Becoming A World Champ

Chapter 18

*Skip to practice*

Eliza, Peyton, and I walked into the gym and threw our bags into the locker room. Eliza stripped off her Uggs and put on her Nfinity's. I saw Matt walking to the bathroom out of the corner of my eye, and I was very tempted to follow him. But I decided to let him have his space and go stretch with Eliza and Peyton.

We took our usual corner on the spring floor and slid into our splits. I held mine for as long as I physically could, and then switched to my bad side. I could still do the splits even with my right leg, but it just burned a lot more.

"Hey, who wants to stretch my needle?" Peyton asked, rising from her splits. I stood up and offered to help. She leaned forward and grasped the mirror as I lifted her leg up. I kept pushing until she told me to stop, and then we switched legs. Just then, I felt a tap on the back of my arm.

"Summer. We need to talk." Peyton let go of the wall and gave me a weird look. I shrugged and Matt took my hand. "C'mon. This isn't going to be easy for me,"

I gulped down a knot in my throat and struggled to remain calm. He pushed open the restroom door and led me inside.

"Matt, you can tell me anything you want. You don't have to be scared." I leaned in to kiss his lips, but he pulled away.

"There's no time for this, Summer. This is serious." He worriedly ran his hands through his adorable, tousled brown hair and blurted out:

"Carly Manning. My ex? She wants to get back together with me." My mouth dropped open.

"But Matty..." I trailed off, trying to come up with words. Instead I was speechless.

"This is so hard for me, Summer. I really like you, but... My feelings for Carly are coming back."

No. This couldn't be happening. Please tell me I was dreaming.

"Please don't do this to me, Matty. I like you so much. You were my first kiss you know..." I turned away from him and began to wipe the tears from my eyes. They kept coming though, and soon I was really sobbing.

"Oh please don't do this to me, Sums. I really, really like you!" Matt punched the wall and bits of sheet rock crumbled to the ground.

I just sobbed harder.