Cade’s POV

The buzz of competition will never cease to have my heart racing. It didn’t matter if I was on the mat or coaching from the sidelines, the nervous energy was contagious.

Today’s competition was floor only so beams and bars had been pushed against the far walls on the opposite side of the bleachers. The mat was split down the middle with three judges each sitting in front of a table, clipboards in hand as they waited for everything to get started.

“You all know the drill,” I said as I turned to the people behind me. “Parents pick your seat, kids start stretching. I better not hear a single word between any of you. If you aren’t stretching or getting warmed up then I’ll have them drop you from the roster.”

Everyone moved quickly, save Asher and Zane Sutton.

It had been a last-minute decision to invite them to watch. Zane had still seemed pretty tore up about hurting me and held back quite a bit on our last practice. The last thing I wanted was for him to give up and I hoped watching a competition would be enough to keep the fire burning. 

“Do we need to buy a ticket or anything,” Asher asked as he looked around the mostly empty gym. We were extremely early but I noticed that most of my kids performed better when they had time to acclimate to the buzz as people slowly trickled in rather than throwing them into the deep end.

“They don’t charge unless your kid is competing.”

“How can they afford all this then,” he asked, eyeing a table behind the judges showing off tall, elaborate trophies.

“Mostly through competition fees but the concessions and donations help so if you’re feeling snackish, do us all a favor and get something.” He nodded and glanced up to the other parents already setting up their nests. Some had cameras out, others laid blankets over their laps. They made it clear that this section of bleachers on the first two rows would be our camping spot until it was time to pack up. 

“Do we sit with them?”

“Sit wherever you want,” I scoffed. “I’m not your keeper. Are you excited,” I asked, turning my attention to Zane.

He never seemed like the nervous type but he was all but hiding behind his dad as his eyes jumped from one thing to another quickly. 

“Am I going to have to do this one day?” He asked, picking at the sleeves of his new jacket. It matched with everyone else on my competition team. A black, thin jacket meant to keep everyone warm as they waited their turn with ‘Cade’s Gym’ written in red stitching on the back.

His eyes had lit up when I gave it to him yesterday morning but now he looked at the others wearing the same jacket and seemed to be having second thoughts.

“Only if you want to,” I shrugged. “I always liked doing it but if you don’t like what you see today then I’m not going to make you do it and I won’t allow your dad to force you.” Asher looked like he was about to comment but I gave him a glare and turned back to his son.

“Will you make me leave if I don’t?”

“We are a competition gym, it’s what we train for but as long as your dad’s money is still green, I don’t rightly care what you do.” He smiled lightly, his hand pulling back to his pocket before pausing.

Asher gave him a small nudge and an easy smile. Zane took a shaky breath as he pulled out a folded piece of paper and shoved it into my hand. 

“I made it for you,” he said as I looked down at the drawing. 

“You made this,” I asked, forcing my eyes to go wide with exaggeration. “I would have thought your dad did.”

“I made it all by myself,” he said with a wide smile, his chest puffing out slightly. “Do you like it?” I looked back down at the picture.

The man standing in the middle of what could only be a blue mat given the context was clearly me. I was wearing blue gym shorts and a grey shirt, my hair was longer than it actually was and curled like an afro. A gold metal lay on my chest and a comedically large trophy the size of me stood beside me on the mat, declaring me first place. 

Something in my chest twitched and some nasty part of my brain reminded me this would never happen again but I pushed it aside.

“I love it. It’s going in my office the second I get back,” I said as I folded it back up and placed it into my own pocket. “Thank you.”

“I’m sorry I hurt you,” he said, back to playing with his sleeve.

“Did you learn from it?” He nodded. “Then that’s all I care about. Now go on, find a seat before the gym moms take all the good ones.” He runs up the stairs like all worries are forgotten and takes a seat at the very top of the bleachers, Asher could do nothing but follow after him. I turn back to the kids stretching. “Start warm-ups. I want to see round-offs that are perfect and handsprings that would make gods weep.”

Slowly, others slid through the gym doors. I recognize most from other competitions and I knew right off the bat that unless they improved greatly since the last time, this whole thing will likely only be a competition between my kids to see who is the best. That is until Lucy Penbur walked in.

I had to hold back my eye roll when her mom walked in beside her, eyes already on me as she walked toward my group. 

“Hey Katie,” she all but squealed as she sat down next to her friend. Katie’s eyes cut to me, silently asking if she could talk, and only when I nodded did she catch up with her old friend.

“Didn’t think you would be here,” Lila, Lucy’s mother, said as she crossed her arms and watched the two girls carefully. 

“Really? I’m at every competition worth going to and you’re surprised I’m here? I really hope stupidness isn’t contagious. Wouldn’t want poor Lucy to catch it and wind up like you.” She glares at me but I pay her no mind. We only had 15 minutes until everything started and there were too many eyes on me to make a scene.

Any action I made reflected on my kids and vice versa. If a group of 12-17 year-olds could be civil then I could too.

“You’re just bitter that we switched gyms,” Lila scoffed and I shrugged.

