The girls were all in the locker room joking and gossiping on Monday morning. It was very evident by the bags under their eyes that they had taken forever to fall asleep the night before. Between everyone finally letting out old grudges and new, they had been up until midnight working it out. Summer had been forced to step between them when Kaylie found out that Lauren was going after Max. Austin had told her that Max and Payson clearly had a thing going the last time they had talked and Kaylie really wanted her friend to be happy for once. Trust Lauren to get in the middle and screw it up.
After Summer got Kaylie and Lauren to calm down, Payson finally explained that she was fine with Lauren being with Max if that's what he wanted. She had thought she was interested in him, but she only liked that he liked her. It was a good distraction but it seemed like nothing would distract her enough from the entity that was Sasha Belov.
"So I heard that Nicky is planning on coming back to the Rock. He should be starting today." Lauren said casually as she finished her hair by putting the braids and all in a pony tail.
Emily and Kaylie glanced nervously at Payson before Payson scoffed. "He wouldn't come back here. Didn't he leave because of all the drama bull crap? We're still full of drama, hence, no Nicky." She said confidently.
Lauren shrugged as the four started to walk back out to the gym. "Maybe daddy's contacts were wrong, but they usually aren't. Just thought I'd warn you, in case you still have feelings for him or something."
Payson rolled her eyes. "I don't like Nicky anymore; it was just a silly crush."
Lauren eyed her skeptically before walking out into the gym saying something that sounded like "We'll see about that."
Emily smiled at Payson sympathetically as she exited the locker room and as Payson reached for the door Kaylie stopped her.
"Look Pay, I know what I saw last night was really bad timing. But maybe you should I dunno go on a date with Nicky or something? At least that's better than Lauren going back to calling Sasha your boyfriend right?" she fidgeted watching Payson's face hoping her friend wouldn't get mad.
Payson leaned against the lock room door and sighed. "I don't know Kaylie. That's not really fair to Nicky, and it'll make everything more complicated and confusing. I just want to be able to focus on gymnastics and kicking ass at Worlds in three weeks."
Kaylie grinned slightly as the old Payson slid back into action. "Shouldn't you be more worried about Hungary in five days?" she joked.
The blond rolled her eyes and opened the door. "Hungary is just a test run, something to let me rub it in those silly Romanians' faces that I'm going to wipe the floor with them at Worlds." She smirked at Kaylie as they joined the other two girls on the floor.
Sasha and his assistant coaches had put the gym back in order while the girls had been changing and several other girls and guys had shown up. They were all gathered in front of Sasha's office balcony and he seemed prepared to give a speech.
"Now that everyone is here… I want to explain what will be happening for the next month. This week, those going to Hungary," he stared pointedly at the four National Team Members. "will be training harder than ever. We need to scare everyone, shake them up. You can bet that they heard about your extreme failure against Pinewood last week, and they're damn well excited about it."
Everyone shifted awkwardly at this, feeling shamed. "But that's okay! Now you have leverage, they're expecting a less than amazing team to come and compete, and were going to shape up so that we can blow them out of the waters!" he smacked his hand on the rail for extra effects.
"Today, I want to see everyones best routines, give it your absolute all. Tomorrow will be extreme conditioning," everyone groaned. Sasha's conditionings were hell. He only smirked at them. "and then we will get your routines back to the perfections they should be. Now what are you waiting for? To the floor!"
Everyone scattered except the four elite girls, they knew he wanted to speak with them after this little speech. He quickly descended the stairs and came down in front of them. "I want Kaylie and Lauren working on vault, Emily and Payson on floor. Kaylie, I want you only doing basic routines, nothing flashy okay? Help each other with your faults and push each other to be better. The one thing I agree with Darby on is that you girls are awful as a team, and so by the end of this week you WILL be the closest team on the planet, got it?" They all nodded silently before going to their separate apparatuses.
Payson let Emily start her routine first on the floor. She watched the taller girl carefully as she slammed into power moves that she herself could no longer perform and felt a twinge of jealousy. "Keep your arms tucked in to get more height on your double pike and hold your head higher on that last landing." She called to her team mate who nodded before going again.
It was halfway through Emily's floor routine that the gym doors open and everyone turned to see who had come in. Payson felt her body freeze a bit on the inside when the warm chocolate eyes of Nicky Russo connected with her own. He half smiled at her before jogging up to Sasha's office where he was no doubt trying to get last minute paperwork started for the Hungary trip.
"So he's really back then huh…" Emily's voice came from behind Payson who turned to look at her team mate.
"Yeah I guess so. Sorry I stopped watching do you want to go again?"
Emily shook her head, sensing Payson's desperate need to be doing something. "Go ahead, I need a rest. Track number five right?" she asked clarifying which selection of their team CD was her own. Payson nodded before jogging to the center of the mat, getting into her starting position.
The moment Emily started her music Payson tuned everything around her out of my mind besides the classical tune. Her body started to move accordingly, through the motions of her well memorized moves as she thought of the story she wanted to tell. The story of Romeo and Juliet, the forbidden love of a gymnast and her coach… her mind stopped then and her body took over, automatically forcing her into an old power move she'd been practicing before her injury.
"Payson no!" she heard the booming British voice over all the noise of the gym but it was too late, her body was in the air trying to tuck and spin as fast as possible but it wasn't enough. A moment later she was flat on her back.
Footsteps quickly came towards her and Payson groaned. She hadn't meant to do that… her mind only wavered slightly and her body had taken control. Apparently her jealousy of Emily's power moves had not left her body and it wanted to prove itself. She tried to sit up but hands forced her shoulders down. It was then that she realized everything was a bit fuzzy around her. "Don't move Payson. Does anything hurt?"
