107. Ch 107- Last Hurrah pt 2

At the sports centre, the young gymnasts were beginning to arrive, waiting in the reception area with excitement and nervousness for what they were about to do. The receptionist had told them that they wouldn't be allowed into the gymnasium until Chris or Helena was there, so all they could do was stand around and chat with each other. Among them, however, Jordan was arguably the quietest of the bunch. While she did chat with her friends and her sister to pass the time, she found herself looking towards the entrance more often than not, waiting for someone to arrive. Jen looked to her sister and realised immediately what was on her mind.

"Jordan, relax, he'll be here," she assured the younger girl. "It's not even ten o'clock yet, there's still time."

"I know, I know. I just… well..."

Seeing how her sister's cheeks started to turn pink as she looked down at her feet, Jen grinned. "You'll feel better when he's here, right? Something like that?" Jordan nodded, making the older girl chuckle. 'She's smitten,' she noted, but knew better than to tease the elementary schooler at that time. Putting a hand on her shoulder, she gave her a comforting smile. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure he'll be here any second." She then saw a familiar van pass by the front doors. "Speaking of..."

Hearing this, Jordan looked up and followed her sister's gaze to the door, smiling when she understood what she was saying. Making her way out the front door, she looked around the parking lot until she spotted Vanzilla, parking just outside the building. Her smile grew once she saw Lincoln and his sisters stepping out of the van, so she made her way over to them. "About time you got here," she joked, getting her friend's attention.

"Hey, we're right on time," Lincoln joked back. "You're the one who got here early."

Though she rolled her eyes, Jordan couldn't help but giggle. "Touché, Linc." She then looked to the woman still in the vehicle. "Hey, Mrs Loud."

"Hello, Jordan," Rita greeted.

"Where's the rest of the family?"

"We'll all be coming later on. We didn't want to be in the way before the showcase, so I'll be driving them here in about an hour."

"What, is the two of us not enough?" Lynn questioned, the sarcasm thick in her voice.

"Lynn, don't start," Lincoln chided.

"Alright, kids!" Rita spoke once more. "I'm going to head back, and I'll be here with the others later. Lynn, Leni, make sure to help your brother and his friends as much as you can, okay?"

"You got it, Mom," Leni agreed, while Lynn nodded.

"That's good." She then smiled to her son and told him, "have fun, Lincoln."

"Thanks, Mom." The kids then stood back as Rita reversed the van out of the parking spot, and waved as she began to drive back home. Once she was gone, Lincoln and the others began to make their way inside. "We weren't keeping you waiting, were we?"

"No, not really… though, I'm… I'm glad you're here, Lincoln."

He felt his cheeks heat up at hearing this, not looking to see that she was doing the same. "Thanks."

Lynn smirked at the two, but chose not to say anything. "So, who are we waiting on?" she asked the Rosato girl.

"Just Chris and Helena," she explained, pushing the doors to the sports centre open to let them in. "They should be here any minute."

Their entrance caught the attention of Mollie and the others, all turning their attention to their friends. "Well, it's about time you got here, Loud," she quipped, to which Lincoln rolled his eyes.

"Jordan already used that one," he pointed out, only adding to her grin.

"I'm sure she did." She saw the slight stink eye her bestie was giving her, but chose to ignore it. "So, you ready for today, Lincoln?"

"You bet he is," Lynn answered on his behalf, pulling her brother into a tight side hug before he could say anything. "I've seen how much he's improved, same for the rest of you. This showcase is gonna be awesome!"

"Not if your brother can't breathe," Kat argued, her friends laughing.

"What?" When Joy pointed to Lincoln, she realised that she was holding him a little too tightly, so she let him go to allow him to breathe. "Oops. My bad, bro."

"It's… fine…"

She would have said something else, but everyone's attention was diverted to the entrance when they saw a fair skinned woman enter the building. She looked to be either in her late twenties or her early thirties, her black hair held in a bun and her eyes covered by a pair of black framed glasses. She wore a wine purple jacket over a white turtleneck sweater, a black pair of dress pants and black heeled shoes, and carried a brown leather handbag over her left shoulder.

"Are you all here for the gymnastics showcase?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah," Sadie answered. "Who are you?"

"You can call me Miss Thomas. Is Christopher here, per chance?"

"I'm right here," they heard the gymnastics instructor answer, as he and Helena appeared from the corridor. "I hope I haven't kept you waiting."

