Page 31 of Pulse
I sank down onto the bench. “Don’t say anything. I don’t want them knowing and I’m sure Ash would gut me if he knew I’d told. You’re the only one who knows.”
“Okay, but fair warning, your dad has organized a surprise dinner tonight.”
I raised my eyebrows and Josie shrugged.
“Try to look surprised, okay?” She laughed.
I just wanted to crawl into a hole and hide until all of this blew over, but it was never going to be that simple. I was in the middle of ashitstormand everyone was expecting me to step up yet again. Life wasn’t going to give me an easy ride, no matter how much I wanted it to.
“Sleep on the Ash thing, okay?” Josie said. “Give it some time to process. You don’t have to decide straight away.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled.
Josie gestured over her shoulder. “I’ll deal with that lot. Take your time.”
By the time I gained the courage to venture back out into the studio, all the gifts from the sponsors had disappeared. Shucking off my hoodie, I padded out onto the mat, ready to join the Twins for training.
“Alright Ren?” Dean asked as I approached.
“Alright.” I nodded.
We spent most of the morning going through drills on the speedball, which was the Twinsfavorite, second to their one-on-one’s with each other. They never brought up my birthday again and I was glad they got that I wasn’t a fan.
Dad worked us hard and I lost myself to the repetitions, concentrating on nothing but my movement and breathing. Sometimes I got so totally Zen that the outside world fizzled out to a dull roar. It wasn’t like training alone at night, but it was close.
“Ren!”
We all looked up at the sound of Josie’s shriek and a moment later she was running down the stairs. It was a wonder she didn’t fall down and break her neck considering the heels she refused to change out for flats. She said it was all about appearance in her line of work. I just figured it was her excuse to go on wearing them, not that she needed one.
“You got in,” she said, bounding across the mats, kicking her shoes off one at a time. They went sailing in opposite directions but nobody was looking at her shoes. They were staring at me.
“She placed?” Dad asked, his eyes wide.
“She placed alright. Ranked second.”
“Holy shit!” Dean exclaimed, throwing his arms around me in a tight bear hug.
“You stink,” I complained, not knowing how to react to the biggest news in my entire life.
“Way to go Ren,” Lincoln said, swatting at his brother.
“I think this calls for an early lunch,” I said, glancing at Dad.
He nodded once. “Of course. We’ve got plenty to celebrate today.”
The Twins let out a whoop and made a beeline for the kitchen. We were on our own where the food was concerned today. Monica had been smart enough to make a silent exit on today of all days, in fact she’d become nothing but a blip on my radar. One day she would just fade into obscurity and nobody would notice.
As the Twins disappeared and Josie ran off to collect her shoes, Dad captured me in a hug. “I’m proud of you Ren.”
“Thanks Dad.”
I nodded towards the kitchen. “I’ll be in in a sec, okay?”
“Sure.”
Dad followed the noise into the kitchen as I lingered for a moment, trying to get my head around what had just happened. I didn’t feel excited at all. We kind of knew this would happen with all the points I’d accumulated over the past few months, but now that it was official? I wasn’t so sure this was the right path I should be taking.
I wasn’t sure about a lot of things.
