Read Online Return to You (Letters to Nowhere Part 3) by Julie Cross - Free Book Online Page B

Worlds…”
    And now I know why TJ is so invested in this project. Not that I agree with his approach. Oh no, I’m completely livid about all of it. And I’m still chalking up my hands, though I have no idea why.
    “What happens if you don’t have a bar dismount?” he presses. “What the hell are you going to do at Nationals? What are you going to do with your life if gymnastics is over for you? You’re finished with school, right? Ready for college? Ready for the real world? Somehow I doubt that. You’re still a scared little girl who misses her dead parents.”
    “Stop,” I warn him. I swallow a lump in my throat and use my knuckles to wipe away a few angry tears that escaped from my eyes.
    “I’ll stop when you get up there again and do what you just did, except make the one and a half flip into a double. With a half twist out.”
    I squeeze the side of the chalk bowl. “I can’t do this with you! We’re not a team, TJ. We can’t be when I can’t trust you and you’re pissing me off so much. The only time I’ve felt this mad is…”
    “Is when, Campbell?” He lets go of the chalk bowl and takes a step back. “With Jordan earlier? You looked pretty ticked off then and it seemed to do nothing but good for your routines.”
    “I’m frustrated with Jordan, not angry,” I admit. “There’s a difference.”
    Some of the anger drops from his face. “Has this happened to you before? Getting scared to do a skill that you’ve performed in competition tons of times?”
    “No, it wasn’t a gymnastics related event that set me off.” I rub the file into my leather grip, sawing as hard as I can. “My parents were drinking the night of their accident. They had elevated blood alcohol levels. And my grandma and Jordan’s dad thought it was to my benefit to keep that information a secret.”
    “But you found out.” He doesn’t say sorry like most people would, he doesn’t even have an ounce of sympathy on his face.
    “I was looking for details on their accident and I got hold of a police report and… and yeah, I found out. But only a handful of people know. “ I exhale and watch a few tears fall from cheeks into the white powdered chalk. “I was so mad. I wanted to kill them all over again. It seemed stupid, so trivial. Not this big force beyond our control like I’d imagined. They could have kept it from happening. And I wouldn’t be here on my own.” I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve been through all this already and it doesn’t change the fact that I both love and hate them.”
    TJ wraps his arm around one of the metal poles holding up the uneven bars and his gaze drifts up to the high bar. “I can’t help you with the being alone in life thing, but I can help you with this dismount. But you have to trust me.”
    I snort back a laugh. “My coaches have never done anything like what you did to me a few minutes ago and I still don’t trust them a hundred percent when it comes to spotting. I rely on myself and my own ability.”
    “Did you fall after you hit your head on the high bar?” he snaps, turning back into mean TJ. “Did you feel any kind of impact hitting the mats? No. Why is that, Campbell? You should have had a broken wrist, a dislocated shoulder…”
    I grind my teeth together. He dove to my rescue. I know that, but I don’t know how difficult it was. Okay, maybe that’s not completely true because I’ve heard snippets of conversations around camp with people referring to TJ as superhuman.
    He steps closer and grips both my shoulders. “I’m not a very good person, Campbell. On several occasions, I’ve been a very bad person, but I’m faster than all of your coaches. My reflexes are quicker. This is what I’m good at and I’ll do anything to keep from screwing this up. I’m not going let you fall or hit your head. It’s just as much my skills as it is yours.”
    I roll my eyes. “That’s a great speech, but—”
    “Just shut the hell up and do