Ripped - 22. Chapter 22

The day felt surreal.

Bailey had left early that morning to meet up with his team for the trip to the gymnastics meet. Coach Richards was already waiting by the activity bus, even though Bailey thought he was early. What surprised him was the appearance of another adult, Mr. Kirkland, looking a little tired and holding a large cup of coffee.

The sight of his English teacher triggered a bout of panic. Had he finished grading the essays? Would he say anything about it? How badly had Bailey fucked up the essay? Was he here to tell Coach Richards how he was failing English?

The two men were talking and laughing quietly. They both glanced in his direction, nodding a greeting before returning back to their easy conversation. Bailey sighed, feeling stupid for thinking his English teacher would show up here to berate him for a poor essay. He wondered why the other teacher was there though. Maybe he'd just been out walking and stopped to talk to Coach Richards.

Bailey glanced around. A few students were around; Bailey suspected most were still in the dining hall or their rooms. A few moments later, he saw Owen and Cameron making their way across the lawn from the Rotunda where they'd probably just finished breakfast. As he approached the bus, the doors to the residential hall across the parking lot opened. Justin and Mateo appeared among a few other students spilling out into bright sunlight.

Bailey dropped his bag beside him, leaning against the side of the bus. He glanced at his phone. There was a text from his mom telling him 'they'd see him at the meet'.

They.

Daniel Kirsch.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that. The guy did sound interested in coming, and Bailey felt a tiny craving to show off for the guy. Yet that felt like betraying his father's memory as well, allowing someone else to nudge his way into his life.

His phone vibrated in his hand, and he looked down to see another message.

Declan: <Ready for your meet?>

Bailey: <Yeah, just waiting by the bus. You ready for your game tonight?>

Declan: <Yeah. But I'm heading out to ogle a hot guy for a few hours first>

Bailey froze, fingers hovering over the phone's mini keyboard. A frown creased his brow, his heart cracking in his chest. He blinked several times, re-reading the text, just in case he'd misread it.

Fuck. He'd thought... Damn. How could he be so stupid to think Declan might only be interested in him?

"Where's Luke?" Bailey heard Coach Richards call out.

"He's coming. Just ran back to the bathroom," Owen answered.

"All right. As soon as he's here, we'll load up."

Bailey ignored all the voices gathering in the parking lot. The team sounded louder and more gregarious than usual, but Bailey couldn't tear his eyes from his phone. He started to just ignore it. Surely, Declan didn't expect a response to that. Finally, he just typed a simple text back.

Bailey: <have a good game>

He sensed someone approaching. Justin always tried to drag him into the team's conversations. Bailey wasn't in the mood right now. He snapped his head up, ready to tell Justin to back off, but stopped abruptly, his mouth just hung open.

"Is that all you have to say? Have a good game?" Declan smirked down at him, looming into his space, blocking out the sun.

Bailey could only stare, dumbfounded. "What--?"

His eyes flitted past Declan, noticing for the first time the larger crowd of teens. Ben, Alex, Jose, Ian... and more.

"I don't—. You said—" He tried a couple times to get out some sort of coherent sentence.

"That I was going to check out a hot guy?" Declan supplied, a cocky grin on his face at Bailey's confusion. "Well, Justin is pretty good looking, but we don't exactly see eye-to-eye."

Bailey still couldn't fathom what was going on. "What—what are you doing here?"

Declan chuckled, smiling wider. "Told you. I'm going to ogle a hot guy for a few hours." He leaned in closer, his mouth right next to Bailey's ear, and Bailey held his breath. "You."

"I'm coming!" a shout rang out across the lawn as Luke raced toward the bus.

"Not in public! Do that in your room!" Mateo shouted back, causing a mass of hoots and laughter.

Luke just flipped him off as he stopped near the coach.

Coach Richards shifted, and as if by silent command, everyone quieted. "As you can see, we have a few extra students riding with us." Bailey looked around again, noticing that while some of the guys were part of the football team, not all of them were. "A couple students asked if they could come along as spectators, so Mr. Kirkland here agreed to come along to help chaperone, since obviously I'll be on the floor with the team." He paused to glance at the twelve extra teens. "Obviously, a few more decided to join us."

Laughter rumbled through the group.