"Not at all, Christopher. I only just arrived."

"Please, just call me Chris. So, what brings you here, Miss Thomas?"

"Well, since this showcase was somewhat last minute, and it will be raising funds for the sports centre, I've been asked to oversee the setup to make sure that everything goes smoothly."

"Are you one of the managers?" Jessica asked, to which Miss Thomas nodded. "Oh…"

Though confused by the slightly deflated tone she gave, it only took one glance around at the kids' faces for her to understand. "I know that you're probably not too happy with me being here, given their decision, and I don't blame you. I wish we didn't have to make the decision to shut your practice down, I really mean it. It came down to a vote, and although I thought it shouldn't happen, I was outnumbered."

"You're not lying, are you?" Joy questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Joy!" Helena gasped, surprised by the bluntness of the accusation, but Miss Thomas waved her off.

"It's okay. I know that you don't have any reason to believe me, but I'm not here to try and make this day worse for any of you. When I heard that you were insistent on doing this showcase, I was rather excited to hear about it. I never had the opportunity to try gymnastics growing up, and I think that you're all very lucky to have been able to. That's why I insisted that I be here on their behalf, so that I could help in any way that I can to make this showcase a success." After a second of silence, she turned to Chris. "Oh, excuse me. I don't mean to get in the way. Over to you."

"Thank you," he replied, clapping his hands together and turning to the kids. "Listen up, everyone! It's good to see you're all here and ready to go. I know you're all ready, and you're gonna do amazingly, but if there's anything you feel you need to practice, then you've got time. Doors don't officially open until half eleven, so once we get set up, we should have an hour for any last minute rehearsals." He then turned to the two high schoolers. "Were you two able to make leotards in time?"

"We sure did!" Leni excitedly answered. "Want to see?" Hearing the kids all show their eagerness, she and Jen each reached into their bag and pulled out a leotard, a collective "whoa" filling the room as they looked at their handiwork— the leotards were white and sleeveless, with a red flame like pattern on the lower half. "What do you think?"

"They look amazing!" Kat commended, the rest of the gymnasts all agreeing.

"Well, we've got one for each of you," Jen added. "They should fit perfectly, but just in case, we've brought stuff with us in case we need to make amendments."

"They are just beautiful," Helena told them. "Thank you both for doing this."

"It was nothing," Leni insisted. "Anything to help make this day better."

"Well, in that case," Chris declared, "everyone get those on, and we'll get this showcase started, right?"

"RIGHT!"

So, after heading into the changing rooms next to the gymnasium, everyone got changed into their new leotards, with Lincoln remarking that his felt very comfortable. Once everyone had emerged, fully dressed and ready to go, they helped to make sure that all of the equipment was ready for use, and that all of the crash mats had been laid out properly to protect them in case of accident. By the time this was done, Luna and her band had arrived, so while they quickly set up their instruments and did a sound check, Chris and Helena led the young gymnasts through a series of warmups and stretches before allowing them to work on anything they were worried about. For the most part, they all seemed to be ready to go, so they mostly just wanted to make sure they were ready to go. For Lincoln, he only really requested that he and the others practice the floor routine once more, which they were more than willing to do. The short amount of time they had to practice was enough of a confident boost for the boy and his friends.

Fast forward to five minutes until start time, and the group were stood in the corridor outside of the gymnasium. Through the windows on the doors, they could see that the bleachers were completely full with friends, family members, classmates and who knows who else. Lincoln was able to see his sisters and his parents at the front, along with Pop Pop, Myrtle, Jordan's parents and sister, and Clyde and the gang. His sisters were all holding and waving banners they had made for him, eager to see their brother perform.

'Wow! That's way more people than I was expecting!' he thought, his eyes widening slightly at the sheer size of the audience that he and the others had helped to gather. 'Keep it together, Lincoln. It's like you said earlier: the bigger, the better.'

"Okay, everyone!" Chris called, gathering their attention. "This is it. You all ready to do this?"

The kids all gave an affirmative cheer. "That's good to hear," Helena remarked. "I know I've only been working with you for a few weeks now, but I've seen so much growth from all of you. It's taken a lot of work and cooperation, but you are all ready. You're going to do an amazing job out there, and everyone is going to love it, so when you go out there, make sure you enjoy yourselves."

