Bathroom (Max x Bradley) - Maxley

CHAPTER 6

I woke up, once again, before the sunrise. I signed, rubbed my eyes, and went to the bathroom to wash my face. The memories of the previous night flat back making me remember the way Bradley's smile disappeared and his eyes watered. I signed once again and looked into the mirror. My eye bags were getting somehow worse, my hair was unkempt and pointed in every direction, making me look somehow worse than I felt. With the piercings and my overall look, I looked like a typical bad boy.

I got into the shower and rested my head on the cold tiles, wishing all of the memories could just disappear, taking me with them to the void of forgiveness.

I got out of the shower, dried myself, and decided to visit the park. I looked at my phone, showing that it was only five AM, meaning the sun would get up sometime soon. I didn't mind, and just went out of the room, quietly closing the door behind me.

I felt like walking, so I left my skateboard at home and just walked around, looking at the now dark blue sky. I got to the park, and sat down, being sure no one would be here at this time, just enjoying the silence. I closed my eyes and smiled a little.

But the silence was broken by somebody arguing. I opened one eye, just out of curiosity, to find the person who was speaking. To my surprise, it was Bradley. He was running around the park, talking... what looked like with himself? I thought about just ignoring him, but I was still shaken up from the dream, wanting to know what upset him so badly. I got up and started running towards him, to catch up with him. It wasn't easy, because he was practically sprinting, but I managed to catch up eventually.

It seemed he didn't notice me at all, still arguing with himself. So, I tapped him on his shoulder. He flinched and looked over at me with big eyes. When he noticed it was me, most of the tension from his shoulders left him. He slowed down and asked me.

"What do you want, freshman?" "Well, you are arguing with yourself like a madman and sprinting like your life depends on it. So, what is going on with you?" I said, starting to get a little worried seeing his sad face, remembering my dream.

"Nothing is wrong, just... nothing," he shrugged me off. I felt hurt but didn't stop trying to talk to him. "Oh, come on. I can see the hurt expression on your face. Just tell me, I swear I wouldn't tell anybody," I pled not giving up. Bradley didn't bulge, just shut his mouth and started running faster. I tried to keep up, but I couldn't come up and eventually, I lost him. I stopped running and slowly returned to my bench.

The sun was slowly rising already, so I took my things and returned to the dorm. On the way there, my head was troubled by the pained look on Bradley's face. Why though? Why do I keep thinking about him? It makes no sense. We are rivals. Enemies. My head was full with him until I re-entered the room and got distracted by the first projects for school.

I spent the whole day working on them and in the evening I joined my friends in another skateboard practice. Tomorrow were the first X-games qualifications. We wanted to get as many points as possible here because it would help us win this.

And so, we made a whole choreography for this. I would go on the ramp, doing my most impressive trick I know- skating on my hands. I had another one, but that one isn't that good, and it is really recent, so I don't feel confident enough to do it. So I just kept on practicing my skating on my hands.

The whole time, I didn't fall once, so my confidence shot through the roof. We ended quite early, making ourselves ready for tomorrow by cleaning our skateboards and other equipment and picking out our outfits.

We went to sleep at around ten o'clock, and the boys made sure I was sleeping before they fell asleep themselves. After all, we needed me on my best, for the competition.

For the first time in a week, I slept through the whole night, getting almost ten hours of sleep. Well deserved, and even more needed. I woke up in the morning, fresh and ready to beat the Gammas.

We got to the event at around three o'clock, ready to win this. Our team got the number ninety-nice, in other words, the last team, but that didn't bring down our confidence.

We patiently waited for our turn. The Gammas were right in front of us, even though their number was one, but whatever. Their choreography was amazing. Bradley skated, and he got almost all of the points except for one. He is amazing.

"Hey bro, you have to close up with at least all of them giving you five points. Do you think you can do that?" stated Bobby, showing off his amazing mathematical skills. "If I can skate on my hands, then 100%. Wish me luck," I said, not feeling confident at all. We needed at least the approval of all of them, but we need more points to catch up with the Gammas.

I breathed through, remembering some calming breathing exercises my dad taught me. I breathed it in for four seconds, held it in for five seconds, and breathed out for four seconds again. I did this a few times until I was ready for my performance. I put on my helmet and tied my shoes. As I was tying them, someone tapped me on my shoulder. As I looked over, no one stood there. I glared at Bradley who stood on the other side of me. What a prick. I got my guts together and waited for the start signal.

The signal sounded and I went with it. I skated down, doing pretty fine, just like at the practice. I was about to do a big jump when something shone in my eyes. I lost my balance and fell down. I already knew where it was going from, so I just got up and continued. My confidence was broken down and I fell again, not leaving enough time to skate on my hands. I could already hear Bradley chuckling for himself, happy about his victory. I would not let it get to that.

I made some little tricks and got ready for our last resort: the trick I wasn't confident enough to do. But if I didn't do it, we would not go further. So I had nothing to lose.

I skated on the biggest ramp there was and got on my hands, slowly pushing this skateboard to its limits, and making a handstand on it. The audience gasped, and I could imagine my friends praying to God I wouldn't fall down because if I did, I would spend the next few weeks in the hospital.

I was ready to get down from my position when I felt my hand slipping.