Disclaimer: Don't own "Make It or Break It," any musical references, or any other references unless otherwise noted.

A/N: Hey! I'm glad you all enjoyed the first chapter of "Intervention," I was really excited by all of the reviews and everything. This chapter is actually the one that gave me the idea to write this, this conversation popped into my head and I just went from there. I appreciate everyone taking the time to read and tell me what they think, and hopefully you guys can continue with that! Enjoy! =)

Payson's head spun around at the sound of her name, and laid eyes on someone who was both one of her best friends and her worst enemies at the moment. Kaylie Cruz stood less than ten feet away from Payson with an expression of surprise etched onto her face. Standing behind her were Payson's other two best friends, Emily Kmetko and Lauren Tanner, wearing similar expressions of shock. "Pay?!?" Kaylie exclaimed again, obviously doubting what she had just witnessed.

"Kaylie," Payson muttered. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out schmoozing the press with Nicky? You know as well as I do that the public can't get enough of 'Kaylicky'." She put as much venom as possible into the last word, hoping it hurt Kaylie to hear as much as it hurt her to say.

Kaylie's face fell as Payson's words sunk in, giving Payson a mixture of satisfaction and regret. "Payson, what's wrong?" The concern was obvious in Kaylie's tone. "Oh, my gosh. Have you been drinking?" Despite Payson's best efforts to hide her cup from Kaylie's view, she had forgotten about the other girls, something she wanted to kick herself for after Lauren ran up and grabbed it triumphantly.

"Oh my gosh, it smells like beer!" Lauren exclaimed. "Payson, what are you doing? You don't do stuff like this, what's going on?"

Payson snorted in disbelief and responded, "What do you care, Lo? You're 'Kaylicky's' biggest fan, you don't care about who gets hurt as long as Kaylie's with Nicky and you have a clear shot at Carter. So please, Lauren, spare me your sympathy. You really don't care about me, so just stuff it."

Lauren took a step backwards, obviously disarmed by Payson's attack. The look Kaylie shot her showed that the two of them would have some serious talking to do later, but for now their focus was on their other best friend. Emily, however, took the dismantling of Lauren to be a sign that it was her turn to step in and attempt to reason with Payson.

"Pay, for once I have to agree with Lauren, you DON'T do stuff like this. And," she continued as Payson opened her mouth to argue, "I haven't done anything to you, so this 'you don't care' stuff isn't going to fly. Please, Pay, just tell us what's wrong. We're your friends; we're here to help you!" Emily finished with a pleading look at the former champion.

Payson stopped to think about how to reply to Emily. She raised a valid point, she hadn't done anything to hurt Payson and she was deserving of an explanation. However, Payson didn't want to give that explanation in front of two people she had just deemed not worthy of hearing one. Stuck with this conundrum, she was pleasantly surprised when Ike, whom she had forgotten was there, interceded on her behalf.

"Hey Gumby girls, back off! Get off Payson's case; she doesn't have to answer to you." Ike, although in a very sloppy state, was coherent enough to follow the conversation. Well, as much as anyone who hadn't been a Rock girl or had any knowledge of the gymnastics world could comprehend. He was obviously confused by the "Kaylicky" comment and had absolutely no idea of the history between Lauren and Carter, but his defense was enough to give Payson time to think.

Lauren, of course, was the first one to respond. "Who the hell are you? Do you even know what's going on here? Unless you know all of the details, I'd recommend you keep your drunk ass out of this!"

The response came swiftly and, in true Ike fashion, both stung the opposition and got the point across: "Chill out, blondie. Don't waste any mental energy thinking, we wouldn't want you to hurt yourself." Oblivious to Lauren's affronted look, he continued on, "You're kinda crashing a private party here. I don't think you were invited, so you need to leave."

Kaylie laughed and said, "A 'private party'? This is public property, which means we have just as much right to be here as you do! And seriously, if getting wasted in a park is your idea of a party, you've got some issues." She crossed her arms smugly across her chest in a gesture of triumph that made Payson seethe.

"Hey Kaylie, remember 'Blast Off?'" Payson shot back. "What do you think that was? It definitely wasn't your parents' little country club ball, and you got ridiculously drunk anyway." Kaylie looked shocked as Payson carried on, obviously on a roll now. "Please, Kay, do you really think I forgot about that kegger? You were completely wasted and almost barfed all over both your brother's car and me. You're really in no position to criticize me or tell me to stop drinking after your little… display."

