Life was never going to be the same again. Not for the Keeler family, anyway. Only days after her World Championship win, MJ Martin had called, insisting that the Payson and her parents meet with her, "I'll make it worth your while," MJ said and she had.
The package that she had put together was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsements and sponsorships. Huge companies like Rolex, Audi, Nike and the one which had made Payson's Dad blush furiously, Victoria's Secret, had come knocking, all wanting Payson to endorse their products.
"Mom, if we sign these contracts, this is guaranteed money, no catches, no withdrawals," Payson said, imploringly. Both her parents were unreadable, their stoic expressions causing Payson to panic a little. How can they not see that this is a no brainer? This kind of money is something no one can turn down.
MJ nodded in agreement, "Mrs. Keeler, Mr. Keeler, I'll tell you what I tell many parents of elite young athletes, if you're concern is NCAA eligibility and paying for university, take the first $100,000 and put it in a extremely low risk investment, even a savings account, where it'll gain minimal interest, but won't be at any risk at all. I will tell you though, this package I've put together for you, it's worth at least half a million dollars and that's just the companies who expressed interest before she got hurt and renewed that interest after she won her World Championship. There are at least a dozen more requests waiting for me back at my office and while I was on my way over here, I got a call from Gatorade."
"Mom, Dad, she's talking about Nike and Gatorade, not some leotard company or a car dealership, this is too big. You can't say no."
MJ could see they were still wavering, "Look, I know what you all went through when Payson got hurt. It was absolutely devastating. Now, it's my job to look at things in dollars and cents. Think about the sacrifices your family has made, financially and in other ways for Payson's gymnastics and it could all be gone, in a blink. Your family deserves this. You've all given too much to Payson's cause to not cash in while you can. Now, not to be blunt, but these are one year sponsorships to be renewed by mutual agreement after next year's World Championships. Now is the time to take this money. No one knows what will happen in the future."
So a week later, when Payson pulled into the Rock parking lot, at her usual 5 a.m., in a brand new Audi Q7, no one was surprised, least of all Sasha.
"Nice wheels," he said, as she pulled up next to his trailer. "No convertible? I thought that was the car of choice for Rock gymnasts," he mocked gently. She rolled her eyes at him and parked the car before walking back towards his trailer.
"Shredded Wheat?" she asked, with her eyebrows raised. "At least it's for breakfast."
"Yep, the breakfast of a man who no longer has sponsorships or endorsements. What's with the SUV though? Audi makes sports cars don't they?"
She looked at him closely, "We live in Colorado, Sasha. Lauren and Kaylie love their convertibles in the summer, but their parents have to drive them around in the winter because their cars can't handle the snow. My car will take me where I want to go, whenever I want to go there, no matter the weather, not depending on Mommy to chauffeur me around."
Sasha smiled at her practicality. "Smart move," he said through another spoonful of Shredded Wheat.
"Yes, I thought so. Listen, I spoke with MJ this morning," she said and Sasha groaned. He absolutely hated the idea of MJ getting her claws into Payson. "Hear me out, I know you don't like her, but she is the best agent for Olympic athletes in the world."
He grunted in response, but she glared at him. Rolling his eyes, he waved his hand, asking her to continue.
"I told her I'm going to take one week off of training, next week. She can schedule whatever she wants to schedule as far as endorsements, commercials, print ads, whatever and then I'm done. One week is all they get. Anything that doesn't fit into the week is not going to happen. We'll schedule another week 'off' in a couple of months and then I'm done completely with sponsors until Nationals next August."
Sasha nearly choked on his cereal. He coughed a few times to clear his airways and shook his head at Payson. "And she agreed to this?" he asked once he regained the ability to breathe.
"Of course she did," Payson said, as if it were completely obvious. She told MJ, the bossiest, most controlling woman you've ever met exactly how it was going to be, Beloff. He would have liked to see that.
"You're telling me you told MJ Martin to do something that probably made her want to cry and she's going to do it."
Payson shrugged, "She works for me, not the other way around. It was the commission she gets off of the two weeks' worth of work or nothing. She chose Plan A."
