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“I could not be more proud of you, every single one of you.” There were more sweaty hugs and then I herded them backstage and then to the front to see their parents and supporters.
Now we just had to wait. They’d done all they could.
I joined them in the stands and hugged everyone all over again.
“All the other teams have had one fall,” one of the moms told me. She was my favorite because she knew enough about cheer to add up deductions. Each fall, each bobble, each failed tumbling pass was a different deduction. She could watch a routine and add them up and give me a range she thought that the routine might be in.
“How did Heartwood do?” I asked, and a few of the parents shared looks. We’d been backstage still when they’d gone on and hadn’t come out until after they were done.
“Two falls. One stunt and one tumbling pass.”
Wow.
“Did the flyer hit the mat?” I asked.
“No.”
That was good. A flyer hitting the mat was pretty much the biggest deduction of all. The judges were a little more lenient on tumbling, but it still wasn’t good to have a tumbler fall.
I made eye contact with Dom.
“What do you think?” I asked him.
“I didn’t see it, so I can’t compare, but I think if they had two deductions then . . .”
We were probably going to beat them. That had been my goal this whole damn time, but there was a miniscule part of me that felt bad for Echo’s squad. Having an off day was expected, but the worst time to have an off day was when it counted. Her kids were probably devastated.
The team and I had to wait hours until the scores were announced, so the only options were staying and watching all the other teams, or go to one of the holding areas. I didn’t want them to get all in their heads about their performance compared to other squads, so I gathered them up and headed back to one of the spare rooms.
Some of the parents had gone out and bought snacks, so I made them eat, and then Dom pushed a protein bar into my hand.
“You haven’t eaten all day.”
“That’s not true,” I told him, but I took the bar. “I had an almond butter packet this morning.”
My body still vibrated like a tuning fork. Too much adrenaline. It wasn’t going to be until later tonight that I had a huge energy crash and would probably sleep for like ten hours straight. I’d done the same thing at New Englands.
Dom stood over me and watched me eat the bar and then I made him eat one, along with drink some water.
It seemed like we had to wait hours and hours for us to be directed to go back to the auditorium.
I wondered where Echo was. How she was feeling. What she was doing. I had the feeling that she was back in the stands, watching all the other teams. That seemed like what she would do.
The squad kept themselves entertained by making silly videos and posting them online, taking pictures, and playing games. They were still on the high of performing so well. Honestly, the results didn't even matter. They’d done their best and the rest was out of their hands.
I paced the floor and typed out a text to Echo for lack of anything better to do with my time.
How did you do?
Her response was almost instant.
One tumbling fall, one stunt fall. It’s fine. They’ll be fine.
I knew it wasn’t fine.
I'm sorry, that sucks.I didn’t know why I was comforting her, but it seemed like the right thing to do. A few days ago, I probably would have gloated, but that seemed mean to kick her while she was down.
You’re going to beat us. I’m not happy about it.
