Chapter 21: The Power of the Dream
The atmosphere was claustrophobic, Emily felt like she could cut the tension with a knife. The press was everywhere, she gulped nervously – she couldn't let this get to her head. This was just another meet, she just needed to do what she did at practice. She couldn't control anything. Payson put a reassuring arm on Emily's shoulder and Emily smiled.
"That's better, show them you're a fighter." Payson said. She hated these pre meet interviews as much as the next person but she was not going to give the journalists the satisfaction of seeing her emotions. She had her game face on.
Kaylie felt like throwing up. The pressure she felt was crazy. Sasha's plan of trying to make her passionate again had worked to a degree. She was now excited and nervous instead of apathetic but she wasn't sure that was any better – she was so nervous that she was shaking. She was grateful that her teammates were shadowing her: the other Rock girls had purposely surrounded Kaylie that the press would find it harder to talk to her – Kaylie Cruz was every journalist's dream: gorgeous, personable, with real problems and, most importantly, with no idea how to handle the press.
Sasha huddled the girls together before taking them into the press room. "I am so incredibly proud of all of you. The press is going to go crazy over you. This is the first time in years that girls all from one gym have the chance of comprising an Olympic team. I want you all to stay calm and remember the media coaching you've been given. Be evasive, diplomatic and remember you are in control." The girls nodded and walked into the room full of press.
For Lauren, the press interviews seemed to go on forever. She'd had trouble sleeping for the past week and she was feeling, weird. She felt like she couldn't make herself happy, she couldn't put her finger on it: she just felt really, really low. And she couldn't bring herself to care, she was just so exhausted. Usually she slept like a baby – training 7 hours a day had that effect. Finally after what felt like a million years, the girls were allowed onto the podium for their final warm up before the meet started.
The girls quickly had warm-ups on each apparatus. The Rock girls were starting on floor, since they had the national champion in their group, they started on Kelly's best apparatus. Pay was up first, Lauren couldn't believe her composure. She killed it, as usual. Floor, vault and bars all went fairly well for the Rock girls. Emily had a shaky beam but she stayed on. Kelly was her usual steady self, Payson was absolutely stunning, Kaylie was charming and then it was Lauren's turn. She gave the judges a small smile before mounting the beam, she felt really dizzy but managed to stay on for most of the routine, but when she came to do her dismount she didn't get enough height and stumbled on her landing.
XXX
Lauren trudged back to her hotel room. She was so angry about her beam routine. She'd practiced so hard and she was far from her best. Her head ached and she just wanted to curl up and cry, but the fighter in her forced herself to shower and get into her pyjamas even though it was only 8.30. She bit her lip, she didn't know what was wrong: she was so strung out. She took two panadol and got into bed, hopefully she'd sleep better tonight.
She lay awake for a couple of hours, she heard Emily use their shared bathroom and go to bed. Lauren groaned. She felt like he head was splitting in two. She lent over to switch on the light. She was so tired that the room was fuzzy. With great effort Lauren got out of bed, tied her hair in a messy bun and put her sneakers on. She tiptoed out into the corridor and walked down to the gym. She started running on the treadmill. She put it up to full speed and she sprinted for an hour, until she was covered in sweat. Then she went back to her room and showered. She went back to bed but she still couldn't sleep, she quietly started crying: she was so strung out and miserable, she wished she would fall asleep.
The alarm buzzed – Lauren glared at it. She groaned and dragged herself out of bed. She forced herself to stand up, she was shaking from tiredness. She took a deep breath, she was a fighter, she could beat this. She rubbed her eyes and went to put make up on.
"Hey Lo" Emily mumbled, her hair tousled.
"Hey" Lauren croaked.
Emily took in her friend's deathly pale skin and blurry eyes. "What's wrong?"
Lauren bit her lip. "I – I dunno, I've been feeling really crap this past couple of weeks and I can't sleep." She screwed her eyes closed so she didn't cry.
Emily nodded and hugged Lauren. "It's going to be ok. I'm getting Payson." Emily said, trying to be calm. Lauren's fall on beam yesterday was terrible, she hadn't fallen off beam in years and although it hadn't ruined her chances, she needed to be nearly perfect today to make the team.
