The Break Up Plan

34: WE ARE THE BITCHMANS

“Hey!”

I turn to a sweaty Cole, a broad grin on my face, “Hey! You were amazing, I’d hug you if you didn’t smell like the personification of sweaty gym socks”

He chuckles, “well whose fault is it that I can’t hit the showers?”

I smile, “you’re clear on everything right? I like my limbs and I’d like to go home with them all unbroken”

He rolls his eyes good naturedly, “relax, princess, I’ve got you”

I look into his eyes and I know, without a doubt that I trust him with my life. I reach up on my tiptoes and place a chaste kiss on his cheek, “thank you” I tell him once I’m back on my feet.

His reply is cut off by Tess sidling up next to me, “hey B, ready to make a bitch leak?”

Her question brings me back to the encounter I witnessed earlier; I’d gone to grudgingly let Nicole know that their squad’s music was needed but the tense voices in her cabin stopped me short.

“I thought you loved me!” a familiar male voice exclaimed.

“I do! It’s just-" the girl’s voice, also familiar was cut off.

“Your mom?”

“Yes!”

“Just tell her!”

“It’s not that easy Jasper, I wish it was”

“I promise you Nicole, it is”

Well shit.

“You’re amazing Nikki, you’re funny, you’re smart, you’re unbelievably kind and selfless, I just don’t get why you put up this front, why you hide your real self from the world”

“Because it makes me look weak!”

“It doesn’t! Lying and hiding is what makes you look weak!”

There was the quiet sound of muffled sobs and then, “I’m sorry, it just kills me to have to hide us from the world, I love you and I want the world to know, I want your mom to know”

The girl, now identified as Nicole sniffs, “she’s crazy, she’ll send me to boarding school, anything out of her plan is unacceptable, she’ll never let us be”

At that point, I decided it was best to remove myself before I got caught or heard any more of what no one was supposed to hear.

I smile tightly at Tess, no longer keen on calling the girl -who I just discovered is closer to human than I thought- a bitch.

***

I wince as Nicole falters for the third time, even more so as the girls snicker behind me. Normally, I would be as gleeful as them but since I know what I know, my heart breaks for the ice queen.

They end awkwardly, when Nichole lands and stumbles and as they leave, I see Dara, Nicole's co-captain rush over to her firing off a dozen questions at once, equal parts pissed and concerned.

It’s our turn.

We make our entrance, jumping and flipping and cheering excitedly, I push the complicated girl out of my mind and focus on what’s to come.

The routine execution is almost flawless and we’re having the time of our lives as we dance our hearts out. As the finale nears, I see Cole from the corner of my eye ready himself.

I lose sight of him as we set up the pyramid. I take a deep breath, say a prayer for my life and then let myself fall.

Warm hands catch me and pull me to a hard body. I open my eyes slowly and look up to meet Cole’s bright smile, the cheers and music fading away to the background “gotcha” he whispers.