24. Ch 24- Sometimes, You Fall Down

(A/N: Hey, everyone, it's me. I've decided that, now that I've written this chapter, I'm gonna take a short break from this- I'm expecting it to be a week, but definitely no more than a couple of weeks at most. I want to write a one shot for another fandom, but I also want to take a little bit of time to make sure I'm going in the right direction with this, as I'm at the point where I'm filling in the blanks as I go along. Honestly, there have already been a few changes made to the original synopsis I came up with- which, no lie, was more than a thousand words itself, easily my longest to date.

Hope that you guys understand, because the support you've given this fic has overwhelmed me and made me so incredibly happy- you've already made this my most viewed, reviewed, favourited AND followed story on this site, and I'm truly grateful, so I want to make sure that it stays as something you like.

Thank you so much for reading, and enjoy!)

"You're her pageant coach?"

It was the next day, and Lincoln was walking with the girls once again towards gymnastics. While he had to make sure that he wasn't followed- which, compared to what it was usually like, was easier this time- he made it to Girl Jordan's house by himself, and they set off once everyone was there. As they made their way towards the sports centre, the group had been asking each other about their plans for the week break, which led to Lincoln bringing up how he would be helping Lola with her pageant.

"Yeah. I help her for some pageants and she asks Lori for help with others," he answered the confused Kat's question.

"Yeah, I can understand why she'd ask… whichever one Lori is," Kat replied, "but you?"

"I've coached her on pageanting for more than a year. I even coached Lana for one pageant, but that's another story."

"Lana's her twin, right?" Jordan asked, to which he nodded. "Well, I think it's sweet. You're helping your little sister when she needs you."

This made Lincoln smile. "Thanks, Girl Jordan." She gave a smile back, though Lincoln noticed a bit of sadness behind it. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Are you-"

"So, are you and the others still coming to the Halloween party?"

He knew she was hiding something, but after years of living with his sisters, he knew that he wasn't going to get anything from her at that time, so he answered her question instead. "Yeah. The others are still coming too, and I'm gonna see Lola at her pageant, then I'll get ready and meet them there."

"Sounds great! I look forward to seeing you there."

He gave her a bemused grin. "What, do you not see me right now?" He began checking himself. "Did I turn invisible again?"

While Jordan did roll her eyes, she and the girls couldn't help but laugh. "Shut up, you goof." He stuck his tongue out at her, which only made her laugh more. "I meant, I look forward to seeing your costume."

He chuckled. "I know you did, I'm just messing. How are your costumes coming along?"

"Mine should be arriving tomorrow," Mollie answered. "Found mine on iBay."

"Same here," Sadie added, with Joy nodding behind her.

"I got mine at the mall last week," Kat spoke next.

"My sister Jen is making mine," Jordan told the boy. "I'm guessing your sister Leni's making yours?"

"Yeah, Leni said she didn't mind, though I have to model for her next fashion show as thanks," he answered. "It's a fair deal, though I'm not looking forward to it."

"What, does the pageant coach not think he's a good model?" Mollie teased.

"You say that like it's a joke, yet you're right. I mean," he gestured to his body, "I'm not exactly a natural model."

Joy gave him a look up and down, then grinned. "Yeah, he's right," she joked, to which Sadie, Mollie and Kat laughed, though Jordan rolled her eyes.

"Lay off him," she told the still giggling girls, then looked at the boy. "You'll be fine. Besides, it's Leni. She knows what she's doing."

"You would say that, given you're her favourite customer."

This was news to Jordan, her eyes widening. "I am?" Her smile grew upon seeing Lincoln nod to answer her question. "Aww… that's so sweet of her."

"Yep. That's Leni, alright. Sweetest person you'll ever meet."

"HEY, YOU TWO!" Mollie yelled, alerting them to the fact that they were now a bit ahead of them. "YOU COMING OR WHAT?" They rolled their eyes, before running to catch up with their friends.

A couple of hours later, Lincoln and the others were near the end of TeamGym practice, and they were back on the trampettes. "Okay, everyone!" Chris declared. "To wrap things up, you're going to complete two runs on the trampette- one without the vault, and one with. Form a single file line, and we'll start." The kids wasted no time in doing so, eager to give it a go. "Okay. When I blow my whistle, the person at the front will go. You'll make your way down the track, complete your jump, then step off the mat. Ready?"

He placed the whistle to his lips and blew into it, signalling for Mollie to start her run. She took off down the track, leapt onto the trampette and sprang off it, performing a somersault before landing on her feet with her arms raised. As she stepped off the mat, Chris blew the whistle and the next person began their run. One by one, they took their turn, completing their jumps off the trampette and landing on the mat, some cleaner than others. After Girl Jordan went and he heard the whistle, Lincoln made his run. Picking up speed along the track, he eventually leapt off the trampette and tilted forward with his hands out, going into a forward roll. He got to his feet, but stumbled backward and fell down. Disappointed, he got up and walked over to Girl Jordan, who saw his frown and gave him a small smile.

"Don't worry, Lincoln," she assured him. "You'll get it eventually."

He felt a bit better when she said this, his lips curling upward. "Thanks."

As they returned to watching the others complete their runs, the last kid leapt off the trampette and landed on their feet, before stepping off. "Okay, last runs, everyone!" Chris declared, and they made their way to the start of the track that led to the vaulting trampette. "Same as before. Ready?"

