Eli's First Class

“Don’t go to music school, you’ll never be a musician!”

“Don’t waste your teenage years practicing for a sport, you’ll only ruin your body and you’ll never make a top team, anyway!”

“Don’t go to an art school! There are far too many artists already!”

Depressing statements like these were all too familiar to Eli, barely eighteen years old and fresh out of high school. His parents had been ‘very involved’ (to put it mildly) in planning his further education, but after a long struggle he had persuaded them to follow up on the sports scholarship he had been offered, and now he was here: In the locker room of one of the most prestigious colleges in the country, known especially for its top-level sports department, getting ready for his first day of class. And of course, for a college like this, Monday morning was reserved for nothing other than the most important of all subjects: Physical Education. Actually, around here PE was divided into multiple different subjects that filled Eli’s mornings on most weekdays, with the other, ‘normal’ courses like Math and Physics taking the afternoon slots. Eli was beyond excited - He had always loved sports, and he was incredibly fit, but now that he was here getting ready for his first class with all the other students of his year, there was an ominous thought gnawing at the back of his mind.

‘College teenager normal flexibility level’, he typed frantically into his phone. This was bad. For all the anxiety he had gone through in preparation for finally starting at his new school, this had somehow slipped his mind. ‘Boy 18 years how flexible' was his next try. ‘Is it normal to be able to touch your toes for boys’. His hand was shaking slightly as he tried to absorb the search results as quickly as possible. Outside, in the large gym hall, there was some kind of commotion - No doubt the coach was already here and class would start any moment now. Eli was already dressed, but as he had just realized, he was not ready for the warm-up that would surely be the first part of the class.

How could he have missed this? Other anxious students like Eli might have been worried about not being able to do the various stretches the coach would demonstrate and looking silly for it, maybe people would even laugh about how much of a stiff board they were, but for Eli it was the complete opposite. Flexibility was his greatest passion. Stretching was the first thing he did after waking up each day, and the last thing he did before going to sleep. Over many years and countless hours of diligent practice, he had turned every part of his body amazingly flexible, but most of all his legs. Eli loved the feeling of sliding into oversplits and all sorts of other advanced poses many others wouldn’t even dream of - But somehow, it had also always been his great… secret. Eli only ever practiced alone and never showed anyone what his body could do - Not even his own family, but especially not anyone in public. Maybe it was silly, but Eli just didn’t feel comfortable with it. He hated the idea of people staring at him with their mouths open like he was a circus attraction, asking him weird questions, maybe even saying irritating things or calling him gay, or whatever. It was not worth the risk, so Eli kept his amazing talents strictly to himself.

But now… How was he supposed to pass for a ‘normal guy’ and avoid drawing attention to himself when he was probably more bendy than the entire rest of his class combined? How could he avoid accidentally going way too far on those warm-up stretches and instantly giving away that he was… a ‘freak’?

As he was nervously scrolling through pictures of ‘beginner exercises’ trying to get an idea about how flexible he should pretend to be, a wave of loud noises suddenly echoed from the gym hall into the locker room. People were gasping for air and it sounded like they were shouting in surprise. There had been a loud commotion before, but this was something else - What was going on there?!

Eli slipped his phone into his pocket and anxiously peeked out into the gym hall. Most of the other students were already there, gathering in a large group around something on the floor that Eli couldn’t see. Some of them were pointing at it or raising their arms in confusion and surprise. Puzzled, Eli forgot about his anxieties for a moment and walked towards the large group. He didn’t want to push his way through, so he walked around it until he found a spot where he could catch a glimpse of what his classmates were so excited about - And when he did, his heart skipped a beat.

At the center of the commotion, sitting on a thin mat on the floor, was a boy with dark brown hair, not too tall, around Eli’s age and obviously one of Eli’s classmates. But apart from his simple sports shirt, jogging pants, and his incredibly cute face, there was nothing normal about him in the slightest: His chest and hands were resting on the mat, his head raised, but the entire rest of his body was curled in backwards at such an extreme angle that his butt was pressed tightly against his back just below his own shoulderblades, his legs extending onto the mat in front of him while being locked under his own armpits as he sat in the most stunning, amazingly tight Ruppel backbend Eli had ever seen.

Eli, of course, was probably the only other person in the room to even know the name of this incredibly advanced contortion pose, but he could not think straight right now. His eyes were glued to the boy as he was staring at him in the exact way he always feared people would stare at him, should he ever show off his talents in public like this.

While Eli was petrified, the boy brought together his arms in front of him and looked around at his gathered classmates, who were still dumbfounded and amazed by what they were seeing. He was obviously enjoying the attention he was getting (a concept utterly incomprehensible to Eli), giving everyone a wide grin as he bent his legs at the knee, so that after a short moment his feet ended up behind his impossibly curled-up spine with his shins on the ground, forming another famous pose Eli was very familiar with: a perfect triplefold. The sight of his tiny, snailed-up body triggered another wave of gasps from the gathered students, and the boy soaked it all in with visible delight, sheepishly biting his lip in the cutest possible way as he looked around with his big, puppy-like eyes.

At that moment, the automated gong signalled the start of class. With a practiced motion, the boy uncurled his spine and brought his legs overhead, and then back down behind him until he was just lying down on the mat like any normal person might.

