Just before it all changed

Just before it all changed

It was the day of sectionals and I felt the same sensation I did before every meet. My stomach twisted a little and did flips. In a few minutes, every eye would be on me. But I was a gymnast and this is what I did. My rotation was vault, bars, beam and floor. On each apparatus, my toes were pointed, I hit all my verticals and stuck every landing.

I was on fire.

Acquiring first on beam and floor, second on bars, and third on vault, I came in first in all around.
Standing on the top platform, my black and pinkish-purple leotard glittered in the light and my smile radiated as my mom waved at me proudly. I was headed for states, but little did I know all my hard work would be down the drain when I forfeited, and my mom wasn't there to see me.