prompt- taylor gets hurt during the semi-finals in cheer but doesn't say anything cause she wants to win finals but her injury gets worse. maybe jackson could notice it, cause i think those two would be really cute together. thanks!
the girls (& other kids) are about 15 in this one-shot and are freshmen in high school. enjoy!
This was it. This was the competition that would determine the cheer team's fate. If they got first place here, they're go on to finals. The JV cheer team had never made it this far and the fact that they could possibly win states meant everything to Taylor. She was one of the five freshman to be accepted on the team and was one of Coach's favorites. She was one of the top flyers on the team and there were even rumors of her being named JV captain next year. If she helped the team win states, that'd secure her captain spot for sure. Taylor was determined to win and nothing was going to stand in her way.
"Alright team, your up next. Circle up," Coach Kelly said, all of the team running up to her and forming a cheer circle, "This is it. If you go out there and perform like you have been for the past week, then we'll be the first JV team from JQA in twenty years to go to states. So go out there and make it happen, cause I believe in you guys. Don't make me regret that. Now, hands in." Every member of the team put their hand in the middle of the circle and turned their heads to face the current team captain, Aubrey Jacobs.
"On three, JQA. One, two, three!" Aubrey counted down, on three all team mates throwing their hands in the air and shouting "JQA" at the top of their lungs. They then heard the announcer say that they had the floor and the team ran out, cheer faces on. They were ready for this.
The girls got in their starting position and once the music started it was on. The team went through there routine with ease, tumbling across the mat and dancing like it was there last day on Earth. There cheer was full of spirt and there cheer faces never faltered. Taylor and Emily both nailed their handsprings and all their air stunts were flawless. After their last stunt, Taylor landed perfectly, well, it looked perfect. Taylor however felt an insane amount of pain in her right ankle, she guessed from putting too much weight on it in the landing. But she wasn't letting that stop her, as she pushed through the last dance portion of the routine, nailing it along with the rest of the team. When they hit their final pose, they all felt extremely confident in their performance. There confidence was well deserved, as the team won first in their division. They were going to states.
"I can't believe it! We're going to states!" Emily said to Taylor as the two walked with the rest of the team to the locker room to change before meeting up with their parents to head home.
"Me either! We have to win," Taylor said, just as excited as Emily but she didn't show it. Her ankle was throbbing with pain and the pain wasn't going away like Taylor thought it would.
"Are you okay? It looks like your limping," Emily said as the two sat down on the bench in the locker room.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I put too much weight on my right ankle after my last dismount, but it's nothing a little ice can't fix," Taylor replied, down playing the pain in her ankle. She didn't want others to worry. If they found out, they could possible stop her from performing during states and that couldn't happen.
"Good, we'll need you for next weekend. There's no way we can win without you. No one can pull of that last stunt like you can," Emily said, smiling at her friend.
"Hey Friar, nice moves out there," Aubrey said, walking over to the two, "You know, Coach Kelly is asking for my suggestion for next year's captain and if you perform next week like you did last night, then you may be the girl I'm looking for. Good job today, both of you." Aubrey gave both girl a smile before continuing on, walking over to other sophomores.
"Did you hear that? Aubrey basically just confirmed that your a shooing for captain!" Emily said, giving Taylor a huge smile before hugging her.
"I'm not captain yet Em, we still gotta win next week," Taylor said, more determined than ever to win. Her little ankle injury wasn't going to stop her, nothing was.
Over the next few days, Taylor did everything in her power to make her ankle better. She iced it whenever she could and took Advil during practices to dim the pain. To her disdain, the ankle wasn't getting any better. If anything, it was getting worse, much worse. Having extra practices before and after school probably wasn't helping, but Taylor couldn't rest, not if she wanted the captain position. She'd started having two Advil a day, one before school and one after their night practice. It didn't help much, but it made the pain bearable enough where Taylor could walk and do most of the routine without wanting to cry.
Taylor knew that she should tell someone about her ankle, she wasn't that stupid. But she couldn't let the team down now, not with states in five days. She'd tell someone once they won states, go to the doctors and everything. She couldn't now, not with the amount of pressure everyone was putting on her. Her coach kept telling her that she was going to win them first prize, along with all her teammates telling her how they couldn't have done it without her. Her parents weren't much help either, constantly telling her how proud they were and how confident they were that she would help her team win. She couldn't let everyone down, so she swallowed the pain and kept working.
"Why are you hurting so much right now," Taylor muttered to herself, walking slowly down the hall towards her English class. Her ankle was throbbing more than usual and the Advil wasn't helping. Her ankle hurting too much to walk, Taylor sat on the steps in the hall and took off her boots. While they were great at covering the swelling, they weren't good at providing comfort. She rubbed her hand over her ankle, trying to relieve some pressure but it was no use. "Okay, one minute break and then back to class, that's it."