Coach Richards quickly checked off everyone on the clipboard, adding the names of the additional students as everyone filed onto the bus. With their numbers tripled, the noise on the bus was significantly higher. Bailey smiled shyly at Declan as he settled his huge body next to him. Strangely, rather than feeling confined and restricted squished against cool metal, a sense of calm and security washed over him.

"Can I sit here?" he heard a voice ask.

Bailey looked up to see Ben hovering next to the seat where Justin had settled. The team captain looked up in surprise.

"Uh, sure." Justin quickly swept his bag from the seat to the floor at his feet.

Bailey felt Declan lean closer. "Ben's kinda had a crush on Justin for a while."

Bailey's eyes shot wide open. "Really?"

"Yeah, he's really shy though. And with Chris being such a jerk about things, he wouldn't have dared approach Justin before. Now though..." Declan shrugged, letting the thought hang in the air.

Bailey could just barely see Ben wiping his hands nervously on his pants as Justin started jabbering away. He smiled. It was probably a good thing that Justin could talk enough for the both of them.

"I'm surprised Coach Reed didn't decide to chaperone," Bailey commented. "It seems like half his team is here. Are you sure he's okay with you all coming?"

"He has stuff to prepare for the game, but, yes, I asked him if it'd be all right if I came. A few of the guys heard me ask last night after practice and wanted to tag along too. Then my suitemates joined, and Ian, and well..." He gestured around with his hands. "Here we are. Evan would have come too, if he wasn't going home for the weekend."

"Maybe you'll enjoy the quiet, with your room all to yourself."

Declan shrugged. "I guess. I'd catch up on school work, except I don't have any."

"I have to do the yard tomorrow," Bailey grumbled.

Declan's eyes lit up. "Maybe I can come help."

Bailey cast him a dubious look. "You want to mow and weed?"

Declan just grinned, nudging him with his shoulder. "If I get to hang out with you."

Bailey couldn't help the flush that ran up his neck to his cheeks. It looked a lot like the one Ben wore as Justin leaned into him, gesturing and grinning wildly. Bailey cleared his throat. "Um, yeah, that would be great then."

--Declan—

Declan had to admit, the gymnastics meet was nothing like he'd expected. There were actually several competitions happening at the same time. The huge convention center was divided into three competition areas—two were set up for girls and one was arranged for the boys' gymnastics. One of the girls' competitions was just finishing as they came in, the other had girls competing on all the equipment at the same time.

Waiting for the boys' competition to start, many of the guys watched the girls. Declan suspected several would continue to watch them, even after the guys' competition started. He was a little disappointed to realize that people would be competing at the same time on each of the apparatus. From what little he'd seen, namely the Olympics on TV, he'd somehow thought each person would compete individually, one event at a time. Of course, he realized now that would be ridiculous. The competition would take forever. He just had to keep an eye on the Heritage team and follow them to each event. It was hard because he often found his eyes drifting to other competitors, wondering how their routines stacked up to Bailey's.

After the anthem, the teams were able to do a short warm-up before competing. Declan watched the Heritage team as they moved to the parallel bars first. However, other gymnasts were lined up to compete first, while Bailey and his team lingered to the side adjusting their grips and chalking their hands before watching their competitors. His eyes drifted over all the events, finding it hard to stick to watching one even when the Heritage team was competing. Declan also found his eyes flicking to the electronic scoreboard, unable to help himself. Scores started flowing in from all the apparatus—high eights and nines, a couple sixes and sevens, but really Declan was surprised at how high they were, someone even had a 9.8.

His eyes returned back to the parallel bars where Mateo was preparing to start. He was the first of the team to compete. Declan nudged Ben before calling out to the others. "Hey, guys, our team's getting ready to go."

"Cool," Ian answered distractedly, his eyes still watching the girl competing on the floor across the center.

Declan rolled his eyes. He really couldn't really blame them for looking.

"What the hell?" Jaime suddenly exclaimed, pulling Declan's attention.

The others looked over at him, then to where he was pointing. "How the hell did someone get an 11.4 on the vault?"

Declan frowned at the scoreboard. "Maybe it's a mistake?"

Just then a 10.7 popped up on the board for a ring score.

"What..."

Mr. Kirkland leaned down towards them from where he was sitting on the bleachers behind them. "Guess you guys haven't watched too many gymnastics meets lately, huh? The scoring isn't based on a simple ten-point scale anymore. There's extra points for the difficulty of the skills as well. Scores for perfect routines could be as high as fifteen or sixteen, especially at the higher levels. Here, most scores average between high eights to twelvish."

