Okay. Come on, Heather, you can do this. You know you can. Just blow this thing out of the water and walk away with the gold.

I ran down the mat towards the bars, jumping and grabbing hold of the shorter one, swinging around and tucking in my legs to go faster. Faster, faster, I chanted in my head, closing my eyes as I visualized my course, letting go of the shorter bar and quickly grabbing the taller one. My eyes opened as my legs swung up, splitting in the air. They swung around and came back together to the same rhythm of my hands on the bar, spinning so fast I started to get dizzy. I closed my eyes again, letting the adrenaline run through me as I let go of that last bar, landing smoothly on the other side of the mat. I heard a ripple of polite clapping and the announcer telling everyone my name, gym name, and current rank. I smiled, knowing I'd aced that one. None of the girls on Cleveland's team could do the bars like I could.

I made my way slowly to the other girls on my team, Rochester's girls. Ironically enough, our coach, Damien's, last name was Rochester. He caught hell for that at the gym.

My best friend Milly stood beaming at me on the far right, having gone just before me on the bars. "You were great," she squealed excitedly. This was the first time Damien's let her come with the central team to Ohio's meets, and she's been wired and ecstatic ever since we left on the bus.

Before I could say anything in response, Carrahlynne, one of the girls from our team, was called to start the floor routines. Crap, I hate these things. Dancing just wasn't my thing, even though Milly and Damien both assured me I was one of the best. There was just something about the bars that made me feel more comfortable; maybe it was the fact that when I was on the bars, I wasn't quite so aware of the people leering at me, critiquing my every movement – I was able to go into my own little world. Maybe it was because my mind cleared of all thought when my hands were on those plastic bars, or the way my hair flew around in circles, the ponytail holder barely able to contain my black curls. It was almost indescribable.

Milly started wringing her hands beside me, looking absolutely terrified. After Dailey, who was now starting her routine, she was next. I put a hand on her shoulder, and she practically fell back as I supported her. "I'm gonna be sick, Heath," she whined, covering her face with her hands. She shouldn't be so self-conscious. She was brilliant on that floor, she would beat everyone here.

"Breath, Mills. You'll be fantastic." Dailey's routine was closing quickly, and Milly started jumping on the balls of her feet. "Million Rebekka Jones, stop it. You'll be great," I said through my teeth, just as the speaker announced her performance. Her nervousness visibly faded as she neared the mat, and she stood in the middle, waiting for Johanna, the Coach's assistant, to start her music. Undiscovered by James Morrison started playing and she started her dance, her movements starting out fluidly, and then getting more upbeat as the music rhythm started changing to a faster beat. She started grinning about half-way through her set, and I could see her mouthing the words to the song, even as it neared the end of her turn on the mat.

Too soon it was my turn. I sighed irately, passing Milly on her way off the mat. Her hand grabbed mine and squeeze gently as she passed, but it was gone as soon as it had come. In the middle of the mat, I was alone until my three minutes were up.

The second that Please Don't Stop the Music started playing, I was moving. I had a much more physically eroding routine than Milly's; there were rarely any slow parts in a Rhianna song. I did my best, the continuous 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 going on and on in my head. Not a second too soon, the music was gone and silence filled the air as I pressed my fingers to my lips and kissed it, raising my hand to the air and waving. Some laughter rippled quietly throughout the crowd, but mostly the applause continued a bit longer than usual. I sighed. I really wanted Milly to win this round.

We were taking a break now. We had about twenty minutes before they would announce the winners, and who would be the winners. Cleveland was our nemesis, if you will; we always fought hardest with them. I hoped with everything I had that we won today.

I sat beside Milly on the team's bench during our short break, while the votes were being tallied and the crowd had their own little intermission. She tossed me a bottle of water and leaned forward, closing her eyes with her face downward and her elbows on her knees. I opened my bottle with slow, deliberate movements as I watched the bustle of people in the stadium around us. They were walking around, talking and laughing, getting food from the concession stands outside. I felt my stomach grumble loudly. Damn, I'd skipped breakfast. "Heather, how do you do it?" I heard Milly groan quietly; she sounded anguished.

I put an arm around her and squeezed her shoulders. "How do I do what?"

