"Ladies and gentleman, your All-Around winners for the London 2011 Olympic Test Event, Payson Keeler and Austin Tucker," the announcer at the O2 arena said, setting off massive cheering and applause from the crowd, many of whom were already departing.

"Nice job, Keeler," Austin said, sliding his arm around her waist, as they took photographers holding their trophies, smiled plastered across their faces.

"You too," she said, nudging him in the side with her hip.

Payson had never felt so relieved for an event to be over. What had started out as a simple competition had turned into a mess, beyond the pleasant end results for her and Austin.

It had all gone to hell when they returned to the hotel from the first day of the men's team competition. Sasha had found Ellen Beals in the lobby and they proceeded to have a flat out screaming match in the middle of the floor. Words like unprofessional and conniving had been the kindest thrown around by Sasha. He'd finished off with, "The reason you do things like this, the reason you make bad decisions is because you don't understand what it takes to become a champion. You didn't understand it fifteen years ago and you don't understand it now. It's why you never made the Olympic team and I'll be damned if you're the reason these girls don't fulfill their dreams."

Sasha had called the US National Committee and lodged a complaint, but at the end of the day, Beals was still the head coach and Lauren had been dropped from the roster for the team final. It turned out to be a big mistake, with China edging out the United States for the team title. The difference in their scores had been two tenths of a point, which Lauren would have easily made up during her beam routine, had she been allowed to compete.

Of course the media wanted to know what Payson thought of the mess, "Obviously we're disappointed in finishing second. I feel like we had the better team. The only thing we can do is keep working hard," she said and gave them a half hearted grin. It was the most diplomatic answer she could think of, but inside she was seething.

The victory in the All-Around felt somewhat muted by the stupidity that lost them the team competition. The bus ride back to the hotel was quiet to say the least.

"Great job, Pay," Nicky said, his silver medal still clutched in his hand tightly.

"Thanks," she said, "you too." Suddenly, Austin was at her side, grabbing his bag from the storage compartment under the bus and handing Payson hers.

"See you guys later," Nicky said and walked away.

Payson turned on him, "You don't have to do that, you know," she said as they walked into the hotel.

"Do what? I got your bag for you." His face was the picture of innocence, and Austin Tucker hadn't been innocent in a long time.

"I already told him that I'm not interested. There's no reason to rub that in his face. He's a good guy and my friend. Besides," she said, nodding towards Kaylie who'd been looking at them from a few steps away, "you should worry more about your own love life. Mine is doing just fine." She slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way into the hotel. She saw Sasha out of the corner of her eye talking to a white haired older man in the far end of the lobby. She looked again and saw that it was his father. She smiled, hoping they were talking things through or at least being civil to one another.

She quickly made her way towards the elevators and saw the doors were closing on one, "Hold the elevator," she called and the door stopped and shot open again.

"Thanks Kaylie," she said, as she entered and saw her friend leaning against the back wall.

"No problem," Kaylie said, not looking up, sarcasm dripping from her tone. Payson wrinkled her nose in confusion and sighed. Austin bloody Tucker.

"Look Kaylie, you know Austin and I are just friends right?" she said, laying it out there immediately. "And not the way you and Carter were just friends. He's a good guy, but he's not my type and I'm definitely not his type."

Kaylie looked up, anger written across his face, "His type is blonde supermodels, he's made that abundantly clear since he started training at the Rock. Well, guess what, Pay, that's you."

The elevator reached the fifth floor and Kaylie stormed off, "Kaylie, wait," she called out, but she was ignored. Her shoulders dropped in defeat and she went to her room quickly to pack.

Emily was already in their room, throwing her clothes in her suitcase. "Kaylie thinks Austin and I are seeing each other," Payson said, falling back onto her bed dramatically.

Emily snorted, "He's not your type," she said, barely looking up.

Payson sat up, "I know! Thank you for saying that," she said. "He's not my type, I'm not his type, and I don't know why she doesn't get that."