Declan, as well as several of the others, stared at him for a long moment. "Huh. Well, learn something new..."

"See?" Mr. Kirkland pointed at the scoreboard. "Mateo just got an 11.2 on the parallel bars."

"Wow," someone whispered from behind him, probably Jaime. "And I thought the guy who got the 9.8 was doing good."

Mr. Kirkland leaned in conspiratorially. "I suspect most of our guys will score at least in the tens and elevens. I've come to their meets before, and they tend to average pretty well."

And then Bailey mounted the bars, and Declan tuned everyone out. He still couldn't get over the fluid way Bailey's body moved up and around the bars, twisting and flipping, holding rigid poses that made his small body look even longer and leaner. On the dismount, Bailey took a small step before he turned and saluted at the judges with a smile before walking over to his team who was jumping and high-fiving him. Chalk dust clouds were erupting around them. Coach Richards seemed immune to it as he waded right in to pat Bailey on the back, leaning in to whisper something.

Justin stepped from the cluster quickly to compete next, and Declan saw Ben straighten up a little, his hands clenched nervously. Declan had to grin at his friend. Ben and Justin would be an odd couple, total opposites in personality, yet would probably complement each other very well. Ben's quiet unassuming nature would blend with Justin's boisterous gregariousness.

"Holy cow..." Alex whispered next to him, along with collective murmur from a good portion of the crowd.

"What?" Declan looked around, wondering what he'd seen.

"Bailey's score. Look."

Declan noticed several others around him pointing and whispering frantically too at the scoreboard. Declan glanced up. A 13.1. "That's good, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Mr. Kirkland agreed, his voice awed. "It's very good. It might end up being the highest score of the meet."

Declan grinned. "You haven't seen him on the rings yet."

Mr. Kirkland gave him an amused smile. "Maybe. Then again, scoring at this level tends to be lower than that."

"Well, you said it was based on difficulty, right? So, if Bailey can do more difficult skills, wouldn't that mean he'd score higher than most?"

"Assuming his execution is perfect as well, no faults or falls..."

Declan just grinned and nodded, knowing that Mr. Kirkland hadn't seen what Bailey could do yet. Declan had. The whole football team had. And now that he was here watching him and the rest of the gymnastics team competing, he had an even better appreciation of just how skilled they were. Justin, Mateo, Cameron, Luke, Owen, and Bailey were showing themselves to be the top.

"Man, I wish that Heritage team hadn't come." Declan caught someone saying, and turned to glare at the mom who'd said it. "Maybe then Mitch would have a chance. And now they have some new kid that just scored a freaking thirteen! Can you believe that?"

Her companions nodded sagely in agreement, and Declan had to hide his satisfied smirk. Guess Heritage Gymnastics had a better reputation than they'd realized.

****

They'd been there over two hours, and Heritage Academy had completed rotations on the parallel bars, horizontal bar, floor, and pommel horse. There were only two events left, and Declan kept finding his eyes darting from the competitors to the scoreboard, trying to make sense of how they were faring. Bailey had consistently earned scores in the twelves for the other three events. Even Justin and the others averaged high elevens most of the time. He'd seen a few elevens and twelves from other teams mixing in there as well, but many seemed to average in the nines and tens. Damn, he'd never felt so tense, except before his first game.

"Go Bailey!" someone shouted from nearby.

Declan whipped his head around to see Bailey's mom and that guy—Daniel somebody—sitting a few rows back and to the left. He wasn't sure how he missed them before. The guy was the one who had yelled and was currently grinning and pumping his fist, while Bailey's mom clutched anxiously at his arm, eyes glued forward.

Declan turned to see Bailey waiting to mount the still rings, his body rigid.

This was Bailey's event.

Coach Richards stood off to his side. As soon as the judges lifted a flag, Bailey saluted and stepped up under the rings. The Coach grabbed Bailey's waist, helping him up, as Bailey made a small jump to grab the rings. He levered himself up, making it look like he was just floating on air. His muscles bulged as he held himself still in a cross, before dropping and swinging up to a handstand, his body practically snapping to a stop even with ring straps. The routine was the same one he'd done for the football team that day of the mixed practices.

While Declan and the team had been impressed by it then, he hadn't realized just how incredible it really was in comparison. When Bailey dropped into his Maltese cross, the collective gasps and whispers around him, told him that skill was not something usually done here. As Bailey landed a solid dismount, cheers erupted around him.

