Chapter 326 - Still Watching

Chapter 326: Chapter 326 - Still Watching

Roxie knew something was wrong the second she walked into breakfast and Karen stopped talking.

She was sitting across from Angela at one of the long tables the hotel had set aside for teams, her phone facedown beside her plate. Angela looked just as suspicious, staring into her coffee while Karen suddenly became very interested in cutting her pancake.

Roxie slowed beside the table. "What happened?"

Karen looked up. "Good morning."

"Why are you acting weird?"

"I always act weird."

"Karen."

Angela sighed. "Someone posted something from last night."

The knot formed in Roxie’s stomach before she could stop it. "The restroom?"

Angela nodded.

Roxie pulled out the chair across from them and sat down. "Let me see."

Karen placed her hand over the phone. "Maybe eat first."

"Give it to me."

"Rox."

Roxie held out her hand until Karen finally slid the phone across the table.

It was only a picture, blurry and taken through the restroom mirror, catching Roxie near the sinks with one hand slightly raised while Karen stood beside her and Angela had already turned toward the other girls. Whoever took it had managed to freeze the exact moment that made Roxie look like she had been the one confronting them.

The caption read:

Some people really carry their energy everywhere they go. Hope everyone remembers what Nationals is actually about. 🤍

Roxie stared at it before scoffing.

"Seriously?"

Angela leaned closer. "There’s another one."

She scrolled.

The same picture had been reposted with another caption.

Spread love. Not hate. 💕

Roxie rolled her eyes. "Oh my God. Why do they even care? And why did they make it sound like I’m the one talking shit?"

"They’re assholes," Karen said.

"They have their own teams, their own competition, their own lives. Who has time to take pictures of somebody in a bathroom and then post this shit?"

She pushed the phone back, but her eyes caught the comments underneath before Karen could take it away.

"Wait."

Roxie pulled it back and started scrolling.

People were arguing about what had happened. Some recognized her from the videos while others had apparently decided they knew exactly what kind of person she was from one blurry picture. A few asked what happened before the photo was taken, but Roxie barely registered those because her eyes kept catching the ones judging her.

She rolled her eyes again.

Who the hell cared this much?

They were at Nationals. Hundreds of athletes were here competing for something they had worked toward for months, yet strangers somehow had enough time to discuss Roxie Jones over breakfast.

It was ridiculous.

She knew it was ridiculous, so the heat crawling slowly up the back of her neck pissed her off even more.

Roxie locked the phone and dropped it onto the table. "Whatever."

Angela watched her. "Roxie."

"I’m serious. Who cares?"

She reached for her water and took a long drink, only for her breath to catch halfway through. Roxie frowned and tried again, drawing air slowly into her lungs, but her chest still felt tighter than it had a minute ago.

Goddamn it.

Karen was watching her now.

Roxie immediately reached for her fork. "Why are you staring at me?"

"You look pale."

"I always look pale."

Angela smiled.

Roxie cut into the pancake in front of her and forced herself to take a bite while repeating the same thing inside her head.

Who cares?

Who fucking cares?

A laugh came from another table behind her, and her chest tightened before she could stop it.

She hated that most.

She had no idea whether those girls were even talking about her. They probably were not, but suddenly every laugh, every whisper, every phone lifted somewhere across the room felt like it could be aimed in her direction.

Her nape grew hotter.

Roxie rubbed one palm against her thigh beneath the table and forced herself to breathe more slowly. It was one stupid picture and two stupid captions. That was all.

"Morning."

Zac dropped into the empty chair beside her and immediately reached for a piece of bacon from her plate.

Roxie slapped his hand. "Get your own."

"I came here specifically to steal yours."

"You have an entire buffet."

"It tastes better when it belongs to you."

Karen made a face. "That makes zero sense."

Zac ignored her and successfully stole the bacon on his second attempt.

Usually Roxie would have fought him for it.

This time she let him.

Zac noticed.

His eyes moved from the bacon to her face before he leaned closer. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

Roxie took another bite and kept her eyes on her plate.

Zac glanced toward Karen and Angela, then noticed the phone sitting between them.

"What happened?"

"Some girls posted a picture from last night," Angela said.

Roxie looked at her.

Angela immediately winced. "Sorry."

Zac reached for the phone, but Roxie caught his wrist before he could touch it.

"Leave it. It’s stupid."

His eyes stayed on hers for a few seconds.

Then he lowered his hand. "Okay."

Roxie appreciated that more than she could explain.