She sighed and opened her eyes, sitting up and looking at me with her pale blue eyes, her pale skin and pale hair off-setting her angelic features. "How do you do this every month? Every other week? I'm exhausted now – after only one meet. How do you keeping going like this?" She put her head on my shoulder and she started shaking mildly, and I knew she was crying. She shouldn't cry, Milly was too much of a kind and overall wonderful person to be crying over something that was trying to wear her down. She got tired so easily, I wondered why she even followed me into gymnastics.

"You get used to it, sweetie," I said, looking up to find my older brother, James, and my parents walking towards us. Unfortunately I also saw James' best friend Ember tagging along. The name was awesome – the person, not so much. He got on my nerves.

"Hey, Feather," he said, calling me by my 'pet' name. I honestly think he only calls me that because it rhymes with 'Heather'. He's such an imbecile.

"Ember," I sighed, rolling my eyes as he sat beside me and put his arm around me. James chuckled. I'm glad you find him amusing, dear brother, because you'd better sleep with one eye open tonight for bringing him today.

He grinned and squeezed my shoulder deliberately. What the hell was he doing? "You were quite the monkey on those bars there, Feather Heather." Another thing, he's annoying when he tries to compliment me because 1.) it usually comes out the wrong way and he ends up embarrassing himself and offending me and 2.) it's just weird to see him being nice, is all. He smirked at me, and I raised an eyebrow at him. Did he really think I would respond to that? Uh, no way. I had more self control when it came to witty comebacks than him, obviously, because his smile faltered when I continued to look at him like he was a madman. "Okay, then," he muttered, looking away and pulling his arm away from me, crossing them over his chest instead. "Good luck with the crowning, Heather."

Honestly, it shocked me that he even knew my real name. Okay, maybe I wasn't giving him enough sack here, because he seemed to be trying to make a genuine effort to be nice. I smiled a little and elbowed his side gently. "Thanks. But you'd better luck up Milly, too, she's more nervous." Milly sent me a glare and covered her face again, probably concentrating more on breathing straight rather than me making her out to be weak, which I wasn't, really. I just thought she would want the luck more than me. I wanted her to win today, not me. I had my own reasons, too.

Ember smiled at me and looked passed me to Milly. "That true, Milly pad?" What is with this dude and weird nicknames? Unlike my reaction to my own name, Milly smiled and giggled quietly, blushing. It's not that she likes Ember – because she doesn't - but it was more because no one was creative enough to give her a nickname that was completely weird or insane. I have to admit, it was sort of cute when he used his little pet names on people. Milly nodded to Ember's question, and he chuckled. "Well, then, luck to both of you." I smiled and nodded my head. That was as good as I was going to get, obviously.

It was up – our time, that is. The announcers proclaimed the intermission officially over, and we all stood in a straight line. All of us in the Rochester team, that is. The Cleveland central team was on the other side of the stadium facing us, the other girls from their gym sitting on the sidelines behind them. It was time for the games to truly begin.

Milly laughed as she good-naturedly fingered her silver medal. Damn those judges. I looked at the bronze on my own chest, thankful that I at least hadn't won over Milly. Some chick from Cleveland got the gold, Jennifer Manuela.

We were sitting in a McDonald's, having a celebration meal. Milly with her chicken salad, me with my chicken sandwich. Everyone else was chowing down on hamburgers and French fries. I felt sad; I love, love, love French fries. I quietly moved my hand over to the closest tray which was consequently Ember's. "Well, Feather, if you wanted to hold my hand, all you had to do was ask." I grimaced as Ember picked my hand up and held it in his. I was caught. I sighed in defeat.

"Yeah, yeah, we all know you're irresistible and all that crap," I muttered, crossing my arms and leaning my head back, and his hand slid out of mine. I have to admit it felt weird when his hand was no long touching me. I shook my head as if to get rid of that train of thought and closed my eyes. I was exhausted, no matter what Milly'd been talking about earlier. These meets always took a toll on me.