Lauren breathed deeply. She grabbed her hair straightener and pulled it through her hair, her arms felt like lead and she just felt miserable. She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked ragged. She turned her head as Emily reentered, flagged by Payson. The blonde girl walked over to Lauren and silently put her arms around her. And Lauren relaxed into the hug. After almost a full minute Payson gently pushed Lauren off her and held, gripped her shoulders tightly and looked her in the eye.
"Stand up straight." Payson said and Lauren obliged.
"Em said you've had a rough couple of nights."
Lauren nodded, a tear escaping down her cheek. She couldn't believe how easily she was crying, normally she was tough but that was what happened, she guessed when people didn't get any sleep. "I've had no sleep, I feel like everything is four times as hard."
Payson nodded. "Can you find your passion again?"
"What do you mean?"
"Reach down deep inside yourself, find that feeling you get when you are exhausted from training but there's that feeling inside you that makes you keep going. Do you think you can find it?"
Lauren looked at the girl who had led her for so many years, who had stood beside her despite the fact Lauren had betrayed her time and time again. She closed her eyes and remembered the day they won team gold, the feeling of joy and the feeling of being accepted by her team, and her coach. "I think so."
"Good. Now listen to me very carefully." Payson said calmly but sternly "I want you to hold onto that feeling, try to ignore your fatigue, and think of yourself on that Olympic team. You're Lauren fucking Tanner; there is no way you're going to let a couple of sleepless nights get in the way of your dream. Am I clear?"
"I'll try" Lauren croaked.
"Not good enough." Payson said, almost angrily.
"Yes! One of the spots on the team is mine!"
Payson smiled. "That's the Lauren I know and love, just think, all you've got to do is four more routines and then you can sleep, we'll get you sorted."
XXX
Sasha was wired. He had put more effort, more emotion, and more soul into this Rock team than any other set of gymnasts ever. He pulled them into a huddle, his eyes anxiously resting on Lauren. He had a suspicion about what was wrong with her but he wasn't going to bring it up here: he didn't want anything else messing with her head. The blonde's hands were shaking – but he was fairly sure she'd get through her routines. He addressed each of them in turn and sooner than he anticipated Emily's name was announced for vault.
Emily stared down at the vaulting table. She was feeling so much more confident after her third place finish at nationals – now she finally felt equal to the other girls. She ran at the table – pushing everything out of her mind except the apparatus. And after a second it was over. She felt her feet touch the matt, her knees bend to absorb her weight, and to her immense surprise she didn't need the hop back, she'd stuck her double twisting yurchenko!
Kaylie and Kelly followed: each doing an Amanar, and Kelly doing a Cheng as her second vault and Kaylie doing a half on half off. It was a testament to the strength of the US that their Amanars were nothing out of the ordinary. Payson followed, just doing an Amanar. She and Sasha had decided to drop her second vault after her scare at nationals.
Then finally Lauren was up. Sasha walked up to her "all I want you to do is hit. You're the national vault champion, they know what you can do. So if you don't feel you can stick your vaults – take a step. You're strung out and I don't want you hurting yourself, am I clear?"
It was a testament to how exhausted Lauren was that she didn't complain. Normally she would have stormed off at the very thought of Sasha making her go easy but she was grateful that he was going a bit easy on her. She saluted the judges and ran. She twisted around one and three quarter times easily and forced the rest of her double twist. The same vault Emily had just competed. Normally this was a walk in the park but she had to take a huge step back just to stand up. But she'd done it – now she just needed to do her Prudonova with an extra half twist: if she landed it at the Olympics it would be called the Tanner. It was a dangerous, crazy vault that Sasha had been apprehensive about teaching her, but Lauren had been training the Prudonova for years and she was the most powerful gymnast in the country, probably the world so Sasha had given in. Lauren looked at the vaulting table – suddenly something she did every day felt like an insurmountable obstacle. She sighed. This vault had a 7.7 difficulty level. The NGO was crazy about it, but Lauren knew if she vaulted it today she'd end up hurt. After an age she saluted the judges and just completed a Prudonova. She landed with a deep squat but she got it to her feet.
She walked slowly over to Sasha "I'm sorry" she mumbled.
Sasha hugged his shortest gymnast. "Don't you dare be sorry, I'm proud of you for knowing your limits, Lo – and look only Pay's ahead of you at the moment."
That hardly cheered Lauren up, firstly because she always bet the others on vault anyway and secondly because her head was throbbing so bad she couldn't think. "Come on – one down three to go."
Lauren bit her lip and forced herself not to cry. She hated herself for feeling like this – she had no idea why she was so weepy. "Okay."
