Chapter 4: An Achievement, Indeed

“Don’t worry, AJ, I don’t need that much time to prepare for tryouts. See you at detention.” She grabbed her things and walked out the door.

If she fails this tryout, I would forever blame myself.

AMBER POV

I endured the last class of the day with Krystal’s impending tryout disaster still in mind. I was formulating excuses for Ms. Tramell to exclude Krystal from detention. Excuses that will probably do nothing to help Krystal, but hey, there’s nothing wrong with positive thinking.

Good thing I usually sat at the back or else Mr. Banks will probably call my attention for spacing out and not listening to him. Not that I don’t usually listen, it’s just that I was so distracted with everything that’s going on to even bother with easy school stuff (for now).

I practically ran out of the classroom the moment the last bell for the day rang. I hurried to Ms. Tramell’s chosen detention room and was about the go directly to her and plead my case when I saw Krystal already occupying a seat near the back.

Oh, perfect. Now I can’t do anything about excusing her from detention.

I sat beside her and asked if everything’s okay. Her being here and not practicing.

“AJ, really, it’s fine, an hour would not hurt my tryouts. I promise.” She assured me with a pat on the back.

“Okay.” I grumbled.

She just giggled at my reaction and continued writing on her notebook. Peeking, I saw that she was writing in weird characters. Out of curiosity I asked her what she was writing.

“Hey, Krystal, what are you writing? Is that Chinese?” I asked softly, not wanting Ms. Tramell to reprimand me for being noisy.

“Oh, I was writing a poem, I guess. And these are Korean characters not Chinese,” she said in a hushed tone.

“Oh-kaaaay.” I settled on my seat and watched Krystal in my periphery.

She was looking pensively at the large windows across the room, showing the peaceful streets of LA. Her profile is exquisite: a perfectly sculpted nose, bow-shaped lips, smooth skin, and pretty brown doe eyes. 

She would breathe in deeply and close her eyes once in a while, then she would suddenly open her eyes and write in her notebook. 45 minutes into detention, she flipped a page on her notebook and started writing vigorously. What had gotten her so inspired to write by just looking at the streets is beyond me. I just admired her from where I was seated and thought of how busy I would be in the coming days.

I would love to spend more time with Krystal but being the sports enthusiast that I am, I only have limited time to be with my friends outside the teams I was in. Even Em’s complaining about how busy I am. She even encouraged me to quit one or two of my teams, of course I did not quit.

I was only in my second year in high school but Em says I sometimes look older because of all the stress my sports teams was bringing me. I did not argue because I do feel like I overdid it with the teams I joined in; but I definitely do not regret my choices. I love them all, until now. My thoughts were cut off my Ms. Trammell’s loud voice, “Detention’s over. You may go.”

I quickly grabbed my bag and all but pulled Krystal out of the room and into the gym, which was already filled with gymnasts practicing for the tryouts.

“Hey, AJ. What’s the rush?” huffed behind me.

“I just wanted you to have some practice before the tryouts. My conscience would kill me if I ever caused you to fail this. So please, get your stuff ready and practice, okay?” I said.

“Okay. Thank you. And, AJ, I’ll see you later,” she bid goodbye then.

“Good luck, Krystal!” is called after her.

She pumped her fist up in the air and ran to the changing rooms.

Laughing quietly, I found myself a seat near the front and waited for Krystal to come out. A few minutes later, she came out of the changing room and walked confidently to one of the practice mats. She’s wearing a leotard, bright blue and rimmed with something shimmery. It looked really good on her, emphasizing her curves and slender limbs.

She spotted me while she was doing warm-up stretches and gave me a wink. Whether she meant for the wink to be suggestive of plainly nothing, I blushed to my roots and averted my eyes, but not before I heard her giggle adorably.

“HEY, AJ!” I heard Em holler from the gym entrance.

I just waved at her and waited for her to seat next to me before saying, “I didn’t know you’d come.”

“Oh, Krystal mentioned it during lunch. Of course, I wouldn’t miss this for the world!” she waggled her brows at me.

“Oh, just shut up and watch.” I ducked my head and peeked at Krystal who has moved on to one of the bars now doing god knows what, but it surely looks difficult.

“She’s good…Hmmmm. It’s no wonder coach made a move on her the moment she enrolled. I heard from Sam that she has won quite a lot of competitions back in Korea. She’ll definitely be the ace of the gymnastics team this year. OOOHH! This is gonna be so exciting!” She squealed.

I did not even notice the time passing, not even Em’s babbling beside me. I just watched Krystal graceful leaps, pirouettes and splits. Her body was bending in indescribable shapes, I could not even fathom how hard that is to do; but she does it effortlessly and gracefully. She is a sight to see, especially from an inexperienced point of view.

