by Dana Burkey
“Well, don’t you clean up nice,” Tonya joked when she saw me.
“Yeah, it’s a miracle what shampoo and hot water can do,” I laughed.
As I expected Tonya was wearing a bright pink dress that flowed to her knees. It was one of at least a million she owned thanks to coaching Bomb Squad, the gym’s pink team. She paired it with some statement jewelry, and of course the tallest wedge sandals I had ever seen. Without them Tonya was almost as short as I was. Before she opened the TNT Force gym with TJ and Nicole, Tonya had been a flyer much like I was. Years later she was still just as tiny, so putting on tall shoes was usually a must. Since I was growing mine out, her blond bob was shorter than my hair. It perfectly framed her face that had been touched up since leaving the gym to make up for the morning of hard work and coaching in the sweaty gym.
“So you sure have had a big week,” Tonya commented as we drove across town to the salon.
“I have?” I asked, instantly worried she had somehow heard about the growing numbers of times Jackson had almost kissed me.
“I mean, all of Nitro really,” she clarified. “First Catherine and now everyone getting sick. I can’t imagine it’s made for any easy practices.”
“Not even a little,” I nodded in agreement. “It’s not too hard for me since I have the skills and not too much was changed for my stunt group. But there are some people who are doing brand new things, or Lexi who is learning literally a whole routine right now. Not to mention, I heard TJ wants to add another rotation in the single around needle.”
“Oh right, I forgot he was planning that.” She seemed to think about it for a minute before finally asking. “How do you feel about that upgrade?”
“Okay,” I said honestly. “I think being able to do even one rotation takes a lot of body control and everything, so doing a second one won’t be too hard. At least I hope so. Apparently tomorrow we only have a shorter practice to focus on stunts, so I bet that’s when TJ will start working on that.”
“Cutting it close like always,” she laughed. “But after last year, nothing is pushing too hard.”
I agreed easily, instantly feeling like I was back in Florida. Back sitting on stage while Nitro was called for second place. Sure, second place is amazing. Second in our whole division is an honor. But we thought we had it. We thought we were champions. So to be told we weren’t was a hard pill to swallow. Before too long it became motivation, but for a while there it was hard to get over. Especially knowing I literally risked my ankle and it still wasn’t enough. As we pulled up to the salon I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind and instead headed inside to focus on choosing my nail polish color.
“You picked pink?” I asked, watching Tonya with a grin. “Raise your hand if you’re surprised.”
“None of that,” she warned, smiling my way as well. “This is just for my toes. I’m doing a french manicure on my nails this time. With a holographic accent nail.”
“Okay, that’s a lot more fancy than I was going for,” I frowned. “Just teal for my toes, and silver on my fingers.”
“Silver?”
“Well, yeah,” I began. “Last year I did gold nails and it didn’t exactly go as planned. So this time I figured I would go with silver. That way when I look at my nails I’m reminded of how we placed last year, and the fact that I need to work even harder to prevent it from happening yet again.”
“Only you could make choosing a nail color so inspiring.”
We chatted for a while about adding a design to our pedicures, and decided matching star patterns on our big toenails was a must. Once we were sitting in our chairs, our feet soaking and the massagers moving around on our backs, I started thinking again about the day at the gym. I was still feeling tired, but also accomplished. Seeing my friends do well and also have them there to cheer us on was super important. Then, thinking about friends, I remembered my conversation with Gwen again. Something about it seemed off, and as I thought about it more a question quickly formed in my head.
“Is Gwen staying at the gym longer?” I blurted out while Tonya was checking her phone.
“Ummm, what?” she said slowly, clearly stalling.
“Oh my gosh I knew it!” I gasped. “We were talking at the end of practice and she acted weird when I said it was our last chance to ride certain roller coasters together. I bet it’s going to be so nice to know you’ll still have her next year when the team changes divisions.”
“If she stays,” Tonya’s comment got quite the look from me, so she continued. “Gwen’s been on Bomb Squad for a while. She’s been at the gym for forever, and being on the team was a big goal for her. But she’s been talking to me about changing it up now that she is staying another year. I’m supportive since as long as she’s doing what makes her happy then I’m all for it.”
“Hold on,” I said, holding up my hands both to stop Tonya and also to let my head wrap itself around what I was hearing. “What do you mean changing it up?”
“She talked to TJ about joining Nitro.”
The words were barely out of Tonya’s mouth and I was already pulling up my phone to message Gwen. It was clear nothing was official just yet, but the idea of getting to cheer with her finally was amazing. We had done some amazing stunts together when we were in class, and between what she and Nina were working on I knew Nitro would be stacked if they were both on the team as super strong female bases.
“She’s at a family birthday party today,” Tonya told me as she watched me frantically typing. “She might not get back to you for a while.”
“That’s okay. As long as she spills all the info as soon as she can I’ll be good.” Then thinking about it again, I turned to face Tonya. “Are you really okay with the division change?”