Once more, he blew the whistle, and starting with Mollie, they went one by one down the track. 'Okay, Lincoln,' he told himself. 'You've got this.' Once Girl Jordan has completed her run, Chris blew his whistle once more, and Lincoln was off. He picked up the pace as he made his way down the track, then leapt off the trampette. He held his arms out to propel himself further from the vault horse, but unfortunately, Lincoln's jump was a little overzealous, meaning he went past the vault horse and landed face first on the mat. Seeing this, a couple of the younger kids laughed, though most of them winced as Girl Jordan and Chris went over to check on the boy.

"You okay there, Lincoln?" Chris asked as they helped him up.

"Yeah," he groaned, his face a little red from both the force and the embarrassment of the impact, "I've had worse."

"Alright. Be careful next time, okay?" Lincoln nodded. "Good man."

So, Lincoln walked off the mat with Girl Jordan, allowing Chris to do the same and blow his whistle for the next runner. "Well, that was embarrassing," Lincoln muttered with a blush on his cheeks.

"Don't let it get to you," Girl Jordan assured him. "It happens."

"Yeah… guess it was a matter of time."

"Don't say that!" She turned him by the shoulder so he could face her. "You're only just starting out. You're not going to get everything right straight away. If that means you fall down once in a while, then don't let it get you down. You'll figure it out sooner or later."

He gave a small smile at her assurance. "Thanks."

"Yeah, you should've been there when Jordan started," Mollie said, having heard their conversation. "The first time she tried to vault, she caught her foot on it and was left hanging by her feet."

Jordan blushed at the memory, before turning to her friend. "You say that like you didn't slip on the balance beam when you first tried it and landed on your butt!" While Mollie blushed as well, Lincoln gave a small chuckle, which caused them to stare at him, making him feel nervous. When Jordan started laughing, however, he smiled and laughed with her and Mollie for a good few seconds, smiles still on their faces when they stopped. "See? Everyone makes a mistake when they're just getting started."

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks, girls."

So, they watched as the others completed their runs, before walking over to the floor, where Chris would lead them through their closing stretches for a couple of minutes. "Okay, that'll do it for today," he announced. "Now, I'll be heading home for a few days for family reasons, so there won't be any more sessions until next Tuesday. If there are any changes to this, I'll let your parents know. Until then, good work today, and enjoy your week break." As the kids got to their feet and started to walk toward the changing rooms, he called out, "Hey, Lincoln, hang back a second."

The white haired boy turned to Jordan. "I'll catch up with you later," he told her, to which she nodded, and whilst she went to get changed, Lincoln walked towards the instructor. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to check that you were okay after before. Nasty fall you took."

"Oh." Lincoln frowned a little. "Yeah, I'm fine. Honestly, I've had worse."

"Well, that's good to hear. Just be careful, okay?"

"I will." Chris smiled, then began to walk away. "Hey, Chris?"

The man turned to the boy again. "Yeah?"

"Am I… am I doing alright?"

This was a bit of a surprise to him, so he kneeled down to his height. "What makes you ask that?"

"Well… I'm just… wondering, I guess. It doesn't really matter that much, I just-"

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Don't worry about it. Now, to answer your question, you're doing good so far. Don't forget, Lincoln, you've only been doing this for a couple of weeks. It usually takes at least one or two months for someone to pick up the basics, and longer to master them, depending on how much they exercise outside of training sessions."

"Really?" When Chris nodded, he relaxed. "That makes me feel a bit better, I'll admit."

"I know how you feel. Plus, you're starting a bit late, so that can affect how well you adapt to it."

"Do you mind if I ask how old you were when you started?"

The adult of the two smiled. "Not at all! I was nine, nearly ten when I started, so I was starting a bit late myself."

"Did that make it harder for you?"

"In some areas, yeah, but because I was quite active already, it helped me a bit. Overall, though, it took me as long as it would someone who was younger than I was when they start."

"Oh…" Lincoln looked down, not sure how to take that. He felt a little better that he wasn't doing badly, but the fact that he wasn't that active outside of gymnastics weighed that down a bit.

"Hey, look at me." The boy looked up and met his eyes. "I know it can be tough adapting to something new, and it can be disheartening when you make a mistake, so I'm going to tell you the two pieces of advice my coach told me. First, if you fall down, get back up, and keep going. It's something that happens, and something that you can learn from. You get what I'm saying?" Lincoln nodded. "Good. The other piece of advice is this- it's up to you to decide how much you're willing to learn, and how much you need to do to achieve that."

"It's up to me?"

"Exactly. You and you alone know the true extents of what you're capable of, and no one can choose for you how much it'll take to do that. It might be a case of trial and error, but you'll figure it out."

"Trial and error… kind of like… me choosing gymnastics after I tried those other sports."

Although he didn't know the full extent of what Lincoln meant, Chris smiled. "That's a good way of looking at it." He then glanced at his watch, before looking back at the sixth grader. "Okay, I need to get going, Lincoln. Keep what I said in mind, okay?"

He nodded. "Thanks, Chris."

The adult smiled and held a hand up, which Lincoln high fived. "Enjoy your week break, kid."

With that, Chris walked away, his words still fresh on Lincoln's mind. 'It's up to you to decide…'

"Hey," he heard Girl Jordan say from behind, alerting him to her presence, which alerted him to the fact that she was ready to go. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," he told her with a smile. "He just wanted to make sure I was okay after earlier."

"Okay. Well, my mom is probably waiting outside."

"Right. I'll, uh, go get my stuff." She nodded, and he walked towards the changing room. 'It's up to you to decide…'