DISCLAMER: I DO NOT OWN MIOBI. I wish I did. If I did Payson and Sasha would have gotten together and Lauren kicked off the team after the who Emily falling. All I own is the plot. This is my very first MIOBI story. Please no FLAMMERS! You will be ignored. Criticize sure but be respectful. Thank you to my Beta. Artemis GoH. So please enjoy and review.


Marty stepped out onto the platform outside his office, overlooking all the gymnasts under his watch as a coach. He looked at his elite boys and girls; Kaylie Cruz, Lauren Tanner, and Payson Keeler. Each high ranked on every apparatus, especially Payson. She was ranked number one on all of them. Marty was always surprised when Payson made top scores. He shouldn't have been, with all the extra hours she trained. If only all of his gymnasts had her dedication.

Kaylie had the power, and her dad to push her to do her best. She was an amazing athlete; strong lines, a talent for flair, and she had the drive. Her parents helped a lot with that, her mom being a retired musician and her dad an Olympic baseball player. Both of them were supportive of the intense lifestyle Kaylie had chosen.

Lauren was another story entirely. She was always hit and miss. Drama usually made Lauren miss routines that she should and could be landing if she were focused. No matter how often Marty offered to stay late to help her nail the routines, just like he did for the others, she would decline. It was clear that boys were more important to her than gymnastics. He thought it was a shame, since he knew that if she focused more on her gymnastics she could easily be ranking up with Payson and Kaylie.

Austin... Well Austin can be hard to read sometimes. Marty could see himself in the boy but at the same time could also see his old rival as well. Sasha Belvo, was in that boy too. His realness, the emotions that come through in his routines sometimes scares Marty not that he will ever admit to it. He often thought about calling Sasha for advice on the young man. But that was a can of warms he didn't want to re-open again. Too much history there.

"Alright girls gather around please." Marty yelled once he saw all the girls safely on the gym floor and not in a position where they could fall if he startled them.

They all gathered around the steps in confusion. It was only noon, they weren't supposed to leave for lunch until 2 o'clock. Payson was worried that something was wrong since Marty was the type of coach who let them have their own time to work on their routines and try and fix the problems on their own so that they feel like they can actually be adults and not children even when they all were barely 16.

"Okay ladies and gentlemen. Great practices today. It's time to call it a day. I want you all to go home and relax for the next 2 days. Rest your bodies and then come back and be ready to nail every one of your routines with perfect accuracy. So you all get out of here." Marty said watching all but one girl and one boy run off to the locker rooms.

"Payson and Austin, what am I going to do with you two? " Marty asked knowing that the two were always trying to stay later than what was needed.

"Why are we really being let go to go home early?" They both asked at the same time. All three of them laughed

"Because all of you need the break. I fear if some of them don't take a break and get their heads out of the clouds about girls they can't have and boys they can't have, something bad will happen. I know the both of you do as I say and focus on your work but not everyone does. Payson you are like Nastia like that and I hate to admit this Austin but you are like an old friend of mine. Both focused and both driven, but you still need to rest or something bad will happen." Marty said coming down the stairs.

"Fine, Marty, I'll take a break, but I'm still going to do my running if that's okay?" Payson asked with a small smile on her face.

"That's fine. I know you hate this Payson but you need it," Marty said giving her a hug.

"Don't worry Payson, I'll join you on the run too. Can't have my partner running alone" Austin said with a wink.

"Okay, now go change and get out of here." Marty said pushing them towards the locker rooms.

"Be out in a minute and I'll give you a ride home," Austin said, heading to the locker room.

"Okay, thanks Austin," Payson said doing the same.

Once showered and dressed, she headed out to wait for Austin. After a few minutes he came out of the men's locker room.

"Ready Pay?" Austin asked coming over to her.

"No but yeah. You bring Lolita today?" Payson asked knowing it was a warm sunny day.

"Yeah. You cool with riding on her?" Austin asked walking up to his bike and handing her his spare helmet.

"Yep, I haven't in a while. It'll be nice with the warm weather, for a change." Payson said climbing on after him.

