Sequel: The Bride
Status: Complete ♥

Maid of Honor

Seventeen ♥

After I changed into
my performance leotard
, I tossed on my warm up jacket over it. I huffed, and went right to the fruit table where I loaded myself up on fruits and water. It was healthy, but it was definitely not filling me up.
“Are you okay?” Robby asked me. I shook my head, and I took another bite of fruit. “Dorinda, are you nervous?”
I looked at him with my eyes growing slightly.
“N…no,”
“Out there in three minutes to start warming up. You’re on the practice pad.” He said to me. I rolled my eyes, but I agreed to it. Soon after he left, I started my stretches. I wanted to make sure I can still do these dismounts. Even if I didn’t want to do the one Robby was forcing on me. Three minutes went by quickly, and I made my way out of the locker room. I found Robby, standing at the beam, waiting for me to practice it.
“I’m going to floor first.” I stated as I walked past him without even a look in his direction. I got to floor and part of my routine, wanting to leave the rest for the judges to see. When I was done, I looked over to see all of my friends watching me with weird looks on their faces. I saw Julie latched onto John, and it made a weird feeling run through my body. I forced myself to look away before I went back to vault and then bars. I had finished those and slowly made my way back to Robby. He had a pissed off expression on his face because of me. I laughed at him, but he just shook his head.
“Get on and just do the dismount.”
“Robby, this isn’t a good idea.” I stressed for the last time.
“Just do it, Dorinda!” He demanded.
I rolled my eyes but I got up on the beam anyway. I took one last look in their directions, seeing that John wasn’t even paying attention. That pissed me off. He better pay attention when I’m actually starting. I took a running start before I turned the aerial. I went into the full, but something didn’t feel right. I pulled it way too late. When I twisted all the way back around, I landed. I landed on my ankle, and I instantly went to the ground. Pain shot through my foot. It was a pain that I hadn’t experienced in a long time. I brought my leg up to my chest as the tears started to fall from my eyes.
“Dammit,” I muttered, feeling the pain intensify.
“Dorinda, are you okay?”
“Fucking no!” I yelled, rolling over on my side. “Robby, it hurts. I’ve never been in this kind of pain before.”
“Can you compete?”
I shrugged, letting more tears fall from my eyes. It was only practice, and I just did something to my right foot. It’s never hurt this bad.
“Move, I need over there,”
“Sir, only gymnast and coaches are allowed,”
“My best friend just fucked her foot up. I’d prefer if I could at least help!” He nearly yelled.
I lifted my head to see Kennedy bitching out one of the coaches.
“Kenny!” I yelled in relief. “Robby, get him over here. I don’t give a fuck if it’s against your rules or not.” I replied, still crying.
Robby lifted himself from hovering over me, and went to where Kennedy was standing. Seconds later, I saw Kennedy hovering over me.
“Are you okay, Doe?” He asked me with a concerned look on his face.
“I’m hurting.” I said, continuing to let the tears fall.
“Can you move?” He asked me.
“I don’t know.” I replied, sounding like a scared little girl.
“Do you remember when John and I taught you how to ride a bike?”
“Even though I was 18…” I almost laughed.
“Yeah, then,” He chuckled. “You wiped out bad…and you were really hurting.”
“But I got up anyway because I wanted to ride that fucking bike.”
Kennedy laughed, pushing back some of my hair that had fallen out of my pony tail.
“That’s exactly right.” He agreed. “Can you get up and prove that you can do this fucking dismount.”
“I can’t move without your help,”
Kennedy smiled and nodded before he looked up at Robby.
“Help me get her up slowly.”
Robby agreed before they both were pulling me to my feet carefully. They wrapped their arms around me so that I could walk.
“Let…let me go,” I stated. Robby let me go, but Kennedy was more reluctant than he was. Finally both of them let go of me and I limped a little bit as I tried to walk.
“Ginger!” Robby barked toward a gym leader than was arguing with Kennedy. “Go take Dorinda and get her foot fixed in time to perform. I want her to be able to walk without limping.”
Ginger nodded and walked over to me before she helped me back behind the huge curtain where other gymnast stood and waited. I hopped to the doctor table setting up, and I sat down on it. I carefully lifted my right foot, and she started to massage it. I screamed and I cried as she used her hands to work out my throbbing foot. When she was done, she gave me a shot in my foot that started to make it feel better.
“This is just a temporary solution. You should really get this foot checked out soon. Don’t leave it like this, okay?”
I nodded at the woman’s words before she walked away. I rested my elbows on my knees while I put my head in my hands. I was humiliated in front of everyone. I screwed up my dismount, which I knew was going to get messed up anyway. I felt defeated. I didn’t want to go back out there and screw up even more. I was one of the few people actually competing today. Three other gymnast and I were trying to prove who the best gymnast is. I needed to prove that I was the best. It was mostly to show up Julie. She’s just getting under my skin a whole lot more. I need this edge.
“Are you feeling better?” Robby questioned as soon as he came over toward me.
“Yeah,” I nodded, wiping away the stray tears.
“Come here,” He sighed before he hugged my shoulders. “Why are you so distracted?”
“It’s nothing. I will be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I nodded, looking into his eyes. “I can do this, Robby,”
“Good, because you’re almost up. Taylor and Raquel already went.”
I nodded my head before I stood up slowly, and walked over to the deck. The first event was bars. I knew I could just breeze through the first few. That’s what I did. Bars, vault, and floor were all super easy. I felt like I could concentrate on beam. I had five minutes while Raquel was on the beam before I had to go.
“Don’t choke on the aerial full,” Taylor whispered.
“Don’t worry, I won’t choke on the aerial full,” I mocked her.
Taylor just rolled her eyes before she walked off behind the curtain. I watched Raquel, the only real beam competition I had. I’m going for the double back. I don’t care how much trouble I get in with Robby, I’m not taking a chance on a stupid dismount when I can land the other one. I felt butterflies in my stomach. My eyes scanned the crowd for my friends. The green ones staring back at me, calmed my nerves greatly. John was paying attention to me. He wasn’t even holding Julie’s hand. His eyes were glued to mine with a silly smile on his face. John was actually proud of me.
“Next up on beam we have Olympic Champion, Dorinda Pope!” They announced. I shrugged myself out of the warm-up jacket once again before I stepped up toward the beam. I lifted myself with ease before I started the routine. It was long, almost two and half minutes. I kept my pace steady and I did it flawlessly. I only had a minor freak out about my dismount. I almost missed a step, but I quickly covered for myself. I had to stop thinking about it. My smile hurt a little bit. When it finally came time, I ran into my round off and sprung into the double tuck. I stopped thinking about it, and before I knew it, I handed perfectly with two feet planted on the mat. I threw my hands up, signifying the end. I turned toward the judges and did that once more before I removed myself from the mat. Once I reached Robby, he looked mad.
“That wasn’t the dismount.”
“No, it wasn’t. But it was the only dismount I could land, so therefore, I tossed it. The aerial full would have put me in more pain,” I hissed.
Robby’s face softened.
“Good job. I’m proud.” He replied before I turned around and walked back behind the curtain, slightly limping.
I’ve never seen a bigger smile on John’s face.
♠ ♠ ♠
I'm sorry for the shortness! But I'm glad that you guys love this story!

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xoxo Rae Marie