Do favors expire? That was the one thing I wondered as I paced back and forth in my room that night. Friday would be the NGO event, and I knew the mood of my date with Sasha would be entirely determined upon how that went for me and for the team. My parents didn't have plans to leave at that point, so I needed an out. I needed an escape plan with someone who wouldn't ask many questions. I really only had one option, but I knew I'd have to come clean about the whole thing.

"Hello?"

"Ava? It's Emily, please, don't hang up." A sigh would have been better than the nothing I got. "Look, I really need a favor, and, honestly, I need you."

It was really a done deal before I even finished. If there was only one thing I would ever know to be true, it was that Ava Hurley hated owing people anything, and she owed me big. I, by some sheer dumb luck and a lot of manipulating, made it so her dad never found out she was taken to the hospital to have her stomach pumped from alcohol poisoning. That was only a few weeks before everything went down with Danny, back when we were still the best of friends. We still would have been if I hadn't dropped off the face of the planet.

"You better start talking," she said in a low voice.

Ava's father was a senator from Delaware or New Hampshire or somewhere in the North East. When her mother passed away, he retired from politics, and they moved to Colorado. Enter my family. Dad convinced Mr. Hurley to join his campaign team, thus throwing Ava and I together for "play dates" and parties. It was a friendship of convenience, but it worked.

"I can't talk about it over the phone. Look, I have a meet in Denver this Friday. I need you to come up and watch, then take me away with you. I'll be out most of Friday night, but be back at your house to spend the night. My parents can't know about the going out part, okay?"

"Meet? So you're in gymnastics again? That's rich." I could practically hear the eye roll in her voice.

"Please, Ava. After I get back to your house Friday night, I will give you all the dirty details." I knew she couldn't resist my offer.

Ava was always the one thing that was mine. She wasn't involved in The Rock, and after her dad stopped working with mine a few years back, she didn't have anything to do with my parents. I could have really used a friend like that, so I determined I would do anything to get her back.

People didn't trust her a lot from looking at her. She had short, jet black hair, and there was a single streak that changed colors ever week. They didn't know that they were clip-ins because the hair was her one connection to her mother, and Ava wouldn't dare break that. Or that most of her ear piercings and the one eyebrow were also fakes because she was afraid of needles.

That week was more than rough. I was giddy about seeing Ava again, not as if I needed any more distractions. I was flawless in nearly everything that was the upside. The downside is that the better I seemed to be doing, the worse the rest of the girls did. Sasha had passed me off to an assistant coach, and while I pretended to be hurt, it really was for the best. I didn't need to have my stomach flipping when he walked by; it was doing enough of that at the thought of being in front of NGO officials for the first time in years. I needed to be consistent. Mostly consistent wouldn't cut it this time. I had to nail it every single time.

Vault was still my shaky point. I had a hop on my landing, and if not that, then a step. Sometimes the step was more than shoulder width apart, and that means the difference between a 3/10th and a 1/10th deduction. The more I thought about it thought, the more freaked out I got. Not only could Friday be the start point of my Olympic career. Every thought sent me into a spiral of panic that ended in a shaky vault landing and an immediate trip to the water cooler.

Come Thursday morning, Payson, Lauren, Kaylie, and I were at the doors of the Rock, hoping for one last tweaking practice just to fix the little things. Sasha backed us outside before we even made it out of the lobby.

"Absolutely not. If you don't have it by now, you won't. Go. This isn't a free ticket to party; this is me saying that you will rest and get ten hours of sleep tonight."

We all stood wide-eyed. The last, first NGO sanctioned even before Olympic trials and he was keeping us out. It wasn't just majorly important for me, but for the other girls. This was the last round of competitions to show that they deserved a chance at the Olympics too. Payson was shaking with anger, but she didn't dare open her mouth. The girls turned away slowly, as did I, but I turned back slightly.

"About Friday," I whispered, "I've got my part covered."

I hoped I was discrete enough. Sasha let the tension out of his brow, and gave a small smile and nod. I knew he was trying not to be too obvious. I nodded back and headed to my car. It was dawn on a Thursday morning, what was I going to do?

"What was that about?" Kaylie raised an eyebrow at me; she was poised, ready to slip into her car, but clearly had stopped to watch Sasha and me.

"I told him I thought I was ready for Friday," not completely a lie.

She eased her grip on the car door and flashed that Kaylie Cruz hundred watt smile. "Of course you are. You'll show the NGO what they've been missing without you. You're going to be good competition."

