Chapter 29
Allie took a deep breathe as she stared at the uneven bars. She hated this
event. She hated just dangling there.
Her vault had been amazing. Jules had congratulated her on
stepping it up a notch on her beam routine. Allie knew her floor routine like
the back of her hand. She could do that routine in her sleep. The uneven bars
would be where the rubber met the road.
She took another deep breath and then went for it.
She didn’t think. Her routine was driven by feeling and
energy. If she felt like tossing in another release or an extra spin, she could.
That was when she felt her toes brush past the lower bar. It
was a close call, the bar didn’t move, but she knew she would have to pull her
body in closer. Or, possibly just mentally shrink her body.
She decided to toss in a release to the bottom real quick,
almost knocking the air out of herself. Her quick decision was going to leave a
bruise on her stomach now.
One, no two more quick flips and a release back up to the
higher bar. It was finally time to end this routine.
She landed and smiled. It wasn’t perfection but it was what
she was able to do.
Jules met her when she came back to the row of chairs. “You
did great.” Jules said.
“I felt my toes….” Allie started, as Jules help up a hand and
stopped her from finishing the sentence.
“Don’t start dissecting your routine. You were great.” Jules
said.
Allie didn’t listen to the scores. If she did, she would
start dissecting everything. She had to stop. And, she knew that Svetlana, Carly
and she were trading between the top three spots. She knew that would be
happening. She knew the only scores she could really be worried about were the
scores for each girl’s final events.
She did check the standings, seeing that she was in second
place. She then turned and saw Nate and Aaron. Both were fidgeting in their
chairs and at that moment had their heads propped up on their knees. Aaron was
biting his nails every once and awhile.
Allie smiled. He was still there for her, just like he said.
She really loved that support.