Emily stopped packing for a moment, "Whoa, I didn't say you weren't his type. From what I've seen he likes blondes, check, he likes models, check and he likes a challenge, check." She smirked at Payson, who rolled her eyes, "I'd say that makes you exactly his type. Kaylie gets that."

Payson shook her head, "Well, he's not interested in me, he's interested in Kaylie that much I do know."

Emily sighed, giving up on packing all together and sitting down next to Payson, "Are you sure about that? Have you asked him? Because from what I can see, if I were Kaylie, I'd think he was interested in you too."

Payson threw herself back on the bed, "Well, it shouldn't matter, because I'm not interested in him at all in that way."

Emily smiled, "Great, so he realizes that you won't have him so he moves on to Kaylie. Payson, no girl wants to be any guy's second choice." Emily patted her on the shoulder.

Payson scoffed, "He doesn't like me that way. Trust me."

"Whatever you say, now get packing, our bus leaves in a half hour."

Payson began to put her clothes away. She sighed, knowing she had to talk to Austin about this. She honestly believed that he didn't have feelings for her in that way and if he did, he was the best actor she'd ever met, but the last thing she needed was for Kaylie to be angry with her or for things to get awkward with Austin, who was turning into something resembling a best friend.

She and Emily exited their room just as Sasha was coming out of his, "Ladies," he said, nodding in their direction. Emily looked away immediately, still not able to look her coach in the eye since that mixup with their room keys. She practically took off down the hallway to the elevators.

"You should talk to her, you know, clear the air a little bit," Payson said. "She's totally embarrassed and I don't blame her."

He nodded, "I'll sit with her on the bus, hopefully talk it through. I really should have done it while we were here, but she was competing so beautifully I didn't want to change anything."

They all boarded the chartered bus that would take them to the airport and Sasha called Emily over almost immediately, with Payson throwing herself into the seat next to Austin.

"I need to talk to you," she said, frowning at him.

"Uh oh, sounds serious," he mocked lightly, yanking the headphones out of his ears. "What's up?"

"Kaylie is annoyed as hell at me because you like blondes," she said, simplifying the problem to its core.

He laughed at her and she rolled her eyes, "But seriously, could you, I don't know, reassure her in some way or stop with the touchy-feely with me, because I think she's really starting to be hurt by it," she said and frowned at the back of her friend's head, just a few seats up.

Austin sighed dramatically and leaned his head back against his headrest, "I don't know what she wants me to do. She made it clear she wanted me to stay out of her business, even after she came back to train, she wanted nothing to do with me. What am I supposed to do, stick around like a sad little puppy waiting for her to throw me a bone?"

Payson winced, "Bad analogy, but I get it." She sighed. "That's Kaylie's m.o. though. Boys have always just flocked to her since we were twelve. Even when she was with Carter, after the whole disaster with Lauren, he still hung around hoping she'd take him back."

Austin shrugged, "I'm not Carter. When a girl tells me she's not interested repeatedly, eventually I give up and move on." He looked at Payson, "She really thinks you and I are dating?"

Payson shrugged, "So does every major entertainment news source in the world, so I really can't blame her, besides, as she so rightly pointed out, I am your type," she said, playfully nudging his shoulder with hers.

Austin laughed, but then quickly turned serious, "You're not my type," he said with a shake of his head.

"I know! I kept trying to tell them that, but they wouldn't believe me."

He shook his head, "You are way out of my league, Payson Keeler."

Her mouth dropped open and she stared at him in shock, "Austin, I…"

He cut her off with a shake of his head and a roll of his eyes, "Payson, it's something I knew from the moment I met you. Don't feel offended on my behalf. You belong with someone," nodding his head towards the front of the bus, "with the same passions and intensity as you, someone with the same drive and frankly, someone who can keep up with that mind of yours, which frankly scares the hell out of me. I heard you talking the other day and you threw out a word, something about one of the statues outside the hotel."

