Kimberly's appeared inside her bedroom and she flipped the switch on. Taking a quickly glance at the clock, she noticed it was only 9:30. She had to time to be alone since the Campbell's were out of town that night and the football homecoming party would last until late.
"Tommy probably thinks I look horrible and is afraid to say so."
She opened her closet and quickly got dressed. If she wanted to succeed she had to practice and exercise more. Kimberly quickly got dressed and started doing sit ups. "Tommy is probably at the party and having a good time," she thought while doing her sit ups. Ever since she was humiliated on the scales, she was exercising in middle of the night. "He's probably already forgotten all about me."
In the meantime, Billy went outside and saw Tommy sitting on a bench looking up at the starry sky. "Hey, would you like to talk?" Billy asked when he sat down next to Tommy. "The others and I got worried because you weren't in the youth center."
"I was worried about Kim," Tommy answered in worried voice. "Billy, I went into the bath room to take a shower and I found her sleeping in the tub. She freaked when she saw that we were both in there. Kim thought I was spying on her and when she went into the closet to change, I heard her sobbing and went into check on her. When I went in there, she was staring at herself in a mirror and thought she fat. I looked in the mirror and noticed it was fun house mirror. Billy, I told her that I'd stand in front of the mirror with her and let her see that she had nothing to worry about."
"What did she do?" Billy asked while he looked around to make sure no one was looking.
"She refused to do it and she accidently knocked over boxes with Angel Grove clothing inside. Then a bucket of black paint fell on the clothes and ruined all of them," Tommy explained. "Then we had to teleport out of there because Mr. Kaplan came in and nearly found us. We teleported out here and then she asked me if I thought she was fat."
"Why would she think that?" he questioned in disbelief. He had known Kimberly since fifth grade and she had never once asked such a question. "I bet something happened at gymnastics training."
"And I bet that stupid worthless coach had something to do with it!" Tommy hissed through clenched teeth. "When I first saw him a week ago, I sensed that that there was something not right about him. Later, I saw on the news that there is someone with a police record in the area. Coach Schmidt matched the description."
"I saw that on the news too," Billy admitted when they got up head back in. "Aisha is concerned too. She says that she's heard Kimberly up in the middle of the night."
"I'm going to go check on her," Tommy announced as he quickly got up from the bench.
Meanwhile, Kimberly had finished doing 100 sit ups and went to the living room to watch some TV. When she sat down on nice and cozy couch, a beam of white light appeared in her room. "Tommy, what are you doing here?" she questioned when he took a seat next to her. "Weren't you having a good time?"
Tommy noticed that she looked worn out and tired. Her eyes were heavy and she looked as if she was going to fall over. "No, I wasn't having a good time. All I could think about was you," Tommy admitted as he watched her flipping through the channels. "Kim, are you okay?"
She fell into his lap and was sound asleep. Tommy gathered her into his arms and noticed she weighed less. "Get some sleep, Beautiful," he yawned as he stretched out on the couch and spooned her up in his arms. His tired eyes began to close and before he knew it, he was fast asleep.
The bright sun shinned through the living room's curtains and Kimberly slowly began to wake up. Looking around the room, there were four sleeping bags scattered around on the floor. Aisha didn't say anything about having a sleep over. Maybe it was a last-minute thing? A pair of strong arms were tightly wrapped around her waist. "Morning, Beautiful," Tommy greeted as he began to wake up. He planted a soft kiss on her cheek. "Can we go up to your room, we need to talk?"
What did he want to talk to her about? Why did he call her Beautiful? She told him the previous day not to call her that name any more. Why did he stay there the whole night? There was so much that she wanted to know. She got up from the couch and they quietly went up the stairs to Kimberly's room. "What do you want to talk about?" Kimberly questioned as she took a seat on her bed. "Why did you stay here all night? And we did you call me, Beautiful? I told you yesterday to not call me that anymore."
At least she had gotten some rest and that was what mattered to Tommy. His new goal was to find out what was going on with her. "Why did you ask me if I thought you were fat?" he hinted. She looked so much better after getting a good night's sleep and at least he wouldn't have worry about her passing out on him.
"I just wanted to know?"
"Kim, you wouldn't have asked me for no reason."
She couldn't tell him what was going on in gymnastics. He wouldn't understand and he'd demand that she started gaining weight back. If she did that, Coach Schmidt would be on her case again. "Something happened awhile back and it's something I can't explain," she answered.
"Is everything going okay at gymnastics practice?"
How was he able to find out what was going on at gymnastics practice? He wasn't there and she didn't tell anyone about what happened regarding the scale and having to practice for long hours. "Everything is going great," she lied as she tried to act normal. Maybe if she acted normal, he'd drop the subject. "Why?"
"Just curious," he fibbed as he tried to act like everything was normal. He didn't want to have a repeat of what happened in youth center's bathroom.
Kimberly quickly looked at the clock and noticed that it was 10:30, which meant she couldn't suggest that they got ready for church. They had already missed Sunday school and their church service would let out in half an hour. "Why did everyone spend the night here?" She simply wanted to know why Aisha had a surprise sleep over without telling her.
"Aisha just wanted us to have a get together," Tommy quickly stated. "Everyone called their parents and they said it was okay. We're all going to the indoor water park."
"I can't go," Kimberly answered truthfully. "I've got practice at noon."
