Kaylie and Lauren are best friends. They do everything together and are always there to support each other on the road to the Olympics. They might fight but in the end they were meant to be best friends, or maybe more? Feelings have always been between the two, but neither one has been willing to face it. But that's about to change.
I'm going by the storyline partially, but not every event will be used. And I'm saying in advance that I love practically all the characters in the show but when I'm portraying Lauren it might not seem like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Make It Or Break It.
Kaylie's name is called for beam. She'll be great, like always Lauren Tanner thinks to herself. She's trying to forget how Kaylie's arms had trembled when she was on bars, right before she fell to the ground. She was just nervous, Lauren tries to convince herself. But if she's really being honest, Lauren knows that something's wrong with Kaylie. And she thinks she knows what, too. Kaylie's routine begins ordinarily but then she pauses and starts to wobble. Lauren's heart is about to beat out of her chest. Austin Tucker is walking onto the mat but Lauren doesn't notice. Not until Kaylie passes out, into his arms, and Lauren's breathe stops in her throat. She lunges forward, followed by Payson, Emily, and Sasha. Kaylie's parents rush forward. An ambulance is called. Lauren can't think clearly. The only word running through her mind is Kaylie.
Lauren shakes her head, bringing her back to the present. It would do no use running that day through her head over and over again. She tries to forget about Kaylie, but that task becomes impossible as she gets out of her car and walks past Kaylie's parking space. She almost expects Kaylie to pull her silver convertible in the parking lot any second now. She almost stops to wait for her so they could walk in together, like the old days. It becomes even more impossible when Lauren walks into the Rock and sees the beam, the beam she used to love, the beam where Kaylie collapsed on. Lauren looks around the gym. Everyone is so upset over Sasha leaving. But Sasha wasn't the one who was sent to the hospital for starvation. He wasn't the one that could've, that almost did, die. He wasn't everyone's friend, the one who would walk into the Rock with a smile on her face and give everyone a compliment. So why was everyone so upset about him leaving and could care less about Kaylie being away at rehab.
"Hey Lauren," Payson greets me glumly as I walk up to her and Emily. They are two of the idiots concerned about Sasha and not about their so called best friend.
"Hey, have you guys heard from Kaylie?" Lauren asks, trying to hide her eagerness. She was never one for small talk. She likes to get straight to the point. Payson and Emily gently shake their heads. I doubt they even tried to call her, Lauren thinks to herself.
"Great," is all Lauren says before turning and marching toward the vault.
Kaylie sits in at the dinner table in rehab, not paying attention to the discussions going on at the table. She didn't belong here. She needed to be small to be an elite gymnast, to be the national champion, to be perfect.
"Kaylie." One of the doctors from the end of the table calls. Kaylie looks up and does what she does best, put on a fake smile and in her sweetest voice possible says, "Yes?"
"Don't forget to eat," she says gently, nodding toward Kaylie's untouched salad.
"Right," Kaylie says, her fake smile still plastered on her face, and she picks up her fork.
All Kaylie can seem to think about is the Rock, Payson, Emily, Sasha, and Lauren. Mostly Lauren, but what can you expect? They're best friends. Kaylie knows that without Sasha the Rock has to be in bad shape. And Payson with that kissing scandal? And then Sasha just leaving has to be hard on everyone. Emily got arrested for stealing? And Lauren. Her mom died, but she still competed. Kaylie admired her strength, as well as other things about Lauren's character. I hope she's okay. I hope everyone's okay. Even though she's in here supposed to be thinking about helping herself, all she can concern herself with is everyone else. But what can she say? She's always put everyone else above herself. And she always put Lauren above everyone else. And the sooner I get out of here, the sooner I can be there for her, help her, comfort her. I mean Lauren's my best friend. I should be there for her whenever she needs me. And I would be but I'm trapped in this prison and I can't even call!
Lauren begins her tumbling pass on floor. She goes into the first flip and then BAM! She lands hard on the mat. Damn it! She stalks off the mat and over to the water fountain where Emily, Payson, and Austin are standing. What could they be talking about?
"Hey guys. What's going on?" Lauren watches them turn to stare at her.
"Just talking about Kaylie," Austin answers briefly. Of course you are. For some reason, Lauren's never liked Austin and he never seemed to like her. Maybe she hated the way he looked at Kaylie, the way he obviously liked her, the way he tried to get close to her. Kaylie's my best friend and I don't want that scumbag to hurt her. Or take her away from. Nobody can take Kaylie away from me.
"Any news?" she asks, trying to play it cool, like she doesn't care and she's pretty darn good at it.
"No. They won't let her call or anything." Emily responds, seeming worried.
Lauren wants to tell Emily that she knows they won't let Kaylie call because Lauren's been calling every day and leaving a message just in case Kaylie picks up the phone and even if she never does, at least she'll have all the messages from Lauren and will know how much Lauren loves and cares about her. Lauren wants to tell Emily that she has no right to worry about Kaylie because she didn't know her as long as Lauren did and wasn't as close to her as Lauren was. She wants Emily that she has no idea what worried is because Emily isn't googling anorexia and talking to Kaylie's doctors on the phone, weeks after Kaylie was released just to make sure Kaylie would be okay, that no severe damage was done. Kaylie was Lauren's best friend, not Emily's , and she always would be.
"Why would she call you anyway? It's not like you guys were even that close," Lauren goes for a snarky comment rather than what she really wants to say because she knows if she starts really talking, she'll start crying and never stop. Even thinking about it brings tears to Lauren's eyes. Before another thing about Kaylie can be said and before Lauren loses it, she turns and stalks away.