Sasha sat back in his chair and admired her, "Payson Keeler, you are a force to be reckoned with."
She curtseyed dramatically, "Thank you, thank you," she said and then looked up from her exaggerated bow, "Can we go train now?"
"Absolutely," he said. "Go unlock the place while I clean up," he said, tossing her his keys. She caught them deftly and jogged towards the front doors. He just stood there for a moment, shaking his head, and then set about cleaning up his mess from breakfast. They were just two weeks out since her historic win in Rotterdam, but so much had changed. They now operated under a comfortable understanding that their time together was inevitable, which made it so much easier to work, there was no underlying tension. Their dynamic was different too, it was as if the lines of coach and student had blurred and they were simply a team, equals working together towards one goal.
The same could not be said for Lauren Tanner, who had taken her anger at being passed over as alternate and tried to channel it into her gymnastics, but it wasn't the controlled fire she had in the past. It was an all encompassing inferno that would burn anything and anyone in its path. She was getting reckless and if she didn't rein it in, she was going to injure herself. You need to figure something out for her and soon, Beloff.
Someone he wasn't all that concerned about was Emily. Her gymnastics was getting much more consistent and she was working on a new beam routine, the weakness at Worlds that had kept her off the podium that night. She'd gained a tremendous about of confidence on one of the biggest stages their sport had to offer and nothing could take that away.
And then there was Kaylie, who Sasha suspected had a major eating disorder, but could not get the doctors in Rotterdam to confirm it for him. She's too thin, old man. You've got to talk to Alex or Ronnie or both, that is if they're speaking to each other this week. Not only was Kaylie too thin, but since Worlds her dedication to gymnastics seemed to be slipping. She'd called in sick a few times; she wasn't committed to improving her current routines or increasing their degree of difficulty. She was allowing herself to become irrelevant and that was unacceptable. She was an extremely talented gymnast who still had a great chance at going to the Olympics, if only she'd rededicate herself and do it in a healthy way.
Sasha's train of thought broke as soon as he entered the gym. Payson had obviously gotten started without him. She was seated on the mats stretching out her limbs, humming a song to herself.
He helped her through his stretching routine, something that tortured him at first, but soon he realized that conversation eased the tension, "So which sponsors have you next week?"
She groaned as he rotated her feet in every direction, stretching her Achilles tendon, "Nike, Cover Girl and Victoria's Secret. And it's not a sponsor, but I have a photo shoot with Sports Illustrated too."
Sasha stopped rotating her feet, "Victoria's Secret, the er – lingerie company?"
She tapped his chest with her feet impatiently and he turned them again for her, "Yes, the lingerie company. Apparently, they find me, what was the word their rep used? Oh, 'marketable,' he said"
Sasha snorted. Of course they found her marketable, she's the first champion gymnast they've ever seen with a set of – whoa there, Beloff, calm down. "And your Dad is letting you do this?"
She smiled up at him, kicking her feet out of his grasp and standing. "Yes, Sasha, he is. It's not Playboy, it's underwear. I prance around on National television in a leo, this isn't much different."
He cleared his throat uncomfortably, the possibilities flying through his head, "Yes, Payson, it's very different," he said, looking at her square in the eye.
She stopped for a moment and looked at him strangely, "Sasha, are you trying to say that you don't want me to do it?" There was a dangerous lilt to her voice that warned him to tread carefully.
He shook his head, "No, I wouldn't, uh – presume to tell you what to do, Payson." Of course you would, you sod. You're her coach, you can tell her exactly what to do. "I just don't think…" he trailed off, knowing he didn't have a leg to stand on and the only argument he wanted to use was sure to piss her off royally.
"You don't think, what exactly?" she asked, her arms crossed over the part of her anatomy that obviously drew the interest of the Victoria's Secret reps. It was a battle stance if he ever saw one.
"Nothing, I think you'll be beautiful in whatever it is they're having you do."
She snorted in amusement, "Good answer," she said and then laughed a little. "It's nothing crazy, no baby dolls or pushup bras," she assured him. "They're creating a line of sports bras and while I'll admit they're nicer looking then the current stuff out there now, it's not exactly lace and silk."