“If you feel that Lucy is better cared for with someone who isn’t me then I fully support your decision and will be cheering her from the sidelines when she goes pro one day. Tell me though, does she still under-rotate on her back fulls?” I reveled in the way her eye twitched. 

“She’s getting better every day.”

“I’m sure she is. She’s a very talented girl.”

“Talent that you will never get credit for.”

“Talent that under your watch will be washed down the drain because you don’t know the meaning of the word ‘break’.”

“Katie was at the gym just as often as we were,” she seethed in a low whisper, her eyes still on her own kid.

“Katie takes breaks,” I answered easily. “She listens when I tell her to stop early and take days off to be a kid in order to not get burnt out. If Lucy is on the same schedule she was with me, I give it 6 more months until she’s begging to quit.”

“You don't know anything.”

“Maybe not now, but I used to. Don’t forget that I saw your daughter more than you did only a few years ago.” The words hit hard, just like I knew they would and I have to hold back a smirk as she lets out an annoyed squeal.

“Lucy is going to win.”

“And I will cheer for her all the same when she does. Now if you have nothing else to say to me, I recommend finding a seat before the bleachers fill and you have to stand for this whole thing.” Lila scoffed and with my back turned I didn’t see her foot lifting slightly. I only feel the pain as her pointed shoe makes contact with my ankle.

I doubt anyone else would have blinked an eye at the light tap but my wrapped joint threatens to give out. I forced myself upright and to breathe through the pain as Lila made her way to the bleachers.

Lucy had been one of my first students, along with Katie. Their classes were right after each other so Lucy warmed up as Katie cooled down. It hadn’t taken long for them to be best friends and Lucy’s talent was clear. At the time, she was better than Katie, given the other girl was a year younger and didn’t quite know what to do with her body.

That changed the next year and Katie quickly passed Lucy. The other girl had cheered her on through all of it. Every skill Lucy didn’t have, she praised Katie for performing perfectly on. There was no hint of resentment in her eyes and she often begged her mom to come early in order to watch Katie practice and as such, Katie stayed late to watch her.

It was a perfect, healthy rivalry that I often encouraged in order to keep both girls improving.

That was until Lucy’s mother forced her into more classes with longer times. She went from 1 hour 3 days a week to 2 hours 4 times a week and it was clear her love for the sport was dying. 

I pulled Lila aside and told her we should give Lucy time to rest and see if she really wanted to keep doing this and she had screamed that she knew what was best for her kid. I threatened to drop her as a student if she didn’t go back to her previous time slots and she called my bluff by pulling Lucy out of class altogether and finding a new gym. 

I still saw her most weekends at competitions like these and every time I did, the light in her eyes seemed to get dimmer and dimmer. 

It was an act of god to not limp as I eased over to the girls. Lucy’s smile brightened when I sat down beside her and did a few stretches of my own. It wasn’t until then that I saw an ace bandage wrapped around her knee.

“Katie, go get something to drink, we’re about to get started.” Katie gave her friend a wave before doing what she was told. Lucy’s smile dimmed, likely already knowing where this was going. “Does it hurt?”

“No,” she said all too quickly. I gave her a stern look and she sighed. “Only a little when I land. It’s mostly for my last skill. I’m doing a full, don’t tell Mom I told you that, she’ll get mad. It only hurts on that one when I land so I wrapped it to make it a little easier.” I nod and think several things over.

“Do you want advice,” I asked. She was only 15 but she had always been mature, taking advice easily, but now that she wasn’t my kid I didn’t want to hand it out unwarranted. But, true to herself, she nodded. “I haven’t seen you do in a while but I can tell you it’s probably not getting high enough and are opening at a weird angle. Hold that rebound until you’re as high as you can go before starting to rotate. Who’s your coach?” My eyes scan the bleachers. She wasn’t wearing a jacket like many others were, claiming who she belonged to but some gyms didn’t believe in wasting money for things like this.

“Coach Rayman. He’s not here. Doesn’t like competition.” I nod. He was a pleasure only gym, doing it for the fun rather than practicing for college or the Olympics.

“What happened to Coach Moore?”

“Mom didn’t like him so she pulled me out.”

“Seems to be a running theme,” I scoffed and she hid her laugh behind a cough. “Do you want to be doing this? I have some sway with the judges, I can have your name pulled easily.”

“Mom wouldn’t like that.”

“This isn’t about her.” She paused to think before shaking her head.

“I worked hard.”

“I know you did.”

“I don’t want to waste it.”

“It won’t be a waste. You can do this same pass at another competition when you’re feeling better.” She paused again.

“I think I want to try.”

“Then I won’t stop you but if you change your mind, not just here but at any competition you see me in, you come to talk to me. You might not technically be mine anymore but you will always be a Cade’s Gym athlete.” She smiled brightly and the fire in her eyes that had been dimming flared as an announcer walked out to the center of the mat with a microphone. “Time to get started. Go find Katie. We’re about to show these wannabes what real gymnastics looks like.”

I could feel eyes burning into the back of my head as she ran off but I held my head high as I stood with my kids.