Emily watched anxiously as Lauren went through her bar routine. Bars was Lauren's weakest event, but she pushed through it. Emily and Kaylie were gripping each other's hands tightly and they both breathed a sigh of relief when she got her full twisting double layout to her feet with just a small hop. Sasha led Lauren to a nearby seat and gave her a couple of panadol before spotting Kaylie.
Kaylie was too concerned about Lauren to worry about herself. Until now. She suddenly looked up to the stands. They were full, she bit her lip but when she saluted the judges, the crowd roared and Kaylie's heart leapt. She grinned and saluted a second time – sure it was cheeky but she loved to perform. She soared through her routine, loving the way her body was completely in sync with the apparatus before dismounting and grinning again. Bars weren't Kaylie's best apparatus but she knew she'd done her best.
Kelly gave her usual excellent routine. It won silver at worlds but it paled compared to Payson's and Emily's. Their natural grace and Sasha's persistent coaching had resulted in two of the best bar routines in the world, possibly of all time. He hugged them each tightly as they finished. Payson especially, he put a lot of emotion into that hug, his immense pride in her, his apology for burning her out, and finally the way he felt about her. And then it was time for beam.
Sasha took a deep breath. They still had a wee while before they started, uneven bars usually took a shorter amount of time than beam. He watched Rosa Reynolds and her teammate Andrea Conway compete well. Finally the little dynamite Haruko Ueda finished the rotation. Those girls were good, but he had the three best beamers in the world, albeit one of them looked like she was falling apart. He walked over to Lauren "Tanner I need you to smile."
Lauren looked up at him, her eyes glassy from fatigue "I can't Sasha I'm too tired."
Sasha wanted to hug her, to tell her everything would be ok, but that wasn't the way it worked with Lauren. She needed a kick up the arse otherwise she was going to screw up beam and lose her ticket to London in the process.
"Bull. I don't give a crap how tired you feel. You are going to get your arse on the beam, and you are going to smile and be charming. I've taken you too far for you to screw up now." He glared at Lauren, feeling like a complete douche but hoping that this gamble paid off.
Lauren felt like she'd been slapped but she bounced back fast enough. No one talked to her like that. "Screw you Sasha. I will go out there and kick arse, but certainly not for you."
Lauren marched up to the beam. Her head was throbbing but she didn't care – she was not going to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing her fall. She mounted the beam and got through her first two lengths – she got through her third combination, but she faltered on one of her layouts. She gritted her teeth, she was not going to fall off, she wrapped her toes around the beam and forced herself to balance. The crowd went wild! But she over estimated herself and almost slipped and touched the beam, but she managed to stop herself. She smiled, pretending nothing had happened and battled through the rest of her routine, sticking her Patterson dismount.
The Rock girls were screaming their heads off and Sasha was clapping like a crazy person. He went over and high fived her. Lauren reluctantly reciprocated. "Thanks Sasha, I needed that."
Sasha smiled "you and I are alike in that respect Lo, when we're mad we're invincible, come and sit down: just one more to go." Sasha was more nervous than he let on, although he was impressed by her save, that had been a huge balance check and he knew the NGO worried about Lauren's behaviour towards Kelly at worlds. He pushed the worry out of his mind – he needed to focus on the other girls.
Emily watched Kaylie and Payson kill it on beam. She knew Sasha had somehow arranged it so that she'd be between Pay and Kelly – the two solid competitors so she almost certainly would be after someone who didn't fall. Darby came up and stood beside her.
"You've got this."
Emily bit her lip, why did the beam have to exist? She still had a mental block about it. It's not like she'd be going anywhere near the beam in team finals. She shook the thought from her head and focused on the piece of wood in front of her. She saluted the judges, mounted and battled her way through her routine. Before she knew it, it was time to dismount she looked at Darby, who glared at her: she hated Emily showing any sign of not focusing. Emily ran down the beam and did her double tuck, but something didn't feel right, she landed deeply and sat down her double tuck. She bit her lip and saluted the judges, and refused to let the tears come. She still had floor to go, but she felt terrible, she was so mad! She knew she could do better.
She looked over to her coaches. Sasha's face was expressionless. He'd seen many falls and knew how to react. Darby on the other hand looked like someone had died – she knew Emily's Olympic shot was effectively over, all because she got cocky she took a deep breath and went to hug Emily – they weren't done yet and she was going to help Emily blow them away with her floor routine.
