Waves

Chapter One

Two Years before:
"Come on An," squeeze! My coach Bethany yells. I lock out my knees as much as I can. My bases, Jenny and Cara, and my back, Alex, grip my feet as tight as possible. I can't help but have my ankle wobble just a bit. After 5 hours in the gym, I'm exhausted.
"One, Two!" My back yells, all my bases dip and as I switch from my left foot, accidentally jumping out of Jenny's hand. My foot missed Cara's hand by three centimeters. I felt my hair fly in front of my face. My back collided with the spring floor and my breath hitched in my throat. I gasped for air as I opened my eyes and search the room for a water bottle. As my lungs ache in pain, I look up at Cara, Jenny, and Alex. I had kicked Jenny in the mouth and she was bleeding profusely, and Alex had a bruise forming on her forehead. I felt tears forming in my eyes. I had hurt my bases, the people that I rely on, and they rely on me. They were 16, 18, and 17. They could easily be placed on a level 5 team if they didn't feel comfortable with me flying in their stunt group. What if Bethany got angry?

"Ok! Get in tumbling corners!" I ran to the far left corner, trying to breathe. Jenny ran off the floor and Alex got in the spot next to me. Alex, Jenny, And Cara and I all tumbled together. We went third, right after Alice and Maddison. Bethany started the music and each tumbling group went and it came to my turn. I clapped and power hurdled. 'one, three, five, seven' I counted in my head. I threw my roundoff back hand spring perfectly, but when I went for my back tuck layout, something in my head just wouldn't go. It's like I know I can do it, but my body won't. In that moment, I knew tow things. One, I had totally busted my running tumbling, and two, I had a mental block.