They’d obviously picked up on her confusion, which in turn was confusing them.

  “Yes?” Jessica said, scrutinizing Blythe’s face. “Like we always do?”

  She quickly smoothed out her expression. Judging from their reactions, the original Blythe never participated in PE class.

  “Right,” she said slowly. “Like we always do. Absolutely.”

  She did not, in fact, have a single clue what they always did, but she couldn’t let them know that.

  Sophie’s gaze was filled with concern. “Are you feeling alright?“

  Conversely, there was an appraising look in Jessica’s amber eyes. Blythe squirmed under her stare.

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m fine.”

  They went into the cubicles and got changed into their gym attire, a navy blue T-shirt and a pair of black track pants. The material was soft and comfortable.

  Once she exited her cubicle, Blythe followed Jessica and Sophie to the numerous square lockers that spanned an entire wall. Some of the locker doors were glowing around the edges. A couple of other girls in the locker room casually held their hand up to a locker door, the edges of which then emitted a white glow. Jessica and Sophie did the same to two adjacent lockers at their eye level. Blythe strode up to the locker next to Jessica’s and placed her hand over the door. A second later, its edges glowed white and the door opened with a soft click.

  Copying her friends, she shoved her school bag and gym bag into it before closing the door. The soft white glow remained. The number at the uppermost left corner caught her eye. Trying to commit it to memory, she repeated it over and over in her head.

  The three of them leaned against the wall while waiting for the class to start. Many of the other girls who were already dressed in gym attire sat on the polished wood floor in small groups, chatting with each other.

  Instructor Grandville was reading a book while seated on a chair at the side of the large hall. Her incredibly toned arms peeked out from under the sleeves of her baggy pastel blue T-shirt.

  Blythe was impressed by her physique. She’d seen very muscular women on TV back home, but it was her first time meeting one in person.

  Upon feeling a sudden presence at the side of her face, she started. Jessica had inclined her head towards hers to whisper something.

  “Penelope lost so much weight over the summer.”

  Sophie, on the other side of Blythe, leaned closer too and whispered back, “I heard her parents put her on a strict diet because of the lack of suitors and marriage proposals.”

  Completely lost, not least because she had no idea who Penelope was, Blythe swept her gaze around the training hall in an attempt to spot the girl they were talking about. There were several girls milling around at this point, some drifting from group to group to chat with others. None of the girls were near enough for her to activate their character profiles.

  Also, none of the female students looked overweight. Whoever Penelope was, she had achieved her goal weight because she blended in perfectly with everyone else.

  “I heard she threw a fit at the tea party she was hosting because the servant they instructed to keep an eye on her eating reminded her of her limit.”

  Blythe winced. That sounded rough.

  “It was all the attendees could talk about afterward,” Sophie whispered. “If I were her, I’d die of embarrassment.”

  “She’s probably dying on the inside—she looks so stressed out.”

  With the new hint, Blythe began scouring anew the faces of all the girls present. Finally, she found the only girl wearing a tense expression while two other girls were talking to her. That had to be Penelope.

  Suddenly, Sophie paused. “Blythe, are you okay?”

  “What?” She turned back to face her concerned friends. “I mean, yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  Jessica hesitated. “Well … it’s not like you to be so quiet.”

  “I was waiting for you to share your opinion,” Sophie added, giving her a tentative smile. “Are you really feeling alright?”

  Of course the original Blythe would have something to say about a peer’s dieting struggle.

  She should’ve known.

  “I’m great,” Blythe reassured them. “I was merely distracted.”

  Immediately, Jessica whipped her head around in different directions as if trying to find the source of her distraction. “Ooh, what by?”

  “Did Gemma’s squirrel defecate on the floor again?” Sophie asked interestedly, looking around as well. “Instructor Grandville will be furious.”

  With a scoff, Jessica said, “She’s so bad at disciplining her beast.”

  As Blythe glanced around, she saw a girl with a squirrel sitting on her shoulder. Gemma smiled at something another girl was saying to her before reaching up to pet the squirrel’s head. She really needed to do some research on the connections these people had with their animals.

  “It doesn’t look like it was Gemma,” Sophie said, tapping the bottom of her chin with a finger.

  “No,” Blythe said quickly. “Nobody was distracting me. I was lost in thought.”

  Her friends shrugged it off and resumed gossiping about the other girls. The training hall filled up with each passing second as more female students arrived.

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  Blythe finally recalled it was mentioned in the game that boys and girls had separate PE classes. She would be spared the torment of interacting with Magnus during this time.

  At some point, Daisy showed up with an apprehensive glance in Blythe’s direction. Blythe did her best to avoid eye contact with her. Thankfully, Daisy stayed a safe distance away, standing by herself in one corner of the training hall. The small groups of girls around her looked at her every once in a while, but nobody seemed interested in speaking to her. Blythe felt sorry for her.

  Minutes later, an inconspicuous square flap in the wall above the wall clock swung open, allowing a blue bird to pop out from the space behind it and chirp loudly.

  Instructor Grandville jumped to her feet, clapping her hands as she did so. With the way she towered over most of the students, she had to be at least six feet and three inches tall. The noise of everyone’s chatter promptly died down.

  “Good morning, ladies,” she called out, gaining the attention of every student in the vicinity.

  Everyone greeted her back, gathering in front of her.

  “We’ll begin with a little warm up jog. Two laps around the hall.”

  She directed everyone to the starting point at one corner of the training hall. Blythe caught Jessica and Sophie exchanging glances.