Austin cranked the bike and headed out, passing most of the gymnasts who were still just hanging out outside the gym before going their separate ways.

"I can't believe she is going behind Marty's no dating rule, and with him of all people." Lauren said with a smirk thinking she had something on Payson the do-gooder.

"Lo you don't know that they're dating. Payson wouldn't do that. And neither would Austin. They are way too focused on their gymnastics to have a relationship. Their relationship is gymnastics, you know that," Kaylie said, opening her car door and setting her bag down.

"Whatever you say Kay." Lauren said putting her bag in her car as well.

"Wanna hit the mall later? Saw some amazing deals the other day." Lauren asked.

"Sure I'll meet you there" Kaylie said cranking her car and leaving.

Austin and Payson rode up to her house, where Becca was sitting on the porch swing. When she heard the roar of the bike she knew that Payson was home. Even though her parents hated the fact they that she would ride on such a dangerous thing, they couldn't say Austin wasn't a good driver. Kim, their mom, rode with Austin just to make sure he was safe. After they talked about it, they finally agreed to let Payson ride with Austin. But only Payson; Becca had to wait until she was 17. She didn't like that one bit.

Austin pulled into the driveway and Payson got off the bike. She took off her helmet and hugged Austin in thanks. He nodded and then backed slowly out of their driveway, and headed home. Payson headed up to the porch and saw Becca on the swing.

"Your sooo lucky, I want to ride" Becca said with a frown as they headed inside.

"Don't worry Becca. 17 will come before you know it." Payson said, setting the helmet on the bench next to the door. She removed her shoes and jacket then headed into the kitchen for some water.

"Hey mom. Marty let us go early. Something about resting. But I can still run, thankfully," Payson said, sitting at the bar.

"Yes, Becca said something about the gym closing for the next two days when she called me earlier. Well, good. You girls need some rest. Yes, even you Pay. Now go fully shower, dinner will be ready soon" Kim said, cutting some vegetables for dinner.

"Okay fine" Payson said giving her mom a kiss on the check and doing as she was told.

Once she had showered and dressed, she grabbed her computer and checked her email. Most of it was junk like always. But there was an email from Kelly Parker. Most people though they hated each other. Well most people did. All but her family and Austin, who most people thought she was dating but really he was just her best friend. Sure she had Kaylie and Lauren but Austin was someone who would let her be herself and not judge, plus have her back no matter what. Marty knew about the close relationship they had. They all let people think they were dating, even after they were told multiple times they weren't. Marty knew about the running joke and didn't care because he knew they weren't dating just really close friends. On occasion he would yell at them about it just to make themselves laugh later.

To: Pay Bar Queen

From; True Twin Devil

Hey Pay,

Hope training is going well. How's your knee? Training here is a drag. The coaches here are wanting to go cookie cutter on my routines. Yeah right! I don't do that. They know this by now. Ugh, I wish I could fully come train with you, which would be epic! I get to see my real family and train! Plus it would get me away from my mother. She wants me to go to photo shoots more than train. I just don't get it. I miss your family plus Austin. We rarely get to see each other with Marty's training. But I know he will be amazing next time I see him perform. Also love that you let everyone think you're together. It makes my day. Lol. Maybe I will call Marty and see if I can come and fully train with him. If he says yes, can I stay with you like I always do when I come and hide from everyone? OH BTW I found this website you must check out. It's all about gymnastics and for gymnasts too. Here is the link. I'm already on there. Add me when you create a profile.

TwinHorns

Haha thought it fit me you know?

TTyl

KP

Payson opened the site into another tab to look at later.

Hey Kel,

I'm doing well, so is the family. Becca's been a pain like always, getting into my stuff, trying to like the moves I do. Which are way too mature for her. I know she is just doing it for fun but she needs to stay in her age range of moves. Lol. I would love for you to come stay with us! Talk to Marty about the move, I'm sure he would love for you to move here and train with us. God knows he needs some girls he can count on nailing scores we need to make it to the National Team. I'll talk to him tomorrow after practice. Plus I know Austin will love the fact that you might come here. I know he's missed you.

