I made it a challenge to write a short story, under a thousand words, with the prompt Goals, for the new year. While I struggled to finish it in my deadline timeframe, here it is.

#Goals by Jarrett S. Smith

His arms burned, but he couldn’t stop. Not this close to his goal. 

His palm pushed into the rough carpet. He willed his arms to lift his body. Sweat ran from the back of his head to the ground. 

With his last ounce of energy, his arms extended straight. “Fifty,” he breathed and then fell to the floor. 

Arland chugged as much air as he could and rolled onto his back. 

He couldn’t believe that he had done it. It had taken the entire year, but he had got fifty pushups in one turn. When he started, he struggled to complete three, and now…

His body had transformed through the process. What had been sticks now had form. Arland twisted his arm to make his triceps pop. He had never expected to enjoy the transformation as much as he had.

He kept gulping down as much air as possible. Now that he could do his fifty pushups, he needed to reach his next goal.

Talking to the prettiest girl in school. 

All of the pain and torture had been in hopes of getting Brenda’s attention. She had talked to him once, a week ago. She had asked how much time until the bell rang. Now his mind replayed that scene over in his mind with different endings each time.

“Wow, you did some work,” the lyrical voice rang. 

Arland rolled over and looked up his best friend Marley. Her tight dreads framed the beaming smile she always wore. Her brown eyes looked down at him with a playful, judgmental look.

“Did you do, like seven?” she asked. 

“Just a few more,” he admitted. He felt naked and snatched his shirt off the floor. “What’s up?”

“I was bored. You didn’t answer your phone, so I came to see what you were doing.”

He grabbed his phone off the ground and saw that he had no missed messages from Brenda, but five from Marley. 

“Sorry, I was working out.”

“I saw. When did you start?”

“A couple of months ago,” he admitted. He didn’t know why he felt weird hiding this element of his life from her, but he had. He hadn’t known what she would make of his new goals. 

“I thought you just went through a growth spurt or something,” she said as she stepped through the door and bounced to a sitting position on his bed. 

He sat up and slipped his T-shirt on. It felt strange to feel so vulnerable in front of her. They had been best friends since they could walk. But he hadn’t told her about working out, nor Brenda.

“So what did you want to do?” he asked. 

“Woah. You aren’t getting out of this that easy.”

“Out of what?” he avoided.

“What’s up with working out? I’m pretty sure we’ve always dogged all of those meatheads that work out. I didn’t take you as someone that would start.”

For a moment, he realized why he had kept it secret. So he shrugged.

She looked down at him from the bed. “So what’s her name?”

Arland struggled to keep up with her train of thought. “What?”

“The girl you’re working out for. Wait, let me guess.” She put her hand to her chin. “Brenda?”

He opened his mouth, but he didn’t know what to say. Instead, his cheeks warmed and changed color like a chameleon on a red rose. 

“I see,” she muttered.

“What?” 

“Every boy in our school is in love with her. She has a nice figure, but she’s missing a lot.” She pointed to her head. 

Arland had never heard Marley respond like that. Her tone felt cold.

“And you don’t think I should?” he asked.

She shied away from looking at him. She turned her attention to the pillows on his bed, straightening them up. “I mean, she is the most beautiful girl in school. I just thought- you were different.” 

Arland pivoted to see her. Even though she looked away, he could still make out the tears slowly sliding down her cheek. He had seen her cry before, but had never been the cause. 

In that moment, everything changed. All of his other friends had always teased him about his girl that he kept on a string. He had always defended himself by saying they were best friends.

But is that all they were?

He sat on the edge of the bed. He thought about how no one had noticed his change but Marley. He never even mentioned to her about when she changed her hair or when she had changed her style from kids’ clothes to more fashion forward. He had noticed, but said nothing then. 

“Thank you,” he said. “I’ve been working hard. I had a goal to do fifty. I finally got there today.”

“You think that is enough to get Brenda’s attention?” She said as she carefully wiped away the streaks from the tears. Slowly, she turned back to him.

“Probably not, but-” he paused as his words jumbled in his mouth.

“What?” she asked.

He slid his hand towards hers until their fingertips touched. His recently calmed heart felt like it had found a new upbeat song in his chest. 

She turned to look at him, her eyebrows narrowed by her nose as she tried to realize what was happening. 

“Brenda might never notice me,” he started. She withered away, but he continued, “But you’re right, I amdifferent from the others. It just took someone more special to make me realize it.”

He clasped her hand, and a spark went through them both. He knew nothing would be the same after taking this step. He knew the risk, but his goal had been to be noticed by the most beautiful girl in school. He never realized he had that before those pushups. 

Next Steps

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