Saturdays (Challenge) Read online

  Saturdays

  By D. Blake

  Saturdays © 2015

  By D. Blake

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in printed or electronic form without permission.

  This story is a work of fiction. All companies, challenges, and

  characters are a work of the author’s imagination.

  Synopsis

  Summer’s latest adventure was to enter her employees in a Company Fitbit Challenge. What she doesn’t expect is to come face to face with her high school competitor, Myla Allen. At 36 years of age, Myla hasn’t changed a bit, still athletic, still exceedingly nice and still incredibly beautiful.

  Worried that her high school persona would hurt her chances of befriending Myla, she challenges her to a game of one on one basketball under the guise of making the company challenge more interesting. When Myla accepts her challenge, Summer takes this opportunity and runs with it.

  Acknowledgements

  I more than appreciate the efforts put forth by my editor and friend M.J. Molina. Thank you for everything!

  “Just one more thing before we get back to work on this lovely Monday morning,” Summer teased, laughing when everyone groaned and griped. “Okay, now that I have your attention again.”

  She grinned hoping her next request didn’t cause a mutiny. “I’ve enrolled us in the Company Fitness Challenge again this year.”

  “What? Not again. Come on Summer. Can’t you just let us sit on our butts and waste away into nothing? Why do we always have to get into shape? You know it only gives us more energy,” Eddie whined as the group laughed at their banter.

  “Funny thing that is,” Summer continued undeterred. “Taryn has a Fitbit bracelet for everyone. If you don’t like the colors, tough shit, suck it up.”

  Taryn snickered at Summer’s rough demeanor. She had always said there was no crying in business, and usually her employees all loved her for her sarcastic sense of humor. Honestly, they loved everything she signed them up for, even though they whined about it constantly.

  Summer took the bag that Taryn handed her and began handing out the Fitbit bracelets. “I need everyone to charge their bracelet and meet me at the Waverly Gym tomorrow at 3 o’clock. Yes, I know it’s during work hours, but we can spare the time for this.” Everyone smiled pleased with their new toy and glad that they were going to use some work time to participate in Summer’s newest adventure.

  “Here Eddie, I have a purple one for you. The boys will love it.”

  “Yea, they’ll love it so much that they’ll want it,” he said as he switched packages with Lena who was sitting next to him.

  “I’m not sure I can do this,” Lena said waiting to open the package.

  “In order to participate, we need to have an eight person team, which means everyone here has to participate. They’ll explain everything to us tomorrow at the gym, but the point of the challenge is to see which company can get the most ‘steps.’ Lena, just do your normal walking. No one expects you to run a marathon. The walking will be good for you and the baby.”

  “Okay,” Lena squeaked out happy that she could participate.

  “Okay everyone. Go set up your Fitbit and sync it with your phone. Bring some workout clothes tomorrow and be prepared to do some basic fitness tests. Now get back to work you slackers,” she finished, walking out of the room smiling. She heard grumbling and laughter during the entire walk back to her office, making her smile even bigger.

  ****

  Summer walked into Waverly Gym at 2:45 p.m. hoping to talk with the fitness instructors in charge of the challenge. She wanted to make sure that her team was registered and ready to go; and of course, she hoped to see if she could check out some of the competition.

  Twenty minutes later, Mike and Dara, the two Waverly Fitness Instructors in charge, called everyone to gather into their groups and to line up one behind the other. There were 9 groups of eight people each and slowly, everyone lined up like children in line for field day. “We need the leader of each group to stand in front and come forward,” Dara commanded.

  Summer slowly began walking towards the instructors looking left and right to see the other leaders. The leaders took their positions on the scale and then moved onto the treadmill as directed.

  Dara called out, “I’m missing one leader. Where is my ninth leader?”

  Everyone watched while the last group looked as if they were having trouble deciding on who was going to be the leader, until finally a brunette with a pony tail spoke up saying she would do it. Her group all patted her on the back and she just shook her head, knowing they had set her up. As she walked forward, Summer took in her every detail, from her black Asics to her black socks, tan legs and black shorts, all the way up to her toned arms and....

  “Are you kidding me?” Summer mumbled under her breath. The ninth leader was her high school volleyball, basketball and track rival. She laughed to herself thinking how dramatic high school sports could be. This should be interesting. Now I really do have some competition. She certainly stayed in shape all these years.

  Summer didn’t expect her team to win the challenge, but she knew it would be a good bonding experience for her group. They were a close knit graphic design firm and usually everyone got along. But as of late, everyone seemed to be at each other’s throats. It was something about the approach of June, just as in school, when kids have trouble focusing and are itching to get outside. They needed a pick me up, and she hoped that the challenge would allow them to get more sunlight during their day. Of course, a discount on their health insurance plan was also a bonus. She hadn’t given them any details about the challenge thus far, so hopefully they would understand the value before they left the gym.

  Everyone watched as Myla, the ninth company leader, walked forward smiling. Her bright hazel eyes, as well as the freckles that dusted her nose and cheeks, made her appear ten years younger than her 36 years. Embarrassed, she tucked a few strands of her brown wavy hair behind her ear, while trying to readjust her messy ponytail.

