You & I (camren)

9

The following day was chaotic as I had to awake at 6am to see the physio and she would define whether or not I was fit to play today. But my senses were telling me already that I would not be.

Today was day three. All games were important and I did not want to miss out on any.

I was now sat on the physio's chair as she inspected my back closely. She applied pressure in certain areas, causing me to wince. I could hardly walk, so I didn't have a lot of faith in my lower back at all.

"It's not looking good," the physio sighed with a frown present on her face.

I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw in frustration. The team would be so disappointed with me, so would the coach. I began feeling anxious and tried taking deep breaths to calm myself.

"W-what do you mean?" I said lowly, hoping that she heard me.

"Lauren," the physio said softly, "I know you want to carry this team to the finals, but, you need to rest. At least for today."

I felt my eyes widen as my heart was beating out of my chest in frustration. What would everyone think of me? I didn't know who we were supposed to play today but it wasn't as if that mattered anyway, all the teams were superb here.

"I can't do that," I replied, tears now present in my eyes.

I thought about the possibility of being knocked out of the competition. The team would blame me, the coach would be annoyed, the cheerleading team would be unimpressed. Especially Camila, God Camila would probably judge me for months on end.

If we didn't win today, it would be my fault. They needed me and I wasn't about to just pull out. I was not a quitter.

"Look, I can talk to the coach about it and maybe," the physio began with wide eyes, "you can come on near the end of the game."

I sighed quietly, I knew deep in my heart that I wouldn't be physically able to play the full game today. Maybe the idea wasn't so bad, but I was still unhappy about it.

"Fine," I said after a few seconds of silence.

I saw the physio nod in contentment. And I attempted to sit up from the chair and I winced as I felt the pain travel through my body.

"I think maybe you should use crutches for now, to keep the pressure off your lower back," she suggested carefully, handing me a pair of crutches.

When I made my way back to my room at the hotel I unlocked the door quietly and crept into my room in an attempt not to wake Kylie who was still sleeping in her bed.

I walked into the bedrooms and watched the other girl as her breathing was heavy yet constant. The bed covers were pulled all the way up to her chin and looked like she was in a deep sleep. I smiled at how cosy she looked.

I wondered what I would do now that I was awake so early. I pondered going back to sleep but pushed that idea out of my head as I was already dressed and fully awake.

So I decided to head downstairs and go to the hotel's restaurant to get some coffee. It took some time to actually get there as I was hobbling along with my crutches.

It didn't matter though, it's not like anyone would see me as no one was awake this early. The sun was just rising and I smiled as I reached the elevator and pressed the button to go to the ground level.

When I arrived at the restaurant I saw a few older people sitting, chatting and drinking their beverages. But other than that the whole floor was empty.

I walked up to the counter, "coffee, please," I said with a friendly smile.

The younger woman returned the smile and began preparing my drink. Once she finished she requested the money. I began to pull my purse out of my jacket but I watched as it fell to the floor; due to the awkwardness of holding things while being on crutches.