"I wish I could've been out there with you, guys," Artie admitted. "Even though we weren't originally planning to do this, I know you're all going to do great."

"Hey, we wish you could've been doing this too," Jordan pointed out, her friends all nodding.

"Yeah, I wouldn't have come here to begin with if you hadn't told me about this place," Joy added.

"And we wouldn't have found out if she hadn't told us," Sadie further explained, with Kat, Mollie and Jordan nodding in agreement.

"Which means I wouldn't be either," Lincoln concluded.

Artie looked at his friends, feeling warmth from their smiles. "Thanks, guys."

"Okay, hands in, everybody!" Chris called out, holding his hand out palm down. One by one, the rest of them all place a hand on top of his. "After three, we're gonna shout "let's go", got it? One… two… three!"

"LET'S GO!"

After everyone threw their arms up in the air, they heard Luna and the band beginning to play music in the gymnasium, getting the crowd to cheer. Stepping past the kids, Chris and Helena opened the door to the gymnasium and walked inside, the cheers getting louder as they walked over and waved. He walked over to the band and grabbed a spare microphone from the nearby bench, then waited for the music to end.

"Hello, everyone!" he announced, getting them to cheer again. "Thank you all for coming out to our showcase today! Now, first off, a big thanks to the Moon Goats for providing the music today." Everyone could hear Luna shout "ROCK ON", getting them to chuckle. "Just gonna talk quickly about what's gonna happen today. My name's Chris, and I'm the gymnastics instructor here. I've been teaching gymnastics here for about a year, but I started teaching elsewhere five years before that. Today, the kids are gonna be showing you the sort of thing that we teach here, from the vaults to the floor next everything in between. If you're here expecting ribbons and hoops, then you're in the wrong place." Once again, the crowd laughed. "Now, I'm gonna hand over to my assistant coach."

He handed the microphone to Helena. "Hello, everyone! How are you doing today?" A cheer echoed throughout the room again. "My name is Helena. I'm from Grand Rapids, where I work as a choreographer, but I was a gymnast back in high school with Chris, so when he told me about the showcase, I just had to come down and help out. I've been working with the kids for the past three weeks, and let me tell you something. It has been an honour to get to know them and see what they can do, so I hope you all enjoy what they have to show!" The crowd gave a round of applause to her sentiment. "Now, are you ready to meet the stars of today's show?" The crowd cheered, but she shook her head and smirked. "I said… ARE! YOU! READY!"

They cheered louder, so Luna and the others began to play again. "First up, it's Lizzie!" Chris announced, getting the crowd to cheer as Lizzy came out, running over to the two coaches and waving to the crowd.

"Next up, here's Lyra!" Helena announced, the red headed girl doing the same thing as Lizzy.

"Natalie!"

"Jessica!"

"Connie!"

"Sadie!"

"Kat!"

"Joy!"

"Mollie!"

One by one, the girls all came out to the cheers of the crowd and ran over to the others. "Jordan!" Helena announced, getting a louder cheer this time as the Rosato girl came into the gymnasium. As she got in line with the others, she could hear her sister and parents saying words of encouragement, as were Lincoln's sisters, making her smile grow.

"And, Lincoln!" Chris concluded, getting the crowd to cheer even louder as the white haired boy opened the door, waving as he ran over to the others. His sisters were practically screaming out to him, making him chuckle.

"Looks like he's the favourite," Mollie muttered, though she was only heard by Jordan, who gave her a quick elbow.

Once the cheering died down, Helena took the mic again. "Now, there is one more person to introduce. Sadly, he can't perform today, due to injury, but he's been helping everyone out along the way, so give a round of applause for Artie!" Everyone looked to the entrance and clapped as Artie walked over on his crutches, getting a pat on the back from Lincoln when he made his way over. Once all together, they waved to the crowd again. "These guys have got a lot to show you, so while they prepare themselves, we're gonna tell you a bit about what's coming up."

The kids then began walking over to the benches next to the changing room doors and sat down, waiting as the two adults explained some of the apparatus to the crowd. As they waited, Lincoln turned slightly to look at Jordan. "Hey," he said softly, getting her attention. "You ready?"

"Yeah," she replied, "I'm ready."

"Don't worry. You've got this."

She gave a small chuckle. "Thanks."

"So, to start us off with the vault, give it up for Jordan!" they heard Chris declare, followed by more cheering.

"Well, wish me luck."