  “Okay. The instructors are going to take some vitals on you while you walk on the treadmill. This will give us some baseline data about your normal heart rate during exercise. Everyone is different so don’t be worried about your performance. Turn on your machine and begin. I will explain everything that we’ll do today and the things that you’re responsible for as a group,” explained Dara. Because Myla was the last to join in, Dara turned around and jotted down her weight, then helped her adjust the treadmill to the correct speed.

  An instructor was assigned to each treadmill, helping the clients set the machine and start their workout. Their vitals were taken before they started walking and again in five minute intervals while Dara continued giving instructions.

  “Each and every day, I need all of you to sign in and sync your data with our Company Challenge Group. If you fail to do this, your team will be disqualified. This means the leaders will need to be diligent about reminding their team members to sign on EVERY DAY!” Dara looked at all of the leaders to see that they were paying attention. When she was satisfied that each one understood, she continued her directions.

  “This is going to be a process, but once we have you signed into our account system through Waverly Gym, you may leave.” This made some of the team members begin to jockey for second or third place in line. Dara watched and just shook her head. “Or you can stay and get a cardiovascular workout on our equipment.” She then nodded to the fitness instructors to increase the speed on the treadmills.

  “These are the rules of the challenge. Everyone pay close attention. Rule number one, there is no cheating. We are taking some basic stats on you now. If we see any huge fluctuations in
your heart rate, we’ll immediately disqualify you, which of course means that your team will be disqualified. Unless you can provide justification, but I’m going to go on good faith and trust that no one will cheat.” Now everyone was listening and paying close attention, with a bit of joking occurring in the lines.

  Some didn’t see how you could actually cheat with the Fitbit connected to your wrist, so Dara decided to clarify. She of course had seen everything, with people becoming more creative in the many ways they tried to trick the system. “This means no putting your Fitbit on the dog, or giving it to your boyfriend or girlfriend.” There was a unanimous chuckle throughout the crowd and everyone began chatting again.

  “Quiet,” Dara said in a military tone. “Rule number two. You must wear the Fitbit all the time, except when you are in the shower. They are not water proof, only water resistant. You have basic instructions for cleaning them, but do not use anything other than water to wipe them off. Rule number three, you can’t allow one or two members of your group to take up the slack for everyone else. This is a big deal people. We’re talking about company health insurance discounts and a chance to win a full fitness center for your business.”

  With that, Summer’s teammates mouths were agape. That was one factor that she had neglected to tell them. But all of them knew that she was a fitness freak and quickly decided amongst themselves that it was not really a surprise, but perhaps a bonus. A few of them spent numerous hours at the gym each week paying large fees to have very expensive trainers. With a gym in their building, they could all fit in the time and lose the fees altogether. At least that was what Summer was hoping for. She was always trying to come up with ways to encourage and help her crew be healthy and happy, and this was the next adventure. Summer nodded at her teammates and grinned while tipping her fake hat.

  “Rule number four will only benefit you. You are not required to, but we want you to input your calories each day, along with water intake. I say this is not required because it seems more like an invasion of privacy. However, at the end of the challenge, if you choose to participate, we will provide you with a trainer that can personally customize your eating habits and workout based on the information you have provided us with.” Some participants seemed to really like that idea, but Dara knew that most wouldn’t want to reveal what they ate on a daily basis. It needed to be for them, not the company.

  “The last and most important rule is that your team must meet the minimum of 420,000 steps the first two weeks. This gives each of you an average of 7,500 steps per day. The third and fourth weeks you must meet the 560,000 step challenge, equivalent to 10,000 steps per day. The last four weeks you must meet the 700,000 step challenge, which will be an average of 12,500 steps per day per person. It may seem like a lot, especially to those of you with desk jobs, but really it’s just about 90 minutes of brisk walking for those of you that are used to eating a bag of Doritos for lunch.” This made everyone snicker, some more than others.

  “For those of you who already have an intensive exercise regime, it won’t be a problem, as long as you are doing a cardiovascular workout. And if you are pregnant,” Dara looked at Lena and smiled, “walking will get you 10,000 steps with just 5 miles. Some easy suggestions for increasing your steps include taking the dog for a walk, taking a walk around the park during lunch, plan a walking meeting, walk to get your afternoon coffee instead of driving, chase your kids around the yard, or you can just use the bathroom more frequently during the day. We will not keep track of the number of flights of stairs you take in a day, but every staircase you climb will get you closer to your goal. If you reach the individual goal for yourself by day 6, then you can take a day off and let your teammates do their job. But that won’t win your team a free gym.

  “The American Heart Association uses the 10,000 steps per day number to promote healthy living and decreasing the risk of heart disease,” Dara added, letting that 10,000 steps metric sink in. When people started to pipe up again about the 12,500 steps she added, “This is a challenge people. We had to make it interesting and competitive. We are giving away a free gym after all.” Everyone seemed to snap back to reality with the last statement.

