“Luna… Ms. Collins, are you listening properly?” I’m immediately kicked out of my daydream. My hand stretched up seemed so far away a moment ago, but I slowly bring it down and apologize with a bow.

  “Y-yes, sorry sir!” The judge clicks his tongue and scratches at the spot where the light reflects off his forehead

  “At least finish your performances properly, will ya?” Under his breath, he continued, “You're lucky your mother pays so well.” Rude. Every once in a while there will be a judge like this.

  “I'm sorry, did you say something?” As much as I know I shouldn't be snarky, the words come out of my mouth before I can stop them. The large man goes a little red. Hard to tell if it's out of embarrassment or anger. Part of my kind of hopes it's both. He pushes his large glasses back to his face before proceeding.

  “N-nothing, you are free to go now Ms. Collins.”

  “Yes sir, thank you.” I take my leave off the platform and start making my way to the changing room. Damn it, maybe I should have kept my mouth shut after all. He seemed like the type of guy that would fail you over something like that. That thought has me clicking my own tongue now. Hopefully my comment doesn't come around to bite me. Suddenly I’m ambushed from behind into a bear hug by someone in a blue tracksuit. You might think this would be surprising, but after working together for so many years… Well, you get used to it.

  “Luna! Luna, you did so good, Sweetie!” My coach shakes me back and forth as she cries into my shoulder. “You make me so proud! That was your best performance yet!”

  “Coach, Wai- Jess! Okay, Okay! You can stop shaking me now.” We both laugh a little as I turn around and return her hug. “Thank you Jess, I couldn't have made it this far without you.”

  “Nah, all that up there was you Sweetie… But, if you insist, maybe I can take 1 percent of the credit.” She rubs my hair slightly while giving me a warm smile with those green eyes. I always thought her eyes looked good with her blonde hair, but the rest of her face is pretty too. Despite being close to the same age as my mother, she could probably pass off as an older sister or something. I keep trying to find out her secrets, but every time I ask she just gives me a dumb smile and won’t actually give me a solid answer. Wait, I'm starting to get a bit off track…

  “Jess, I'm sorry about the end there…” I pull away from our hug and begin to lower my head. “I messed up big time, I forgot the ending and even talked back. I probably won’t be moving forward because of it.” Jess, however, grabs my shoulders and pulls me back into the hug.

  “Luna… was it… did you think of your dad again?” It takes me a moment to respond, and even then I can only nod with my head held down. I can't bring myself to look at her face now. “Luna, I promise you were amazing today. I know for a fact you put your all into that performance, you hear me. Be proud of it.”

  “Y-yes Coach. I am.” I say that but I don't really agree with myself. I could have done more today. I could have spent more time practicing and improving. I could have tried to surpass the others. I wish I could be better. I begin to wiggle my way out of Jess's arms. “Sorry I'm feeling really sweaty and gross, I'm going to go change.” She holds out her hand but doesn't do anything else to stop me from retreating to the locker room. I lean back to close the cold door behind me. Putting a hand over my heart, I let out a long sigh to calm myself down. I've been through this song and dance before, I made a promise to myself I wouldn't cry because of something like this ever again.

  Making my way to my locker I can hear a couple of the other girls gossiping in the next row over. I do my best not to listen, all they ever talk about is stupid stuff. I reach for the handle of my locker, but as I open it a hand pushes it closed. Looking up, it's actually 2 different hands, oh boy here we go.

  “Looks like this time you aren't even going to get on the podium huh? Oh what a shame.” Says the girl on my left with short black hair. The girl on my right with brunette twintails snickers at the others' sarcasm. I want to make some kind of comeback, but successfully hold myself back this time.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Seriously what was that Luna? You get a little scared when it really counts?” The two burst out into laughter. On the left is Kia and the girl on the right is Daisy. Both of them are near the top gymnasts in the state, so they usually are the 1st and 2nd to my 3rd place. Well both of them are really slender, so I guess there is at least one area I beat them. “Oh did you wet yourself up there? Is that it? Need me to call your mommy and daddy?” That's enough. As I grit my teeth I yank my cold locker open. Daisy yelps a little in surprise

  “Hmph, Come on Daisy let's leave this bitch alone.” Kia walks past me back to her locker bringing Daisy along with her. I don't understand what they get out of this. They both do shit like this any chance they get. These two feel more like some comic book or video game villains than real people. If this was TROTL I bet I could destroy them in seconds.

