Page 77 of Burnout
Smiling like he knows exactly what I’m doing, he nods.
Coach Weaver has lifted all bans on my practicing. I’m now doing my full routines on beam and vault. The only catch is she downgraded the skill level on my beam dismount. I’m trying tofocus on the positives, but I want to be back–fully back–in time for our first competition.
“Your boyfriend is hot,” Hope says when I mount the beam next to her.
“He’s not my boyfriend.” The words fly out quickly without thought. “We’re just…I’m not…He’s…” I stop myself, but her smug teenage smile appears.
“Hot boy got your tongue?”
I stick said tongue out at her. I can act her age too. “Let’s see your full turn and then we’ll work on back handspring layouts.”
Her smile falls into a pursed look of determination as she gets into position. At least she’s easy to distract.
And I am too, as it turns out, because I focus on nothing but Hope and helping her on beam skills until Knox wanders over almost an hour later.
He sits on the floor in front of us. He’s sweaty and too handsome for his own good. He smiles at me as I talk Hope through a handspring layout.
There’s something about the way he smiles at me. It burns into my skin and makes me light-headed. I turn back to Hope with a flick of my ponytail. “Get your arms and chest up quickly and focus on raising your hips.”
“I’m doing all that,” she mutters, frustrated and whiny. She glances over at Knox like she’s embarrassed he’s seeing her at less than perfect.
“You’re doing great. Keep practicing on the mat. It’ll make it easier to land it up here. It took me forever to get it.”
“Show me all of it together once more?” Her dad has just arrived, and she waves at him before adding, “Please?”
“All right.” I hop down onto the mat.
“No. On the beam.”
I waver. It’s been forever since I’ve done the combination pass on the beam, but her pleading eyes get the better of me.
“Fine. One time.”
I pull myself back up onto the beam next to her. A quick glance at Knox shows him eyeing me with a mix of admiration and excitement. It gives me a little boost of confidence. I’ve done this a million times, and my knee has been feeling stronger every day.
Without giving myself too much time to worry about getting it right in front of them, I go into the back handspring, layout step out, layout step out. I stand tall, hands over head when I end. A smile tugs at the corner of my lips and a jolt of excitement tingles through my fingertips. Damn that felt good.
When I glance at Hope, her mouth gapes wide. “Damn, Avery. I hope someday I’m half as good as you.”
My face heats from the compliment. “Don’t be silly. You’re going to be so much better than me.”
She smiles wide and jumps down with a wave to me and Knox.
When I hop to the floor, Knox stands and steps forward slowly.
“That was impressive,” he says.
“You’ve seen me do skills before.”
“Yeah, but not like that.”
Another shot of confidence pushes some of those lingering doubts away. Maybe I will be ready for competition season.
“What are you doing tonight?” he asks, pulling his T-shirt over his head. My least favorite part of the workout is when he puts on clothes and leaves.
“I’m not sure, why?”
“Thought we could hang out. I need to stop by the house, but after that I’m free.”