"Damn," Mr. Kirkland whispered in awe.

Declan and Ben turned amused stares back at him. "Mr. Kirkland! Such language!" they teased, considering the English teacher chastised them endlessly for murdering the English language. The man just pursed his lips and cocked a brow at them.

Declan turned to watch for Bailey's score—everyone seemed to be doing the same thing, even as eyes tried to focus on their own teams' events, they couldn't help straying to the scoreboard. The judges were conferring, something they didn't usually do, and that made Declan nervous. Others were commenting on the oddity as well. And poor Owen had to follow Bailey on the rings, so he stood there waiting for the judges to be ready for him.

Finally, the judges finished, passed a card over to the person entering scores, and waved a little flag for Owen to start. Owen was mid-routine when Bailey's score popped up.

And Declan knew it because cheers and exclamations of shock erupted around him.

"Oh, my god."

"Do you see that?"

"I've never seen a score like that a high school meet."

Declan looked.

14.0.

"Yeah!" Declan shot his fist in the air. "Way to go, Bailey!" he yelled, even though he knew he wouldn't be heard amid the rest of the noise.

Then, of course, he felt bad for Owen and hoped it didn't mess him up. Watching the rest of the redhead's routine, Declan was sure it hadn't. Apparently, gymnasts had a way of tuning everything out when they competed.

After that, the rest of the meet seemed uneventful. Heritage Academy finished on the vault, earning fairly average scores. In fact, it was Bailey's lowest at 11.8. The awards ceremony followed quickly after the last gymnast finished on the floor. The organizers of the meet simply dragged out five wooden podium stands of increasing heights, numbered one to five and arranged them on the floor. All the gymnasts sat on the floor in front of it, as they waited for scores to be finalized.

It wasn't very surprising when the name Bailey McIntyre was called for first place on most of the apparatus. He actually took third place on vault behind Cameron in first and a guy from Jackson High in second. All of the Heritage guys placed in the top five at one point or another. For the final all-around scores though, Heritage took the top two spots: Bailey in first, Justin in second. The others helped round out the top ten.

No one was shocked when Heritage took first place in the team awards. Now Declan understood the comment by the mom about not wanting Heritage Academy at the meet. They guys were a force to be reckoned with.

As soon as the awards were over, everyone was up and milling around, trying to reach their gymnasts, offering congratulations and "good-jobs." Coach Richards herded the team to the side as Mr. Kirkland guided the rest of the guys towards them.

"Man, you can certainly hear you guys from a mile away," Alex joked as the team's medals clanked with every move.

"Congratulations, boys," Mr. Kirkland said.

It was funny to watch Justin and the others' faces as Declan and the guys mobbed them. They were stunned at first, but then their grins were stretched so wide Declan was sure their cheeks must hurt. They were reveling in the praise, and Declan realized suddenly that they usually didn't get all this.

No one usually came to the meets with them. No one but their own teammates and Coach usually congratulated them. Maybe a teacher here or there might come—Mr. Kirkland indicated he'd attended one or two in the past. Maybe if a parent was in town visiting; however, most of the Heritage Academy residents didn't have family nearby, so it wouldn't be often. And certainly none of their fellow students had come.

Declan felt a sudden wash of guilt at how much this team had been deprived of the recognition, and hell, just the camaraderie of celebrating with your fellow students.

He knew what it felt like—felt it after every game, reveled in the cheers and excitement of the fans watching him play, the adrenaline rush their frenzied enthusiasm would give him.

And now these guys got to enjoy it too, for once. Maybe forever, because Declan sure as hell was planning on making a point to go again if he could to support the team. Hell, these guys came to their football games all the time. He'd been to other team's games of course—like baseball and basketball and lacrosse, and even track, and once a swim meet. But gymnastics... golf... it never even occurred to him before, to none of them. Maybe it would now.

Declan wrapped an arm around Bailey in a guy-clench. "Great job! That was awesome! You all were," he enthused, his voice mixing in with everyone else shouting their accolades. They were just one big jumble of congratulatory hugs, fist bumps and high fives. Coach Richards and Mr. Kirkland watched with widely amused expression from the side.

"Bailey! Bailey, honey!"