Kaylie retorted, "That was a one-time thing! Believe me; I learned my lesson after Sasha's torture session the day after! You, however… Payson, we get it. You've lost everything you've ever wanted, and it's killing you. But Pay, you don't seem to get our side of the story. It kills us to see you upset and angry and everything you never were. You're still our friend, and it hurts us to see you doing this to yourself."

All of the anger and rage that Payson had held inside was finally uncorked in a barrage of words filled to the top with emotion. "Kaylie, you DON'T get it! None of you get it! No matter what comparisons you try to make, nothing can even BEGIN to compare to what I'm going through. No matter how much you try to say it could have been worse, I don't believe it. There is NOTHING that could be worse than this. NOTHING worse than watching your best friends live their dreams while yours is dead. NOTHING worse than watching as the girl you've known since you were little takes everything that should belong to you: the medal, the glory, the guy!" Payson paused quickly for a breath, but her friends were too shell-shocked to even consider seizing the opportunity to respond.

"And I severely doubt that it kills you to see me upset," Payson spat. "I kind of doubt that you even feel sorry about what happened at all. If I hadn't fallen, I would have kicked Kaylie's ass, bumped Lauren down to fifth, and knocked Emily off of the team altogether. Face it, you're HAPPY I fell!"

"Payson, that's not true and you know it!" Emily cried out. "True, if you would have landed that routine, you would have knocked me off the team for sure. But you know what? If that had been the case then it would have meant that I wasn't good enough to be on it, that you deserved the spot more than I did. And I would have been okay with that, because that's how it should be: the best girls make the team. Payson, I know you're better than me! You're better than all of us!"

Payson laughed sardonically and said, "You're missing a key word there, Em: WAS. I was better than you, I was better than all of you! But that doesn't seem to apply anymore, does it? I'm never going to be able to compete again, and that means that you're better than ME now!"

Emily sighed. "Payson, I wasn't just talking about gymnastics. I meant as a person, too. Pay, you are the most morally upright person I know. You're the embodiment of focus and dedication and persistence, and though it might not seem like that continued after your fall, it has. You showed all of us that we need to put our entire self into our sport, that we need to train like champions and act like champions if we ever wanted to be the champion. So why are you doing this?"

The reply came swiftly and brutally: "Because I'm not perfect! You three seem to think that I'm the only one who doesn't make mistakes, that I'm somehow incapable of screwing up. You're right, I was dedicated and focused, but that's because gymnasts are supposed to be! Looking back now, though, I realize that maybe that was my mistake: maybe dedicating everything to gymnastics was wrong. I should've just had an illicit affair with a teammate or slept with someone's boyfriend or worked at a job with coworkers who involved me in a love triangle! Maybe that was what I did wrong!"

Lauren, Kaylie, and Emily stood in stunned silence as Payson continued on, "Even though you guys were the more 'worldly' ones when we were training, I'm in the real world 24/7 now. And something I've learned is that your 'friends' are usually the first ones to stab you in the back. Oh wait, learned that at the Rock too!" She shook her head in disgust and finished, "Go back to the bubble. Go be sheltered and focused at the gym, make the National committee happy by waving in parades and signing autographs and landing double Arabians. That's where you belong. That's your world. This is mine now."

Payson turned to walk away, ready to leave the three shocked girls in her wake when she heard Kaylie yell, "I don't care what you say, Payson! This isn't you! Please, just leave with us. We can go to my house and watch all of those cheesy movies you say you hate but really secretly love. We can do anything you want to, Pay, just leave this stupid party and come with us!"

Whipping her head around so fast that it gave Ike whiplash from just watching it (or maybe that was the booze…), Payson retorted, "I'm NOT going with you. Nice try though. At least Emily put up a decent argument."

Melodramatic as ever, Lauren shouted, "We'll be back! Don't you doubt it!"

Payson laughed and walked away, attempting to put the girls in the past while at the same time trying desperately to believe that Lauren's statement wasn't a premonition of things yet to come.

A/N: So as you may or may not have noticed, I rather enjoy writing scenes where Payson goes off and flips out on people (read: Chapter 6 of "Heart of a Champion"), especially the girls. I do realize that this may be a little out-of-character for Payson (or maybe not, I can't decide), but if it is, we'll just chalk it up to the fact that she had been drinking. Let me know what you think by clicking that button down there and leaving a review! =)

Hey da Panda: catch the Peters reference there? =D