Hiding From Truth(being edited)

Chapter 9

"I need to meet this Jenna!" Jordyn laughs, "I'm imagining her with in a gold leo instructing your class, bragging about how her coaches are so tough on her." She tries stifling a laugh.

"Ugh, I was so tempted to do something fun! The fold up beams were asking me to flip on," I groan, "I need to get out of gym class!"

"Get out of gym class all you want, but you won't be getting out of gymnastics practice. You want to flip on beam, go there first," Coach Dave says, directing his finger towards the four-inch wide apparatus.

"Do all your combos," He instructs. I start with my least favorite. Two back handsprings into a back tuck. I always wonder if I'm gonna run out of beam on the back tuck.

Next, I do my favorite. Front aerial, back arabian, back handspring step out. It can be a chaotic mess, and it certainly was when I was first learning, but it gives me such a rush, combining all the skills.

"Good. Let's see your other ones," Coach Dave says. I do my running front tuck that I land and jump into a stag leap.

I set to work fixing little details on other ones as well.

Gym the next day is horrible. Mrs. A makes an announcement that scares me to death.

"I have really good news. I'm trying to get us a spot to try actual gymnastics. There is only so much I can try to teach you. We'll try to rent a side of the gym at Warrior Gymnastics. If we're lucky, we'll see the Olympic hopeful Jordyn Gwen. The gym is about two hours away and I will be sending permission forms home tonight. I want to get a spot for Saturday."

I go to a gym two hours away for a reason. It's two hours away from Elise's life. Another problem, there's pictures of me and Jordyn all over the gym. Another problem. I have practice on Saturday. Another problem. Warrior Gymnastics is where I do gymnastics!

My eyes are wide.

"I know it's' exciting, but we don't know for sure yet. They said they would give me a call around 4:00," Mrs. A says.

"This is awesome," I hear Jenna cheer. No, this is horrible!

My parents get a call at 8:00 that night from Mrs. A saying we could go on Saturday.

"We can say you got sick?" My mom suggests.

"No. I need to be there in case something comes out," I begrudgingly admit.

"Just act really fake," Peter says. I give him a "no duh" look.

"Have fun!" he pats my head. I sigh, "Coach Megan said she would go through and take stuff off the walls. I also have to do a really early morning practice. Instead of starting at 12:00, I need to start at 10:30. Dave said he could only get there around 10. I'm going to ask if I can practice more after everyone leaves."

"Yup. Sleep well, girl," My mom leaves my room so I can sleep. I take my phone out and text Jolene about my catastrophe. She offers some sympathy, then prepares and entire speech for me to tell my school friends if something slips out. It's mostly full of dumb jokes, but I make a mental note of some things she writes.

The next morning, I put shorts and a t-shirt over my leo and put a change of clothes in my bag to act like I had just put them on when my whole gym class got to the gym.

"I can't believe you guys agreed to this," I tell Coach Megan, pulling a picture off the wall that she missed.

"You'll be fine. Just keep your mind on practice. We'll be good," She says, and we enter the gym.