THE GOLD | b. hargrove

chapter nine

Plastering on a fake smile for cheer practice came easy to Harriet at this point. She'd joined the squad as soon as she moved to Hawkin's to try and keep some sense of normalcy in her life and had managed to keep up the bubbly persona despite the loss of her parents. Sometimes it even helped to put on that front for an hour and forget the world outside existed. Today was no different, she turned up to the gym after all her classes had ended and ignored all the other emotions running through her head, putting all her focus on getting the new routine down. She was one of the flyers on the squad, and the adrenaline she got from having to perfect the stunts or risk injuring herself or her teammates emptied her head of any lingering thoughts of Billy Hargrove.

The hour sped by, it felt non-stop and by the time their coach dismissed them all she was completely exhausted. As she collected her belongings she could hear a couple of the younger girls mumbling to each other about the latest gossip, which was of course revolving around her messy love life. She shot them a glare, which instantly shut them up, and slammed her locker shut storming out to her bike. Her legs ached even walking through the school to the parking lot, so she knew the ride home was going to be a slow one. It was already growing dark as she set off on her way, her bag feeling much heavier than it had in the morning now it had Billy's jacket shoved inside of it. Out of sight, out of mind, Harriet thought to herself.

Her lungs felt like they were on fire by the time she arrived home, her breath catching in her throat with each inhale. She trudged into the kitchen and slung her bag on the floor as she sat at the table, her aunt looking over to her and chuckling at the girls dramatics. "How was cheer practice sweetie?" Her aunt placed a glass of orange juice in front of her which Harriet gulped down in mere seconds.

"Good." She was still breathless, and one word was all she could manage at that time. She took a moment to allow her breathing to return to normal before continuing to speak to her aunt. "We've started a new routine, it's a lot better than the last. Way more difficult though, I don't know how I'm going to do it again tomorrow."

"Make sure you get a good nights sleep tonight, no staying out late." Her aunt raised an eyebrow at her knowingly, and Harriet just smiled sheepishly at her. She absolutely would not be staying out late tonight, or going out at all for that matter.

"I know, I'm staying in." She paused for a moment, and noticed how quiet the house was. "Where is everyone?"

"No idea. Trying to keep tabs on you kids is impossible." Karen shook her head. She hadn't seen Nancy since the day before, and Mike was almost always out with his friends getting up to God knows what. "We're having meatloaf for dinner." She smiled at her niece then turned back to continue with her preparation for their evening meal.

"Sounds good." Harriet pushed away from the kitchen table and made her way into her room, wanting to change out of her uniform and into something more comfortable for the rest of the evening. She wrapped herself in her blanket and sat cross legged on her bed, looking around her room aimlessly hoping to find something to pass the time before she felt tired enough to sleep. She ended up just putting on one of her Fleetwood Mac vinyls, laying back and staring up at the ceiling until her aunt called her for dinner.

She spent most of the meal pushing her food around her plate, taking a small bite every now and then to avoid looking rude. Her aunt sighed at the sight of her, unsure at how to help. After they'd all finished, or in Harriet's case she'd stopped messing around with the meatloaf on her plate, the young girl offered to help with the washing up. It was silent in the kitchen other than the running of the tap, her aunt lingering over her as she scrubbed the dishes clean.