Page 46 of Salto

When he was halfway across the lot, he called back to me.

“I hope to see you in two weeks.”

CHAPTER 17

“Aromcom?” I groaned.

“Yes,” Laney said, nudging me as if trying to set my attitude straight, “a romcom. Now stop being a buzzkill and just enjoy it.”

Jamie had come up that morning for spring break, and somehow Laney and Mia had naturally become part of the plans.

After ignoring every text they'd sent since the party, I felt like I needed to do something to make up for it. A girls' day seemed like a good place to start.

“Fine, romcom it is,” I grumbled, but gave her a smile to let her know I was just giving her a hard time.

“It’s a celebration of sorts,” Mia said with a grin as we headed toward theatre three. She was already munching on the popcorn twenty seconds after purchasing it. “You made it onto the Vanta Elite team!”

It was hard to believe I'd been at Vanta for tryouts just yesterday. It felt like a dream.

“You made it onto what?” Jamie, who was next to me, finally looked up from her phone.

She wore a funky green-and-red plaid outfit that morning, another thrift no doubt. She looked like she’d fallen out of a Christmas catalog in the middle of April.

“Uh, nothing,” I said, shooting Mia a look. I hadn't told my parents yet, and I wasn't ready for Jamie to beat me to it.

We entered the dark theatre and climbed the dimly lit steps to the very top seats.

“Did she just say elite?” Jamie said, and my stomach dropped. She wasn’t stupid. I don’t know why I thought she wouldn’t remember what that meant.

“It’s not a big deal,” I said.

When we sat down, Laney leaned over to Jamie.

“It’s a huge deal. She got invited to an elite gym and went to the tryouts yesterday.”

I glared at Laney. “You’re the worst.”

“You can’t hide forever, Shortcake. Gotta face the music.” Laney winked.

I sighed. “I’m still not certain I’m going to accept the invite,” I said, sitting down and pressing the button for my footrest. It moved so slowly and made the most awful squeaking sound.

I turned toward Jamie and gave her a serious look. “Don’t tell Mom and Dad yet.”

“I thought you couldn’t do elite anymore.” She wasn’t fazed by my stern older sister expression in the slightest.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I said, wishing the credits would hurry up so the movie would start and the questioning would cease. But it was just my luck that the previews were apparently thirty minutes long.

“If you did that, wouldn’t you lose your scholarship?” Jamie asked, her brow furrowing.

“She definitely would, but she’d still have her academic scholarship,” Mia said.

My jaw clenched. The thought of losing my athletic scholarship and having to pay training costs at an elite gym was daunting. I didn’t even know if something like that would be possible.

“Are you going to ask Mom and Dad for help?”

“I don’t know,” I said sharply, not expecting the words to come out so intensely, but they were already out, and it was too late to take them back.

“Whoa, sorry for asking,” Jamie said, rolling her eyes and leaning back in her chair. “Sensitive much.”