"Oh my god," Taylor heard someone say, causing her to look up and see Jackson standing there, staring at her ankle. Not good. "Taylor what happened!"
"It's nothing Jack, it's just a little sore from all the extra practices, nothing to worry about," Taylor lied, hoping Jackson would move on from the subject.
"That's defiantly something to worry about Taylor. Your ankle is huge, how has no one noticed it at cheer?" Jackson asked, sitting down next to her on the steps.
"Our socks cover most of our ankles and everyone else's is a little sore too, so no one's really noticing," Taylor said, "It's really nothing Jack."
"I've seen Emily's ankles and there no where near as bad as yours. If yours is nothing, then I'm sure it wouldn't hurt if I did this, now would it," Jackson said, looking Taylor in the eye as he poked her ankle with one finger. Taylor muttered an ow, closing her eyes to hold back the tears that started to come. "See? I can't even touch it without you almost crying. You need to tell someone."
"No, I can't Jackson. There are too many people counting on me. I can't let them down now," Taylor said, "You have to swear that you won't tell anyone."
"No Taylor, someone has to know," Jackson said.
"Jackson you can't. It's my body and my choice. Promise Jackson," Taylor said, dead serious, holding out her pinkie.
"Fine, I won't tell anyone," Jackson said, taking Taylor's pinkie with her own.
"Thank you," Taylor said, beginning to put her boot back on. "I'm off to English, see you later."
As soon as Taylor left, Jackson knew he had to tell someone, even if he did promise. He didn't want to break a promise, but Taylor could get seriously hurt if he didn't tell someone. But if he did tell someone and Taylor didn't get to perform at states, he knew she'd never forgive him. Jackson didn't want to loose Taylor as a friend, but what else could he do? Jackson couldn't stop thinking about it all day and his thoughts continued to plague him as he got in his mom's car after school.
"Hi honey, how was school today?" Riley asked as Jackson climbed in the car.
"Fine," Jackson mumbled, still thinking about Taylor.
"Everything alright?"
"Yeah," Jackson replied, "Well sort of. Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, anything."
"Okay, so what if you had a friend who was hiding something and you found out about it. They make you swear not to tell anyone, but you think they may get in trouble if they don't tell someone. So would you tell someone and betray their trust or would you keep their secret and protect your friendship? This is all just some weird scenario of course."
"Well, in this weird scenario, I would tell someone because even if I lost that friend's trust at first, they'd be okay and they'd forgive me in the long run," Riley said, stopping at a red light and turning to face her son, "Is there something you want to tell me?"
"No, but, can we stop at the Friar's on our way home? I need to talk to Aunt Maya."
Riley nodded and drove Jackson to the Friar's apartment, staying in the car while he ran in to talk to Maya. He quickly explained what was going on and Maya, while she was shocked and slightly upset with her daughter, she thanked Jackson and once he left, she quickly called her husband to explain to him what Jackson had told her. When Taylor got home, both her parents were waiting for her.
"Hey mom, dad," Taylor said, hanging up her coat on the rack, "While I'd love to stay and chat, I'm beat from practice so I'm heading to bed. Love you." Taylor moved as quick as she could to the stairs, wanting nothing more then to rest her ankle but that didn't happen.
"Not so fast, sit," Maya said, pointing to the chair in front of the couch. Taylor slowed and sat down, having a bad feeling her stomach.
"Anything you want to tell us?" Lucas asked.
"Nope, everything's fine. Is that all? Can I go now?" Taylor asked, starting to stand but one look from her mom stopped her.
"Really? Cause Jackson came by earlier and according to him, everything is not fine," Maya said, "So I'll ask again, anything you want to tell us?"
"Look, Jackson's over exaggerating. Everyone's ankles are a little sore right now because of all the extra practices. It's nothing to worry about, I'm fine," Taylor said, "Can I go now?"
"Well if it's nothing to worry about then let's see it," Lucas said, "Take your boot off."
"Dad, seriously," Taylor argued, but stopped when she looked at her parents, knowing they weren't letting her leave without looking at her ankle. She was so screwed. She sighed and slowly took her boot off, cringing when she heard her parents gasps. "It's looks worse then it actually is."
"Taylor don't you dare downplay this," Maya said, "When did this happen?"
"I put too much weight on it after my last stunt on Saturday. I thought it would get better but with all the extra practices it's been getting worse instead," Taylor admitted, wincing when her father gently grabbed her ankle to look at it.
"Be honest, how much does it hurt?" Lucas asked.
"It hurts a lot, like a lot a lot. Especially now after our five hour practice," Taylor said, choosing to look at the floor instead of her parents. "Sorry I didn't tell you," Taylor whispered so silently, she wasn't even sure her parents heard her.
"We need to get this checked out," Maya said, "Which ER is closest?"
"Probably Lenox Health," Lucas answered.