  I finish changing back into a casual outfit and make my way home. Deciding I have no interest in staying at the gym any longer today, I make sure to send a text to Jess on my way out. I asked her to make sure she sends me the results first as soon as they get announced. Walking outside, I didn't realize how late it had already gotten. The sun is beginning to set, and the streetlights start to turn on. A few stars slowly start to show, well as much as they can with all the light pollution in the city. I still wish I could go out and see the night sky like it was when I was younger.

  The walk home gives me time to reminisce on my childhood. specifically on the times I would go camping with my dad. It was back when I was in elementary school. Every summer he would take me up north to go camping in the woods to spend time with me, just the 2 of us. it would almost always be a 2 day trip, for one reason in particular. He would always take me to a certain hill, where we would lay out blankets and lay there looking at the night sky.

  One time I was being a real brat about the whole thing. At this point my parents were already trying to sign me up for anything you could imagine. If I recall correctly, this was around when I first started martial arts. I was crying in my tent because I was the only one in my class that failed. My dad had to practically drag me to the hill screaming and kicking. Just like every other time before, he laid out our blankets and patted at the spot next to him.

  “Luna, do you know why I love watching the stars with you?” I shook my head as I layed down next to him, trying my best not to speak to hold back my tears. “When I was your age, me and my father would go on top of our house and watch the stars from up there almost every night. It would always amaze me just how beautiful the night sky could really be. Those nights slowly gave me a dream. One day I would be an astronaut and explore those beautiful stars… To one day be as bright as them…”

  I turned my head to look at my father and that image of him will forever be seared into my mind. Laying there with his arm stretched out, reaching desperately for the sky. “Eventually, I grew older, I began to realize just how out of reach that dream was. Then one night I found myself here, at this very hill, and I realized something.” He began to point up to the sky. All while a soft smile grew on his face. “Even though those stars up there are so big, and shine so bright. To us there is something even bigger and brighter that drifts across the starry sky!” I let my gaze follow his hand and saw the full moon illuminating the night sky above us. The colors and sparkles of the stars felt like magic. It was like the moon was a princess, with the stars all singing her complements. A stage light or a beacon, showering us with its light. “I hope one day you realize just how bright you can really be… That is why I wanted to name you Luna in the first place, and why I love taking these trips with you.”

  At the time I was too young to understand what he meant. Now that I’m older I just wish he was actually right. My whole life I have jumped from one activity to the next. Maybe this hobby will be the one. Maybe I can be good at this sport. But every single time I fall short. Every single time I crash and burn. And now I don’t even have my dad here with me. Finally I get to the entrance of my home. At the gate I turn around to take one last look at the starless sky. Damn, I can’t even see the moon tonight.

  “Luna? Is that you? Come here we need to have a talk about today.” Mom calls out from the dining room. One foot in the door and already it feels like I’m walking into a minefield. Did Jess already share the results with her?

  “I’m going to take a shower first!” I yell out as I make a beeline straight for the bathroom.

  “Luna? Luna, come here!” I ignore her calls. Closing the bathroom door I sink myself onto the toilet seat. I guess I should check the results for myself. Pulling out my phone the first notification is the text from Jess. It’s a picture she took of the gymnastics results. Looking up and down I finally find my name. Luna Collins, 7th place.

  I can only stare at it for a moment before I start clenching my fist. Come on, you knew this was going to be the outcome right? So why does this make me want to punch something as hard as I can? As I grow more and more angry there is a knock on the door, from my mother. I respond by turning on the shower water as hot as I can make it and slamming my phone on the counter. I wouldn’t realize till the next morning but there was another text message I had. A text from one of my old high school friends Claire Thompson.