Howl Silently My Love

Cheating Nature

Chapter 31

“Alright girls, smiles all of you!” Amber shouted as she paced back and forth in the gym. “Tonight is the big night and I swear that if any of you go out there and embarrass me I will find out where you live and kill you.”

Everyone in the room exchanged worried glances. Perhaps this whole ‘first game of the season’ thing was getting to her; it was definitely a possibility with the dictator speech that she spent about another ten minutes giving us. By then I think it was clear that no one wanted to miss the jump into a back tuck.

As terrified as I was, I found it hard to keep my focus. With the harvest moon only a day away I could already feel a few of its effects. This was normal. I usually felt something right before the day so I could expect it and it wasn’t anything too severe so I could still walk—unlike the other times I could mention when I would start cramping up an entire week before the harvest moon. This was a welcomed change and I hoped it would continue like this. For now I could only feel a slight pressure in my head and my stomach was doing little flips but that might have been from the nervousness. Somewhere outside in the stands my parents were watching and my mom was probably planning to video it. Oh gosh I was getting nervous all over again.

“Right, so let’s go out there and have fun.” Amber said, suddenly as perky as the energizer bunny on steroids. There was a second’s pause before everyone began cheering as they ran out. Normally I would have run with the crowd but tonight I had less energy and consequently I walked.

At the door I found Damen waiting. It took an extra second for me to realize that he had an apprehensive look on his face. I shot him a puzzled look.

“What?”

“Are you sure that you’re okay? I hate seeing you like this, how much longer will it last?”

“Until the harvest moon passes so just try to get over it.” I retorted, now only half interested in his concern. This happened every year and there was just no changing that—until tomorrow that is. Tomorrow would be the deciding factor. I hadn’t been able to make any arrangements with Nature but I was sure that once confronted with the situation again I would be able to think of something—anything that would change her mind really.

He said wearily. “Fine, but you have to tell me the moment you start feeling dizzy. Don’t wear yourself out for Amber; she isn’t worth it.” He said, pulling me so close to him that I could feel his breath against my skin. It actually relieved a bit of the pressure.

I sighed and placed my hand on his cheek. “Damen, stop. I already told you that the pain is no worse than it was the last time or the time before that.” He opened his mouth to speak but I stopped him. “You don’t have to start worrying about me until tomorrow so just go sit next to my parents and Ryder in the bleachers and watch your awesome mate pull off a back tuck from the top of the pyramid—“ his eyes went wide and I could instantly tell what he was thinking. “No, no, no, no. I know exactly where you’re about to be headed and I just want to say take it out of your mind. I will not fall and mortally wound myself; I’ve been practicing and besides the pyramid isn’t that big so even if I do fall—which I won’t—everything will be perfectly safe and you’ll have tonnes of fun just watching.” He was not about to try talking me out of doing a routine that had been drilled into my head for nearly a month. Not a chance. Plus I already told Mom about the routine and she was totally psyched to see it so Damen would have had to get over whatever kind of irrational fear that he might have had.

For a moment neither of us said anything as he took in all I had said. The silence was filled with the sound of his breathing and the stroking of my hair.  It felt so nice that I almost forgot that I was supposed to be on the outside running with the other cheerleaders. When I did remember I pulled myself from his grip before I could stop myself then I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before running out of the gym.