"Okay, you get Taylor to the car, I'll tell Brooklyn what's going on and grab Taylor's health insurance card," Maya said, getting up and going up the stairs. Lucas stood up as well and walked over to his daughter, holding out his hand to help her.
"I can walk Dad," Taylor said, standing up but wincing as soon as her bad ankle touched the ground.
"You can barely stand Taylor," Lucas said, grabbing Taylor and picking her up, carrying her bridal style. He grabbed both their coats and walked out of their apartment, walking quickly down the stairs and out to the car. He set Taylor down in the back and gave her her coat before hoping into the front, starting the car. Maya came down a few minutes later, hopping in the passenger side. Once they arrived at the ER, they waited about ten minutes before Taylor was called.
"Her ankle is badly sprained. It's gotten even worse over the last few days but you caught it just in time. If she'd gone to practice tomorrow, she could have pushed the bone to the brink and easily have broken the bone. We'll wrap it and give her a brace with some crutches. If she stays off it for the next week, it should heal on it's own. I can give you some exercises she can do once the ankle's feeling a little better to help," the doctor said while a nurse wrapped Taylor's ankle.
"Just to clarify, there's no way she can compete in her cheer leading competition this Saturday, right?" Maya asked.
"Yes, her ankle won't be completely healed by then and she could injure it further if she competed," the doctor replied.
"Okay, thank you," Lucas said as the doctor left and the nurse came over to tell them that Taylor was all set. Taylor was exactly happy about missing the competition, but she knew she needed to let her ankle heal. The doctor gave her some pain killers and they were defiantly helping, plus the crutches made walking less painful. When Taylor walked into the morning cheer practice the next morning with crutches, everyone ran over and encircled her, shouting a million questions.
"What happened?"
"Are you okay?"
"Can you compete Saturday?"
"You'll be better by Saturday, right?"
"Alright girls, give her some room. Let her sit down, all of you go stretch, I'll take care of it," Coach Kelly said, breaking up the crowd with the help of Aubrey, who helped Taylor sit on the bench before going to lead the team in some warm up stretches. "Alright Friar, what happened?"
"I landed wrong on Saturday and let my ankle get worse by practicing the past few days. I have to stay off my ankle for the next week and I won't be able to compete on Saturday. I'm sorry Coach, the last thing I wanted to do was let the team down," Taylor said.
"It could have been worse. You could have hid the injury until Saturday and could have messed up and permanently injured the ankle if you competed. While I'm not happy that you didn't tell me on Saturday when you hurt the ankle, I'm not mad that you got injured. It happens to all of us. And just because you can't compete Saturday, doesn't mean you can't help us win."
"How can I help? I can't do any cheering," Taylor said.
"You can help me teach Emily some of your stunts," Coach answered before calling the rest of the team over. While it wasn't easy, with both Coach Kelly and Taylor teaching her, Emily was able to learn the stunts in time for Saturday. When the girls competed, they did the best they could and they pulled it off, winning first place. While Taylor wasn't exactly happy that she didn't get to cheer, she knew that she did her part in helping her team win.
"Alright, everyone listen up!" Aubrey shouted from the front of the bus that would drive the team home. "I just wanted to say how proud of I am of all of you. We all worked really hard this season and it payed off. Now, as we all know, Coach asked me to give her a candidate for next year's JV captain. When I told her who I chose after we won, she agreed with me 100%. So, I'm pleased to announce that next year's JV captain is, Taylor Friar!"
"How did I get captain? I didn't even compete," Taylor whispered to Emily, who sat next to her, while everyone cheered around them.
"Even though she got hurt last week, it was her coaching that helped us adapt to her absence in the routine and I couldn't be happier to give her this," Aubrey said walking over to Taylor and handing Taylor her own JV captain jacket.
After a night of celebrations with her team, Taylor sat on her bed on her computer, browsing through Tumblr when a chat box popped up.
Jackson: Hey, didn't get to congratulate you at the team party but wanted to let you know how happy I am that you got captain for next year
Taylor: Thanks Jackson :)
Jackson: Sorry you didn't get to compete. And I'm sorry I broke the pinkie promise
Taylor: Don't be sorry, you were right. I shouldn't have hid it for as long as I did and if you hadn't told my parents, who knows what would have happened to my ankle. So thanks for saving my ankle, I really appreciate you looking out for me
Jackson: No problem, I always be there for you.
Taylor: Promise?
Jackson: Promise
Taylor: Good. Oh and if you ever break another pinkie promise, I will hurt you
Jackson: As long as you won't get hurt, I won't break another pinkie promise ever again.
Taylor: Good. Well, I'm beat. Good night Jack
Jackson: Night Taylor
Hope you liked that one-shot. I'll post a link to a video that I imagine their routine as. If you have any requests, let me know in a review or PM.
Thanks for reading!