"How did I screw up that badly?" Emily asked, tears in her eyes. Suddenly all the self confidence she'd built faded away and she was the anxious little girl who had been thrown into the elite scene, who couldn't handle the pressure or the discipline.
Darby gripped Emily's shoulders tightly as Kelly went up to the beam. "Listen to me – what happened back there, that's in the past. You can't do anything about it. I want you to focus on your last routine. You're Emily Kmetko, the most naturally talented gymnast the world's seen in a long time – go out there and prove to everyone why you're going to London."
"But my beam –"
"What beam routine? All I care about is your floor, understand?"
Emily nodded "yes Darby"
"Good, now go visualise." Darby said before cheering Kelly on. The girl was simply BAMFing it on beam – she wasn't the most artistic or the most powerful gymnast but KP was a rock and when she dismounted the crowd went crazy. She was a fan favourite too.
Sasha led his girls to the floor section of the podium. He couldn't believe that this was it. In about forty five minutes they would know who was on the US team. Fortunately for him, he had the five best floor workers in the world. Kelly and Lauren with their crazy tumbling, Kaylie with her lovely dance, Emily who was just as artistic, but in a different way, and finally Payson – she had the most difficult routine in the world, with the best execution and that je ne sais quoi that was usually only seen in older gymnasts.
Kaylie was the first of the Rock girls on floor, the crowd was deafening. Kaylie had a way of winning people's hearts – her fans saw her as an ordinary girl who had accomplished extraordinary things – she tumbled and danced her way through to an instrumental version of Jordin Sparks' 'No Air' she finished with a huge grin on her face and Sasha cheered. Kaylie came over to him and hugged him.
"Enjoy yourself?" Sasha asked with a twinkle in his eye.
"So much, thank you Sasha, for everything. Even if I don't make it, it was worth it just to get this far."
"That's my girl." Sasha said, he was so proud that Kaylie had overcome her pursuit of perfection. He let her go and talk with the rest of the girls before heading over to Lauren.
"Ready?"
The blonde girl looked at him, her eyes blurry from fatigue and nodded.
"Good, just remember you've practiced this thousands of times. I know it sounds stupid but what I want you to do is relax and let your muscle memory take over. Your body knows what it's doing even if it's tired."
Lauren nodded and slowly stood up.
"And don't forget to smile!" Sasha called after her. Lauren rolled her eyes but did as he asked. The routine was one of the hardest in the world but for Lauren, usually, it was easy. She forced her headache to the side and let her body tell her what to do – following the music. And after what seemed like only a few seconds she was in her finishing pose. She saluted the judges, forcing herself to smile and walked slowly back to the rest of the girls. Kaylie wrapped her in a tight hug which Lauren returned, even though all she wanted to do was sleep.
Sasha watched nervously as Emily began her floor routine. She had come along way but this sort of pressure was not something she was entirely used to. The rest of his girls had lived and breathed pressure and discipline since before most kids started school. Emily was a relative newcomer and he knew there was nothing harder than performing an amazing routine after a fall. But his anxiety was shortlived. Emily had a fire in her eyes that, quite frankly scared the shit out of him. The girl attacked her floor routine: she still had the flawless lines and grace but there was something else, a hunger to win. Finally she completed her last tumble and sunk into her final pose. Sasha couldn't help himself – he let out a loud whoop and punched the air with his fist, usually he thought that was tacky but for this routine, for this kid, anything else fell short. Emily laughed at him and ran to hug him and Darby. She looked up to Damon in the stands. He just nodded as if to say, I knew you could do it: he and Larissa held up a ridiculously big banner that said KMETKO FTW, Emily rolled her eyes, but blew him a kiss.
Payson walked up to the floor, and Sasha's heart leapt, as it always did whenever Pay competed on floor. It was breathtaking as usual but compared to Emily's it didn't quite have the same fire. It was still spectacular though. Finally the national champion walked over to the floor. She was the final competitor of the day and she did her routine well, steady and well executed but after Emily and Payson it lacked something. But Sasha knew that Kelly would still almost certainly make the team, she was a rock and unlike the others hadn't had huge gaps between competing. He went to hug his most reliable athlete "good job soldier." He said quietly, using the nickname Marty gave her.
"Thanks coach."
