Thrust Into His Arms

GWENETH

When Richard returned, I did not ask why he had gone out like that. Whatever it is it is none of my business. I put the open sign and put away the closed sign after all the menu dishes were prepared. Only a few customers had come in and left. Now it’s empty.

Richard and I are at the counter, watching the TV as we are both free. We will be busy again when the afternoon rush comes.

When the morning drama was over, Richard readily took the remote and changed it to a sport’s channel. He has wanted to since the drama was on and I begged him to let it finish first.

The bastard even made me do puppy eyes before he agreed.

There is an interview showing on the sport’s channel.

I stared blankly at the screen with my hand on my jaw, already bored to death by it even though it has not been five minutes since it was put on.

That soon changed when I noticed that the girl being interviewed on screen looks very familiar.

It did not take long for me to remember that we were in the same swimming team at Krohns.

Kendall!

I snatched the remote from Richard and he panicked thinking I was going to change it until he saw that I only just wanted to increase the volume.

I hear him ask why I’m interested in it all of a sudden but I’m too focused on the show to answer. The headline reads; "Kendall Wayne; From School Prodigy To National Gold Winner"

She blushes when she was asked by the show’s host how she feels about winning the national gold medal. "I am still feeling amazed by it." She says. "I was not good on the swim team at all. My coach would always yell and scold me and my teammates would constantly oust and look down on me, even the ones I was senior to.

But I didn’t care. I had only joined it because I was forced to by my parents.

I never in my wildest of dreams thought that I would win the state competitions let alone the nationals."

"Awwwn. That is quite humble of you." Commented the host.

"I am not being humble. It is the truth. You can ask my Coach.

She will tell how much headaches I gave her. She even told me to leave the sport one time, that I wasn’t made for it. At first, I saw it as good riddance. Yunno, because I am not into the sport.

But then after a while of not going to the pool, I started to miss it. I came to realize that I did not hate it like I thought I did. I was just using it as a way of being rebellious and show my parents that they made a huge mistake forcing me in it.

I came back on my own and somehow improved. Like I said, I am still finding it hard to be believe that I am sitting here talking to you now. I want to use this as a medium to advise teenagers like me out there to be serious in whatever good thing you are made to do. Life is all about chances.

Don’t miss out on the right one because you might not get it back—ever."

A chance?

Yeah, I had one of those. This was supposed to be my chance. Not yours.

This wasn’t your chance Kendall.

I’m breaking inside once again. My knees are shaking. I might fall or collapse anytime soon. Of course I remember. It is all coming back to me.

How she could not do a breaststroke properly. How Coach Mira always shouts at her. Kendall was the clown of the swimming team.

She was always used as a joking reference for anyone new. But now she is being interviewed on a TV show and said to have won the gold medal in the Nationals. While I who had been set for it is drifting aimlessly like a balloon.

For a while now, I had completely forgotten that the scholarship was not the only thing I had lost because of that disgraceful video.

I was on league for the competition. Perfect for it. I pushed myself and trainned hard, pushing through my mental stress and anxiety. I had been very hopeful for that competition.

It was a great opportunity I had right in my grasp only for it to be cruelly taken away and destroyed because of that video. I could no longer be on it. Coach Mira did not need to say it to me before I knew that it was over. I had seen the hurtful disappointment in her eyes. I’m seeing it right now in my mind’s eye.

I had been disgraced and expelled. How could I have possibly shown myself and taken part in the competition?

My disgrace had made an opportunity for someone else. Someone who was not half as good as me in the sport. Strength leaves my legs totally and I fell to the floor. Richard rushes to me. "Gina? Gina! Answer me, are you alright?" He asked, holding my arms and shaking me.

I could barely hear him. All I can feel is a deep, profound feeling of loss seeing that I really am nothing.

I am far and adrift from the very road to success I had once been on.

It should have been me right there. I should be the one there right now instead of her. "It should have been me." I uttered in a weak tone. "What are you saying?" His mother also comes to me, worriedly asking what was wrong.

I could not speak to answer. What will I even answer them anyway? I cried and wailing harder than ever. Richard’s mother puts my head on her chest and pats on my hair, telling me to calm down. The more she tried to get me to be calm, the more I cried.

There is no way I can ever pull out of this. There is no way I can ever go back to how I once was. Why? Why did I get that scholarship in the first place?

To be humiliated? Perhaps that was the goal the universe had in store when it brought it my way.

Was it my doomed fate? Was it already planned from the start?

I feel even more stupid remembering how much I had hoped blindly and how much I had allowed myself to suffer believing that it would pay off. And it did.

If I had known that it would not be in the positive way I had expected I would have quickly gotten myself out of there. I should have listened when Dad told me to quit.