A Harsh Reality | ✓

Chapter 31

Amanda

I landed carefully on the mattress and brought my arms up as I smiled. I had just performed my uneven bars routine flawlessly. I ran over to Hailey, hugged her, and wished her good luck as she walked over to the balance beam. Riley appeared out of nowhere and hugged me tightly.

"You killed it!" she exclaimed, "Let's go watch Hailey." We sat down and looked as Hailey executed a perfect front aerial on the beam. She tumbled off the beam several moments later and grinned. I finished taking off my grips from the uneven bars and shook my hands to try and wipe off the white chalk. We all hugged and went over to Coach, who was muttering something furiously under her breath but stopped as soon as she saw us approaching.

"You were all absolutely amazing!" she exclaimed. We thanked her as she hugged all of us. We left Coach with Jemma after a few minutes and went back to our bags right in time to watch Riley perform her last performance of the day. I felt my phone ringing as I searched for some more tape for my hands. I seized my bag and announced I was going to the bathroom since I had already finished with all of my routines. I ran inside the changing rooms and checked that they were empty before answering the call.

"Hi," I said into the speaker.

"Hey," Noah greeted me, "How's it going?"

"Excellent, actually," I stated, "I already finished my routines, and I did pretty good." I started walking around the changing room nervously.

"That's great!" Silence took over us until Noah broke it. "So, how are you doing?"

"I'm okay, missing home now that I think of it," I said, "Whatever, what about you?"

"I'm good, I guess," he replied, "Worried about Zoey, she's at the hospital."

"Oh my god, is she alright?" I gasped and sat down on a white, wooden bench.

"She's okay," he assured me, "Just getting some tests done, the doctors want her at the hospital for a few days."

"That's good." The other line became silent once again as I started fidgeting with my chalked hands.

I really don't know why I got so nervous talking to Noah. He's Noah, for God's sake. I mean, our relationship did change after we kissed, but it's not this huge, massive change that everyone can notice. I was so immersed in my thoughts that I didn't notice Noah calling my name over and over.

"Mandy, you there?" he asked.

"What? Yeah, yes, I'm here," I said and apologized.

"Are you really okay?" he asked, "You've been acting pretty weird lately, especially after we... kissed." He sighed. "Is it because of that? Because of me?"

"What? No, of course not," I tried to deny it but gave in as soon as I knew he was probably not believing a word of what I was saying, "Look, I'm sorry if what I'm going to say upsets you, but I know I can trust you, so here goes nothing." I took a deep breath. "I'm not being this way because of you, and not because we kissed. I'm being like this because of me. You know I tend to think a lot, and I just can't get this out of my head." I sighed and continued. "I can't help being nervous around you Noah, because I have feelings for you, and it's weird for me to accept them, even if I knew from the moment I met you, it's still something that will take time to admit. I would be lying to myself if I told you that I don't feel weird around you after the kiss we shared. For me to accept reality and admit to myself that I really like you, I need to see you, I need to talk to you, I need you to talk to me, that is if you are up for it, and up for me." I finished my little speech with a sigh and heavy breathing as I listened to Noah, who was in complete silence. For a second, I thought he had hung up on me, but that was until he spoke.