Amira saw the Quidditch list was up on the wall and her heart fell. There was a dull ache in her head and her heart plummeted. "I don't think I want to read this..." she said, unsure if anyone was there or not. That didn't matter to the second year. She knew that her chances were very low that she would get her spot back. The other candidates were two first years and Jhonice. Mir had nothing against Jhon, but the firey red-head knew she wasn't seeker material. Elijah had a cast and Jade, well... Jade was a first year so why would she get the spot over a second year?
Because you fell off your broom stupid. she thought to herself. Besides, YOU were in your first year when YOU got the spot. What would stop Jade?
"Oh god..." Amira said, turning away from the list before even sneaking a glance at the names. "I can't look... I just can't." Something inside of her made her turn back around again, however. “What am I kidding? I HAVE to look.” she said, turning back once more to the list. She put her finger on the top of it and worked her way down the page till she saw the word Seeker. Last year’s seeker closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly through her nose, she opened her eyes to see…
HER OWN NAME!
“HA! I fell OFF my broom and I still got it!” She did a little jig around the room, whooping and hollering so loud it would have woken up the dead. “I fell off my broom and I GOT IT ANYWAY!” she shouted happily.
“YES!” she cried excitedly as she saw Jose walk into the room. She saw him right away and she ran up to him.
“Thank you, thank you!” she said. “I promise I’ll show you that you made the right choice.” she said, deciding then and there that she needed to tell him why she’d fallen.
“Come here. I have to tell you something.” She pointed to a pair of chairs not far from them and looked at him again, hoping he’d join her at the chairs.
As Jose entered the Common Room, with intent to drop off his books in his room and relax the rest of the day, he was immediately assaulted by a very grateful seeker. Then she nearly immediately turned serious and pointed to a pair of chairs and said she needed to tell him something. That worked for him. He needed to tell her something, too.
He nodded and seated himself on one of the indicated seats, then looked at her solemnly, "Before you say anything else," he started before she could, "I want you to know that Demelza and I were not in agreement on this, and I was sorely tempted to agree that a person who falls off their broom without provocation during try-outs has no place on the team. I could see you weren't feeling well, so I gave you the benefit of the doubt, and judged you on last year's performance, but I want to make one thing very very clear, Amira.
"If you're not feeling well before a game, or a try-out, or even a practice, you tell me. Before you fall off your broom. Yes, I may well keep you grounded, but that is for your sake, the team's sake, and the best interest and safety of every person on the Pitch. You are d*** lucky," Jose had only sworn once or twice before in his entire life, including the moment he heard his wrist crack, but he thought this moment called for it, "I knew that spell and was looking the right way when you fainted."
Feeling he had made his point clearly, he nodded to her and invited, "Now tell me what you wanted to say."
Amira had seen him and had gone for him right away. First, of course, she had to thank him. Thank him she did, profusely for that matter. She stopped thanking the older boy and turned serious and pointed to chairs nearby. He nodded and seated himself down on one of the seats. She sat down on the other and opened her mouth to speak, but he spoke first.
The look on his face told her to not interrupt him and as he spoke she was glad she didn't. The assistant Captain didn't think she deserved the spot and her heart fell. Why didn't I tell them what happened?! she asked herself, wanting to hit herself on the head for it, but deciding that was a bad idea, she turned to him once more. She nodded when he said that he could see she wasn't feeling well and smiled a small smile his way when he said he'd given her the benefit of the doubt and took last year into account when he gave her the spot. She nodded again when he said he wanted to make something clear to her. "Anything..." She said softly. The Pecari was not one to speak softly, but in this case it was important that she do just that.
"Yes Jose. I will. I'm really-" she started, but he went on and she stopped talking so that she could hear him.
"You are d*** lucky, I knew that spell and was looking the right way when you fainted." She swallowed her saliva as she heard him swear. He nodded and asked her what she wanted to say.
"I know. And I'm very thankful." she said as she tried to work out what she wanted to say in her head before speaking it. "I, uhm... wanted to apologize for not telling you what happened over the summer. I really was going to and then someone else walked up to you and then I was going to try again, but you blew the whistle and-" she paused, head starting to hurt a little bit. "And I didn't want to be left behind. I thought I was feeling fine and I really thought that I could do it. I really did."
The redhead pulled in a deep breath and looked back to her lap a second before turning back up to Jose. "I was trying to see how much I could practice over the summer and one day I got so mad I just flew. I went higher and higher until I couldn't see anything anymore. The air changed and I lost my breath. I passed out and fell. Woke up hours later in the hospital. They told me I hit my head real bad and that there was a big bump there. There was that and it was really ugly to look at. There was definitely a point there where I thought I was going to die. The doctors say that I'm likely to get major headaches and that they were almost sure I had post traumatic headaches. I didn't want to believe them." she said, closing her eyes tightly as her cheeks blanched. She hated revealing herself to anyone, much less the older boy. But she knew it had to happen. Or there was a chance that she would lose his respect. That was the one thing she didn't want.
"I'm really sorry I didn't tell you before, I know I should have." she said as she looked into his eyes to see what he thought. She tried to read him, but she wasn't sure what was going through his head. "Please forgive me." she said, hoping beyond all hopes that he would and that her telling him what had really happened didn't make him rethink his decision.