Holy shit.
The taller of the two mean - looking girls lets down a ramp from the van. The shorter, brunette one walks to the back, bangs around a bit, then walks to the front, trailing something behind her.
She's in a full body cast with a wheelchair and a food and water IV.
Oh my god.
We start warming up, and Emma asks Mike if I can help her with the tour. He nods his approval. As I walk by, I can hear him and Lizzy exchanging a few comments. "I didn't think we'd be getting a crippled little girl, Mike. I thought we'd be getting a healthy team". "Yeah, well we're not" Mike shot back. Lizzy rolled her eyes and started picking on Sam. Sam looked at me, rolled her eyes, and I knew exactly how she felt.
We sat all of the new girls down in a circle, and wheeled the injured one next to the tall mean - looking ones. We went around the circle, telling a bit about ourselves. I went first.
"My name is Mia Talerio. I am 13, training level 8/9. I have been a gymnast since I was 4, and my favorite event is bars because I like flying and, sometimes, falling" I say with a chuckle. The tense group giggles and the atmosphere around us loosens up a little. One by one, we went around like a clock, talking about ourselves.
"I'm Laney, and I'm 15" "I'm Shana, I'm 16" "I'm Natalia, I'm 11"...on and on.
Layla is the one in the wheelchair. I asked Miley, Layla's best friend, what happened to Layla. She hesitated a moment.
"It's okay if you don't want to answer, I don't mean to be rude!" I blurted out.
"Nah, it's fine. We went out one night, and on our way back..." she trailed off, then found her voice again. "Well, we were shopping in the mall, and a terrorist shot her in the dressing room I guess. I didn't notice until we were in the car, and she...she..." Miley was crying. "She screamed, grabbed her side, and just blacked out".
"That's awful, Miley!".
"It's all my fault. I should have heard her ra-a-aspy bre-ea-ea-thing a-a-and..." she was stuttering now. I felt awful for bringing this up.
"I"m sorry for asking...I'm so sorry".
"Nahh, it's alright.". She reached down and gave me a quick hug. "Just make sure to take care of your friends" she said, wiping her nose and gave me a puffy - eyed wink.
"I will", I promised. I glanced over at Kristy, motioning to Halli, and thought to myself but maybe not all of them.
I'm just going to give you a little list of all of the characters and their ages so far. I know that it's kind of confusing.
LANEY: 15
SHANA: 16
NATALIA: 11
LYNDSEE: 9
MILEY: 18
NANCY: 14
LAYLA: 17 (THE ONE IN THE WHEELCHAIR)
ALEX: 15
NAOMI: 12
BRITT: 17
KRISTY: 18
HALLI: 15
CATT: 14
EMMA: 13
MIA: 13
SAM: 15
YOU ARE READING
The Life of a Gymnast
Teen Fiction13 year old Mia Taleria faces fear, injuries, and scary new skills in a true story retold. She battles with mental blocks and new coaches to reach her goal of level 10, with her best friends Catt, Emma, and Sam by her side from day one...