Kimberly and Tara stopped by the gym's cafeteria to get some lunch. However, Kimberly was afraid to eat anything because Coach Schmidt told her that she was fat and needed to watch her calories. Tara wasn't very hungry so she got water, a small fruit salad and an ice cream cookie sandwich.
Kimberly stared at the ice cream sandwich. It looked so good and she really wanted to go get one of her own. "Why did you only get water?" Tara asked when she began to eat her fruit salad.
"Look at me on the fattest person in Angel Grove," sighed Kimberly as she looked down at her small petite body. "You saw what Coach Schmidt did to me, when he weighed me. It was so embarrassing. Now I'm scared to eat anything."
"There are ways to work around it," revealed Tara as she took a bite out of her ice cream sandwich. "You can eat whatever you and not have to worry about gaining weight."
"I don't think I'd be able to do that?" Kimberly quickly answered.
"I wasn't able to train for six hours and not eat," Tara announced, as she exchanged looks with Kimberly. She cut her ice cream sandwich in half and gave her half of it. "Here try some of this."
Kimberly bit into the ice cream sandwich and smiled. "This is so good," she complimented. "How do I avoid gaining weight?"
A few minutes later, Kimberly felt sick to her stomach and went to the bathroom. "Are you okay?" Tara asked as she walked into the bathroom.
"I just got sick of the thought of Coach Schmidt telling me I was fat," Kimberly confessed as she walked out of the stall and went straight to the water fountain. "I don't want to be embarrassed again."
Tara watched her drink from the water fountain for the next few minutes. "It's okay that you got sick," Tara assured her. "I was studying in health class a few weeks ago that some girls vomit up their food when they don't want to gain weight. I tried it and it's working for me."
"Let's just get back to practice," Kimberly stated.
The Angel Grove Fitness Center was huge and elaborate. It had all kinds of exercise equipment and exercise class. But, all Kimberly was focused on was the gymnastics training. Walking into the huge room with the balance beams, uneven bars and all the other gymnastics equipment made Kimberly very excited. Having all this gymnastics equipment meant that she didn't have to sit around and wait like she did in the youth center if all of balance beams were being used. Here she could go straight to the balance beam and start practicing. The more practice she got meant she'd have a better chance of getting that gold metal that she dreamed about.
"What do you think of this place?" Coach Schmidt asked when he was showing her around the fitness center. "This is a pretty nice place, isn't it?"
"This place is amazing!" she squealed with excitement. As they walked around all the other girls were swinging from the uneven bars or doing cartwheels on the balance beam.
"The Pan Global Games are every four years and only six girls are lucky enough to make it. Kimberly, you could be one of them. How often do you practice?"
"About 10 to 15 hours a week."
"I want you to practice 40 hours a week." Coach Schmidt demanded as he continued to give her a tour around the gymnastics section. His eyes were locked
How could she practice 40 hours a week? She had school, her ranger duties, and other things in life. But, this was a chance that she would probably never get again. "I can practice 40 hours every week," Kimberly promised. She would make time, even if it meant devoting all her time and energy to gymnastics.
"This is going to be a big sacrifice. You will be going from doing gymnastics as hobby to gymnastics being serious training, " Coach Schmidt warned as he started watching a girl flip over some bars. He started clapping when he saw how well she was doing. "If you train with me, I require more time, and more commitment."
"What's wrong with you today?!" Coach Schmidt yelled at Kimberly when she landed on the floor. Due to her having to over train and was getting little rest, she wasn't doing her gymnastics routines as well as she once did. "HELLO, EARTH TO KIMBERLY HART?! ARE YOU DAY DREAMING?"
Kimberly sat up and realized she was day dreaming about her first visit to the fitness center. Why was she doing all this day dreaming? Was it possible that there was something much more important to Kimberly? She couldn't think of anything else that would be more important than this. She had everything she ever wanted in life, other than her parents' divorce. Kimberly wasn't going to quit just because things were getting harder. " I'm trying... It's just-"
"Just what?!They are keeping trying, they fall, get back up and do it all over again. ten, twenty, or even one hundred times! "Coach Schmidt interrupted as he pointed to the other girls who were practicing. "Do you know why I'm disappointed with you?"
"Is it my weight?" Kimberly asked as she stared down at her imperfect body.
"Correct, there are two other girls who have a chance of competing in the Pan Global Games next summer," Coach Schmidt reminded her. "I want you to have that chance, but in order to do that you need to get thinner."
This meant that she was going to have to continue to eat and vomit up her food like Tara advised her to do. There was nothing wrong with that, was it? It wasn't like she was going to do this forever. It was only until the Pan Global Games were over. But, she'd have to hide this from everyone especially Aisha and Tommy. She'd be able to do with no problem. All she would do is go to the mall and start buying clothes in smaller sizes. They would never be able to tell a difference. "Yes, sir," Kimberly replied as she began to accept the idea that she was fat. "I am going to lose more weight."
"I'm glad to hear that," smiled Coach Schmidt, as he watched Tara swing from bar to bar. She was light as feather, fast, quicker, and prefect. Tara had the prefect body and Kimberly envied Tara so much. "See how light Tara is? Maybe you could learn something from her?"
He snapped his fingers and Tara walked over to him. It was like she knew to come if he snapped his fingers at her. "Yes, Coach Schmidt?" Tara greeted as she looked at her coach. "How can I help you?"
"I want you to work with Kimberly today. Make sure she does ten full routines, I want releases and dismounts thirty times," he instructed as he glared at Kimberly with his cold snake like eyes. "The ones she messes up on do not count."