Margaret’s varsity team.
Why couldn’t I just let go of everything that Buck had taught me? I desperately wanted to trust my competitive instincts.
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