Sasha let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Payson, why didn't you just say so?"
She smiled and stepped closer to him, "Because it was fun to see you squirm. Besides, the thing you really should be worried about is the SI shoot."
He raised his eyebrows, "Oh and why is that?"
"It's for the swimsuit issue," she said and turned away from him to start her conditioning circuits.
He wasn't to be deterred, however. He followed her onto the floor. Who the hell is this girl and what happened to the shy gymnast who didn't want to wear a dress to the gym's fashion show fundraiser? "The swimsuit issue? You really think that's wise?"
She was walking back towards him in a handstand, so responding wasn't an option until she stood up again, "Lots of future and former Olympians have done it. It publicizes the sport and frankly it's an honor to be asked. It's not an entire spread or anything, just one picture. I'm also doing a feature article with them for the regular magazine about Rotterdam, if that makes you feel any better," shesaid and patted him on the arm.
He twisted his mouth into a slight pout, "It doesn't."
Payson took some pity on him, "Sasha, you realize this is a good thing, right? Girls who look like me, they don't get asked to do the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated. The average height of one of those models is probably 5'9". This is presenting beauty in a different way, from a different perspective, not letting people define what's beautiful as just a 5'9", size zero with breasts bigger than her own head."
He frowned again, "MJ tell you that one?"
She raised her eyebrows at him, "No, Sasha, that one was all me. You can stop worrying about your ex-girlfriend being a bad influence on me."
"Wait, what, how did you, did MJ?" he stuttered incoherently.
She threw up her hands in frustration, "Haven't you ever Googled yourself? Even if you haven't, everyone in the gymnastics world knows about you two. It's legendary: the young, European All Around champion and his agent, who then dumped him for his American competition, which spurred him on to win four Gold medals in Sydney. Did you forget I live in the same world you do? Elite gymnastics is a small world, too small for something like that not to get around." She walked away from him, starting her circuit from scratch since he completed disrupted it.
He just stood there, his arms still crossed. "Do two sets, if you're going to be in a bikini in front of the entire world…" he trailed off and she stuck her tongue out at him as she took off across the mat again.
Suddenly the gym filled with the chorus from Kid Rock's American Badass. He looked around and realized it was coming from Payson's gym bag. Huh, didn't figure her for a Kid Rock fan. "Payson, no cell phones on the floor, do three circuits," he called to her, but ate his words when the phone in his pocket started to ring as well. Then suddenly he heard the office phone start to ring. Payson stopped her circuit again and looked at him expectantly.
"Are you going to answer one of the three phones ringing right now?" she asked. "That's Austin's ringtone on mine, no idea why he's calling me when he knows I'm training already." Huh, clever girl, Austin Tucker, the American Badass. Wonder what my ringtone is? Wait, why was Austin Tucker calling her at 5:30 in the morning?
He looked at his own phone and saw it was Kim Keeler, "Hi Kim, why are you calling me and not your daughter?" he said, drawing a laugh from Payson.
"Kim, slow down, the Romanian coach did what? I am going to kill that son of a bitch. It's on ESPN?" He looked at Payson and her eyes were wide with fear. She thinks someone caught us, Beloff. Reassure her. He quickly shook his head, hoping that would belay her fears until he could hang up with Kim. "Kim, Payson is right here, we're going to check out the news in the office." He hung up and pocketed his phone.
"Austin texted me, he said to turn on ESPN. What happened? It's not about you and me is it?" she mumbled as they raced up the stairs to the gym office.
He grabbed the remote control and tuned to ESPN, "No, it's not about you and me, but well, watch."
The anchor was seated at a desk; next to his head was a gymnastics graphic, "The International Gymnastics World was stunned by the virtual American sweep at the World Championships two weeks ago. Now, through no fault of their own, the American team is coming under scrutiny as information has come to light that the Romanian head coach, Andrei Petrescu, along with other Romanian gymnastics officials bribed several judges to underscore the Chinese gymnasts in both the men's and women's competition. Now, the investigation is still preliminary and the implications for the American gymnasts are still unclear. The one thing we do know is the 2010 World Championships are now tainted."
