Hey Everyone! I just realized I made a mistake, and called Riley and Alexis' mom Evelyn in the 7th chapter even though her name is Jennifer…That's a huge mistake, since Evelyn is a character for later on, and NOT Alexis's and Riley's mom…Sorry about the confusion
Jennifer Dawes woke up to Alexis hovering over her head.
"Mom, we need to go. I can't be late to National team practice." Jennifer winced when Alexis turned the light on, but quickly recovered and pulled a sweater over her pajamas. Without much more interaction, the two locked up the house, hopped into the car and headed out to the Rock, to see cameramen and small crowds of people everywhere.
"Shit," Alexis said, and pulled her hoodie over her face, so maybe she could skip getting interviewed.
"Run for it sweetie, I'll see you inside."
It was like that at every national team practice. The top gymnasts came over from all over the country to one specific spot, and naturally, the press had to catch the nation's sweethearts for a quick interview. And of course, Alexis had quite a spotlight on her. She darted for the front door, but of course the second she walked in she was bombarded with more paparazzi.
"Alexis! Alexis! What do you have to say on your failure at the Pacific Rim?"
"Ms. Dawes! There have been rumors that you broke your back. Is this true?"
Alexis walked right passed them and into the locker room. She changed into her warm up gear and rolled her eyes.
"Hey Lex, hope you fall today," Said one of the girls.
One thing about gymnastics was that all the girls were bitches to one another. Gymnastics was a cut-throat world, and the girls that competed in the sport were taught to focus on themselves. It was hard not to have any friends besides from the Rock, even though Riley had friends from all over the country. Just with gymnastics, everything was so unpredictable. Most of the girls had the same degree of difficulty on their routines, and the only thing that separated them from being the winner or the loser was performance under pressure. No wiggles, no wobbles, no uncalled for flick of the wrist or shake of the head, no bent knees, no flat toes…Everything was marked on perfection. On beauty.
"I hope you do too." Lex replied, and walked out of the locker room and onto the mats. All she had to do was to make a good impression on the coaches and council, and she would be off to Australia for a meet.
Riley woke up in the morning, her head still buzzing from the victory yesterday. She was expected to do something huge today, except the course was short and fast, and quite frankly not suited to her abilities. Riley liked to say that the longer and harder the race, the best she was. She was slim and short, which made up a good climber, but today's race would end up in a sprint. The plan was, of course, to lead Nicole out to win the sprint. Nicole was the aggressive one. Although Riley wasn't a big fan, she could admit that Nicole was not afraid to bang up against other riders at 70KPH, and that's what made her a good sprinter.
As the girls disassembled their bikes to fit in the car, Seth went through the drills.
"OK, it shouldn't be an issue for you all to keep up with the pace. The race shouldn't be longer than an hour, but there are sharp turns, so watch out for crashes. Other than that, there is no reason you should finish behind the pack." He started out with a quick reminder that they were strong enough to hold on.
"When the race organizer rings the bell for the last 2 laps, you girls should find each-other and start moving your way up to the front of the peloton. Mara, you will then go into complete suicide mode, and just ride as fast as you can for a lap and a bit. Riley, once Mara drops, you keep up that pace until around 500 meters to the finish, where the whole bunch will be going wild. Nicole, find someone's wheel, and sit on it until you feel ready to go all out." That was the plan, easy as pie.
Riley was calm until there were 3 laps left to the race. She couldn't find Nicole.
"Mara," She said in between heavy breathing, and bumping shoulders with a German girl, "Where's Nicole?"
"She got a flat tire, and she wasn't allowed to hold onto the judges car to get back to the pack, so she's dropped."
"Ok, so I guess the win will go to someone else today." Riley tried to change the outcome, but she knew that now the pressure was on her. She was second in line to win the sprint finish, so they'd just have to try their best, and see what happened.
Riley was afraid, because she knew that if she planned to win the race, and she didn't, she would kill herself over it for a week. She knew it would be easy just to cruise through with the pack, not risking a crash or anything, and still keep her lead in the tour, but she also knew that Seth expected more of her.
She started panicking.
"Hey, Riley, keep it together. You've got this. Let's win this thing." Mara was right. Riley had to try, at least so she could say she tried. Riley followed Mara as she pushed through the riders and made way for Riley to pass through. Mara got to the front and pushed the pace on high enough so that no other rider could try and escape. It was also fast enough that at least half the girls that lingered for most of the race ended up losing the pack, leaving them with a core of strong girls.
When they heard the last lap bell, Riley could tell that Mara was tired.
"Come on Mara, just a little bit left. Come on, Come on" She whispered to her, and she struggled to keep up. "Mara, these girls hate you right now for making them suffer." That got Mara excited because she kept it up until exactly 100 meters to go, when a girl came from behind in a massive jump. She was wearing pink and blue.
Follow the pink and blue, Riley told herself in a stressed out manner, follow it! Follow it!
She got onto the pink and blue wheel, oblivious to the fact that there were 50 riders trying to push their way to the finish line as well.
20 meters to go, last push! Riley put her head down and pushed hard. Her legs were burning and her lungs were hurting, and she was neck and neck with the pink and blue girl. When they were one foot from the finish line, they both gave an extra push across the line.
Riley shot her arms in the air like a cannon and let out a huge "YES!"
The girl in the pink and blue that was beside her dropped her head and frowned.
It was victory number two for Riley, and the world was beginning to learn about her.