Chapter 54

"Have you talked to her?"

Beside me, Tami shook her head.

"Damn!" I said as I pulled my car into the middle school parking lot. I parked next to the gym. We got out and headed inside. I hadn't seen Robbie since the play Saturday night. She'd missed three days of school, which was one more than she'd missed in the last three years. I'd called several times, but her dad said she wasn't feeling up to taking calls. This was not Robbie. "So who goes over tonight and barges in, you or me?"

Tami hesitated. "Maybe we should just give her some space."

"Okay, me."

Tami shot me a dirty look. In the gym, the girls were stretching, so I pulled Tami back out the door. "You're the one with telepathy, so you tell me. But right now I think she needs a good kick in the ass, not space."

Tami opened her mouth, then changed her mind and nodded her head. "Maybe you're right. Mind reading only works on you, so I'm just guessing."

"I'm guessing too. But I think right now Robbie's hurting and doesn't know how to deal with it."

"Robbie? Not know how to deal."

I nodded. "Robbie's so damn good at everything she does that she's never really had to deal with failure."

"But she's lost before. You've lost football and baseball games. We lost the play last year."

"That's losing. Yes, she's lost before, but football and baseball, that's part of a team. Even the play was part of a team. When she's by herself, she likes losing even less. Monopoly doesn't bother her much, 'cause she knows how much of it is luck. But watch her when she loses to me in chess. You can see her going back over the game, figuring what she could have done different. She hates it, but she accepts it, eventually at least, figuring she lost to a superior player."

"Mr. Superior."

"Sometimes. But it's still losing. But there's a difference between losing and failing. In Robbie's mind, a big difference."

"You think she sees this as a failure?"

I nodded. "Depending on how much she's heard, either she failed to hold onto him, or she failed to see him for what he was."

The girls were just finishing their stretches as Tami and I walked back in. "Vaulters!" I yelled and pointed toward the end of the vault runway. We were in a lot better shape than last year. We had at least six girls in every event, which meant we could compete the girls who were doing the best that week. It also meant that in the meets, we'd be able to drop the lowest score.

Nine girls lined up at vault.

I set the springboard on its side next to the runway, about ten feet from the vault, then walked back to them. "Ladies, sprints!" The girls took turns standing at the end of the runway, then running toward the vault. "That was pathetic," I said when they'd all finished. "My three-legged dog runs faster than that."

"You don't have a dog," Kelly pointed out, "three-legged or otherwise."

"You've never had a dog," Traci added. "Dad's allergic."

Mental note: never coach neighbors or relatives.

"I was trying to make a point here."

"By lying?" Kelly asked. "I don't think you're setting a very good example for impressionable young minds."

I aimed a swat at her butt, but she jumped out of the way. Kelly and my sister stood just out of my reach, grinning at me. I grinned back. "Who's that hottie you two are always whispering about?"

Both girls turned red.

"The one you said was the sexiest in eighth grade," I prompted. "Funny name?"

"You mean Casper Portwood?" Susie Calloway asked.

"That's the one. Okay, ladies, I want you to imagine that superstud Casper is down by the vault and you want to be first to ask him to the Sadie Hawkins Dance. Go!"

Susie was first in line and took off like a shot. That boy must be something. One after the other, the girls took off, all of them shaving time off their first sprint, even Kelly and Traci who took time to give me dirty looks before starting.

"That's what I'm talking about," I said when they'd all come back. I walked down the runway and set up the springboard. "Okay, straight jumps. Explode and stick." Susie was first again. She ran down the runway, hit the board, and exploded into the air, her body straight and tight. As she landed, she flexed her knees but didn't take a step.

"Beautiful. Now you see why she's my favorite." Susie turned red but grinned.

"I thought I was your favorite." Kelly said with a whine.

"Can you do that good?"

Kelly nodded, turned, and ran. Her straight jump was just as high and tight as Susie's, and she stuck her landing.

"I guess I have two favorites." A few minutes later, I had nine.

"Okay, here's the drill. Everybody's doing five vaults today. You're all starting with handsprings."