  “If the entire team meets the minimum requirements of the challenge, you will not only receive a health discount on your insurance, but Waverly Gym will give everyone on your team a 50% discount on a one year membership. If you bring in two new customers, we’ll give you a free membership for a year.” Dara watched as a few of the people nodded their head, liking the loser options.

  “Are we all clear about the requirements of the challenge?” When everyone shook their heads, Dara turned back around and nodded to the fitness instructors. Each instructor increased the treadmill speed just two increments after taking the third set of vitals. “Once your instructor has taken your final data, please step off and log on to one of the computers along the wall. We need you to set up an account for your team so that we’ll be able to monitor everyone. You’ll all be allowed to see the progress of the other teams during the challenge. We’re hoping this will give some of you motivation to do more with your time.” Dara gave everyone a broad smile.

  Everyone seemed to be on board and the chatting began again when Dara stopped talking. Within just 5 minutes the leaders were stepping off of the treadmills to get their account set up in the Waverly Gym computers. Summer watched as Myla walked to the first computer in the row and sat down. She wondered if Myla had recognized her, but thought maybe she looked too different with her hair cut short. It had been 18 years since they had seen one another, but Summer really hadn’t changed that much. Her hair was a lot shorter and if she had to admit it, her laugh lines were only now beginning to show.

  Summer wanted to talk to her but then decided against it. She was so mean to Myla in high school and was still embarrassed by her juvenile behavior. She was competitive and that made her extremely cocky when she was playing sports. She didn’t really get it out of her system until after college ball was finished. That was when she began to focus all of her competitiveness into her work, which apparently paid off.

  After logging into the computer and setting up her team’s account, she clicked on their names and gave them each a nickname. She smirked to herself knowing they would be pissed, but it was funny nonetheless. Not paying attention when she was finished, Summer jumped up from her chair and ran smack into Myla who was down on her knee tying her shoe.

  “Shit, I am so sorry. I didn’t see you down there,” Summer explained.

  “No worries. I shouldn’t have done this in the middle of the floor,” Myla responded.

  This was the Myla that Summer remembered. Always so forgiving, and incredibly sweet. She was so nice that it was hard to be angry with her even when Myla’s team was winning. “Allen?”

  “Huh?” Myla asked, standing up straight to look into Summer’s blue eyes. “Stevens. It’s nice seeing you here. I didn’t recognize you with…” She didn’t finish her sentence, just shook her head.

  Summer furrowed her brows wondering what Myla was going to say, but she didn’t finish her sentence. “Are you going to make this into a challenge against me now?” Myla had had a difficult morning and wasn’t really in the mood for more ribbing from Summer Stevens. She was mentally drained from helping her mother pack up her grandmother’s belongings and taking them to Good Will. Her grandmother had passed away just two weeks earlier and everything was still too fresh.

  “I wasn’t going to, but maybe that’s not such a bad idea,” Summer said teasingly. She wanted to apologize to Myla, but what came out of her mouth was just more crap talk. There was something about this woman that infuriated her, and now, even at 36 years of age, she still couldn’t put her finger on it.

  “You’re on,” Myla responded walking away from the taller blond before Summer could respond. If she couldn’t resolve her feelings for the loss of her grandmother, she would focus her energy elsewhere and pound the pavement until she could finally sleep through
the night.

  Myla returned to her friends and shook her head not wanting to talk about her feelings or the blond that had haunted her teen years. It had been a taxing day and she needed to get home so she could take a long bath. “Wait Myla. Are you okay? Did everything go okay this morning?” Kelly asked.

  “Yes, but I need to go. Can you take over? We’re all signed in and I just need the rest of the group to do what they need to do. We’ll talk tomorrow, I promise.” With that Myla grabbed her training bag and headed through the double doors of the gym. She knew she should stick around with her team, but today, she just couldn’t put on a happy face.

  Summer was surprised by Myla’s response, but figured any negative behavior the woman wanted to throw at her, was probably well deserved. She hoped to have an opportunity to apologize and maybe make it up to her. Myla was someone that she would like to have as a friend, but her demeanor today suggested Myla might not see things the same way.

  ****

  When Myla left the gym, she headed straight home and changed into her running gear. She needed to burn off steam and then have a bath, or perhaps a glass of wine in the bath, which was quickly becoming the more appealing option.

  Myla knew the challenge wasn’t actually starting until the following week, but she tapped the bracelet to see the time light up. She then pushed the button on the side to determine how many steps she had taken during the day, with intentions of determining how many she would gain from her daily 5 mile run. More than likely extra steps would be needed to help out her team.

  Myla smiled to herself thinking about Summer Stevens. She hadn’t seen her in 18 years and wondered what she had been doing during that time. Did she date women? Did she date a lot of women? Was she married? No, she didn’t have a ring on. Myla had always been attracted to Summer and had once admitted to a few of her teammates in high school that she was attracted to the somewhat abrasive Summer Stevens. Myla knew they thought she was stupid, but there was more to the tall blond than a hard exterior. There was something about the way she carried herself and led her teammates when they were on the court. She was loyal, a leader and was very supportive. All qualities that Myla admired, besides the fact that she was incredibly cute.