The Gymnast

Part 8

Vault goes by in a blur. It's honestly the most boring event because we just do the same thing over and over again, and I'm bad at it anyway. We do conditioning at the end of each practice for 30 minutes to an hour, and today we do mostly arm strength. We do so many push ups, my arms feel like jello.

Now, I'm in the locker room getting my bag. I made plans with Sophie, Sharon, and Olivia to get ice cream and go to the park. It's already April, so it's nice enough outside to hang out outside. Before we go out, Sophie and I go to my house to shower and Sharon goes to Olivia's house.

My mom comes to pick us up.

"How was practice girls?" she asks.

My mom loves hearing about practice and always tries to learn everything she can about gymnastics. My mom usually works late, so I'm happy that she could pick us up today. Sophie's mom is very strict about gymnastics.

"It was good. I stuck all of my vaults and my floor routine was much better than usual," Sophie says excitedly.

I don't want to bring up the level 9 things while Sophie is in the car, so I just say, "I had good bars and beam."

Sophie shoots me a look. Tell her! she mouths.

I shake my head.

She frowns and looks down into her lap.

We would definitely talk about this at home.

When we finally reach my house, Sophie and I race upstairs. We have a tradition that whoever touches my dresser first gets to shower first, and Sophie wins today.

"Aw man!" I whine playfully and flop onto my beanbag.

Sophie laughs and bolts into the shower.

I think about what to say to her about the level 9 news. We were in a great place right now, and I didn't want this to jeopardize our friendship. We had moved up every level together, and I don't want to be a level 9 without her, but this is an amazing opportunity.

"I'm done!" Sophie shouts.

"Okay, I'll be right in!" I shout back.

Sophie enters the room a few seconds later, bringing the smell of shampoo with her. Her dirty blonde hair is wrapped in a towel on top of her head and she's wearing leggings and a pink shirt. I run into the shower. I want to talk to Sophie right away. The longer I wait, the more I want to talk to her. I shower quickly and throw on light wash jeans and a dark purple shirt with cutouts on the shoulders. I twist my honey-colored curls into a side braid.

"Sophie? Can I talk to you?" I ask as I enter my bedroom.

Sophie gets up from my bed. "Sure, what's up?"

"Well, when I told you about me possibly practicing level 9, you seemed kind of... unenthusiastic."

"I guess I'm kind of jealous. I work just as hard as you, and I deserve it just as much as you do."

Whoa. What did she just say? "Sorry, what?" I ask, getting really angry.

"I said that I deserve to be a level 9 just as much as you, maybe even more because I work harder than you."

I know that Sophie doesn't always think about what she says before she says it, but this was... different than usual. "Sorry, but you don't work harder than me. Skills come easily for you, I have to actually work for them."

"I work hard for my skills! And I'm better than you, so I should be a level 9!"

"Seriously, Sophie? Do you really want to go there?"

"Ugh, stop trying to protect me! I'm older than you, not your little sister. You always try to steer the conversation away from something that makes me uncomfortable, but I can do that myself! Stop treating me like your little sister!" she exploded.

I don't know why, but that really stings. The thing is, I do feel like she's my sister and that I have to protect her, but not like that. I don't try to treat her like she's more gentle than me and can't handle normal conversations.

Sorry this part was getting sorta long, I'll finish their conversation in the next part!