Page 76 of More To Us

"Yeah, but you're not supposed to be doing strenuous exercise, and no more than three hours a week." Her hand goes to her mouth. "Shit," she mutters as she turns around.

I storm over to her. "You talked to my mom?" She doesn't answer. "I knew it!" I throw my hands up. "You're her damn spy, aren't you? She told you to keep watch on me, and you are, and reporting back to her."

She looks down.

"Amber!" I hold her shoulders. "Look at me. Tell me the truth." My voice is raised and I'm sure Austin can hear, but I'm so mad I can't keep quiet. I suspected she was doing this but I didn't know for sure until now.

Her eyes lift to mine. "I'm not spying on you. I'm just making sure you don't hurt yourself again."

"By doing what? Making me sit in this apartment all day? Am I even allowed to take a walk or are you going to call up my parents and tell on me? Did you call my mom and tell her I went walking the other morning?"

"No! I haven't even talked to your mom in days." She points her finger at me. "I could've called her about the rollerblading but I didn't. I kept my mouth shut, but you shouldn't have been doing that. What if you fell?"

"Oh my God." I turn and walk away from her. "I'm so sick of this." I turn back to her, lowering my voice so Austin won't hear. "It's been over a year since I hurt my leg. It's fine now. And it's been fine for months. So everyone needs to stop treating me like a damn invalid and let me get back to my life. I like working out, and I like being active and being outside. You know that, Amber. I've always been that way, and if I can't do those things, then I'm not me."

"I know," she says, walking over to me. "But you're not fine. Just the other day, you were limping. Why would you be limping if your leg was okay?"

"I wasn't limping," I insist. "You're making shit up and I don't even know why. I thought we were friends. Friends support each other, not hurt each other."

"I'm not hurting you. I'm helping you."

"By trying to take away everything I love? And spying on me for my mom? Great, thanks a lot." I walk to the door.

"Kira, wait."

I turn around. "What?"

"You told Austin, right? He knows what happened? Because if he doesn't, you're—"

"Yeah, he knows," I lie. "So don't talk to him about it and embarrass me or make it sound worse than it is. You need to stop this, Amber. I'm not kidding. If you keep this up, I'm moving out. If I find out you're talking to my mom behind my back, that's it. I'm finding a new roommate."

"Kira, I—"

"No. This isn't a discussion. You agree to stop spying on me or I'm gone."

She sighs. "Fine. But you have to promise me you won't push yourself to the point that you get hurt again."

I roll my eyes. "I didn't get hurt from pushing myself too hard. You were there. You saw what happened. It was an accident. My foot slipped and I fell off the balance beam."

And yet it was more than that. She's right. I did push myself too hard. The day I broke my leg, I was tired and sore because I'd worked out too much that week, preparing for the meet. When it came time to do my routine, my muscles felt tight and my brain felt foggy because I hadn't slept much the night before. I felt off, and there were warning signals going off inside me, telling me not to do the routine. But I had to. I worked too hard not to. So I ignored the warnings. I made a stupid mistake and I paid for it. But I know my limits now and I won't make a mistake like that again.

She comes up to me and hugs me. "I'm sorry, okay? I just worry about you. I still remember that day and I was so scared when I saw you lying there. I thought—"

"That's not going to happen again, and my leg is fine, so stop worrying." I pull back and look at her. "So what happened last night with Matt? Did you um...do anything?"

"Yeah." Her shoulders slump and she walks over and sits on her bed. "We had sex."

"You did?" I race over and sit beside her.

She nods, with zero enthusiasm. And this is a girl who's always enthusiastic, about everything. That's why she made such a good cheerleader.

"And? What happened?"

She sighs and lies back on her bed. "It sucked."

"Oh. Well, maybe you just need to give it more time. The first time's usually not that great. Just try it again."

"I did. We did it again this morning. Still sucked." She stares at the ceiling. "I think I might have to break up with him. He's super nice and I like him as a person, but as a boyfriend, there's just something missing. I don't feel that spark, you know?"

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