She scoffed, "Anthropomorphic," she said. "Seriously, Austin, that's way off base."

He shook his head with a grin, "I know when a girl is out of my league. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. You belong with – well we know who you belong with. Don't worry; I'll talk to Kaylie if it makes you feel better. I'll try again, but three strikes and I'm out. I don't take rejection well."

She laughed, "I'm sure it doesn't happen often, but it does happen," she said, throwing his words back at him. "Besides, a little rejection is good for you; it'll keep your ego at manageable levels."

Sasha sighed as Emily slipped out of the seat next to him and back towards the rest of the gymnasts in the rear of the bus. Well, if that wasn't the most awkward conversation of your life, I don't know what was, Beloff. They both apologized, though he didn't know why since it hadn't been anyone's fault. He was relieved when she finally admitted that she'd been, in her words, "freaked out" by it, but that she was over it now and they could get back to normal. She retreated quickly at that point and he'd been thrilled to let her go. He looked to his right and saw Ellen Beals sitting ramrod straight in her seat, eyes forward.

He rolled his eyes, pulled out his iPod and sat back to relax for the rest of the trip toward Heathrow. Unlike arriving, he always felt a sense of relief when he passed through the departures gate. This had been a brief visit, a test event much like the competition itself, before the trip he would make in a year and a half for the Olympics. Overall, it had been a generally successful trip. The girls had competed well, Payson had put to rest any unease about her victory at Worlds and Ellen Beals would be losing some of the clout she held at the National Committee after the stunt she pulled with Lauren Tanner, which had in reality cost them the meet.

Perhaps he'd been a little harsh when he dragged her failure to make an Olympic squad into their confrontation, but he'd had enough. Her interference was unacceptable at this point. She had systematically attacked his gymnasts one by one, trying to sabotage any credibility he had in the sport. He smiled at the thought of his athletes, each of them coming back from whatever Beals had thrown at them, Payson especially. Most girls would have given up, scaled back their training and eventually faded from the sport entirely, but not his girl. No she worked harder, changed her entire approach to a sport she once dominated and came back stronger than ever.

He didn't know how she would do it, but he knew Ellen Beals wasn't finished. She had her fists around the National Committee's balls and she wasn't going to let go. He would just have to be ready for whatever she threw at him.

They'd chartered a flight back to New York, where all the athletes would then go their separate ways. Sasha sat down in one of the roomy seats, pulling out his iPod and a crossword puzzle, before asking the flight attendant for a Guinness. He felt someone sit down next to him. It was Lauren Tanner.

"I've gotta talk to you about something," she said.

Sasha nodded, "I'm all ears."

"I wanted to thank you," she said, the words obviously slightly bitter on her tongue. "For sticking up for me with Beals, I mean. I thought that she was the one in my corner, but it turns out it was you and so yeah, thanks."

Sasha had no idea how to respond to that, "Your welcome, Lauren. I'm your coach and it's my job to protect your interests. You're extremely talented and you deserved to compete."

Lauren nodded, brushing off the compliment, "Another thing," she said, twisting her mouth into a pout. "Kaylie is thinking about quitting, so you should, you know, do your thing, talk to her because I am not losing my best friend over something as stupid as…never mind, just do what you do with your whole motivational shtick you have," she said, flitting her hands around in the air, as if demonstrating some magical power he possessed.

"She said this to you?" Sasha asked, shocked. Kaylie had done phenomenally well at the test event considering all the time she had missed, placing fourth behind Payson, Genghi Cho and Greta Dalca of Romania.

Lauren shook her head, "She's my best friend," she said as if that explained everything. With that she popped out of the seat and made her way towards the back of the plane.

Sasha put his headphones on and blasted his music, drowning out the rest of the passengers and the sounds of the plane. He had to think and he had to figure something out quickly or the Rock would lose one of the best gymnasts in the world.