Declan turned with Bailey at the voice. Bailey's mom was finally making her way through the crowd over to them. Bailey stepped away from the muddle of Academy students towards her and into her outstretched arms.

"Oh, honey, I'm so proud of you! You did great!" she gushed.

Bailey's cheeks pinked. "Thanks, mom. I'm really glad you came," he added softly as he finished hugging her.

"It really was impressive," Daniel Kirsch agreed once Bailey had stepped out of his mother's arms. "You're an excellent gymnast, Bailey. Congratulations." The man held out his hand.

For a second, Bailey only stared at offered hand. He finally reached out and accepted Mr. Kirsch's hand with a small smile. "Thank you."

Declan knew it was hard for Bailey to accept the man's presence here. It probably reminded him more of his father's absence in his life. Having a new man, standing here, where his father should be, would have been if he hadn't been killed... had to be more than difficult.

Declan stepped closer to offer his support, yet ready to back away if Bailey gave any indication he didn't want it. Instead, Bailey turned slightly toward him, inviting him closer.

"I saw you guys had your own little cheering section," Daniel laughed.

Bailey ducked his head shyly. "Yeah, Declan and a few of the guys from school decided to come along this time. It was pretty cool, especially since most of them have a game tonight."

"Oh?" his mom lifted a brow. "Football?"

Declan nodded. "Yes, ma'am. The game isn't until seven, so we had the morning free to come here."

"That's so nice. I'm so glad you all were able to come." She smiled sincerely before turning to Bailey again. "How about we go out to dinner tonight to celebrate? You get to pick the restaurant."

Declan froze. What? Wait. Bailey wasn't coming to his game? He'd just assumed...

"Actually, mom, some of the team was talking about going to the game, and... well, I'd like to go with them. I can eat at the dining hall before the game—"

"Oh, Bailey, I don't know about that." Bailey mom frowned, biting her bottom lip. "It'll be so late when the game lets out, and I don't want you walking home in the dark that late. Especially after what happened with that Chris boy."

Bailey rolled his eyes. "Chris is basically locked up, and Eric isn't even in town anymore."

"I could walk him home," Declan piped up eagerly, earning himself a raised brow from Bailey.

Bailey's mom exchanged looks with Daniel, neither one of them appearing to like that idea any better.

"Then you'll be walking back alone in the dark," she retorted. "No, I can't allow that, and I'm not sure the dean would either."

"Maybe we could just pick him up after the game?" Daniel finally suggested. "He could just call as the game is ending..."

Declan frowned. Then he wouldn't get to see much of Bailey at all if he had to leave before Declan got changed out. Then it hit him. "Could he just stay overnight?"

All three looked at him.

"What?" Bailey croaked out.

Declan practically ignored him as he pleaded his case to Bailey's mother. "My roommate is out of town. Bailey could just sleep in the dorm for the night. Evan wouldn't mind if Bailey used his bed. That way he could come hang out after the game and celebrate with the rest of us... you know, socialize and stuff... without having to worry about walking home in the dark."

"I don't know..." Mrs. McIntyre hummed, eyeing Declan narrowly.

"Or maybe he could bunk with Justin or one of the other guys too... " Declan suggested, guessing that she might be worried about Bailey being alone with Declan.

Mrs. McIntyre still looked hesitant.

"Maybe you, uh, maybe you and Mr. Kirsch can have a night out together," Bailey haltingly suggested, his eyes pleading, and Declan could see her softening.

Daniel Kirsch's lips twitched into a small smile as Bailey's mom lit up at the idea. "Really? You'd think that was okay?"

Bailey bit his lip but nodded. "Yeah. That might be okay."

Declan squeezed Bailey's shoulder, silently offering comfort, knowing how hard it was for Bailey to make that gesture.

Mrs. McIntyre's eyes started to mist as she glanced between Bailey and Daniel. She finally nodded. "Okay. Just... just..." She pointed at Bailey then Declan. "Separate beds, okay?"

"Mom!" Bailey cried out, burying his face in his hands, mortified at her insinuation.

Declan felt his own face flush as well.

Daniel Kirsch was trying to hide his laughter behind his hand.

Mrs. McIntyre held up her hands. "Just saying. You know, it's a mom thing."

Bailey rolled his eyes.

"We'll just be hanging with the guys, then maybe watch some TV before crashing. After the game, we'll both be beat." Declan announced, trying to break the embarrassed tension. "It'll be a good night. I promise."