Take One for the Team

Chapter 23: Steal the Spotlight

I can't believe they chose Becky over me! Becky doesn't come to practice enough, and I think that I'm the better jumper. I almost neves miss practice. And I knew this part so well!!! Better than Becky did, anyways. It should be mine.
I watched, annoyed, as they ran through the routine one last time. Becky has a few mistakes, but Coach Melissa told her not to worry because this was a last minute change and she was doing a good job stepping in. It annoys me that Coach Melissa tells her that it's ok to miss. It's not ok. If we are going to win, we need to be perfect. Flawless. Not having Becky mess up. I wouldn't miss if I were in this. I'm supposed to be in this. They need me to win.
Step, cross, step, double under, toe-side-two, triple under side swing. She does the crossing perfectly. But I still think that it's not good enough. "Good job!" Coach Melissa says. "You've got this part." No! This is supposed to be my part!!! And now it's Becky's for sure. Why does Becky get all the glory when I have been practicing so hard for this role? A sharp pain in my stomach reminds me. The pain leads to a rough feeling edging its way up my throat, emerging in a painful cough. Whooping cough. I can tell that my sickness is part of the reason Melinda put me out. She doesn't want me barfing during the performance. I curse my weak, sick body and turn away, tears building up in my eyes. It wasn't fair. This was supposed to be my year. I had practiced so hard. And now do to stupid whooping cough, I had done bad in everything at competition, and I wasn't in group routine.
I plop myself against a wall, tears now streaming down my face. Why don't a I get to be in this routine? Why I can't I be the one? JAKE is in it, and so is McKenzie and Lilah and Ashlyn. And I had been on the team longer than all of them! It was all because I couldn't do a stupid frog. I buried my face on my hands. It's almost embarrassing, not being in the group routine. And I was being such a jerk about not getting in. I couldn't help it, though. I knew that I should be supportive of my teammates, but I'm not. I sniff. A voice booms through the speakers. I cough, my lungs burning.
I remember the day that Coach Melissa told me that I was a sub. At first I was upset, but then she said to me, "Julie, don't worry. We're gonna need you. A lot. What if someone gets hurt? I need you to learn every part in this routine. Just in case." A sentence full of lies. All lies. I worked so hard. And they didn't need me. They needed Becky.
"We are now starting group routine!" The voice bellows."first up, The Summerwind Skippers!" I freeze. We were right after them. I worked my way to my feet and peak around the corner. I saw my team, lining up. Jenny walked around making sure everyone is in the right order, and that all ropes are accounted for. Typical Jenny. The younger kids like Jake and Lilah look nervous. Not McKenzie though. She never seems nervous to me. I scoff. I wouldn't be nervous. I can feel my lungs wheezing when I breath, and I feel my stomach twisting inside itself. I cringe. As everyone gets in line, I feel the horrible longing, like I have to be there. Like I have to be there, performing and competing with the team, not standing here watching like an outcast.
Then I have an idea.
It's not a good idea, and I'm sure of that, but something inside tells me to do it. I know that I probably will get caught, and the team will be furious, but I don't care. I HAVE to be out there. I'm not being very sportsman like, and I know that I should just suck it up and take this one for the team, but I don't. I need to be one of them. So I wait till Jenny has made sure everyone is in order, and gets in line herself, and then I grab my single rope. I tie it around my waste, in case I need it. I don't want to put it out with the rest of the ropes, because I know that if someone sees it when they collect the ropes, they know I'll be up to something. I creep up to the back of the line, and they don't see me. My body is similar to everyone else's, a regular girls, so I look very similar. Skinnier, Shorter, but still has muscle. That's basically everyone on our team. I pull my braids over my face, and hunch my shoulders over, and no one realizes I'm there. There is a sickening feeling coming up, and I know I'm gonna let out some horrible cough that will give me away, but intake a deep breath, and swallow it down. I see a pile of longer ropes for double dutch a such, so while no one is looking I grab one. I wrap it around my hands. I can't use my single rope because it's not the same color as everyone else's. The song ends, and I know that the Summerwind Skippers are done with there performance. I can hear the crowd cheering, and then the speaker bellows out:
"Next up, the San Diego Skippers!"
A cheer erupts from the crowd as the team runs out onto the stage. Everyone starts lining up up there spots, and getting in there beginning pose. As they run, they keep there faces up, with bright eyes and smiles, but I keep my face down. Coach Melissa can't see me. No one can see me. Except for the crowd. I am a STAR!!!!
I take a spot in the very back corner, behind everyone so they can't see me. My whooping cough makes my stomach churn, and a tiny cough emerges. A cough etches it's way up my throat, but with a great amount if effort, I swallow it down.
Should I be doing this? This is defiantly the worst thing I have ever done with the team. I mean, sneaking into the group routine just to perform It? It doesn't seem like a good idea, and I don't know how I let myself follow it before. It is a plan filled with holes. I almost start to turn around and run off the stage, but the speaker beats me to it. The music starts.
Which means it's to late. The group routine has started.
I can't use my rope because it's a different color than everyone else's. They have special beaded ropes for group routine but I dorm have one. I see an extra double dutch rope laying in the back that is the same color as everyone else's. I roll it up on my hands and get ready to jump.
