Winter || irwin

[ two ]

[ two ]

Narda sat in the living room with her sisters Nikki and Noelia, watching a re-run of Narda’s competition.

They each held a small dessert plate with a slice of beautifully decorated cake that Noelia had prepared specially, to celebrate her sister’s gold medal in gymnastics. When the program ended, Ashton walked into the living room with a smile on his face.

He normally wasn’t nice to Narda, but he figured since this was a happy day, he would ease up on the teasing. He stood in front of the tele and announced to them, “The guys will be here any moment.” By the guys he meant his three best mates: Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood & Michael Clifford. The four of them were in a band called 5 Seconds of Summer, although Ashton’s participation in the group was a secret.

John didn’t want Ashton, his only male heir to go into a ‘lousy profession’ therefore Ashton was forced to go to college and study law, like his father.

Ashton was unhappy with that, but he thought it was best not to question his father.

Narda loved Ashton’s friends. They were all so nice to her, especially Luke. He and Narda were good friends.

Narda grinned, “That’s great! I can’t wait to see them.”

“We’re all proud of you, Narda.” Ashton admitted awkwardly.

A blush crept onto Narda’s pretty face. “Thank you…”

“And…” Ashton began, after coughing awkwardly to regain his composure. “We wanted to invite you…well, not just you, Noelia and Nikki are invited too. We wanted to invite you out for a night of fun.”

Having heard the conversation, Jerika walked into the room, shaking her head disapprovingly. “The offer is nice, Ash. But Narda can’t go out tonight.”

Narda frowned. “Why not? I won the gold medal. I should get at least an ounce of fun.”

“Yeah, mum.” Noelia agreed.

“I’m not talking to you, Noelia.” Jerika glared at her oldest daughter. She turned her attention back to Narda and said, “Vanessa is picking you up in an hour and she’s taking you to the gym so you can practice. She said you had quite a few slip ups on the balance beam.” Vanessa was Narda’s gymnastics coach, and a former gymnastics champion herself. Vanessa was a great instructor, only coached the best of the best, but her personality was nasty. She was the meanest person on the face of the planet.

For that, Narda wasn’t too fond of her.

“But mum,” Narda complained. “I won the gold medal. You should be happy for me.”

Jerika smiled warmly at her daughter. “I am more than happy, I am so proud of you. But remember, you’re going off to another competition in France in a few weeks and Vanessa wants you to be perfect.”

Narda finally sighed. “I suppose I’ll stay then.”

“Good.” Jerika smiled victoriously. “Now I’m going to go shopping for a bit, but I’ll go watch you practice at the gym when I’m done.” Jerika never missed a single one of Narda’s competitions, but she was still more dedicated than that. She also never missed a single one of her practices. Narda saw this as more bad than good because that meant she could never skip out on practice without having the fear of getting caught.

Ashton’s shoulders slumped in defeat, but he tried to play it off as indifference. He marched back to his room and Narda felt her heart drop.

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