“Oops, sorry folks!” he said as he was getting up, “Sounds like that’s it for today, class is starting! Catch me for another little show soon! Tomorrow, maybe?”

Grinning wide, he struck a cute little pose on the tips of his toes as around him, his classmates were still processing what they had just seen. Among them, Eli was starstruck. He had never seen this boy before, he didn’t even know his name, but somehow he felt that something amazing was happening here. He felt a connection. This boy was a real contortionist! An incredible one, at that! This was someone who was just as passionate about flexibility as Eli - And he wasn’t afraid to show it off! On the contrary, this boy was emanating an aura of positivity and pride in his abilities, and the stares and gasps of other people didn’t seem to bother him, they seemed to fuel him! Eli could not believe his eyes. Something in him wanted to walk up to the boy, who was now standing a bit further off chatting with some girls, to at least ask him what his name was, but obviously that was out of the question. Eli had to content himself with silently watching the stranger from afar, trying to maybe overhear some of the conversation, but with all the commotion going on it was impossible.

When the coach in charge of the class arrived, he naturally had no idea what had just occurred, so he started his lesson the normal way, only briefly mentioning how this was the very first day at the college for this new group of students. He talked about how each semester would focus on a different kind of sport, but as Eli had anticipated, it wasn’t long until everyone was told to get ready to warm up for today’s practice.

“Get together in groups of two, everyone!” the coach yelled over the chatter of students.

Eli froze for a second. Groups of two? Oh, great… Reaching out to random strangers and asking them to form a group with him was not exactly Eli’s favorite pastime. Timidly, his eyes wandered across the sea of other students, trying to find the least intimidating person to ask. His searching gaze had closed in on another anxious girl standing not far away, when suddenly a voice called out to him from behind.

“Hey, you! Wanna group up with me?”

Eli jerked up and spun around. It was him! The boy from before! A bit smaller than Eli, he looked up to him with his round puppy eyes, his cute mouth forming a charming half-smile, half-pout.

“W-what?!” stuttered Eli, suddenly struggling to put together basic sentences. The boy’s smile disappeared and gave way to a more neutral expression, but one that had a slightly sad, pleading feel to it, on account of the boy’s upward-curved eyebrows.

“...Do you want to group up with me for the warm-up?” repeated the boy, tilting his head sideways as he inspected Eli for signs of what could be wrong with him.

“N-Yes! …Yes? I mean-” Eli was still thrown off-guard by the whole situation, but the boy immediately responded with a hearty thumbs-up.

“Cool! Let’s head over there.”

Eli timidly followed his new exercise partner to a less crowded part of the gym hall further at the back. As the boy settled down on the floor, Eli caught himself staring again, as if his classmate was some kind of exotic zoo animal. Before long, the boy noticed it as well.

“What’s wrong?” he asked with a kind smile, “Do you need anything?”

“No, everything’s at all, I mean- Not at all, everything’s fine-” was all that Eli managed to reply. Had it been in his power, he would have preferred to sink into the floor and disappear on the spot. At this point, his head was starting to feel a little fuzzy, too, which was probably an indication that he was blushing really hard.

Luckily, the other boy didn’t seem to mind Eli babbling like an infant. On the contrary, he chuckled and simply replied with a disarming smile.

The coach’s introductory explanation gave Eli a moment to cool down and recompose himself. Throwing frequent side-eyes to the boy next to him, he eventually mustered up all his mental strength, leaned over, and whispered: “W-what you did earlier… That was… Just wow, it was amazing.”

“Aww, thank you!” replied the boy cheerfully, “Glad you liked that little show!”

“Especially the-” Eli hesitated for a second, “-Especially the Ruppel bend. I have never seen one in real life, it’s-”

“Oh! You know what it’s called?! That’s surprising,” responded the boy, “Nobody ever does. Are you interested in contortion, too?”

Eli could feel his face turning bright red. He panicked for a second.

“Uhm… Yeah?” he said slowly, then immediately sped up, “I-I mean, a bit! Just, you know, a normal amount. Contortion? Yeah, I’m like, a normal amount interested in it, I’d say-”

The other boy was looking at him with an expression of someone who is watching a slapstick comedy unfold live before their eyes. At first, he was genuinely attentive, his eyes fixed on Eli and listening closely just as one does in a conversation, but with every passing second of watching Eli’s brain overheat in real time, his mouth turned more into a cheeky grin and his cheeks became a tint more pink, until eventually he really had to control himself not to laugh straight at Eli’s face.

“A…. a normal amount?” he asked eventually, when for a moment Eli had to stop his monologue to catch new breath. That stopped Eli in his tracks.

“That’s-” Eli stammered, “I mean, yeah…”

Somehow, this situation seemed to energize the boy in the same way as performing his incredible tricks had done before. Eli’s flustered muttering and adorable inability to keep up a sensible conversation were maddeningly, impossibly cute. For a moment, the boy just let out a chuckle with his mouth still in a grin at the sight of Eli, then he straightened his posture and extended a hand to his classmate.

“I’m Jonah, by the way.”

“Jonah,” repeated Eli breathlessly as he accepted the handshake, “Nice to meet you! I’m Eli.”

Jonah smiled at him with an affirming nod.

“Cool, Eli! What do you say, huh? Wanna be friends?”