Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Make it or Break it.

Chapter 3: Surprises

"Austin Tucker?" Payson asked. Nicky nodded. "Austin Tucker… my ex…?" Nicky nodded, again.

"Let me see this." Payson snatched the newspaper from Nicky's hands.

"Geez! You could have asked… you didn't have to snatch it." Payson ignored him, scrutinizingly reading over the article about the Rock and Denver, finding out that it is, in fact, true.

Payson stood there in loss for words. She didn't know what to say. She was angry, confused, and shocked. The last time she saw Austin was before he went to Italy. He left her so heart broken, and she was still angry with him for that. She never wanted to see him again, or even hear his name, which is now inevitable.

"Payson?" Nicky raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"

Payson snapped out of her thoughts. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Nicky paused. "I mean, he's just an ex, right? Besides, you two only dated for a year."

Payson sighed. She never told Nicky how serious their relationship was, even though it was only a year. She never felt the need to tell him, leaving him under the impression that it was just a long fling.

"You're right. It's no big deal. He's just an ex."

…..

Three days later, the new Denver Elite finally opened. Payson decided to come to the grand opening to support Nicky. They were there very early to set some things up, such as banners and extra mats.

"I think there is one more banner left, Nicky." Payson said, walking into Nicky's office.

"Alright, cool. Thanks Payson for setting up all the decorations, too."

Payson smiled. "No problem. It's the least I can do."

"Alright. Be careful while putting the last banner up, though, it's supposed to go pretty high up on the wall."

"Don't worry Nicky. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." Payson said while walking out of Nicky's office.

As Payson was hanging up the banner on the wall, she heard the main door open. She looked at her watch. She wondered who else would be here this early in the morning. She then remembered about Jessica, the assistant coach. Wanting to meet the assistant for the first time, Payson stepped off the ladder. When she got off and turned around to look at the person walking out from the door, she realized that it wasn't the assistant coach. It was Kelly. Kelly Parker.

…..

Austin walked into the Rock for the first time since the renovations he made were fully completed. It was almost a completely different Rock, anybody with eyes could still tell it was the Rock, but it definitely was not the same. A rush of memories came back as he looked around; the first day he started to train here, when he started to date Kaylie, and of course, when he fell in love with Payson. He shook his head, the last thing he needed right now was to reminisce about the past.

He opened the newspaper that was delivered to the Rock. He skimmed through the pages. He stopped when he got to the cartoons. Austin has never been a newspaper person, but when he did, he always enjoyed the cartoon section. He took a moment to laugh at the pointless cartoons before flipping through more pages, stopping at the Local section.

Austin read the article about the Rock and Denver stopping at a specific line: "Denver Elite, known to produce several elite gymnasts, was recently bought by Nicky Russo." Nicky Russo. The jerk who is dating Payson, so he has heard. He angrily dropped the newspaper back on the ground, before walking back into the Rock.

While he walked back into the gym, he heard a voice. "Hey Austin!" The man and woman assistant coaches exclaimed while walking into the gym together.

Austin decided to also coach alone, but to hire two assistant coaches, Kevin and Michelle. He was convinced that they had a secret thing going on, even though they claimed they were just friends.

"Hey Kevin. Hey Michelle." Austin eyed them suspiciously. "Funny that you two show up at the same time, together."

Kevin and Michelle exchanged glances with each other.

"We uhm-" Kevin looked at Michelle, signaling for her to save him.

"We decided, you know, to car pool!" Michelle said. Kevin smiled and nodded.

"Yeah! Go global warming prevention!" Kevin added.

"Alright… if you say so" Austin laughed. This was going to be a long ride.

….

"Kelly Parker… what are you doing here?"

"I'm the new assistant coach, duh." Kelly paused. "Where's Nicky?"

"In his office, but wait a minute. You are not the assistant coach, Nicky told me her name was Jessica…"Something then clicked into Payson's mind. Could Nicky have lied to her?

"Hmm… looks like your little boyfriend lied to you. I thought a relationship was supposed to be about trust, not about lies."

Payson frowned, she knew that Kelly was just trying to mess with her head, but she was starting to realize that Kelly was right.

"Excuse me, Kelly." Payson said angrily walking to Nicky's office.

"Nicky!" Payson yelled, as she opened his office door.

"Yeah? Is something wrong." Nicky asked worried.

Payson closed the office door. "No, only that!" She pointed to Kelly.

Nicky looked to where he was pointing to. "I don't know-"

"Cut the crap, Nicky. I know you lied."

"Look, Payson, I'm sorry."

"Did you really think I would never find out?"

"I was going to tell you…"

"When? When were you going to tell me that this "Jessica girl" is actually Kelly Parker?" Payson paused. "You know we don't get along!"

"And that's why I held off telling you."

Payson rolled her eyes. "You know I thought I was able to trust you. I guess not." She said while walking out of the door.

"Where are you going?" Nicky yelled.

"That is none of your business."

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed that chapter. Austin is back, finally! He and Payson will finally meet up at some point, I just don't know when. Please review! It motivates me to update sooner. So, Review, Review, Review! Watch out for Chapter 4!