"Yes?" Kova continued, looking at all the girls, except me. My stomach clenched, I felt a little left out. "Sound good? Okay, let us go."
It was much colder in Pennsylvania than I expected. I was freezing, and I could tell Reagan was too by how hard her teeth chattered and the way she held herself. Even though we didn't see eye to eye on many things, okay, everything, I felt bad. I reached into my bag and wordlessly handed her an extra scarf I had. She accepted it with a tightlipped smile and wrapped it around her neck. Scarves made all the difference, and I knew she was thankful, even though she didn't say it.
The rest of the day was quiet and simple. After we checked into the hotel, we got settled in our room. There were two queen beds and one bath to be shared by Holly, Reagan and myself.
We all kept to ourselves and didn't speak much. I knew the girls focused on their routines and replayed them in their heads over and over and over. They set their sights on the meet. The steel determination on their faces said enough. They knew what to expect, and held their composure impeccably, like little toy soldiers. I took satisfaction in seeing this from a different perspective.
Later the girls went over their schedule with Madeline and Kova, followed up by a light dinner, where we ate next to nothing. Typical before a meet. No water weight, no bloating, no carbs, ribs protruding, and airy on your feet.
Once I dozed off to sleep early that night, a nudging startled me.
"Adrianna," someone whispered. I stirred, shifted in the bed, but not fully waking up. "Adrianna." The voice was sharper this time and so was the elbow to my side. I opened my eyes to find Reagan hovering over me. She had a pinched face to begin with, but now it scrunched up as she held a cell phone to my face.
I pulled back. "What the fuck are you doing, Reagan?"
"Your phone won't stop beeping."
"What?" My voice sounded rough from sleep. I felt like I'd just gone to bed. My eyes burned with fatigue.
Reagan held the phone closer to my face. She scowled. "You keep getting text messages and it's keeping me awake," she whispered harshly in my face.
I sat up on my elbow and looked to my right. Holly was asleep. I grabbed my phone and read the front of the screen.
My stomach sank. I had four missed messages from Kova. All within a few minutes apart, but luckily the text itself didn't show up on the screen. I had that feature turned off long ago.
"Why is Coach Kova texting you and no one else?"
I glowered. "How the hell should I know?"
We both laid back down and I placed my thumb on the home button to unlock my phone. Reagan’s hot breath hit my neck.
"Back the fuck off, Regina." I cupped the phone to my chest and read the messages. I had a privacy screen on it, so she wouldn't be able to read much, but still.
Coach: Are you awake?
Coach: Tomorrow you will see why you are here and why I did what I did.
Coach: Just trust me on this. I only want the best for you.
Coach: I am sorry for being an egotistical dickhead and ignoring you. XX
I smiled to myself. Egotistical dickhead were words I used on him last week. I exited my messages and powered my phone off. Rolling over, I slid it under my pillow and curled up under the covers.
"What did he want?"
"Just to go over tomorrow since I'm not competing." She ate the lie right up.
She paused for a second. "He shouldn't be texting you, you know."
"And you shouldn't be snooping."
"It doesn't look right."
I was quick. "The only reason it doesn't look right is because you're making it not look right. What are you getting at?"
"I want to know what he said."
I sighed in annoyance. "He texted to tell me that my parents still have the hotel room booked, so I can stay in there tomorrow instead of here if I wanted to."
"And that couldn't wait until the morning?" she argued.
"Regina?"
"What?" she snapped, hating the nickname.
"Go the fuck to sleep."
Nineteen
This was a new, cruel way of torture.
I sat on the bed and watched the girls prepare for the meet, desperately wishing I was competing too. My heart ached to be one of them, fixing each other's hair, doing each other's makeup, and applying hairspray