  “The usual excuse?” Jessica whispered.

  “Definitely,” Sophie replied.

  When her friends began squeezing through the crowd of girls, Blythe followed them. They ended up on the fringe of the group closer to Instructor Grandville’s side.

  Jessica and Sophie approached Instructor Grandville just as she blew the blue whistle hanging on a string around her neck. Most of the other students slowly broke into a jog, while a few others drew closer to their PE instructor as well.

  Upon noticing them, Instructor Grandville narrowed her eyes.

  “Yes, ladies?”

  “Instructor Grandville,” Jessica started, peering up at her with a pleading expression. “I’m not feeling well, so I’ll have to sit out today.”

  “Me too,” Sophie said. “I’ve been feeling light-headed since this morning.”

  “Me too,” another girl said.

  “Me too!” a couple of the other girls chorused.

  Seeing the gaggle of girls all just trying to skip out on class participation by feigning illness, Blythe took a step backward. She’d been so used to following her friends’ cues that she hadn’t given any real thought to what they’d meant by sitting out.

  While their instructor asked for proof of their discomfort, Blythe pulled up her stats window.

  Looking at the table again made the idea of sitting out in PE tempting. Her stamina was remarkably low compared to her charm stat, and her strength stat was even worse. If it correlated to actual bodily experience, participating in class promised to be a miserable time.

  But exercising in this world should act like it did in the game, right? She’d often filled Daisy’s schedule with various physical activities to increase her stamina and strength. If she started working out more, it should improve her stats—which she desperately needed given the abysmal state they were in.

  Her attention snapped back to the conversation going on between Instructor Grandville and the other girls.

  “Furthermore, my parents,” Jessica was saying, “have provided a letter at the beginning of the school year to excuse me from PE when I’m feeling unwell.”

  “So have mine,” another girl chimed in, leading the rest of the girls to say something similar.

  “I’m well aware.” Instructor Grandville’s tone was sardonic. “Unfortunately, you young ladies have been more often than not unwell whenever it comes to PE for the past three years.”

  Putting her hand to her forehead, Sophie swayed a little and moaned. “Oh, my anemia is giving me trouble again.”

  “Sophie! Are you alright?” Jessica supported her by grabbing her arms. “Look at how unwell we are, Instructor Grandville. I’m sure you wouldn’t have the heart to make us run while we’re in this condition, would you?”

  The rest of the girls murmured something in the same vein. With a raised eyebrow, Instructor Grandville cast her gaze at Blythe, who had managed to retreat a few feet away from the others.

  “What about you, Miss Ridge? Am I to assume you’re feeling under the weather as well?”

  She took another step backward. “A-actually, I’ll go for that warm-up run.”

  Back in her own world, she’d always participated in PE classes despite not being in great shape. If she wanted to get into carriages without the help of others, Magnus in particular, she knew had to put in the work.

  In a comical moment, Jessica’s and Sophie’s jaws both fell simultaneously. The other girls all gaped at her. Even their instructor’s previously unimpressed eyes widened.

  “You will? In all these years—” she cut herself off. “That’s excellent to hear.”

  Blythe turned to her friends and said, “Jess, Soph, I hope you two feel better soon.”

  Then she spun around and ran to catch up with the others.

  The flash of blue notification light caught her off-guard.

  Her heart leaped to her throat. Did that hold any significance?

  She thought back to the deduction in her charm stat that had resulted from tripping in Magnus’ carriage. Evidently, her decisions in this world could affect her stats.

  It reminded her of the mini-events that could trigger within Waiting For Fireflies, where Daisy would encounter certain things like being asked to help teachers with certain tasks or stumbling upon love confessions that took place within the academy, things like that. Depending on the player’s choice, the event would play out differently, and one of Daisy’s stats—relevant to the event—would be either increase or decrease.

  That meant her decision to participate in PE class was right. Determination and hope surged through Blythe’s body like a zap of energy. She would have to see what other opportunities she could use to improve her stats.

  Barely two minutes of jogging yielded aching legs and lungs that begged for mercy. Her breaths came out in ragged pants. It felt like she couldn’t keep going anymore, but she stubbornly continued putting one foot before the other. Blythe’s body was way too weak.

  A couple of the more agile girls had already finished the first lap and overtaken her. Jessica and the others were sitting cross-legged on the polished floor in the middle of the hall, still pretending to look sick.

  She tried to look ahead instead of looking down at her feet. Eventually, she finished her two laps with the rest of the girls waiting for her to be done. She trudged over to join the group, willing herself not to keel over and curl up in the fetal position. Her arms were slick with sweat, and one swipe across her forehead with the back of her hand told her it was the same for her face.

  “Well done, Miss Ridge,” Instructor Grandville praised, gracing her with a smile. “Your perseverance has not gone unnoticed.”

  “Thank you,” she mumbled, embarrassed for the spotlight and that she’d held up the rest of the class by being so slow.

  The other girls eyed her with looks of amazement, as if it was unheard of for Blythe to actually participate in PE class. Blythe studiously avoided looking at any of them, focusing her attention on their professor.

  As they began their stretching exercises, Blythe accidentally locked eyes with Jessica, who was sitting next to Sophie against the wall. Although she’d been caught looking, Jessica didn’t glance away or smile. Instead, a pensive expression crossed her face.

  Trying to ignore her lurching stomach, Blythe fumbled a feeble grin onto her lips. Jessica returned it after half a beat, but it faded quickly back into an appraising stare.