Chapter 5

The next day was another National Practice. The months were flying by fast, decreasing the amount of time from Worlds and Olympic trials. The girls and coaches seemed to grow tenser with each passing practice. Sasha Belov was snappy at this particular one. Though excited, he was anxious for the upcoming Boston Invitational and it showed in his mood.

"Come on, Nina! You were landing that yesterday!" he bellowed at his gymnast. She rolled her eyes and got back on the beam, trying again.

"Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning…" grumbled Jessica Rudolph, watching her coach and teammate. Keera Donaldson was by her side, chalking up her hands.

Keera was unfazed by the mounting pressure. "We all have days like that." She said dismissively, shaking off her hands and walking over to the uneven bars.

Jessica watched her competition jump on and flawlessly begin her complicated routine. "Everyone but you…" she said under her breath. If Keera kept surpassing perfection, Jessica had no idea how she could ever catch up. She tried not to look too nervous while she watched her routine. With each skill she threw in the air, the Rock's prospects in Boston were looking bleaker and bleaker.

Just then Payson walked by the girls and Keera's dismount caught her eye. "Excellent." She said with admiration. "It wouldn't kill you to smile, Keera."

Keera sighed and walked off the mat with a somber face. It was a strange site, especially since she had just completed a perfect routine.

A few hours later the girls rushed out of the gym with their families. Payson was just as eager to leave. She desperately wanted a cup of tea and an early night's rest.

"Mommy!" Ally cried, springing out from Sasha's office after practice. After being cooped up with coloring books and old gymnastics tapes (Payson caved), the little girl was craving to exert some energy. "Can I go on the beam – please?"

Payson sighed, but motioned for her to go ahead. Her daughter had recently fallen in love with the low practice beam. She liked to walk, jump, and turn on it. Payson tended to keep on eye on her, though, just in case she got any more ambitious ideas.

Ally's face was pure joy as she jumped on. She raised her arms high in the air and smiled at an imaginary audience. No doubt she learned that from the videos of Payson that she now watched on repeat.

"She's adorable."

Payson whirled around and saw an unexpected gymnast lurking outside the locker room.

"Sorry – did I scare you?" Keera Donaldson asked, walking closer with her practice bag slung over her shoulder.

Payson shock her head. "Oh now. I just thought we were the last ones here. Are you flying back to Boston tonight?"

Keera nodded. "Yeah. A taxi is picking me up to take me to the airport. My parents didn't tag along this practice." The teenager sounded almost grateful for her last statement. Payson, however, didn't ask any follow-up questions on the matter.

"Well," she said in an attempt to change the subject to more cheerful things. "You were fantastic today – really. I don't dole out compliments often, so you should take that well."

Keera was only half listening to her coach. Instead she was watching Ally Keeler attempt a cartwheel on the low beam. When she succeeded, she threw her hands up in the air and waved at her mother. Keera almost looked envious

"I wish I was that age again. It used to be so much fun." She said, her eyes locked forward in a trance.

"Used to be?" Payson asked slowly with concern.

Keera shook herself out of her reverie. "Never mind – I should go." She turned sharply toward the door, but looked back again at Payson. "P-Payson…" she asked hesitantly, as if she might regret was she was about to say. "When you were injured, you kept going, right?"

"Yes." Payson said. "That's right."

"And…you weren't the best anymore."

Payson laughed a bit. "Oh yes – I remember that part well."

"How did that feel?" Keera asked with a sort of innocent curiosity.

"It felt like hell." Payson answered honestly. "but I never wanted to do anything else. That was it for me – gymnastics. It didn't matter that I had to start over. I did what I had to do."

There was a loud honk outside and Keera headed toward the door again, though perhaps with a more daydream-like expression.

Payson eventually convinced her energetic daughter to leave the gym. As she drove them home her thoughts fell back on Keera Donaldson and her questions after practice. Confusion swirled around in her mind. The national champion from Boston was undeniably talented and extremely mysterious.

Payson needed to clear her head. With just one day until they left for Boston, Payson's stress was starting to overtake her both emotionally and physically. When she hit roadblocks like these she consistently turned to one thing: the trampoline. Much like her daughter, Payson had a weakness for jumping and running – anything aerobic and repetitive was like therapy.

