No Fear (Red Gerard)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5
(Rowan's POV)
    I stepped off the bus with my camera bag and tripod in hand. It was about time for the Men's Halfpipe finals to start. I made my way to the end of the pipe and set up to shoot, flashing my pass that granted me access to the area.
    I anxiously waited for Scotty and Shaun's runs, but they would be two of the last three due to their high qualifying scores. I snapped shot after shot as other boarders sped down the pipe, taking the time to adjust my settings until they were perfect throughout the runs. Finally, Scotty's first run came around. It was going flawlessly, he landed a few big jumps, and had huge air on all of them, until the last one. He drug his hand a little on the landing, a mistake that would affect his score for the run. Scotty turned to the side, kicking up snow from underneath his board and coming to a stop in front of me. He smiled at me and leaned over the railing, kissing me on the cheek before heading to the scoring area. Within a couple minutes, his score came back as a 92.00, temporarily putting him in gold medal position. A simple fist pump and a smile was all he gave in response before heading back up for his second run.
    Shaun's first run was even better than Scotty's. He landed every jump, and got even bigger air than Scotty on all of them as well. He came to a stop at the end of the pipe, quickly undid his bindings and ran over to the barrier, tossing his helmet into the crowd in a moment of pure happiness. He continued the celebration as his score came in, a 94.5, which launched him into first, pushing Scotty to second. I cheered for my friend as he asked for his helmet back and headed to the top of the slope.
    Second runs rolled around, with Scotty putting down another run and Shaun suffering a disappointing fall. However, both were bumped down a placing by Japanese snowboarder Ayumu Hirano who scored a 95.25 on his second run.
    Third and final runs were where it was all or nothing. I knew Scotty and Shaun were going to do what they could and leave it all on the pipe. My attempts at keeping my nerves down were slowly failing. Nervous butterflies began to fill my stomach as Scotty stood at the top of the halfpipe waiting to drop in.
    "Lets go Scotty!!" I yelled before focusing my camera on him. He pulled out his phone most likely to change the song he was listening to, put it back, and dropped in. My heart felt as if it was going to pound right out of my chest. I tried to steady my hands and keep shooting, but then it all came crashing down. Scotty fell. I quickly pulled my camera down from my eyes, hoping and praying that he would get up and everything would be fine. Thank God he did. Frustrated, he walked up to the barrier beside me and grabbed my hand as he waited for his score, no words spoken between the two of us and plenty of confused looks given by the people around us. His score was low, and was discarded as if it never even happened. His score from his first run kept him on the podium, so he was still over the moon happy, as was I.
    Shaun's final run was one for the record books. He landed back to back 1440's and had a seemingly perfect run all the way around.
    "I hope he wins," I whispered to Scotty, who was still standing next to me.
    "Me too," he whispered back.
    You could practically see the nerves coursing through Shaun's body as he awaited his final score. He paced back and forth holding his helmet and board, avoiding looking in the direction of the judges.
    "The score for Shaun White is.."
    Shaun stopped pacing.
    My heart started racing.
    "... a 97.25, putting him in first place," the announcer's voice rung through the air only for a millisecond before it was covered up by the deafening roar of the crowd gathered to watch the halfpipe. Everyone started hugging everyone, Shaun tossed his board into the air, it was a truly inspiring moment. Tears streamed down Shaun's face as he was handed the American flag by someone in the crowd. Someone passed scotty an Australian flag, which he took with a huge smile plastared on his face. He leaned down and kissed my cheek before moving towards the podium that had been set up. I continued snapping pictures throughout the whole ordeal, extremely happy with what I was getting from the event. I knew I would be up all night editing, but it was going to be worth it.
    Scotty, Shaun, and Ayumu stepped onto the podium, each wrapped in a flag and holding their board. I'd never felt so proud in my life. It was definitely an image I would never forget.
    "Pretty cool, isn't it. I feel like a proud little brother," spoke a voice beside me. I took my eyes away from the scene in front of me and searched for the voice. I turned to my left to see Red standing beside me. Weirdly, he was without Hailey.
    "Yeah, I'm so proud of both of them. I can't wipe this smile off my face," I responded, trying my best not to be awkward.
    "They'll both be in a great mood after this, maybe we could all hang out or something?" he asked. The idea seemed kind of random to me, but the thought of hanging out with both my good guy friends plus Scotty made me happy, so I agreed.
    "Sounds good to me. What time?"
    "Um, I'll just give you my number and we can talk about it. I'll text both of them and ask too," Red said, pointing to the two guys on the podium.
    "Alrighty," I said as I handed him my phone. He smiled as he took it and entered his contact information.