Kyle's breath quickened as sweat dripped from the ends of his curly ginger hair and forehead, tracing lines down his red cheeks. "Just a little longer," he thought to himself as he lifted his right leg. "Just a little longer and I can-"
"Kyle Broflovski! What are you doing?" A familiar, and angry, woman's voice shouted, causing the boy to jump. He'd almost forgotten about the woman, having been concentrating so hard on his movements. He looked over at her, confusion and fear mixing themselves up inside of him. She only ever yelled at him when he screwed something up, or did something she didn't particularly approve of. "Come on boy! Lift that leg higher!"
"I'm a teenage boy, this is as high as my leg goes," Kyle shot back before lowering his leg back to its normal position next to his other leg.
"Bullshit! Two practises ago you were lifting that leg over your head!" Kyle's coach yelled at him, causing him to shrink into himself partly with shame and partly with guilt. Whenever his coach got mad she reminded him of his mother, and his mother wasn't someone you wanted mad at you. Just the way his mother's voice carried, and the words she used always made Kyle feel guilty for days whenever he made her mad. The same thing always happened whenever he managed to get his coach angry, which wasn't often. Kyle was her star pupil after all. "You're not suddenly going all teenage boy rebellion stage on me are you? Because if you are you can forget about me letting you into the competition! I don't want a teenage boy wrecking our chances at first place! And I'm sure you can imagine what your mother will say and think of you when she finds out her son isn't competing anymore!" That last sentence made Kyle flinch. He defiantly could thinking of many things his mother would say, and even do, to him when she found out he was kicked out of a competition for the first time in twelve years.
"I-I'm sorry, I'll try it again," Kyle stuttered out finally, taking a deep breath and a few steps back.
"Damn right you'll try it again! And you'll keep trying until you get it right! I don't care if you pass out from exhaustion, or if we're here until midnight! You're not leaving until that leg is up in the air! You've been doing this since you were four! It shouldn't be such a damn challenge!" his coach barked out, crossing her arms and watching him intently.
Kyle wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, and took a deep breath. Then he began his routine close to the end. He spread his arms out, got on his tip-toes, and took two quick and long steps forward. He jumped, moving his right leg out in front of him so that he landed softly on just his left foot. Then he put his arms out in front of him so that they created a circle, bent his right knee so that his foot just touched his left leg and began to spin. As he continued to spin he unbent his right leg slowly and began to raise it up in front of him. He opened his arms and, keeping them bent so that they now created a C shape, moved them out to his sides as his leg got higher. Once his right leg was high enough that his foot was over his head he stayed that way for one spin and then began to lower it quickly. When his leg was halfway back down he abruptly stopped spinning, and just as abruptly turned ever so slightly and jumped forward. He landed on his heels, with his arms in the air and his hands relaxed just above his head, and slid quickly down into the splits. He then lowered his arms elegantly out to his sides and bowed his head, signaling the end of his performance.