Meet You There | Calum Hood

1

"Coach Waller!" Holland yelled as she moved quickly after him as he headed for his office. The man, in his mid thirties and still adjusting to his new role as head coach of the University of California - Los Angeles women's gymnastics team, following the retirement of Coach Field, turned back to her.

"What can I do for you Holland?"

"I was, I was um, just wondering if you've had any further critique for me today."

Her coach pursed his lips and looked at her.

"Holland," He sighed and leaned against the gym wall, his clipboard rested against his knee. "You and I both know you are a tremendous gymnast. There isn't a doubt in my mind that your senior season will be filled with accomplishments but you and I both know how difficult an Olympic run would be."

She felt her shoulders drop with the weight of his words.

"I've been working really hard." She countered.

"I know you have Holls, you work harder than probably anyone else on the team, but that doesn't change the fact that you're not built like a gymnast."

Her face burned red in embarrassment as her coach told her what everyone had told her since she had qualified as an elite gymnast.

"It's not a dig at you Holland but the Olympic committee consider a lot of things, one of them yes is Worlds and Nationals and I think you have a strong shot but the teams are down to only four girls for Tokyo. If there was room for a specialist on the team you'd have it for vault hands down but with the reduced number they need all around and it's known they typically go with young and tiny."

It was once thing to know these things, it was another to hear them from her coach.

"So you think it's a lost cause? I should just give up! Because if that's the case what am I even doing here? I get that, for a gymnast, I'm tall but it's not like I'm six feet and Simone Biles will be twenty two by the games, I'll only be twenty one."

"I'm not trying to upset you Holland, I'm just trying to be realistic with you. Simone is already an accomplished Olympian she brings experience."

Holland bit back the urge to reply I should have experience too, I should have been in Rio too.

Because she should have been. She'd made the last round of qualifiers and had been a shoe in at seventeen, equally or more talented than the rest of the Final Five, and destined to be the Olympic darling that Simone had turned out to be. But, she'd gotten injured during a promotional shoot. The girl who should have been the alternate had taken her place and she'd watched Rio heartbroken, from her couch.

Tokyo was her last shot. Twenty one was still feasible, competing in the Olympics as an American gymnast at twenty five was practically unheard of. It was a well known fact that gymnastics required flexibility, something many lost as they reached puberty.

She didn't know what else to say to her coach so she simply bid him goodbye and left his office, marching down the stairs and shoving open the doors of their practice gym to the campus of UCLA.

She walked through the quad and headed for the athlete dining hall. She opened the doors and caught the eye of her teammates already surrounding a table. She greeted them with handshakes and when her best friend Alexia tried to start a conversation she dropped her bag and held up one finger to ask for a moment as she headed to grab a meal.

She scanned the options and found the only appetizing option to be a chef salad and a water. She scanned her card quickly and rejoined her teammates.

"I'll bet you twenty she says no." She overheard Keri say as she approached the table.

"What are we talking about?" Holland asked as she set her tray down and plopped into the chair beside her teammates. Alexia, or Lexi, who was seated to her left spoke up.

"We all heard that Tavern is hosting a welcome back bash for everyone. We're thinking of going as a team. You in?"

Holland stared back at her like the girl had grown two heads.

"Are you crazy? What if coach finds out?"

"Coach isn't going to find out, Holls. Damn, you sound like a fucking freshmen, not a senior."

"Sorry to always be the debbie downer guys but—"

"The olympics are on the line." Her friends all finished her sentence and the heat in her cheeks rose.

"Do I really say it that much?" She asked, slightly embarrassed as she glanced around at the group.

The girls all displayed varied expressions of amusement as Alexia threw an arm across Holland's shoulders.

"Come on, Holls. You're twenty one, live a little. What's the worst that could happen?"

Holland simply stared at her with raised eyebrows.

"Well for starters I could be benched for the season and watch my dreams go—"

"Holland!" Lexi groaned. "It's one night out at a bar you are legally allowed to be in. Just shut the fuck up and say you'll go."

Holland's shoulders dropped and her lower lip turned out in a pout as the girls on her team all turned their attention to her and eyed her carefully.

She frowned, if everyone else was going it was basically a team outing, right? They couldn't possibly all get in trouble. Could they?

She sighed as everyone's eyes remained on her, patiently awaiting her answer. She hated that she was always the odd one out and that most of these night that we're planned were spent without her as she chose to hole up in her room or in the gym, always one to squeeze in an extra practice. But then again, that was the reason that she was still considered a contender for the Olympic team.

"Fine, fine. It's one night and if everyone else is going what's the worst that could happen?" She announced, hoping that if she verbalized her thoughts she'd be a little less likely to be scared shitless by the idea of going out.

It wasn't that Holland was a square. She longed to live the life of a normal college senior and had spent many a night staring enviously at her friends social media posts from their escapades, but the truth was, her life was vastly different than her fellow students and even her fellow teammates.

She had been making sacrifices for her dreams since she was eight years old and a social life in college was just another thing she had missed out on.

It's only one night. She repeated inside her head over and over as her teammates shared their comments of surprise and excitement that she'd agreed to go out with them.

She fought off the feeling of dread that settled in the pit of her stomach, pushing it aside and deciding that if she were going to partake in a night out, she wanted the full experience.

"Margot, can Lexi and I come to your place to get ready?" She asked, turning her attention to the brunette sat across from her. Margot always did Holland's competition makeup and she hoped her friend would be willing to help her out tonight as well.

"Sure! Come over around eight, okay?"

Holland agreed quickly and closed the carton of her picked over salad. Standing with her teammates from the table and disposing of their trash as they exited the dining hall and all headed to their apartments to prepare for the night ahead.

An: I got farther ahead in prewriting than I expected to so here is Chapter 1 a day early! Welcome to Meet You There! I'm so happy that after how many ever stories I've written now you guys are still so excited for my books!

This chapter we learned a lot about Holland! How do you like her so far? Her teammates?

Excited to share this story with you!
All my love,
Sav 🖤