The rest of my day was spent munching on baby carrots and apple slices, whatever I could carry around as I paced the house. All I managed to do was pack a bag with cute clothes to change into quickly at Ava's house. Mom knew of my plans and was completely supportive for once. As it turned out, she and Dad were going to leave out early Saturday morning for another campaign city tour thing. They decided to take Livie with them since I would be out. I tried not to get too excited that all these pieces were falling into place.

I couldn't even concentrate on whatever Ryan Gosling movie Olivia picked out for us to watch on our relaxation night. My food was tasteless as usual and perfectly up to regulation with the nutritionists' guide. I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to sleep that night, but I must have worried myself into some kind of coma because I was out like a light.

There wasn't much to do the next morning when I woke up. Lauren was doing my hair once we got to Denver. We'd all agreed on some simple make-up, much to Lo's disappointment. None of the girls were allowed to ride with parents. Sasha rented out a bus for the roughly fifty minute drive. And he definitely used that time to his advantage. I never knew a pep talk could last so long. Payson was even bored after the first half hour.

It never occurred to me that Sasha might feel some pressure about this meet too. He did lead the American team to gold at World's. He has a certain amount o f momentum to keep up. That event was a bigger deal than any of us had originally anticipated.

I wish I could recall more about the first hour or so of competition, but I was coasting along. I was doing my best to stay out of my head. Our first rotation was vault, followed immediately by bars. It's like they were trying to kill me. All I know is that by being so freaked out, I managed to stick my landing without realizing until the score came back. I was in the top ten after the first rotation. The entire room was shocked, even I knew that much. I shouldn't have been, but they couldn't deny me the scores I earned. My beam was shaky, but I managed to keep the number ten spot for two rotations.

Kaylie, Lo, and Payson all stayed top four or five. The rest of our girls were scattered around. I cheered when I was supposed to like a good teammate, but my eyes were scanning the crowd and the judges. I knew who the NGO members were. They had an aura about them, the don't-you-dare-do-anything-to-mess-this-up-for-us aura. As I chalked up for beam, my chest started to feel tight. There was one person ahead of me, and as they landed, the tightness got worse. I wasn't normally so terrified of the bars, but everything felt too good to be true.

"Hey, are you okay? Did you get hurt before?" Sasha was leaning over the chalk box.

I shook my head and tightened one of my straps again. "I do think I'm going to be sick though."

"You look like it. Do you need to sit out?" His chin was tight as he asked. Sasha would let me if I really needed to, but he wouldn't be happy about it so I shook my head no.

"The NGO would love that, wouldn't they? I've got to do this."

He patted my shoulder and walked onto the floor. As I waited for the little green flag, I bounced from foot to foot, trying to get some blood pumping. Ava made eye contact from her seat with my parents. I could see the smirk and eyebrow raised from across the small arena. I saluted and stepped up to the low bar.

It all went by so fast. Every time I had a deduction, I knew it. I could feel it with every aching swing of my arms. The landing was cleaner than I could have wished for though, and the smile that broke out of my face relieved so much anxiety I was feeling. I got the quick Sasha hug once I had made it carefully down the steps. I gave a two finger salute to Ava. She almost looked like she was enjoying herself.

I ended up finishing eighth after our final rotation on floor. I almost cried with joy. Even with the three top Rock girls finishing one, three, and five, they seemed to be happier with my scores. Lo was even participating in the group hug. I sent a silent prayer to thank whatever deity had given me the most perfect twenty-four hours ever.

We didn't have to ride back together, and you can bet that every girl took whatever measures they had to get a ride home. A victory speech had the potential to be worse than the pep talk. Ava and I were walking silently to her car when I received a one word text from Sasha, or, rather, a one number text. It just read 6. That gave me over an hour to shower, change, and get to his apartment once we got to Ava's house.

I tossed my bags in the back seat. We sat in the car for a few seconds before I realized she hadn't put the key in the ignition. Her hand was frozen by the steering wheel. She turned to me slowly.

"You better explain now because I could feel the sexual tension across that gym." I looked at her with wide eyes. "And before you lie, remember who you're talking to, because I think I own you right about now."

A/N: So. This is a bit longer than my usual chapters. I really enjoyed it. The juicy date is just over the horizon. I mean that literally too. I'll most likely be finishing it up in the morning and posting tomorrow. Mmm. Sasha. ;)