“It’s time,” she said simply. “Bomb Squad has had a few rough years, and with Detonators going to large coed I think it's time for change. Not to mention I’m losing five girls who are graduating, plus Gwen, and at least one or two who want to try for Detonators. Next year will be a whole different squad no matter what, so changing divisions seems like the best idea.”
“That makes sense,” I finally nodded. “As long as you don’t change team colors though.”
“I would leave the gym before I let Bomb Squad be another color,” she assured me. “Pink is my signature color after all.”
“Agreed,” I laughed, then settled back into my chair to enjoy the back massagers even more.
After spending our Sunday morning practice working on the double around needle, I came home and did some tumbling on my air mat when I got the news from my dad. We were having dinner with our neighbors. Even a few months ago that news was common enough, but after everything that happened between Peter and I, we didn’t exactly spend a lot of time together. We would say hello in the halls at school, or give a polite wave if we saw each other coming or going from home. But that was it. No more late night video game marathons, pool parties, or real conversations about anything. For him, me dating Jackson meant our friendship was over for good.
“So Max, are you excited for the big cheer competition?” The question came from Mrs. Morgan as we enjoyed her world famous enchiladas.
“Yeah, I’m a bit nervous too though,” I answered. Mrs. Morgan was a pro at keeping the conversation going which kept me from having to chat with Peter too much despite the fact he was sitting across from me. “Since we got second last year the pressure is on.”
“I know you’ll do great,” Mr. Morgan assured me. “I see you out there on that tumbling thing of yours, and I still can’t quite figure out how you do some of those tricks.”
“Lots of practice,” I laughed.
“Well, Peter said he can help us get the live videos on the TV so we can watch along this year,” Mrs. Morgan explained. “Isn't that right Peter?”
“Uh, yeah,” he managed around a mouthful of food. “I did it last year so it should be easy enough.”
As he spoke Peter avoided eye contact with me. Instea
d he kept his green eyes fixed on his plate. Beside him Kyle grinned at me, either oblivious to the still existing tension or just not caring. I smiled back, shocked as usual by just how much the two of them looked alike. Despite being a few years younger, Kyle could almost pass as Peter’s twin. They were both just over six feet tall and muscular thanks to lots of time playing football and other sports. Their short cropped dark hair and tanned skin made their faces look even more angular than they already were on their own.
“Oh, umm sorry,” I frowned, reaching into the pocket of my jeans to silent my suddenly ringing phone. I pulled it out to switch off the volume then sat it face down on the table.
“That’s okay,” Mr. Morgan assured me. “Anyway, what time do you perform Max?”
“We go around 11 am on Saturday, and then if we make finals I think it’s going to be around 3 or 4 Sunday afternoon.” I paused to push the buttons on the side of my phone again, this time to stop it from buzzing. “We’ll find out our time for Sunday once we know if we for sure made it through to finals or not.”
“Which you will,” Kyle said simply.
“As long as we hit day one, we should.” The buzzing on my phone was going again, starting almost as soon as I got it to stop. “Sorry, I think our group chat is blowing up at the moment.”
“Anything you need to check in on?” Mrs. Morgan asked.
“I doubt it,” I shrugged.
Just in case, I picked up my phone to glance at the messages still pouring in. They were from our team chat, my stunt group, individual text messages, and also a whole lot of emojis and gifs that made it clear something was going on. Unlocking my phone I tried to scroll up but new messages were keeping me from making much progress. It was clear something bad had happened, but I couldn’t be sure what it was just yet.
“Everyone okay?” my dad asked, likely seeing the look of mild panic on my face.
“I-I don’t know.”
“Why don’t you go in Peter’s room for a second and see what it’s all about.”
Nodding, I stood up and started walking down the hallway without even addressing Mrs. Morgan. Moving on autopilot, I headed for his room despite the weeks since I had last been in their house. I was still unsure exactly what happened with Nitro, but it was clear there was an injury involved. Closing the door to Peter’s room behind me, I sat perched on the edge of the bed and called Emma, knowing she would help me get to the bottom of this.
“I’m freaking out so much!” Emma all but yelled as soon as she answered. “I was just on the phone with Whitney and she was crying and now I’m crying and I don’t know what we’re going to do. Like, how can we possibly win like this?”
“Emma, Emma, stop,” I called out over her rambling. When she finally stopped talking I continued. “What happened?”
“You didn’t see the messages?”
“I did, but they were coming in so fast I wasn’t sure what happened. What’s going on?”
“Nick got hurt,” she sobbed. “Bad.”
I could actually feel the blood drain from my face. Not just at the idea that Nick was hurt, but also the way Emma said it. Her tone made it obvious it was something serious. I had to encourage her a few times before she could calm down enough to explain.
“He had stunt practice with Lexi and the rest of their group to work more on the new skills from today,” she managed, despite the sniffling and quiver in her voice. “They were just finishing up and I guess he wanted to do some tumbling practice while they were in the gym since he touched out on his pass a few times this last week. He threw it fine the first two times, but then decided to do it one last time and over-rotated. When he came down from his double his legs were twisted a little too much and his knee just-”
“Oh my gosh,” I said quietly, not needing her to finish her sentence.
