34 Chapter 34:

Ace's fingers waltzed over the piano, lightly pressing the intended keys, his mind drowning in its own symphony. He had woken up early today, unable to sleep due to the nightmares that were becoming less frequent, yet still present. He had been able to complete his workout and do all necessary things, but since he still had some time before he had to leave for school, he decided it would be good to practice music. He had been playing guitar for about twenty minutes and noticed his improvement. His fingers did not get tired anymore, and now that he was playing the piano, he was amazed at his body's capability of learning and improving.

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Ace stretched his muscles, getting ready for another P.E lesson. While he did so, he thought overall he had done. His viewer count was growing consistently, and he was now getting 100 viewers consistently, but he expected it to be a lot more soon. This was because one of his videos had gone semi-viral (at least for him), and now had over 100 thousand views, this had, of course, boosted the view count of his other videos. Ace had hit 10 thousand subscribers not that long ago, and he thought that it was time to begin the second part of his plan. He had bought a keyboard and various adapters for his guitar so that he could connect it to his computer directly. He would play music in his next stream, and post it on youtube, he would then begin to do it more often as his skill improved.

He was now taking singing lessons as well, and to his amazement and his teacher's he was improving at a breakneck pace, if he was 'jogging' with his improvement of instruments, he was 'sprinting' when it came to his singing. This meant that it was quickly getting to a point where he was not embarrassed to display his skill on the internet. It would also allow him to vary his streams, and when he was taking a break, as he usually did every few hours, he could take song requests, and due to his perfect pitch, he would be able to play some semblance of the song, even if he had only heard it once.

For the umpteenth time, Ace was overwhelmed by his body and mind's capabilities. It was as if someone had gotten all the good things one could have and put them together, making Ace. He knew that he could not misuse his gift, who knew if the white shadow could come and take it back…. Ace shook his head at this, going down that thought path would only lead to more nightmares, and plus, class was starting.

"Now, the goal of this class is to improve your overall fitness level, however, some of you are already at the level where you could simply take the end of year exam and achieve full marks, due to this, some of you will have full availability of the whole department. This means that as long as you are doing some type of physical exercise, we will not force you to do anything. Nevertheless, you should not slack off since you will still have to take the monthly exams, and if we see that your scores have worsened, you will be forced back into training until they improve again.", Thomas spoke to the whole year group, some were happy at this - mostly those that knew they would not be forced to do anything, but most were saddened by this.

"However, this does mean that if you are able to improve your times to an acceptable standard, you will not be forced to do any exercise with us, but the same rules will still apply, if you get worse, you will be forced back.", with this, most perked up, seeing a way out of the tunnel, and Ace grinned. This was manipulation at its finest, but it seemed to have worked miracles, everyone that had to seemed to be preparing to give it their all, which would make their jobs a lot easier.

Ace went to have a walk around the facilities, he was curious as to all they had, he spotted courts for all sports, tracks and fields, as well as various indoor facilities like swimming pools and gyms. Ace went to the pool, it would probably be empty, so he would be able to swim for a while, then, he would head to the gymnastics bars, where he could do some calisthenics. He would take it relaxed, however, as they still had classes after, and despite all appearances, he was still concentrating on the lessons, ensuring that all that was taught he knew.

He dived into the pool, he was wearing a swimsuit used by professional swimmers, that cost a lot more than you would expect. It was tight, black and came above the knees. However, for the ridiculous price, the truth was that it was extremely comfortable, and to be fair, looked damn good on him.

He was underwater for about half the length, before coming up and beginning his strokes, he was using a front stroke, but it was a marvel to see. If there was any sport where his body could truly shine, it was swimming. He was perfectly coordinated, and his strokes were impeccable every time, the rotation of the shoulders and the movement of his ankles unwavering. He swam for about 30 minutes at a regular pace, without tiring himself out. He was fully immersed in the swimming however, and did not notice a figure in the stands, following his moving figure, up and down the length of the pool.

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"Raul, I am telling you, man, we need him." Randy, was annoyed, he pointed at the video one of the girls in the swimming team had shown him, it was only a few minutes long, but enough to demonstrate the silhouette's masterful movements.

They were getting ready for a meet in one week, and one of the starters had gotten dragged to a family 'holiday', and they would be leaving halfway through Friday, so he would not be able to attend. No one blamed him, they all knew the type of families they were stuck with, and sometimes, PR came first.

"What do you mean, we can win without Jav", Raul responded, tired with the incessant bugging

"Yes, but it will not be a perfect win, we will lose one of the races, and you know that."

The meet consisted of four races, each one with one member of the team, the Swimming Club knew they could win each and everyone if they had their full members, but it would be harder if one was missing. The moment the other schools got wind that a substitute was being sent in, the best swimmers in each school would participate in that race, which meant that the club would not be able to win every race, even if they did come out ahead in the meet.

"Yeah, and how do you know that he won't bomb it?", Raul asked

"Come on man, you have seen his strokes, this guy has been swimming for a long time, and plus, Nat said that he swam at this pace for about 30 minutes, he can handle a sprint for sure."

Raul sighed, he knew it was true, but he wanted to give one of the substitutes a try, they would be the future swimmers in a few years. However, he knew that the club's facilities were not cheap, and at the exchange of money, the school expected results. Furthermore, they owed it to Jav, if they lost and had to give the reason why, it would be Jav's ass on a plate.

"Ok then, ask him, but he has to send us his best times, so that we can make sure he is up for it, and tell him not to lie, if he loses, he will have to answer to the board. So he should only take the spot if he is confident."

"Yes! Come on man, let's go, I am buying today!", Randy shouted excitedly

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[Amazing opportunity! Join the school Swimming Club now, simply send your best times of a 50-metre length with diving!]

The alert beeped on his Noxia, Ace saw it and ignored it, he had no time for that, he read that it was on a Friday and just ignored it. Friday was the day he was planning on first implementing the music to his streams. He had analysed it, and thought that due to the prime time of the Friday afternoon and the success of his videos, it would be when he peaked in viewers, so he had to take a risk and do it. If it worked, it would be a great boost to popularity, and if it did not work, he would simply not do it again.