Falling

Chapter Ten

Ruby was bored. Her homework seemed to stretch out a very long way into her future and she would have rather gone for a ten kilometre run. She held her hands together, resisting the urge to check Facebook. She knew if she picked up her phone it would divulge into a long fall down the rabbit hole that was social media.

She knew she'd look up Owen.

She couldn't understand why she'd done it. Well, she could, she honestly believed that Sarah's baby was his. What she couldn't understand was why with everything she had, she was craving him. Craving the way he acted when they were alone, how he was kind, funny, how he held her and cared about her.

She'd seen him at school and his mate Nathan had had to drag him away. That's a good sign right? That he wanted to be near her but his friend dragged him away?

Well, no, he was ready to rip your head off of your neck for assaulting the person that was his to protect. That she made Sarah cry.

Ruby couldn't contain her desperation anymore. She opened Facebook but decided to avoid looking at his page, at Sarah's, at his mother's, at Vanessa's and Tomas'. However she'd only scrolled past two eye make-up videos and one of making miniature donuts when it was staring her in the face.

A post by their coach Amelia, with Sarah, Vic and Owen tagged. Ruby noted that Sarah was now Sarah Collins and smirked at her being adopted. She pressed 'see more' and read the whole passage.

'This is why we act as a team, this is why we work together to the point where our team is our family. We hold up our members when they seem to fall, we go down with them and we do our best to pull them back up. While we were all in different areas along the field, we knew that we all needed the support from one another. So as a member began to stumble, lacking fluids, food and the mental capability to hold onto it all, our team was there. Our family was there with everything that was needed to pick our fallen member. We grabbed their straps and got them to their feet and we made sure they had the strength needed to get back on to that line. I am so proud of my family today, all three of our archers walked away with PBs at their 720 distances and are ready to do it all again tomorrow.'

Ruby looked at the attached photos, there were photos of all three looking amazing and badass on the line. Vic's was first and even Ruby could see the intense concentration on her face. She could imagine the blonde fighting every urge in her to shiver at the effort. Owen looked frankly terrifying, he always did when he was shooting, his concentration face put all the others to shame. Sarah looked exhausted but determined. Her hair was pulled up in a thick, frizzy bun on top of her head and pushed through a golf style cap. Is it called a visor or something? Her brow was covered in a glossy sheen of sweat.

The next photo was a selfie of the four of them, Amelia and Vic pulling faces while Sarah grinned and Owen looked unamused. Ruby traced a finger over his face, through his brown curls.

The last photo made Ruby's breath hitch, she saw Sarah, tears streaming down her face with both Owen's and Vic's arms around her.

None of the photos showed how far along Sarah would be now, but there was a noticeable increase if you knew. Her cheeks were rounder, but it just showed her dimples all the more. It annoyed Ruby that even as Sarah gained weight, her beauty didn't diminish. Maybe what's on the inside really does count.

She was on messenger before she knew what she was doing. The image of Sarah's crying face burned on her brain.

'Congrats on the competition today. Hope you're feeling okay.' She paused for a moment before pressing send and put her phone on flight mode, so if there was a response she wouldn't see it. Within a minute she changed her mind and switched it back on and the reply vibrated in her hand.