“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s a band.” Gage’s thumbs flew over his phone as he spoke. “They’re playing in town and a bunch of us are going. You should come.”
“It’ll be a good time.” Ali continued on down the hall to her class.
“Sorry, I forgot to tell you about it,” Veena said. “I’m not used to having to report my social schedule.”
“It’s okay.” I made a mental note to tell Brown. Bart would have to plan logistics.
Darya stood outside the door to the Aspen Room, staring at us. I didn’t like her flat expression one bit, but I couldn’t report her to Muth for looking at Veena wrong.
I hadn’t heard from the head of school yet. Maybe he went over me and talked to Brown when he got Newman’s report, and I wouldn’t put it past him to leave me out. I was only a young lady, after all. Ass.
Training was inside today. Instead of snowboarding gear, Veena put on workout leggings, a tank top, and sneakers, and we took the elevator down to the ground floor. We followed a hallway toward the back of the school to what was the hotel’s fitness center.
I knew from the website that the space had been converted to an indoor training facility, but I still couldn’t believe what I saw when we walked in. The pool was drained, and the pit was instead filled with chunks of soft foam. A ground level trampoline sat on one end and a short ramp perched on the opposite side. The concrete deck was lined with safety mats. As I watched, a kid bounded up from the tramp, did a series of expert twists, and landed feet-first in the foam pit.
Before bending forward to stretch her hamstrings, Veena nodded at the coach, a short, stocky woman in a VMA sweatshirt with her hair in a tight bun. “That’s Sarah. She was a competitive gymnast. She works with us in here once a week practicing new tricks or working on stuff we haven’t landed yet. We can use the park boards, too.”
On the opposite side, a boy rolled down the ramp, strapped to what looked like a snowboard on little wheels. He grabbed the edge of the board in the air and went upside down before sinking into the foam. It was, well, rad.
“Last jumps,” Sarah said.
Darya got on the tramp and performed a powerful move that involved at least three flips. Although I knew nothing about snowboarding, I could tell she was good. Still stretching, Veena watched her out of the corner of her eye. Darya landed and pushed through the foam to the side, as Ali did a pinwheeling move off the ramp on the other side. Sarah turned to Veena.
“Working on the double V again today?”
“Nate wants me to focus on it. I have the rest of my tricks down, but the landing for the double V’s still kicking my butt.”
“Okay, let’s get to it. Tramp first.”
“Hi, I’m Nic.” I shook Sarah’s hand. “I’m new at the school.”
“Welcome.” The coach smiled before flagging Ali down to critique her last trick.
Towel in hand, Darya sauntered past me and out without making eye contact. Seeing her in workout gear confirmed she was fit. But so was Veena. I eyed my own biceps. I needed to get back to working out soon. The schedule so far hadn’t left me much extra time.
Veena padded onto the tramp and bounced. Low at first, getting into a rhythm, and then jumping higher. On the last bounce, as her body compacted to spring up and over the pit, the side of the tramp tore with a loud riiiiip. She exploded into the air, but her body was way off balance. With a shriek, her arms flailing, she plummeted facedown onto the pool deck.
Everyone froze, including me. When someone screamed, I shook off the shock and raced to her side.
“Veena! Are you hurt?” I didn’t move her; she could have a spinal cord injury. “Veena?”
She didn’t speak. Was she knocked out? I pushed the red panic button icon on my watch, alerting Cooley and the rest of the team.
Sarah was beside me now, her expression horrified. “Veena?”
The other athletes surrounded us, silent.
“VV?” I whispered.
Sarah turned to Ali, who stood beside us with wide eyes and a hand over her mouth. “Call 911. Now!” Ali ran to a phone mounted on the wall.
Veena groaned. “Nic?”
I leaned closer. “I’m here. What hurts?”
“My face. I hit my face.”
“Don’t move if it’s painful,” Sarah said. “Is your neck okay? Your back?”
“I think so.” Slowly, stiffly, she rolled over.
We all said ohh at the same time. Her nose bled, the whites of her eyes were pink, and her upper lip puffed out.
She closed her eyes. “It’s bad, huh?”
“It’s not good,” a guy said from the back without much sympathy. Jake. That jerk.
Cooley stuck his head in the door of the gym, his eyes on me. I shook my head as inconspicuously as I could. If Veena hadn’t been breathing or something, I’d call him in. But it would blow our cover if a maintenance worker ran in to perform first aid on Veena. Better to wait for the paramedics.
About four minutes later, a man and woman hustled in with jump bags on their backs. I moved aside so they could check Veena out. They examined her neck and back, and soon had her sitting up to apply cold packs to her face. Only then did I breathe normally again.
The other students started trickling out, talking quietly about what happened. The news would be all over the school in minutes. Sarah and Ali stayed by Veena as the paramedics treated her, so I went to examine the tramp. The rings and springs that attached the tramp to the pool wall were all intact.
But that’s when I saw it. The mesh of the tramp had separated right along the side where Veena