Standing up from the bench, she begins to walk over to the start of the runway, her friends cheering her on louder. Once the crowd stopped cheering, she heard Mazzy start a small drum roll. She waited a few seconds, taking a deep breath before throwing her arms up, then taking off. She picked up speed along the runway, and just before reaching the end, she continued into a cartwheel, her feet planting backwards onto the vault then launching up and pushing off of the vault table. When she came down on the other side, she landed firmly on the landing mat with both feet, bending into the impact before standing upright with her arms out wide. The crowd erupted in cheers at this, making her give a big smile as she bowed to the crowd, jogging back over to her friends as she was commended by Chris.

"Way to go, Jordan!" Mollie told her, holding up a hand.

"Thanks, guys," Jordan replied as she shared a high five with her, before giving one to each of the others, then finally sitting back down next to Lincoln.

"You were awesome," he commended, which made her blush.

"Oh, stop it."

From there, the showcase went off on the right foot. After Jordan's vault, everyone else managed to complete their performances with precision— Lincoln performed a vault of his own; Lyra and Lizzie performed a dual floor performance; Mollie and Natalie showed what they could do on the beam; Lincoln, Jessica and Sadie showed what they could do with the bars; Kat, Joy and Connie performed on the pommel horse; and the younger girls completed a trio of runs on the trampette, before Chris and Helena called for a break. While the crowd all went to sample the food and drinks that had been brought for refreshments, the gymnasts all took some water to cool them off after the first half of the showcase, relaxing as they talked about how well everything had gone so far.

As the crowd began to return to their seats, Jordan noticed how Lincoln was gripping at his thigh, something she had seen him do a bunch of times before. "You're still nervous about the routine, aren't you?"

"A little," he answered, not even trying to hide it. Seeing this, she took hold of his hand and removed it from his leg, putting it in her other hand. His eyes looked to her hands, then to her face, which was smiling at him warmly.

"Lincoln. You're better than you know, and you're more than ready. You're not going to mess this up, I know you aren't. We're in this together, and we're going to get through this. Don't worry."

His gaze locked with hers, he didn't say anything for a few second, almost forgetting where he was. In his head, they were alone together, just the two of them. He was tempted to tell her something, tell her what he really wanted to tell her. It wasn't until he heard Luna and her band begin to play again that he remembered where he was, so he smiled at her. "Thanks, Jordan."

The music continued to play until Chris and Helena came out again, to the applause of the crowd. "Alright, everybody!" Chris spoke up. "Hope you're ready for some more gymnastics, because we've got something special up next."

"That's right, Chris," Helena then told the crowd. "Six of our gymnasts have been working hard on a big routine for all of you, and it's something that will really catch your eye. Without further ado, over to them! Give them a big hand, everyone!"

So, as the crowd cheered them on, Lincoln and the girls took to the floor, standing in a triangle formation, with Lincoln at the back between Mollie and Kat, and Jordan at the front. They waited for the applause to die down, after which Luna counted her band in as they began to play another song. As the band played, the group began their routine, moving as one to the music. It started out with a simple cartwheel in formation, then began to get more complex as they progressed. They incorporated lifts, spins, balances and leaps, never missing a step or making a mistake. At one point, Jordan and Mollie stood on the shoulders of Kat, Lincoln and Sadie whilst Joy leapt over the boy and between her friends, impressing the crowd into cheers.

The routine carried on for a good three minutes, and as the music took a dip towards the end, they took position— Jordan stood on one side of the floor and Lincoln stood on the other, with Joy and Mollie kneeling down together, hands held together between them. Kat and Sadie stood next to them, holding hands in the same way. When the music began to pick up again, reaching the finish, Jordan and Lincoln began to run towards them. Jordan did a cartwheel, whilst Lincoln dove into a forward roll. As she came out of the cartwheel, Jordan stepped onto Joy and Mollie's hands, putting her other foot on Kat and Sadie's hands. Lincoln stood up from the forward roll in time to see the girls launch Jordan into the air, spinning. However, upon seeing this, his eyes went wide.

'She's going too far up!' he realised. 'She's gonna crash!' It was then that time seemed to slow down for him, his eyes not leaving her. Without any hesitation, he ran forward and held his arms out, hoping to catch her before she fell. He felt his foot catch on the mat, causing him to trip, so thinking on his feet, he stretched out his leg to propel himself forward, and…