Endurance (book 1 of Jade and Nika)

Chapter 32: the Second Wave

Nika

When I woke up this morning I really wanted to believe that everything that happened last night was just a bad dream, but of course it wasn't. I knew it because Jade wasn't here, and I was in the room that I am sharing with Paige.

Today we are going back to Connecticut and have the victory parade to celebrate our win. I should be over the moon happy right now, because we are national champions. But I am just thinking about Jade and how I was set up.

A few moments later, Paige woke up. She isn't a morning person, but today she didn't roll over and fell back asleep. This morning she sat up and checked on me.

Paige- Morning, how did you sleep? Or did you even sleep?

I fell asleep at some point, but I feel crappy.

Paige- I bet. I still can't believe what happened last night. Have you heard from her at all yet?

I checked my phone and I have no messages from her. Did she message you?

Paige reached over and grabbed her phone off the night stand to check.

Paige- Nope no message.

She knew that my mood dropped a little more, but then she started to look through the news and the articles about our win. But all of a sudden she came across a article that wasn't about our win.

Paige- Hey did you look at the news articles this morning?

No why?

She handed me her phone, and the moment I saw the article I really wanted to throw the phone. But luckily Paige stopped me from shattering her phone.

The article was about if me and Sky were in a secret relationship and if the kiss we shared after the tournament was us confirming it.

I looked at Paige and said that this is crazy.

Paige- Well if you think that article is crazy, then you don't want to see this one.

Let me see.

When I read the article I knew I needed to talk to my agent, because this is all a lie. I am not dating Sky Hamilton and I was also never in a relationship with Sky Hamilton.

I messaged my agent and told her that I want to meet with her when I get back to Connecticut. She agreed to meet me tomorrow morning.

I finally got up and dressed. Then we started to pack up the rest of our stuff, and by the time we finished it was time to leave.

Everyone was already in the lobby except for Geno. But a few minutes later he came out of the elevator. He asked us if we have all of our stuff before we leave because we are not coming back to get it. And then we all head to the bus. There was a crowd of people waiting for us. But like always we kept our heads down and didn't answer any of there questions.

Many of the questions were aimed at me. Most of them were about Sky, but of course I didn't answer them.

When I got on the bus, I put on my headphones and try to tune out the world around me. On the outside I looked like everything was fine, but on the inside I am having a hard time holding it together.

I wish I could have told those reporters that Sky lied and she set me up. I wish I could tell them that Sky isn't the one who I am in love with. I wish I could tell them that the woman I am in love with is Jade Taylor.

When we got to the airport the crowd was even bigger. Luckily airport security is helping us get inside. And just like at the hotel we kept our heads down grabbed our bags and headed straight inside the airport.