My Friend Honesty

Chapter Four

"Who is that, anyway? I heard her mom yell at her, 'No gymnastics practice!' but why? I've never seen her before," a girl whispers to her friend as I walk down the hall. I sigh. The whole day I've heard people talking about me. No one knows that I have a concussion except for my friends from gymnastics, who haven't been explaining anything. People have noticed everything, beginning with my mom's yelling. How I might have dozed off in math class. How I sat on the sidelines in gym. How I haven't been paying attention to anything in class.

I stop at my locker and spin the dial. The girl and her friend walk away, giggling about something.

"They're laughing at you, Piper. They think you have a mental issue," Honesty explains matter-of-factly.

Oh, I think. I grab my folder and close and lock my locker. I turn around, where I am greeted by all of my gymnastic friends.

"Hey, Piper," Maeve, my best friend, says carefully. "Um, how are you feeling?"

"Great, just fabulous!" I say sarcastically.

"What's wrong?" my other friend, Elyse, asks.

I sigh. "Coach Jen told me not to come to practice because she thinks I might hurt myself even more if I'm not careful. As I was getting out of the car this morning, my mom yelled 'No gymnastics practice, Piper!' and everyone heard. People have been whispering about me all day, about how I'm not participating, about my mom yelling, about anything and everything I do. And I would tell them I have a concussion but I don't really know them and it would be awkward."

Maeve giggles. "Yeah, like, 'Hi, I'm Piper, the one you're whispering about, you know? And I have a concussion!'"

I have a concussion, a concussion, a concussion, the words echo in my mind. I still can't believe that I got a concussion from sweaty hands.

I fake a smile. The girls take this as a good sign because they smile, too.

"Well, see you at lunch?" my other friend, Adelyn, says hopefully.

"Yeah. See you then," I agree. Maybe this day won't be so bad after all. I mean, it's not that awkward hanging with my friends from gymnastics. Yeah, it sucks that I can't go to gymnastics practice, but half the fun of practice is hanging with my friends.

"And the other half, which you secretly like more, is practicing over and over that one move that you keep messing up until you finally master it. You feel amazing after you master that one hard flip, and your coach even compliments you on it. After practice, nothing can bring you down. Except, you know, messing up, getting a concussion, and not being able to go to gymnastics practice."

I groan, and my friends, who have started to walk away, stop and turn around. Each girl's face is wrinkled in concern.

"Piper? You okay?" Maeve asks.

"Yeah, I just, um, realized I left my notebook in my locker, and I'm probably going to be late," I say quickly.

"Oh. Well, see you later!" Maeve says with a smile, and she and the other girls walk away.

I walk in the opposite direction. As I walk I realize that I'm not just walking in the opposite direction of my friends. My life is walking in the opposite direction of where I want it to go, and I'm struggling to turn it around.