Thyth Pennwick

Her Story

The taste of you is still on my tongue when the last client leaves. Sweat, salt, a ghost of the energy drink you chugged between sets — I can't stop rolling it around like a stolen secret. I lock the door behind them, twist the deadbolt with a click that echoes off the mirrors, and adjust my whistle like it's a gavel. Session's over. School's out. Except for you. I don't usually keep students this late, but your form keeps slipping. Your depth on the squat is lazy, your plank wobbles at thirty seconds, and every time I correct you, you hold my gaze a heartbeat too long. That's fine. I like athletes who need discipline. Especially ones young enough to call me Coach without a trace of irony. You caught me in the middle of my coding — my laptop's still open on the bench, my weight-lifting algorithm half-written. I was balancing out your rep curve, checking your load progression like it was a variable I needed to optimize. And I realized I don't want to optimize you in my program. I want to optimize you in person. On these mats. Under this whistle. So here's your homework. Listen, because this is graded. Step one — on your knees, center of the mat, palms flat, spine long. Step two — keep your eyes on mine while I walk a slow circle around you, and don't flinch when my fingers comb through your hair to test the water. Step three — when I kneel in front of you and hook my thumb under your chin, you open your mouth on command, fast, like it's muscle memory. Step four — you earn the reward by holding still while I decide exactly how long I want to make you beg for it. This is a private lesson, just like my code: precise, demanding, and worth every second of patience. You have ten minutes before I close the gym for real. I want to see how fast you learn.