Did anything hurt? Her ego certainly did. She forced herself to flex her fingers, hands, arms, feet, legs. Everything seemed in working condition. "I'm fine, I'm sorry." She grumbled as Emily's smaller hands helped her sit up slowly and as she blinked her surroundings became clearer.
The first thing her newly focused eyes landed on was a boy a little older than she was dressed in familiar black and white gym apparel. "Nicky." She greeted him in almost a whisper. It'd been only a few months since the last time she'd saw him but he already looked so different. His muscle mass was growing and his facial features becoming sharper, more mature. "Hey Pay." He managed to choke out before Sasha intervened.
"What the bloody hell were you thinking Payson?" he practically growled at the girl who was trying to get to her feet. Everything was still a little blurry and her hind end hurt a bit but other than that she felt fine.
"I think the problem was that I wasn't thinking actually." She muttered under her breath as she stretched out.
Sasha was glaring at her, "Don't let it happen again, else I might have to re-think having you on the floor in Hungary."
Payson nodded, biting her tongue to stop her from yelling about how they wouldn't be able to medal as a team without her on the floor. It would be pointless yelling at Sasha now.
Everyone went back to what they were doing, leaving Payson and Emily alone on the floor mat with Nicky. Emily awkwardly stated that she needed a drink and would be right back to spot Payson.
"So… you looked great out there." He complimented her after a moment of silence.
Payson rolled her eyes, "I completely wiped out not even half way through my routine Nicky."
He shrugged, "It happens to the best of us." They both fell into a tense silence again before Nicky sighed, "Anyways I should probably go get started, but we should catch up sometime. Do you still have the same number?"
"Uh, yeah. But I'm under lock down with the other girls this week, so maybe next week?"
He grinned as he started walking away, "Sure, we can go celebrate you kicking ass in Hungary." She smiled back at him.
"Ready to try again?" Emily's voice came from behind her and Payson took a deep breath.
"Yeah. Time to focus."
The rest of the week had been hell for the girls. Sasha seemed determined to make sure they were pushed to their edges and back again. Even after practice when the rest of the gymnasts were gone, he forced the four girls whom were under lock down to do emotional exercises. Everything ranging from catching each other as they fell from the beam to sitting and confessing something to each other no matter how insignificant it was.
As the week wore on, the girls became closer as a group, sharing things that 'normal' girls often shared. Like who their first crush was, embarrassing moments, things that would keep away from touchy things and allow them to bond.
However there were always times when one of them would make the other want to scream. Lauren wouldn't get off Payson's back about how things were going with Nicky every time she even saw the two glance at each other from across the gym. What Lauren did miss though was how much more Payson glanced at Sasha in comparison to Nicky.
Payson honestly didn't know what to do, part of her wanted to give Nicky a chance to simply get Lauren to shut up, and besides, he was the very first boy to ever make her feel something. Maybe he deserved an attempt at an actual relationship.
But then there was Sasha. The man she could probably never be with no matter how much she was attracted to him.
"What's Leo doing here?" Emily's voice broke Payson's train of thought and the blond followed Emily's gaze to see Leo Cruz heading up to Sasha's office.
Kaylie jumped down from the beam mid-routine, "He might be applying for a summer coaching job. Before lockdown he mentioned how his internship fell through and he was looking for something productive to do this summer." She rolled her eyes. "Dad suggested coaching but I didn't think he'd take him seriously."
"Oh…" Emily seemed to be lost in thought so Kaylie shrugged at Payson before starting her routine over again.
Today was the last day for practice so the girls were refining their routines before they would perform them one last time for Sasha. Practice was to end an hour earlier so that everyone could get a long night sleep before leaving the next day.
Once the other gymnasts cleared from the gym Sasha made the girls go through all their routines one last time. "Good, you all perform like that this weekend and we'll have the gold medal." They all nodded, remaining silent. It had become routine for them to go through all the apparatuses at night after the gymnasts left and then Sasha would give them their 'bonding exercise'.
"Now today, I want you all to go to sleep as early as possible. We're leaving for the airport bright and early and I want you all well rested for Hungary. I've allowed your families to come by and visit for an hour or so while you all eat dinner, so please, enjoy."
With that Summer entered the gym again, Emily's mom and brother entering first, quickly followed by Steve Tanner and the Keeler's. After a moment Kaylie's family also joined them.
Sasha propped up a long table and he and Summer set up the dinner. The rather bizarre group sat and ate, chatting about their week, the parents wanting to fill their daughters in on anything they'd missed. No one seemed to notice when Steve and Lauren had vanished for an extended period of time.
"I can't keep lying to Summer about who sent the picture in Lauren," Steve was saying as Summer walked into the hall leading to the coaches offices. Neither had noticed Summer entering the hall way.
"Daddy please, if anyone finds out they'll hate me. Don't you care about me at all? You can't tell anyone it was me!" Laurens voice was practically squeaking in desperation.
Summer gasped, drawing the duo's attention to her. "It was you?" she asked Lauren. The blond hesitated a moment before nodding. "You have to tell Payson."
"Tell me what?"
AN: Okay so, pretty sure you're all upset that I haven't updated in forever. I kind of went into a MIOBI isn't going to get a third season depression. Then by the time they announced there would be a third season, I was already in the middle of two other writing projects.
Anyways, I started watching the show again yesterday and I already had this chapter half finished, so I decided to complete it. I'm not happy with it, mostly because it's a filler chapter. Next chapter we'll find out if Lauren tells Payson and what happens in Hungary!
Also I'm curious about a couple of things,
1: Who would you rather see Emily be with? Leo, Razor, Damon or Austin?
2: Should Emily go to Worlds, or do you think something else would get in the way?
3: Would you rather have Lauren happy with Max, or a new character?
I pretty much already know what I'm going to do, but I'm always open to thinking about a new course.
Enjoy guys!