I start the multiples combo in unison with everyone else. I know it exactly, and I don't miss once. Then we move on to crossing, the part of the routine I've always had trouble with. I close my eyes tightly, and try my hardest to get through the crossing without missing.
Toe side toe double under; side swing switch cross toe.
I nearly miss once, but I easily get the rope going again. I watch Becky miss three times. Hmm. Shows you right for giving her my part. We do a few more tricks, and then we move on to traveler. This is kinda weird, because this is a two person job, and I am the odd number. I pretend to catch and invisible person and go on. Now comes the frog. The hard part. I panicked thinking that I'm going to miss. I do a fake frog. No one will notice.
When we are finished with the single rope part of the routine, we throw our ropes to the side.
I toss the double dutch rope that I had been using as a single rope, and it just sits there off to the back, behind the stage. Next we do umbrella. Umbrella is when we take two very large jump ropes and cross them over each other, so it's a giant x. Each person takes a part of the x, and then we switch places. Quite ironically enough, there is only three people jumping the umbrella, when there is room for four. An inner voice tells me that the umbrella would look much better if there was four people.
I jump in the umbrella, joining the three people. One person turning sees me. It's Rosie. Her mouth drops when she sees me jumping. She can't do anything about it though, because she can't just stop the ropes. I give her a smirk as I move onto the next turner. They don't notice me.
Thankfully enough, I don't mess up the umbrella. Each person jumps out of the umbrella, and they pull one of the ropes, so it is only one giant rope. Next is rainbow, where a pair of people should jump in the giant rope, and they would be turning a smaller rope as they jump. A pair of people with a smaller rope would jump in, and so on until there is one person in the middle.
There is no place for me to join in the rainbow, so I just sulk in the back.
A horrible feeling starts to form in the back of my throat. This time I can't stop it. A horrible, etching cough erupts from my throat. The music is booming in the speakers to loud for anyone to hear, but the whooping cough feels awful. I let out a cough again, and this time, with the cough, a mouthful of vomit fills my mouth. Not enough so that have to let it out, but I hold it in my mouth, the taste bringing tears to my eyes.
I can't let it out.
So I don't; I swallow it all down, and let out a deep breath as a shiver goes down my spine. The rainbow ends by that time, and everyone runs back to get the last two double dutch ropes for the grand finale, Summer, Savanna, and Sierra's double dutch. Their double dutch is the most amazing double dutch, and has won dozens of ribbons and trophys. It makes sense that it would be the grand finale. Savanna reaches out to grab the ropes, but then she freezes. Her eyes widen.
"There's only one rope." She whispers. There is a few seconds of silence before Rosie spits:
"Well where did the other rope go?"
"I don't know. I swear I checked that we had them all..." She trails off. Rosie stands up.
"Everybody, look for the rope!" She screams. Everybody starts frantically searching for the rope. The music plays, and we are doing nothing. I can imagine the judges marking point after point after point off our score as the seconds go by. The worst part is, I know exactly where that double dutch rope went. It is back with the rest of the ropes, behind the performance floor, but if I went and got it it would count as out of bounds. I close my eyes tightly in guilt. It is the rope I used instead if my single rope. Now we are short a rope. And now they can't do the finale.
I just stand there biting my lip, my stomach churning and my throat scratchy, as everyone scrambles around not knowing what to do.
"Somebody go out and stall!" Somebody yells. Nobody goes out and stalls, because nobody has a single rope. There all off the floor, far away where we can't reach them.
Something brushes against my hand from my waste, and I perk my ears up. I lift my shirt and discover something that has been there all along. My single rope, tied tightly around my waste. Without hesitation I untie the rope and run out to the front of the stage.
It's almost overwhelming, surprisingly enough. Hundreds of people are watching, maybe a thousand, and cameras are clicking, and I know Coach Melissa is somewhere in that crowd, gasping at the sight of my face. I can feel something in my stomach coming up my throat and I curse my sickness.
Don't do it.
The feeling diminishes in agreement. I take a quick breath before beginning my routine. Since there's only one rope left, not including mine, there's really nothing else the rest of the team can do. It's pretty much up to me to save group routine.
It's up to me.
That's when I do the first trick in my routine. But it's not the first trick in my routine. Instead of a double under cross, a TJ comes out. What? I have never been able to do a TJ! The next trick I do is not, a double under side swing. Instead, I do a triple under side swing cross.
My routine does not emerge. The most spectacular routine that has ever been performed by a 12 year old does.
Before I know it, my arms and legs take me down to the ground. What are you doing! I tell myself. And then I kick up and pull my arms back.
I just did a frog. A trick that if I had gotten a few months ago, I would have been on this routine in the first place. And not had messed it up. But I didn't get it then. I got it now.
My rope zips around at crazy speeds, doing tricks that I have never done nor new existed. My stomach threatens to let out everything as I strain it. My breaths barely come through me, and I feel like I am going to faint, but I do not stop. My body keeps going, making up amazing tricks. The rope goes underneath my legs multiple times, going all around my body in a series of wraps and crosses underneath and over all my limbs. I have never done such a combo. It's like my body is processed, doing things that I can't control. I can feel sweat poring down my face. I feel my lungs straining to get air through the throat that whooping cough as so well affected, but the adrenaline cursing through my veins keeps my body going.
I can hear the song coming to an end, and I quickly end with my dance combo, which has always been good. I do a small turn, and catch my rope on my foot right as the last note in the song is hit.