Obstacle Course

                                    

                                          
"Fifty seconds!" shouted Coach Macauley, watching us in satisfaction as we struggled to pass through the test of skill and ability.
                          
Ahead of me was multiple swinging pendulums, with a moat full of lake water surrounding the thin bridge that we were supposed to run through. This obstacle was typical of Coach, since he was evil. No kidding.
                          
I watched as one by one student attempted to cross the bridge, but then fall into the dirty water and coming up with a mouthful of algae after taking in a blow. Most of them just spit it out and pouted. Some kids argued with Coach, but he was basically a metal stuck to a magnet. There was no changing his mind whatsoever.
                          
Oh, did I forget to mention that the bridge was coated with a slick layer of soap and water? And also- we weren't allowed to wear any shoes. This made running through incredibly hard since the platform was basically a slip n' slide, with more of the slip and an accent on the slide.
                          
And to add up on that, this was our final grade. Each of us had five attempts. Succeed once, get an A . Don't succeed, fail. There were only two options, and from the results of the current state, it looks that everybody was going to fail.
                          
Erica was right in front of me, ready to take on the obstacle. I had a dollar bet that she would make it, against Mike.
                          
"I'm telling you, this obstacle is impossible," Mike said, watching as yet another victim got knocked into the water. "Nobody can get through it. Nobody. Not even Ice Queen herself. I can't wait until you hand me over that crisp dollar."
                          
Zoe, who was behind Mike, interceded our conversation. "I agree with Ben. I think that Ice Queen can get through this."
                          
"Oh, so you side with me now. Couldn't of you have done that earlier today during the spaghetti incident?" I said.
                          
"We don't talk about that," Mike quickly put in, giving me a warning glare. Zoe couldn't help but laugh.
                          
Something happened at lunch today, but I'm not going to tell you. Secrets are secrets, (I am aware of the irony that I am a spy, and spies are supposed to know secrets, but whatever.), and secrets aren't supposed to be revealed.
                          
Before I knew it, Erica was up to the line. All of my fellow spies squished to the front of the crowd to get a better view. Apparently, a lot of people wanted to see if the best spy in our league could manage this "impossible" obstacle.
                          
Erica seemed not to be aware of all of this and started the course before I could even give her a few words of encouragement. Well, seeing her athleticism, she didn't really need any, to be honest.
                          
Running past the first few pendulums without even a hesitation, she didn't manage to slip, slide, or make any mistakes and maintained her balance. This wasn't surprising, since her skill level was still bigger than all of ours combined.
                          
As she went on, almost halfway through the obstacle now, (which was longer than anybody had ever gone), I realized something: if she kept going at this speed, she would eventually hit a swinging pendulum. And judging from the friction of the ground and the fact that she wasn't wearing shoes, the amount of brake energy wouldn't be enough to slow her down...
                          
Unless she did something very unexpectedly.
                          
And that's exactly what happened.