I felt Ember lean down and whisper in my ear, "Damn straight," He laughed quietly and inconspicuously kissed my cheek, right in front of my ear, so it was hidden by both my hair and his head, as it was turned away from my parents and James. God, if James saw him do that, he'd probably be dead within the hour. Then again, maybe that wasn't so bad…

Ember leaned away from me, and I almost grabbed him and pulled him close again. But I didn't. I sighed dejectedly and closed my eyes again, keeping to myself all the way until Milly said she was going to the bathroom, and Mom and Dad said they were going to get some McFlurries for the road. I heard more than just their footsteps walking away, so I assumed I was now alone at the table.

Dead. Freaking. Wrong.

I opened my eyes to see myself face-to-face with Ember. His face was literally inches away from mine. "What are you doing?" I muttered quietly, without moving. I was trying hard not to stutter, actually. The close proximity was starting to fluster my train of thought. I felt a crowd of butterflies invade my stomach.

He smiled and ran his fingers through the hair right behind my ear, tucking my hair away from my face. I panicked and quickly slid out of the booth, walking out of the fast-food chain restaurant. I leaned against the outside wall and closed my eyes, just to think for a minute.

I'd never had those butterflies around Ember before – never. So why now? Hm?

I sighed and opened my eyes, spying something on the ground I hadn't noticed before. I walked slowly up to it and bent to pick it up. It was a piece of paper, with a few simple words on it.

Don't miss out.

I didn't notice the footsteps behind me. "You really shouldn't have run like that, and you know it. You're scared, aren't you?"

I spun around to face Milly. "W- What are you talking about?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes, putting her arm around my shoulders and leading me back to the McDonald's. "I think you hurt Em's feelings." Great, now Milly had a nickname for Ember.

"I didn't mean to," I muttered, staring at the ground ashamedly. Yes, I'd been scared. Mostly of the fact I just realized that I actually liked him. How had it taken so long to realize this?

Milly smiled softly and opened the door, letting us both inside. Ember was at the counter with Mom, Dad, and James. He looked anywhere but at me. I felt this gut-wrenching need to let him know I wasn't scared anymore, as I got yet another wave of Epiphany, knowing that Ember liked me back. Otherwise, he really wouldn't have been so nice; he wouldn't have been so close.

Maybe I was going crazy, maybe not.

Mom and Dad paid for the McFlurries and we headed on our way home.

The car ride home was awkward. For me and Ember, at least. He lives right down the street from us, so we dropped Milly off at her house, and then drove to our own neighborhood. Once we started getting out of the car, Mom and Dad and James started telling Ember goodnight, but I stopped him before he could leave towards his house. Everyone looked, shocked, at me, but James and my parents went inside nonetheless. I sighed and blushed, glad for the dark night so he couldn't see.

Ember was a pretty patient, kind person once you got to know him. And trust me, despite our differences, I knew him better than most. He tried to put up a tough façade so he wasn't walked all over, but if you begged enough he was putty in your hands. Which is exactly what I had to do, right now. See if he would forgive me for running earlier.

He cleared his throat softly, looking directly at me. "Did you need something, Heather?" The use of my real name sent a jolt through me – I actually missed being called 'Feather', which was absolutely preposterous.

I took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, actually. I wanted to apologize," I said quietly. This was really hard for me; I'm not an 'apologizing' kind of person. "For earlier. I didn't really mean to bolt like that, I guess I just panicked."

Ember didn't say anything, just continued to stare at me for a few minutes. Finally, the silence was too much for me to bear. "Ember?" I asked even quieter. I saw his hardened expression soften, and he sighed.

"I just- I thought since you ran- that you didn't like me, like that?" he breathed, and I heard his breath hike. I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at him. That was a fair enough assumption, but he was far from the mark.

"I do, I was just scared," I murmured, looking off. In my peripheral vision, I saw him grin and felt his soft hand take mine.

"Oh, really, now?" His voice held the slightest tint of teasing, along with curiosity and piqued interest. I sighed and nodded my head, before being pulled into a hug. "I think I might like you, too."

"You'd better, I made a total idiot out of myself." I grumbled irately, frowning mockingly at him. He chuckled and shook his head, kissing my forehead. He mumbled a goodnight wish to me, and then started down the sidewalk, to his house.

As I walked up the front walk to the front door, I realized that maybe I really had won something today. Who'd have thought?

A/N: I love this one. Sososososo much. :D I hope you guys liked it too! Reviews make me happy, dears!