“Lexi said it looked really bad and that TJ and Nicole took him straight to the hospital. I don’t think he’s going to be okay any time soon.”
“Is Whitney going to the hospital?” I pulled my phone away from my ear enough to see I had an incoming call from Connor. I made a mental note to text him as soon as I had the chance. For now, helping Emma calm down felt more important.
“She’s going with her sister now,” Emma explained. “She’s been talking to his mom and I guess the initial scans and all that don’t look good. They still have more tests to do, but it’s bad.”
“Well, if he’s at the hospital then that also means he’s getting pain meds, and they're keeping him comfortable until they can do more to help him,” I reminded her. “We can’t do anything about it now but wait and pray the doctors can help him with whatever happened to his knee.”
Emma and I talked for a few more minutes, or rather I talked while she seemed to be calming down more. Whitney clearly had her shaken, which was understandable considering what had happened to Nick. I had a feeling we would be making a group trip to visit him soon, but first I needed to respond to Connor. I sent him a quick message letting him know I had been on the phone with Emma when he called, then scrolled through the group chat. There was a lot of speculation about what TJ would do to fill Nick’s spot, as well as a lot of negative chatter about what his injury meant for our shot at winning Worlds or even making it to finals. We had just finally recovered from losing Catherine from the team, and now we were spiraling out of control once again.
“So how bad is it?”
“Pretty bad,” I sighed, looking up from my phone at Peter who was standing in the doorway. “Nick messed up his knee and is at the hospital. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s in surgery before the end of the day. Our shot at Worlds may be history thanks to this.”
“Dang, that sucks.” To my surprise Peter took a seat next to me, wrapping one arm around my shoulder. “But I know you Max. You don’t know how to fail, and you’ll do anything to make sure your team is on track for the win again in no time.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled, then rested my head on his shoulder. It felt a little odd, but also exactly what I needed in that moment.
Needless to say, the conversation derailed the rest of my evening. Emma wasn’t usually so emotional about things, so the fact that she was made it clear just how intense everything had gotten so fast. Knowing that, I left the Morgan’s early to head home and start responding to all the messages and calls coming in. When I had first gone next door for dinner I was hoping for an early exit, but not due to something like Nick getting hurt.
Nick went in for surgery around 8 pm, after a lot of scans to make sure exactly what needed to be repaired. Basically though, it was really bad. In over-rotating he pretty much moved the upper part of his leg without moving the lower part and his knee went in two directions at the same time. He ripped everything, meaning there was a lot that was in need of fixing. The surgery lasted for over almost two hours, but from what Whitney said the doctors were really pleased with how it all went.
“Positive attitudes only, okay?” Whitney prepped us as we walked down the hospital hallway on Monday afternoon. Nina and Jackson had picked me up from school and we headed right over to meet everyone else that was making the trip to see Nick. “He’s on a good deal of pain meds, so his mood has been a little all over the place.
“Good to know,” Emma frowned. “Is his mom still here?”
“She left an hour ago to get his little brother from school.” Whitney was leading us, clearly having taken the path enough times to do so without getting turned around or lost despite the many twists and turns. “His dad couldn’t get the day off work so I’m helping fill in the few hours until she can make it back here. I’ll be a little late to practice, but TJ said that’s the least of our problems, so it should be okay.”
We stopped suddenly in the middle of the hallway and Whitney took a deep breath. She held it in for what felt like a long time before exhaling and then putting on a big smile. I knew it was our cue to do the same. Glancing at each of us quickly, she gave a nod then turned and confidently walked into the
hospital room.
“Look who I found wandering around the lobby,” she joked, leading us into the sterile room. It smelled like cleaning supplies, despite a few large bouquets around the room.
“Hey guys,” Nick grinned, his words just a touch slower than usual, likely thanks to all the pain meds he was receiving. “Ooh, is that for me?”
“You know it,” Connor laughed, holding up a Chipotle bag. “Are you allowed to eat normal foods?”
“Well, they let me eat the food from the cafeteria, although that hardly qualifies as normal,” he shrugged. “The worst thing that will happen is I get sick and bring it back up from my meds, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
Nick got to work opening the burrito wrapper and digging in, thankfully filling the room with a more natural smell. There was still just something about certain hospital smells that got to me, likely thanks to all the time we spent by my mom's bedside during her final weeks battling cancer. As if sensing my unease, Jackson took hold of my hand and laced his fingers between mine as we all found places to stand around Nick’s bed.
“This is great guys,” Nick managed between bites. “Thanks so much.”
“Of course, we knew you would need it.” Emma paused then, looking a bit uneasy, before continuing. “How are you feeling?”
“Terrible,” he answered honestly. “I mean, my leg doesn't hurt right now, but that was the most pain I’ve ever been in before. Not to mention I didn’t sleep last night since they kept waking me up to check on me every hour or two. But the worst part is knowing I ruined everything for Nitro.”