Another group walked past their table a moment later, and one of the girls glanced toward Roxie before leaning closer to her friend.

Heat immediately climbed along Roxie’s neck again.

She looked down.

Zac’s hand settled quietly on her knee beneath the table. His thumb moved slowly against her skin once, then again, giving her something else to concentrate on.

Roxie drew in another breath.

This one went deeper.

Zac leaned closer until his shoulder pressed against hers. "Look at me."

She did.

His expression had lost the teasing from a few minutes ago.

"You’re here with us."

Roxie swallowed.

His hand stayed on her knee while she focused on him instead of the tables around them. Slowly, the pressure in her chest began to ease.

Zac opened his mouth again, but Roxie glanced toward Karen and Angela before looking back at him.

Please.

He understood.

Whatever he had been about to ask disappeared.

Instead, he picked up her fork, cut another piece of pancake, and held it toward her mouth.

"Eat."

Roxie stared at him. "That’s romantic."

"I know. I’m the perfect boyfriend."

Angela laughed.

Karen glanced toward the entrance. "The others are coming."

Several Briarwick girls were walking toward them with plates in their hands, already arguing loudly about something that had happened upstairs.

Zac gave Roxie’s knee one last squeeze before letting go.

Roxie opened her mouth and took the pancake from his fork.

He smiled. "Good girl."

She kicked him beneath the table.

His laugh was loud enough that several of their teammates looked over as they approached.

Good.

Let them think everything was normal.

By the time Briarwick reached the convention center for semifinals, Roxie had pushed the posts as far back in her mind as she could.

The competition hall felt different now that the field had narrowed. She recognized more uniforms and more school names from the preliminary rankings, and every team still walking through the halls had already survived one elimination.

Briarwick had too.

That was what mattered.

Coach Miller kept them moving through check in and warmup until they reached the staging area near the competition floor. A few teams still had to perform before them, so the girls settled near one of the monitors while they waited.

Roxie was adjusting her shoe when Karen touched her arm.

"It’s them."

Roxie looked up.

The team on the screen was already moving into position.

She recognized the uniform immediately.

Then she recognized one of the girls.

The restroom.

Her stomach tightened.

Angela leaned closer. "Seriously?"

Roxie said nothing as the music started.

Within seconds, the irritation she expected to feel disappeared beneath something much worse.

They were good.

Their first stunt rose cleanly, followed almost immediately by a tumbling sequence that sent the crowd screaming. Another flyer went up and locked into position without a visible shake.

Ava shifted beside them. "They’re really good."

Karen muttered, "Yeah."

Roxie kept staring at the monitor.

God.

She had thought she left that insecure version of herself behind somewhere during the past days. At Briarwick, people had talked about her plenty, but most of them had cared about the gossip more than Roxie herself. They wanted drama. They wanted something interesting to whisper about between classes.

Nobody here knew her.

That should have made their opinions easier to ignore.

Instead, it somehow made everything worse.

These girls could take a picture of her, make her look like the problem, whisper about her behind her back, then walk onto the floor and perform like this.

Their stunts were clean.

Their tumbling was strong.

They belonged here.

And suddenly every ugly thought Roxie had managed to bury at breakfast started coming back.

Maybe Briarwick’s flyers were not as strong.

Maybe their tumbling was not as clean.

Maybe the teams here really were on another level.

Her breathing started getting shallow again.

Roxie pressed her palms against her thighs.

The team on the monitor hit their final pose, and the crowd erupted.

Kendall was staring at her.

Roxie noticed from the corner of her eye.

"Get out of your head," Kendall said.

Roxie turned toward her.

Kendall nodded toward the screen. "You start thinking about them during our routine and miss a count, I’ll kill you."

Karen frowned. "Kendall."

"What? She knows I’m right."

Roxie almost laughed.

That was the annoying part.

Kendall was right.

Roxie had spent the entire morning thinking about strangers, posts, whispers, and whether everyone around her was judging her. She could carry all of that after the competition if she wanted.

She could not carry it onto the floor.

Roxie reached for Karen’s hand.

Karen looked at her before squeezing it.

Angela took Roxie’s other hand.

Roxie closed her eyes and drew in a slow breath.

This time the air reached all the way down.

When she opened her eyes again, Karen was still watching her.

"You can do this."

Angela squeezed her hand. "You’re strong, Rox."

Roxie looked between them and nodded.

She knew the routine.

She knew her team.

That had to be enough.

Coach Miller appeared in front of them. "Team. You’re up."