Plot Twist

The Morning It All Began

Hey everyone! Kili here. I just wanted to start off by saying, yes, this is my first piece of work to be published on Wattpad. I wrote this story when I was in 6th grade, and it underwent MAJOR rediting in 7th and 8th grade. I am now in 9th grade, and my writing has drastically improved. However, this is my first book that I have always been proud of and it even gives me the chills reading it. That being said, I hope it does the same to you. 

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 I guess you could say I was scared. I mean, who isn't before a gymnastics meet? Right? Well, maybe some people. It's the feeling you get when you're about to get on a rollercoaster. You're nervous, a bit scared, and really excited.

Anyway, my morning started normally. I slammed my hand down on my alarm clock as it buzzed, not wanting to get out of bed. It was a friday. I wished it was saturday. But of course if you are a gymnast that means you have early morning practice and the longest and hardest practice of the week. I had school today. On the worst possible day!

I mean, they couldn't even give us a snow day! I peeked outside as I got up, sighing at all the snow they covered the ground. It just wasn't enough for a snow day, I told myself. Not enough.

I close my shades back up, turning on a light, and sitting on the floor. My heart rises and falls as I take deep breaths. I smooth back my hair and yawn. It's gonna be a looooong day. I wasn't exactly sure what to wear. I never know what to wear! In fifth grade, fashion is at its highest. If you wanted to be cool, you had to look cool!

My closest was stuffed high with sweatshirts, sweatpants, leotards, jeans, leggins, t-shirts. Nothing fashionable. I pushed aside all of that and grabbed a certain gymnastics leotard. I was probably the most unorganized for stuffing my competition leo in the back of my closet.

It was a bit wrinkly and smelled funny. But, of course it smelled funny, you didn't have to wash your competition leotard! It was a deep blue with white and yellow swirls. It was as if the swirls exploded into a flurry on the cobalt blue background. The material sparkled in the light, the sequins turning from their dull white to a blinding shine.

Also from the back of my closet emerged a light weight black sweatshirt. The back said Seaside Gymnastics in a sparkly blue pattern. The leggins that I also wore were not special, only a simple black color. I slipped my leotard on, fussing with the arms. They were a bit tight at the end!

After I was finished getting ready, I ran into my bathroom. My wavy orange hair was snarled and sat in a weird position on my skull. Grabbing a brush, I brushed out all of the snarls so they laid better. My hair was still frizzy, but it was an improvement.

What concerned me was the bruise growing on my face. Bruises had been showing up randomly, and I didn't know why. I hid them from my mom and covered them with makeup. I was sure they would go away. I mean, they couldn't be deadly, right?

I pulled my l hair into a braid and filled my hair with hairspray, bobby pins, and a scrunchie. Then I grabbed my black backpack with our team logo on it and filled it with my grip bag, deodorant, more hairspray, more bobby pins, some candy, and my competition diary.

"Hailey, breakfast!" Calls my mom.

"Coming!" I reply.

I sling my backpack over my shoulders and scurry down the stairs and plop down right in my seat at the counter. A steaming bowl of delicious oatmeal awaits me. Yum......

I devoured it in five minutes. My little brother, Jacob screams a happy scream and runs down the stairs. I contained a laugh as I plopped down on the couch, my eyelids threatening to close.

"Jacob!" My mom scolds. "Please, use your indoor voice! Now," She walks into the living room and sits down next to me. "Hailey?"

I strangle a yawn, curling myself into a ball and almost closing my eyes. I feel mom sliding next to me, rubbing her hand over my back.

"You feeling okay?" She asks, her voice washing over me in a soothing way. "You've been really tired lately, even when you get 14 hours of sleep. I'm worried, Hay."

I look up to see her frowning in concern. "I'm fine. Just nerves." I lie.

She sighs, knowing she isn't getting an answer out of me. Not yet. Not now. Ten minutes later, the bus arrives. I grab everything I need and rush outside to be awaited by the bus with it's doors open. I quickly walk on and collapse into a seat. My stomach fluttered, and I relaxed into the seat.

I was nervous. I had a gymnastics meet today. A big one. The last meet before states. I needed one more 35. Just one. I had one shot this year. This was it. It was April, and in Vermont the snow just wouldn't stop. It was 25 degrees out and I really wanted their to be a snow day. But then the meet would be canceled! Then I wouldn't have my chance to go to states!

You see, in my gym, you have to get three 35's or above to go to states. If you add up all four events: bars, beam, vault, and floor, you get an all around score, or AA. Over the five meets I've been too since november, I've only gotten two 35's and they were cutting it close. 35.25 and 35.1. So you can probably imagine why the heck I was freaking out.

I just sat quietly the whole bus ride. Then we got to school and I headed wearily inside. I got weird stares for my hair, but I didn't care. One of the OSP girls came over to my locker and pointed at my hair.

"Looks cute!" She says, then walking away.

I just stare in shock. Like, whaaaaat??! I smile and walk to homeroom. It was quite peaceful. There was some piano music playing on pandora and everyone was quiet. Of course, that was weird knowing that my class was not known to be quiet.

"Alright everyone!" Called my teacher. "We will be boarding the buses in half an hour. So if you want to just play quietly on your chromebooks that's fine."

I pull out my chromebook and open to a certain video. Before meets, I like to watch old videos of my routines from other meets, so I know what I need to focus on. The first video is floor. I stick my headphones in and listen and watch. 

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And that is the first chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I remember writing it. I should be able to update every few days, for the whole story has been written. Feel free to comment and give suggestions! I love to chat. 

-Kilikani