"But I..." Susie started, and I noticed Kelly's mouth open to voice her own appeal.

I leaned down until I was nose to nose with Susie. "I don't care what vault you competed before or what you think you're doing this year. Everybody's doing a handspring first, then I'll tell you what vault I want next. Any questions?"

Susie shook her head, her nose bumping mine in the process. I grinned to myself as I jogged toward the vault. A handspring is a pretty easy vault. Basically you run, jump, land in a handstand on the vault table, then pop off and land on your feet on the other side.

"Marissa!" I yelled. Marissa Lind had been watching Tami work with a girl on the beam. I pointed at a folding chair I'd set up a few feet from the vault. "Sit, watch."

Susie Calloway was up first. The blond eighth grader had grown about two inches since last year. She was planning to compete bars and vault this year. Her vault was explosive, but she took a step on the landing. "Half," I told her for her next vault.

Kelly was next, one of the three girls who wanted to go all-around. Her vault was just as explosive as Susie's. "Half."

Brianna Lane, the third of my six eighth graders was next. Brianna only competed vault.

Traci was fourth. Hard to believe the brat was an eighth grader now. Last year she'd competed vault, bars, and beam. This year she'd hinted she might try to add floor and go all-around.

Cheyenne Morris was fifth, another eighth grader. She hadn't competed for us last year 'cause she lived in Iowa. My second all-arounder, her biggest problem was that she knew how good she was. She was competing level seven at the club in town, and I'd had a few problems with her there.

The last eighth grader was Rachel Clark. She didn't vault and was working with Stephy on the floor.

Cassie Williams was the first of my seventh graders. She was doing vault and bars. She had short red hair a little darker than Robbie's. As she ran I admired a major set of tits as they bounced. I remembered a cartoon of a girl doing high jump or pole vault or something with big floppy tits and the black eye she had for the punch line.

I motioned Cassie closer. "Are you wearing a bra?"

She turned deep red. "What business is it... ?"

"Put one on. And if I have to have Tami or Stephy check you every time before we vault, I will." She stomped off, hopefully to put on a jogging bra.

Abbie Hart was next. A blond seventh grader though she looked about nine. She was a level five at the club and wanted to go all-around.

Taylor Brent was my eighth vaulter. Another blond and another seventh grader, she'd been a level six when she was nine, but then dropped out after breaking an arm. Bars was her other event.

Miranda Caster was my last vaulter. Also seventh, she had long black hair that was fun to watch as it steamed behind her when she ran. She was planning to do vault and floor.

Three more seventh graders made up the team. Holly Vickers on beam and floor. Mari Byers just on floor. And Marissa Lind, who wanted to compete but didn't know what she wanted to do. Marissa had been a level five until a couple years before.

The nine girls ran through four more vault each, Kelly and Cheyenne finishing with Tsukaharas, a vault where the girls did a half twist before landing on the vault in their handstands, then a back flip off. All-in-all, it was going to be hard to pare the nine down to six girls for competition.

When the others had finished and gone off to other events, I brought Marissa over and ran her through some vaults. She'd vaulted as a level five, and it all came back quickly.

Correction: it was going to be hard to pare the ten girls down to six for competition.

"Sorry, Tony, but she doesn't want to see anybody right now."

"Then you'd better call the sheriff 'cause I'm going up, and I don't think you can stop me." Robbie's dad looked almost relieved when I wouldn't take no for an answer. I pushed by him and headed up the stairs.

Outside her door I took a deep breath and grasped the doorknob. I didn't knock. Why bother? She'd just tell me to go away. I opened the door.

Robbie was sprawled on her bed wearing one of the rattiest bathrobes I'd ever seen. The stereo was playing... Donna Summer. Disco! Things were worse than I thought.

"Robbie?" I said softly.

Robbie spun, and suddenly I wondered if this was such a good idea. Tami said she needed space, and the look on her face at the moment encouraged me to give it to her.

I heard something behind me and looked over my shoulder. Darlene was standing there. I mentally kicked myself. I had a spy in the household I'd forgotten all about.