It was all over, Payson couldn't believe it. All their hard work had was done, there was nothing more they could do. She wrapped her arms around Lauren and Kaylie's shoulders while they pulled the other two girls into their huddle. The scores came up on the screen. Once the medal ceremonies were over the selection committee only had half an hour to make their decision.
"Poker faces girls" Sasha whispered as the scores came up on the screen "show them how classy you are."
Lauren was exhausted but she managed a laugh.
"Yes even you Lauren."
A huge cheer erupted as the scores were posted and the girls turned as one to watch the screen.
All Around Results
1st Rosa Reynolds 60.78
2nd Payson Keeler 60.50
3rd Kelly Parker 59.7
4th Andrea Conway
5th Haruko Ueda
6th Kaylie Cruz
7th Collette Evans
8th Lauren Tanner
9th Emily Kmetko
10th Sierra Davis
11th Chelle Chatwin
12th Keiko Tanaka
13th Meill Smythe
14th Cameron Miston
15th Lara Dickens
Vault
1st Lauren Tanner
2nd Kelly Parker
3rd Kaylie Cruz
4th Rosa Reynolds
5th Cameron Miston
6th Chelle Chatwin
Uneven Bars
1st Emily Kmetko
2nd Payson Keeler
3rd Andrea Conway
4th Kelly Parker
5th Rosa Reynolds
6th Haruko Ueda
Balance Beam
1st Rosa Reynolds
2nd Kaylie Cruz
3rd Payson Keeler
4th Andrea Conway
5th Kelly Parker
6th Haruko Ueda
Floor Exercise
1st Payson Keeler
1st Emily Kmetko
3rd Kaylie Cruz
4th Rosa Reynolds
5th Haruko Ueda
6th Kelly Parker
Emily clapped her hand to her mouth. Two titles - floor and bars! Darby hugged her tightly. "That's my girl" she said, tears in her eyes.
Lauren bit back tears, her head felt so stuffy. She couldn't believe that she'd let a couple of bad night's sleep ruin everything. But then Sasha came up to her "hey champion. You just won vault when you were far from your best. You're a fighter!" Lauren cheered up, maybe things wouldn't seem so bad after all.
"Thanks Sasha" she said.
Sasha just nodded. With the first place finisher getting an automatic berth on the team that meant there were only four spots left. And he had five girls. He took a deep breath and cheered each of his girls as they made their way to the podium. Whatever happened he was immensely proud of all of them. He just hoped that they could be proud of themselves as well. He could tell that Payson was pissed. She was the best gymnast in the country but she'd always had bad luck, but hopefully she'd be back to competing full difficulty by the Olympics and blow everyone away.
Once the girls got their medals they were instructed to go and wait out the back of the podium, away from the cameras while the committee made their decision. Kelly was numb, she couldn't believe that in a few minutes she'd have either achieved her dream or...not, she couldn't bear to think of the second possibility. The girls were led into a lounge where they had a TV and some sofas as well as a kitchenette. Kelly was glad that they weren't in the public eye, though she was going to have trouble controlling her emotions once she was out on the floor. She sat down next to Kaylie and put her arm around her shoulder, Kaylie smiled nervously. All the girls were too tired and nervous to talk.
After what seemed like a million years one of the ladies from the NGO popped her head in. "Come on girls, are you ready to go?"
Payson frowned "all of us?"
"Of course! Your fans want to see all of you, you've all come so far."
Kelly stood up "so the cameras are going to be on our faces while the team is named, in front of everyone? How classy. Last time I checked this was a sports event not a reality TV show."
The woman cringed. She knew the Rock girls had attitude, but she didn't ever think she'd feel intimidated by a nineteen year old who was just over five foot and wearing a leotard. She took a deep breath "listen Kelly, I know this is hard for you to understand but this is the way we're doing it. Get into your tracksuits and make sure you all look fresh. See you in five. If you could line up in height order too, please."
Payson balled her hands into fists, she did not appreciate being treated like this "what should we do?" she asked Kelly.
The older girl scowled "we'll do as they say. But girls listen up, we are not going to give them the satisfaction of seeing any drama. We will go out there and be calm and classy. Whatever happens we won't cry, not in front of them. Anyone who gets on the team will be gracious and look out for those who don't and anyone who doesn't get on the team even though it feels like your heart is breaking, you will try and smile and be happy for those who do. Let's show them who's boss!"
