Aw, my two reviewers. You guys are too sweet.
Thank you so much for the kind words. 3
Here's the next chapter, just for you guys. :D
Rima was sitting cross-legged on the gym floor, holding her hair up to keep it from getting dirty. Even when she ponytailed it, it was still too long for sitting.
She sent Nadeshiko and Amu a sidelong glance, sighing softly. She had been keeping to herself all day so far, from walking to school with the pair this morning to now. While she really did want to speak to Amu, the pinkette's attention was constantly captured by Nadeshiko's words and somewhat-forced smiles.
The fact that Amu still didn't suspect that something was going on didn't paint her perception skills in a very pretty light.
Physical education was Rima's least favorite class of the day. It was nice because they hardly ran, but at the same time, they played so many team sports and completed enough paired activities to last her a lifetime. Which is why she wasn't too happy to learn that they would have to craft a routine for their tumbling unit in groups of four.
And it was just her luck to be paired up with Amu, Nadeshiko, and Tadase. The three people who probably had the most history together before her transfer to Seiyo.
The teacher had just been explaining that their routine had to be completely original, and would end up being about 15% of their final grade in the class. Some of the other groups were talking about what they wanted to do, like cartwheels, somersaults, flips, and the like, but her group?
They were still catching up with each other. Like they had been catching up for the past two days.
And usually, Rima wouldn't have minded, because she and most forms of exercise didn't get along, but with this... she was sure she could do it. She was already running through possible routines in her mind, based on the athleticism of each member in her group. She and Nadeshiko could handle the hardest aspects of it, Amu, the more average parts, and for Tadase, whatever required the least flexibility-
"Rima-chan?" came the light voice, dragging her from her thoughts. At the sound of it, she wanted to glare, but twisted her expression into some semblance of a smile. She had told Nadeshiko to call her Mashiro-san. Apparently it just hadn't stuck.
"Yeah?" she asked, looking around at her group members. "Are you guys ready to get to work?"
Amu raised an eyebrow at her and Tadase looked genuinely surprised. "You actually want... to get to work?"
Rima shrugged, forcing the color that threatened to come to her cheeks away. "I mean, yeah... This just seems kind of... fun. And I'm okay at stuff like this." She cleared her throat, looking at the floor. "Do you guys have any ideas?"
It wasn't surprising that Nadeshiko spoke up first. "Well, it depends... How good do you guys think you are at this?"
"Without being able to chara-change with Ran... probably only so-so," Amu murmured, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.
"Not very good," Tadase sighed.
Rima met Nadeshiko's eyes as if her question was a challenge. "Good enough for whatever you have in mind, I'm sure."
And Nadeshiko smiled. The girl actually smiled.
"Right, so I was thinking that maybe we could alternate throughout the routine. We could start out with Rima-chan and I, and then go to you and Hotori-kun, Amu-chan... back to Rima-chan and I, then you and Hotori-kun again.., and then we finish it off with all four of us?"
"Sure." Both Amu and Tadase nodded at Nadeshiko, and Rima agreed hesitantly moments later.
"Then it's settled," she smiled, clapping her hands together. "Oh, and Rima-chan?"
"What?" the blonde asked, frowning somewhat.
"Can I expect cartwheels and back handsprings from you?"
Rima laughed lightly, a sneaky grin rising to her lips. "But of course."
.~*~.
They had spent the whole rest of the period practicing. Their routine wasn't hard, and overall, it didn't look half bad. It definitely surpassed those of most of the other groups.
But by the time Rima had said her goodbyes to Amu and Nadeshiko (one a little less enthusiastic than the other) and made it inside, she was about ready to pass out. The routine had exhausted her, and her foot felt especially worn down today. She could still walk, but too much movement brought her fair amounts of physical pain.
Her foot was red and throbbing when she finally got the chance to look at it. She was relaxing on the couch and watching T.V., taking a breather before cracking down on her homework and the like. Her mom wasn't home right now, which she was grateful for, because she wasn't sure she could deal with one of her moods at the moment.
Rima's eyes eventually slipped shut, and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.
.~*~.
When she woke up a couple hours later, she was surprised to find her mother staring down at her with a stern expression, arms crossed.
"Mom?" Rima asked, bleary-eyed as she sat up.
Her eyes trailed from her daughter's face to her foot, where they lingered. "What is the meaning of this?"
She frowned. "What're you talking about?" There was a momentary pause while she followed her mom's gaze. "...Oh. That."
"I'm waiting," she grumbled, tapping her work shoes against their hardwood floors impatiently.
Rima sounded incredibly flustered as she replied, desperate to explain herself. "It's really fine, I swear. We were just doing an activity in P.E. today that ended up being a lot more strenuous than I thought, and-"
"Have you been dancing behind my back again? After I expressly forbid it?"
She sighed, "No, I swear-"
Her mom was scowling, if only slightly. "Rima."
"Okay, fine! I was. But that isn't why it looks like it does right now. I'm telling the truth about P.E., I promise." She held her hands up in some form of surrender, managing, somehow, to not fall apart under her mother's harsh gaze.
"...We're taking you to the doctor's office, Rima. Right now." Her mom grabbed her keys from the counter, distressed as she carded her hand through her hair.
"But I-"
"Now."
"Yes, Mom," Rima mumbled, standing up carefully in an attempt to remain upright. She slipped on her shoes as she left the house, following her mom to the car and getting in on the passenger's side.
The car ride consisted of few exchanged words and a long silence. Rima was grateful when they pulled up at the hospital about twenty minutes later.
Upon entering, Rima and her mother approached the front desk. The nurse there told them that Rima's doctor could see her in about half an hour and directed them toward a few vacant chairs so that they could sit down.
If it was one thing Rima hated about hospitals, it was the waiting.
She had been here on more than one occasion; a few times for annual check-ups, less times for X-rays, and once for surgery. It wasn't her favorite place to be.
Rima stared at her lap and twiddled her thumbs for the next half-hour, ignoring her mother and letting herself get lost in her thoughts. Thoughts of Nadeshiko, the past few days of school, how she was going to make it through the tumbling routine...
Her mom nudged her when the nurse came over to tell them "The doctor will see you now."
They both stood and followed her to the last door at the end of the hall, on the right side.
After exchanging greetings with the petite woman inside, Rima had her X-rays taken. There was an incredibly brief interim as the pictures were developed and the doctor looked over them, a frown slowly coming to her lips.
Rima's mother noticed the expression and started wringing her hands anxiously. "How does it look, Doctor...?"
The doctor brushed her hair from her face, pinning the X-ray up on the wall so that both Rima and her mother could see it. "Do you see this set of bones below the ankle?"
The two of them nodded.
"They're misaligned. If she exerts herself too much more, she's in danger of a bad compound fracture. And then she'd have to be off of her feet for at least a few months, until they're completely healed." She looked toward Rima. "Have you sustained a foot injury before?"
Rima nodded a little. "Yes. And I guess I messed myself up by going back to dancing before it was fully healed."
The doctor nodded. "Well,as long as you're careful until we can have you in for surgery to reposition them, you should be okay."
"All right. Thank you very much."
Rima's mom finally spoke up from where she sat. "When will that surgery be, exactly?"
"In about a week, at the earliest."
"A week?" Rima frowned as she sat forward. "But I don't have that kind of-"
"That'll be perfect, thank you," he mother nodded.
As the doctor scribbled a few things down in her planner, Rima paled.
The tumbling routine is in two days. And there's no way I'm getting out of it.
I'm super meh about this chapter. Let me know what you thought! (Also, if this scene with the doctor is horribly inaccurate or doesn't make sense, tell me so that I can fix it.) :)