Page 6 of More To Us

Chapter Two

Kira

"I just got into town," I say, relaxing back on the couch. "Do we really have to go out tonight?"

Amber stands over me, her hands on her hips. "First of all, you didn't just get into town. You've been in Chicago for a week. And every night you have an excuse for why you can't go out. Now it's Saturday, and we're not sitting at home on a Saturday night."

"It's not we staying home, just me. You can still go out. I'd just rather stay here."

She sits next to me. "What's your deal with going out? We used to go out all the time."

"That was in high school. I'm not a big partier anymore."

"This isn't a party. It's a bar. With music. We'll listen to the band, have a couple drinks, then come home." She touches my arm and talks to me in the same concerned tone my mom uses. "It'll be good for—" She stops herself and fakes a smile. "I mean, it'll be fun. You'll have fun. I know you will. Now come on. Let's go get ready."

"If I'm going, I'm wearing this. I'm not changing."

"Jeans and a t-shirt? That's not going out clothes. Let's go to my room. You can wear something of mine."

"Amber, really, I don't want to get all dressed up. If I'm going, I'm going to hear the music, not find a guy, so it doesn't matter what I wear."

She smiles. "You never know. You might find a guy."

I sigh. "For the last time, I don't want a guy. I need to stay focused." I see that look on her face. The one that says I need to accept that it's over and move on. She's given me that look every day since I got here and I can't take it anymore. So I'm just going to say what she wants to hear. "On school. I need to stay focused on school."

"School doesn't start for a week, which means you have a whole week to date someone."

"Yeah, a week-long relationship. That'll be great."

"Actually, it could be. Sometimes you connect with someone right away. You don't always need that long to—" She stops when her phone dings. "Shit. Matt's downstairs. I have to finish getting ready. Can you let him in?"

"And there's another reason why I shouldn't be going out with you tonight. I'll be a third wheel on your date."

"Matt doesn't care. In fact, when I told him you were coming along, he thought it was a good idea." She runs off. "When he gets here, tell him I'll only be a few minutes."

"More like a half hour," I yell as her bedroom door closes.

"Ten minutes, max," she yells back.

She's such a liar. It'll be at least twenty minutes, but more likely a half hour. She always takes forever to get ready.

Amber and I have been friends since we were kids. After high school, she went to college and I stayed in Michigan to train full-time.

I'm a gymnast. Or I used to be. No. Scratch that. I'm still a gymnast. It's who I am, no matter what my parents or Amber or anyone else says.

Gymnastics has been my life for as long as I can remember. Amber is also a gymnast. That's how we got to be friends. We used to be really competitive, but in a good way. We always pushed each other to do better and spent hours together at the gym. Then our junior year of high school, she joined the cheerleading squad, started dating the quarterback, and was named prom queen. She had no time for gymnastics so she quit, but she still supported me in my dream to make it to nationals. And I achieved that dream.

After high school, I trained all day, every day, and all my hard work paid off. Competing at nationals was the greatest day of my life and gave me a new goal to shoot for, which was to make the Olympic team. As soon as I got home from nationals, I started training even harder. I pushed my body to the limit, hoping to reach the elite status that only a few gymnasts achieve. I knew it was a long shot. I had a good coach but not the best, and I didn't do that great at nationals, but at least I'd made it that far, and I knew if I trained hard enough, I could make it there again.

But then the accident happened. It was at a regional meet. I was doing an aerial back flip on the balance beam and as I was coming down for a landing, my foot slipped. It happened fast but in the moment, it felt like slow motion. My foot went to touch the beam, but I only felt the very edge of it, and that's when I knew my body would soon crash to the ground. And it did. I landed with a thud, my leg hitting at an odd angle and with such force that I shattered bones. I heard them crack. And then the pain hit like a lightning bolt, exploding up and down my leg. It was so bad I passed out and didn't wake up until I got to the hospital. By then, they were pumping pain meds in me and rushing me into surgery.

That one tiny misplacement of my foot changed everything. I was supposed to ace nationals and earn a place at the Olympic trials. Yeah, I know the Olympics were a stretch, but that doesn't mean I couldn't try. It was my dream and I wanted it so bad. Not just for me, but for my family; my parents and three younger brothers.

My parents sacrificed everything for me. Their time. Their money. With four kids, I know my parents always wanted a larger house but they couldn't afford one. Because of me. And my poor brothers, stuck spending their childhood being dragged to my gymnastic meets, and yet they rarely complained. Because they believed in me. They believed in the dream just as much as I did.

But now they don't. Nobody does. My parents keep telling me it's over. That I'll never do gymnastics again. And what's even worse is that Amber agrees with them.

Amber. My best friend. A fellow gymnast who knows how hard it is to get to that level. How could she take my parents' side? I thought of all people, she'd support me. Encourage me. Tell me I could compete again. She was a freaking cheerleader, for crying out loud. She should be cheering me on, telling me to never give up, to keep trying. But instead, she pities me, just like everyone else. Even now, a year after the accident, she still gives me that look that says she feels sorry for me. And not because of what happened, but because I refuse to accept that it's over. As if I'm crazy for even thinking I could ever go back to gymnastics again.

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