It was a little known fact, but Payson Keeler's gymnastics career started on the giant trampoline in her aunt's background. When she was five years old her parents noticed she was active and flexible. They put her in dance and skating classes. She seemed to enjoy both of those, but didn't love them. One day at a family reunion all the children were playing on the new trampoline. No sooner had Payson got on the thing than she was doing split jump and flips. She jumped higher than all the other children and scared most of the parents. The next day Mrs. Keeler signed up her daughter for gymnastics.

In order to refocus, she decided to come in early to the Rock and mess around on the trampoline. After dragging her mom out of bed she arrived at the gym early. There was only one other person there.

Sasha Belov was doing pull ups on the uneven bars - shirtless. She stopped behind the side bleachers, not wanting to make her presence known just yet. She peered through the gaps in the structure watching him try out each apparatus. She'd never seen him do gymnastics in person before. True, she'd seen hours of footage from his glory years, but this was very different.

He jumped off the bar and jogged over to the men's rings. He lifted himself slowly in the air – almost painfully so. Payson say his muscles flex as he lifted his straight legs in front of him.

Then. She sneezed. It was very inconvenient.

"Hello?" he called out.

Payson jumped out from behind the bleachers and tried to pretend like she just arrived. "Oh – are you here Sasha? Cool."

"I am often here, yes." He pointed out, sweat dripping from his face.

"Well…" she said, trying not to stare. "Don't mind me. Carry on…." She avoided his eyes and practically ran to the tramp. Sasha smirked.

Payson jumped on, going up and down with ease. Higher and higher she rose until she felt enough power to do tricks. She did flips and layouts over and over, letting her body enjoy the easy movements. She let her hair down from its tight bun and let is wave freely in the air. She closed her eyes and just felt herself go up and down.

"Why are you wasting your time on the tramp, Payson?" she heard Sasha's voice.

"Just clearing my head." She said. "Is that a problem?"

"Can you clear your head with something more challenging?" he called out.

Payson opened her eyes and shrugged. "What did you have in mind exactly?"

Sasha smiled and looked at the time. No one else would be in the gym for at least an hour. Without warning, he jumped up and joined her on the tramp, jumping up to meet her in the air.

"What are you doing?" she laughed at his unexpected silliness.

"Giving you a run for your money." He said. "Are you scared?"

"Sure…" she said, getting off the trap. "Let's see what you have up your sleeve, old man!"

Sasha jumped up higher and higher then flipped his body around quickly. Payson raised her eyebrow in pleasant surprise. "Well, well, well…"

She got her turn and matched his skill with ease. They kept going back and forth like this for a while. The difficulty escalated. There they were – two has-beens testing their limits bit by bit. In just a few minutes the mounting skills were starting to take their toll. Payson smiled as she saw a glimpse of pain on Sasha's face.

"Come on, Belov!" she cried, jumping on the tramp with him, competing for height. "Put some effort into it!" She raised her voice, trying to mimic the harsher side of his coaching style.

"Very funny!" he said. He pushed her down and Payson landed on her butt. She yelped and continued to bounce. She grabbed Sasha's leg in the air and brought him down with her. They both laughed and bounced on their backs until they lost height. Payson landed on top of Sasha. He grunted.

"Oh – sorry!" she said. They weren't bouncing any more, but Sasha was still laughing under her. She felt the stickiness of his body and her mind told her how truly disgusting it was. Her body, however, seemed to disagree.

"You've really lost your skills." She said with a smug crinkle of her nose.

Sasha narrowed his eyes and with surprising strength rolled her over and pinned her down. Payson's eyes widened with surprise. She tried to think of something clever to say, but she could only breath under him. Her chest rose and fell under him, perhaps more quickly than usual.

"I'm sorry what were you saying?"

His blue eyes were distracting. It took Payson a while to remember what she had planned on saying which was the obvious statement - "You should probably get off of me now…"

Sasha smirked and did as he was told. Payson got up, quickly pulled her hair back in a messy bun, and jumped off the tramp.

So much for clearing her head...