Late on Monday evenings, the Rock was a completely different place than it was during the afternoons. No elite gymnasts roamed the gym. The beam and bars were empty. The young girls on the floor were wearing shorts and tank-tops rather than leotards. The hardest trick being thrown was a back handspring. To Summer Van Horne, the differences were disturbing. After being surrounded by the elite girls all day, watching the evening basic classes was like entering the twilight zone.
Normally Summer and Kim did not stay for the evening classes; they left when Payson and Lauren went home for the day. This week, however, they were planning for the next Rock event, a publicity exhibition to garner positive attention for the Rock girls before the next Nationals. The co-managers were staying late to work on the guest list, while Payson sat on the office couch doing her Calculus homework.
Summer was secretly impressed by Payson's school work. The other girls were working on Algebra II, the highest required math in the state of Colorado, but Summer knew that once a week Kim paid someone from the college to come in and tutor Payson in advanced math and science. Summer was also pretty sure that none of Payson's teammates knew that her school work was more advanced than theirs.
Kim interrupted Summer's musings, asking about the invitations for the news media. "Sasha wants invitations sent to ESPN and Universal Sports, do you have the right addresses in your rolodex? "
Summer snorted. "Yeah, but does he really think the big names will come to a gym gala? I mean, I know he has connections in the sport, but, really, the world does not revolve around Sasha Belov."
"Mine does." Payson said, glancing up from her place on the couch. It was a casual comment, an aside thrown in between two math problems, and Payson obviously didn't expect a response.
Summer was shocked by the nonchalance with which Payson said something of such enormity. She opened up her mouth to reprimand her but Kim indicated, with quick but significant eye contact, that she would handle it. Summer was relieved. Kim was a great mother, but she didn't often take the responsibility to point out the consequences of Payson's actions. More than once Summer had worried about the moral implications of Kim's lack of discipline.
"I think his world revolves pretty solely around you, too, honey." Kim pressed a kiss on the top of Payson's head as she said it, and they shared a small smile before Payson went back to her homework. Summer's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe that Kim would actually encourage that kind of behavior in her teenage daughter when she should have been chastising her instead.
Summer sent up a quick prayer for a moment alone with Kim. She knew she needed to address the situation, but didn't want to do it in front of Payson. Payson should respect her mother; she didn't need to hear Kim's judgment questioned. Thankfully, Sasha chose that moment to come into the office.
"Summer, do you have the roster for the pre-school class? I can never remember those tikes' names." She would never understand how Sasha could remember the degree of difficulty on each apparatus for every gymnast at the Rock, but couldn't manage the names of 10 four-year-olds. It was simultaneously infuriating and adorable, as was the way he was rummaging around his desk for the paper that she had clearly labeled and filed away in the proper place.
As she handed him the roster, Sasha smiled his thanks and then turned to Payson. "Do you want to help with the little ones? The kid with the curly hair…Jane? Jenny?... was asking if you were coming this week."
"Jenna," Payson corrected laughingly, "Her name is Jenna. You should remember her, she's ridiculously talented. I think she'll be an elite when she gets older."
They walked out of the office, joking about the toddlers as they headed back to the gym floor. Summer was thankful that an opportunity to be alone with Kim had presented itself so quickly. As soon as she was sure Payson and Sasha were out of earshot, Summer turned to her friend.
"Kim, how could you encourage that kind of behavior in Payson?" She tried to keep her voice neutral, and she winced when she heard a little bit of censure in her voice. Well, at least Kim would know how she felt about the situation.
"What?" Kim was either a very good actress or she genuinely didn't understand. Confusion was written all over her face. "Summer, what are you talking about?"
"What Payson said, about her world revolving around Sasha. Kim, she shouldn't be saying things like that! Or thinking them, either. I mean, she's seventeen, she shouldn't be defining herself based on someone else. Nobody's world should revolve around another human being, it's not healthy." She couldn't believe that Kim didn't understand this already.
Kim still looked perplexed. "I'm sorry, Summer, but I just don't agree with you. I don't think that there is anything wrong with Payson feeling that way. I think it's normal. Before I had the kids, my world revolved around Mark. Now it revolves around all three of them."
Summer decided to ignore the major point of disagreement between them. She considered Kim one of her closest friends, and she didn't want to risk that friendship by pointing out how wrong Kim's beliefs were. Instead, she would focus on the logical flaw in what Kim said rather than the moral one. "But Kim, Mark is your husband. Sasha isn't Payson's husband, he is her coach."
"Exactly. Sasha is her coach. He is the person she spends every single day with, the person that has seen her at her best and worst, the person to whom she literally trusts her life. Who better to center her life around than her coach?" Kim was in earnest. Summer could tell by the emotion in her voice that Kim really believed what she was saying. She had always believed Kim to be such a good, sensible mother. This was incredibly worrisome.
"But Kim, even if you believe that, if you think that it is okay for her to feel that way about Sasha, which I still can't agree with… even then, why would you lie to her like that? Why would you tell her that Sasha's world revolved around her? Kim, I just can't believe you would tell her something like that."
"I wasn't lying, Summer." Kim looked shocked at the suggestion, and possibly a little offended. "Come here," she asked, walking over to the window overlooking the gym. She waited until Summer was beside her. "Look at them. Sasha adores Payson. He left to protect her. He came back because he couldn't stand for Payson to think he was a coward. He would do anything to protect her, to make her happy. I don't think Sasha even realizes it yet, but sometime over the past year Payson became the most important thing in the world to him."
Down below them, Payson and Sasha were working with the little girls. Both were on their knees, spotting a toddler as they did cartwheels, but they weren't even looking at the children. The two adults were chatting with each other across the mat, assisting the toddlers in their tumbles by sheer instinct. Sasha said something that made Payson laugh, then preened with pride at having made her smile. Despite being surrounded by several four-year-olds, the scene look intimate. They looked in love.
Summer finally saw what Kim was talking about. How had she missed this? She felt like a fool; she had been hoping to rekindle her relationship with him, and here he was in love with a child instead.
"And you're okay with this? She's seventeen and he's thirty!"
"Sasha is a good man, Summer. How could I not want Payson to be with someone like him? Especially when they make each other so happy. Besides, nothing has happened yet. If I had to bet, I'd say nothing will happen for a few more years. They are both so concentrated on the Olympics. But, eventually, I expect Sasha for a son-in-law. And that will be a happy day for our whole family, not just for them." Kim's eyes glistened with unshed tears.
Summer could barely believe that so much had changed in one short conversation. She was humiliated. She was angry. She was disappointed. She had invested so much time and so much of her heart in Sasha, all for nothing. He wasn't going to change. She should have known that someone as stubborn and proud as Sasha would never humble himself to live by her standards.
"Well, I guess that's good, if you all feel that way about it," Summer said grudgingly, "But this is a dangerous game, Kim. I hope that, in the end, you don't regret letting this happen." Suddenly the words tasted bitter on her tongue. She felt bitter. She realized with horror that she did want Kim to regret this. She wanted them all to regret it. She wanted Sasha to regret falling in love with Payson instead of her, and she wanted Payson to regret loving him in return.
Because, suddenly, Summer Van Horne realized that her world revolved around Sasha Belov, too.
A/N: Wow, Summer's head is a scary place to be. It's so hypocritical in there. But this just popped into my head and insisted to be written. I have no real plans to continue it past a oneshot, but I have a class that I hate on Fridays, so who knows.
Please let me know what you think. This is my first published fanfic, so I need feedback. Let me know if it is good or if it sucked or whatever.