I'll check out the site after dinner. Thanks girl.

Miss you.

Ttyl

PK

Payson sent the email back and headed downstairs to help her mom with dinner.

Sitting the table, she thought about what she would do with her two days off from practice. She didn't have a clue. As her mom set the food on the table her dad walked through the door. He hung up his coat and put his shoes away.

"Right on time, I see" Mark said, sitting at the table.

"Like always. How was work?" Kim asked, placing a glass of tea near him.

"It was good. Busy but good. How were your days?" Mark asked, fixing his plate.

"Most of my day was uneventful until Becca called me to come get them early from practice. Marty ended it early and gave them 2 days off." Kim said

"Why would he do that with Nationals so close?" Mark asked.

"He said that we all need some time to rest before something happen. Me and Austin asked him after he made the announcement. Neither one of us like the break, but we'll do as Marty says. He said we can still do our runs though, so me and Austin will meet at his house and do a run down Devil's Hill and the park. Can I use the car this week during the morning and maybe evening?" Payson asked to her parents.

"We'll discuss it and let you know" Kim said

"Okay, thanks." Payson got up from the table and put her dish in the dishwasher.

"Dinner was good mom. I'm going to head upstairs if that's okay?" Payson asked, trying to give her parents some time to themselves.

"That's fine Pay, Becca if you're done you can go too," Mark said, smiling at his girls.

"Thanks," Becca said running back up the stairs.

Payson entered her room and opened her computer. She opened the tab with the website Kelly had sent her. From what she saw she knew she would love this site. She quickly made a profile. It asked for a screen name. That stopped her for a minute. Then she thought of 3TimesGold '92. She used her middle name and her mom's maiden name. She a picture of the purple leo she always wore, but made sure her face didn't show. She added Kelly to her friends list, then she started to surf the site. She came across a chat-room, which looked interesting she saw some people were yelling at one person about their view on who they thought would be on the Olympic Team. She decided to private message the person.

3TimesGold'92: Hi how are you? I completely agree with your choices on the Men's Olympic team. Well almost agree. There is one person I would remove.

Romaina3Gold: Hello. Really? Who would you remove if you could choose someone to remove from my list?

3TimesGold'92: I would remove Carter Anderson. I don't think he has the drive, and that would pull the team's points down.

Romaina3Gold: Wow when you say it like that. You're right, he doesn't have the drive to win. Who do you think for the women's team?

3TimesGold'92: That's a hard one. So many talented women out there. But I would have to say Nastia Lukin, Payson Keller, Kelly Parker and Kaylie Cruz.

As soon as Payson pressed enter she hoped that no one would ever see this chat. She knew some girls would be pissed that they weren't on the list, namely Lauren. But in her opinion she just didn't have the drive.

Romaina3Gold: All good girls. Not for sure about Kaylie Cruz. She needs more focus and drive but does pull good numbers.

They chat a few more hours about random things. Who they wish they could meet. She wanted to meet her coach's old best friend, Sasha Belov, also one of the best male gymnasts to beat her coach. He wanted to be able to pick a young lady's brain about why she trains so much, and was perfect. He wanted to meet Payson Keeler. Little did they know that they were talking to each other. Payson wanted to say something but she knew she couldn't. Something about this person was pulling her in and she didn't want it to stop. The other person was thinking the same thing. Sasha hadn't felt like this in a while. When he saw she was training under Marty, he got really curious about who he was talking to. From what Marty had told him about his gymnasts he knew it wasn't Lauren and was thankful for that, but that still left a huge gap on who it could be.

Payson looked at the clock and saw it was late.

3TimesGold'92: wow we have been talking for hours. I have to go. Training in the morning. I'll message you later. Night

Romaina3Gold: Okay sure talk to you later. Don't train to hard. Night

Payson closed her computer crawled under the covers. She made sure her alarms were set for tomorrow and laid down for the night, thinking about the other person she was talking to. She just couldn't believe how well she got along with another gymnast. There were only a few who could understand what she goes through and Romaina3Gold could. Now she wanted to get to know them better. Payson closed her eyes and dreamed of the Olympics.