As the time for the tryouts neared, more and more people flocked the bleachers. Professional looking judges took their respective seats at the long table, gymnasts started getting off the mats to take their seats at the benches. Coach Liz blew her whistle to call everyone’s attention and announced that the tryouts will be starting.

One by one, the gymnasts’ names were called and they were asked to start their routine. The first girl to tryout was tiny and looked like she couldn’t do much. I was surprised at how good she is, not losing her footing at a particularly difficult stunt. However, due to nerves probably, she lost her balance at the last stunt she did. Despite that little flaw, the judges seemed pleased with her audition routine.

A very muscular guy came next, then 2 more girls. I lost track of the other of tryouts, but I was getting anxious the longer Krystal’s turn did not come up. Only 2 other gymnasts apart from Krystal had not tried out.

I saw Krystal biting her nails and looking around the gym. When our eyes met, I gave her the most assuring smile I could muster and pumped my fist high in the air in encouragement. That seemed to have calmed her down a bit and stopped with her fidgeting.

Apparently, Krystal was the last to audition. She started her routine on the floor. In my untrained mind and eyes, I could not distinguish the difference of every move Krystal makes. All I know is that Krystal is doing an amazing job, based on the reactions of the crowd and the judges. Her seemingly boneless body, made unthinkable positions that made the crowd go wild.

Ending the floor routine with a bang, Krystal then moved to the uneven bars. With the help of her coach, she boosted herself up the high bar and did spins and stunts, I do not know the names of, that are simply incredible and amazing to watch. I could not even get my mind as to how she so effortlessly did everything she does.

Landing perfectly on the mat, she finished her uneven bars routine flawlessly. I chanced a look at the judges and I saw that they were all but nods and smiles to each other. Probably too impressed at Krystal’s skills.

Lastly, Krystal moved to the beam. What stunts you could possible do on a long piece of wood? I asked myself. But as ever, Krystal surprised me at just how many things you can do on the beam. I thought that she would slip on one dangerously executed stunt but she quickly regained her balance and continued. Her landing was slightly more flawed than the first two routines she did; but I could see from the reaction of everyone in the gym that Krystal is good, really good. Probably even the best among the other gymnasts who tried out.

Coach Liz stood in the middle of the gym once again to announce that those who got through the tryouts will become part of the local team and will be training with around 20 of the finest gymnast in our LA locale. The results, Coach Liz said, will be posted on the bulletin boards around the school next week Monday. With that note, she bid us all a good night.

I stayed on my seat after that, waiting for the crowd to thin out before heading home. Em said that she was going to meet Sam before heading home, so she got out first.

The crowd finally thinned out and I set out to head home. I was near the door when I heard Krystal call me.

“AJ! Wait up!” she said. She’s now dressed in shorts and a tank top.

“Hey! You were good back there. Like really good! I did not know what to expect, but I was awed by your performance,” I praised.

“Thank you,” she shyly replied.

“You’ll definitely be in the team. I’m sure of that!” I said.

“I DO HOPE SO. Ummm…are you headed home now?” she asked.

“Yeah. You?”

She nodded and took a swig of water from her jug. While walking out of the school, I noticed that her hair has come undone from the bun and I said so. She just shrugged and freed her hair from the tight bun. Her hair fell in loose waves on her back. It made me want to touch it and see how it smells. Strawberries? Vanilla?

“Ummm…I’ll be going this way. See you tomorrow.” She said going to the same direction as my house.

“Wait, that’s my way too. Let’s go together.” I said.

“Oh. I live just down Burbank Blvd. You?” Krystal asked.

“Just 2 streets from Burbank. We do live near each other. I could walk you home if you’d like?” I hesitated. Not sure if she’ll accept my offer.

“Sure. Then maybe I could walk you home next time,” she joked.

Conversation flowed easily after that. We talked about sports, books, sports again and a few personal stuff. Like what our parents did, out siblings, and whatnot.

I did not even notice that we were standing outside her house. It was a rather big 2-storey house, not too grand or ostentatious for the neighborhood. I said so and she just laughed, saying that the house was haunted so the owner sold it for almost half the price.

“Oooh. So you wake up in the middle of the night hearing noises, huh?” I joked.

“HEY! No ghosts jokes, please. I’m really scared.” She said.

“Sorry, sorry. Not again. Goodnight, Krystal.” Smiling at another joke I had in my head, but did not voice out.

“Goodnight, AJ. See you tomorrow!” she opened the front door and disappeared into the supposedly haunted house.

I walked the remaining few blocks to my house and wondered if I could get her phone number.

It was a ridiculous idea, I know, but I would really love to get to know her better outside of school.

Well, wishful thinking, AJ. Wishful thinking.