Leave a Trace

Chapter Seventeen: Sunday

Chapter Seventeen: Sunday

"You forgot to twist again." Mrs. Bennett says. I groan loudly, throwing my head back. "You're not going home until you get it right." She adds. "Come on, Bella. You had this mastered in high school. Stop overthinking it. Just feel the burn, breathe the scent of the chalk. Shut your eyes, and do it."

I jog back to the start of the vault path and take a deep breath.

"Go when you're ready." She says from next to the vault.

I start running. I jump on the little trampoline to the vault.

"Twist!" Mrs. Bennett gasps. I twirl my body in mid hair and feel the wind brushing against my skin. I land on my feet and stumble slightly, catching myself before I can fall, and then I pose and turn to her.

"That was better." She smiles. "Much better, actually. Do it one more time."

I sigh, rubbing my eyes.

"I'm tired." I complain. "It's two in the morning."

"You're training to be an Olympian." She reminds me. "Do you not have what it takes?"

"Of course I do. I'm better than the best!"

"Exactly, so go over there and do it again."

Sighing, I jog back over to the start of the vault. She gives me a thumbs up and I start running as hard as I can, jumping to the vault and doing the same thing.

This time I put too much momentum in my body and I send myself crashing into the foam pit. I hear her sigh.

"Bella," she begins.

"I'm sorry." I say. "I'll do it again.

I climb out of the pit and spring to my feet.

"You aren't getting much sleep, are you?"

I look at her.

"What makes you say that?"

She tilts her head to the side.

"When is the last time you spoke to Alexander?"

At the mention of Zane, my heart clenches painfully.

"I'm going to do it again." I say, shutting her out. I sprint across the gym to the start of the vault.

"Bella, what do you expect to do when you win the olympics and you realize you never gave yourself a chance to sort through your feelings? It's been seven months and the lock screen on your phone is still of him and Alice and you on Halloween. What did he tell you? That he'd be there for the olympics? You're going to be so preoccupied with finding him in the crowd, sweetie. Do you love him?"

The gym is empty as it always is when we're training. I'm standing across from her and she's looking directly at me.

"Well?" She presses when I don't answer. "Do you?"

"I don't want to talk about Zane."

"You never want to talk about Zane." She continues.

"Please drop it." I plead. She sighs and opens her mouth to respond, but I start running as hard as I can to the vault.

I jump on the trampoline and do the same twist, and I slam into the pit again.

"Alright." She says. "You go home, Bella. I'll see you on Monday."

I sigh slowly and get out of the pit.

"I'll just stay here a little longer."

"No, you're going home." She says. "You need to try to get some rest. You're going to exhaust yourself."