The younger girls smiled, and murmurs of "you've got it Kel" and "bring it" echoed around the room. Filled with a sense of purpose they marched out, Haruko, the shortest leading the way.
XXX
"Well we are here, finally we find out who will be named to the 2012 Olympic team. There will be tears and drama" Tim the commentator said happily. He loved the intensity of watching the athletes either make it or not. "I will hand you over to Marcus O'Neill our NGO rep who will announce our Olympic team out of the lovely young girls before us." He met Kelly's eye and instantly regretted it: the girl was staring daggers at him. He hastily handed over the microphone.
"This decision has been incredibly difficult. We have fifteen girls and only five spots but I want to assure each of you that you have all accomplished great things. You are some of the toughest athletes in the world and you will all go far in whatever it is you each choose to do and I sincerely mean that." Marcus hated that they had to publicly name the team, it was tacky.
"As per the qualification rules the athlete with the highest score over two days of trials gains automatic berth onto the team. This quadrennium that athlete is Rosa Reynolds. Rosa is a first year senior and is known by her coach and teammates as the little dynamite. She has some of the hardest routines in the world and her bubbly personality and crazy power is reminiscent of Shawn Johnson and Carly Patterson. She is well deserving of her place on the team." The crowd erupted into a huge cheer and the other girls all descended on Rosa, hugging her.
Once Rosa came up and claimed her plaque and team jacket Marcus continued "the four remaining team members were not chosen specifically on their all around results: they were chosen as the best combination to take home the best possible team result. This decision was very difficult for us but we believe we have chosen the strongest team the USA has seen in a long time. It is my pleasure to announce our second team member, and team captain for 2012: Miss Payson Keeler."
The crowd absolutely screamed when Payson's name was announced. Her class and comeback made her beloved. Sasha was crying, Kim and Mark were crying and Becca was screaming her head off. Emily basically jumped on Payson, closely followed by the rest of the Rock girls. True to her promise with Kelly, Payson just smiled calmly and hugged every single other girl.
Marcus cleared his throat after it was clear that the crowd wasn't going to calm down "I was going to give a big introduction to Payson but it seems that you already know how spectacular she is: our comeback kid, ladies and gentlemen." And the crowd went wild again. Payson joined Rosa on the stage, they linked arms.
"Our third team member is one of our toughest competitors, she's steady as a rock and has pulled through for the team time and time again. Ladies and gentlemen: Kelly Parker." Kelly hugged her teammates, blew a kiss to the crowd and went on the stage: she gave the commentators a withering look and took her plaque. This was the tackiest thing in the world.
"This young lady has captured all our hearts with her bravery and entertaining gymnastics: Kaylie Cruz, former national champion and world team member." If the crowd had gone crazy for the previous three girls it went absolutely manic when Kaylie was announced. Kaylie let a single tear escape down her cheek. She looked up to Austin in the stands and whispered "I love you", which the press ate up. Kaylie hugged each of the remaining girls. She could tell how tense they were – there was only one spot left. "You're amazing" she whispered to each of them.
There was a sense of anticipation in the air, Marcus hated this part of his job. Up until now all of the girls before him still had a glimpse of hope, however small that they would be going to the Olympics "This final spot was a very difficult decision and I wish we could take all of you. Our final Olympian is a young woman of integrity who has overcome hardship to get where she is today. She has not let anything stand in the way of her dream. Ladies and gentlemen, Emily Kmetko."
Emily and Lauren looked at each other. Emily felt like the world was ending. Lauren's eyes looked empty, Emily hugged her friend tightly. Her friend who had worked her entire life for this and not made it. "It should have been you." Emily said tearfully.
"No! Em this is your time, go out and kick arse for me." Lauren said thickly. Emily hugged Lauren for a long time before hugging each of the other girls, she hugged Andrea for a long time too: she knew the older girl had thought she'd made the team. In fact, Emily couldn't believe that this wasn't all a dream. Numbly she went to accept her plaque.
Marcus announced Andrea and Haruko as the alternates and Sasha looked at his athletes and joined them on the stage as he was announced head coach. He was happy for them but his heart broke seeing Lauren standing on the floor, looking small and defeated.
A/N thank you for your lovely reviews, they mean so much. And to the anonymous reviewer, if you want to find out how Sasha got his black eye, read the outtakes The Locker Room, it's all in there . This chapter was so hard to write. Were you surprised at Kelly getting mad at the NGO? That girl has moxy. As always let me know what you thought