It was the last day of national team training week, and Alexis was starting to die down. Between training 9 hours a day, watching Riley's racing for 3 hours a day and still fit in everything else, she was practically a zombie. The only thing that was keeping her alive was caffeine, and the national coach's whistle.
The 15 national team members were still asleep on the mats when Alexis awoke to watch Riley's last day of racing in Italy. By the afternoon she'd be back in Colorado. Alexis tip-toed her way into the coaches room and turned the television on mute. Just in time, Mara, Nicole and Riley were getting interviewed during their warm up. The three were in sport bra's and cycling shorts, under a tent but still sweating like mad-women, and were trying to understand the English that was hardened by a thick Italian accent.
"Thank you girls, we will see you during the race." Alexis had missed the interview, but not the race. According to the map, the race was a 70 kilometer race with lots of climbs, and it was hot outside. The girls on the starting line looked pretty serious, and it also looked as if they were after Riley—which they were.

Riley crossed the finish line, tears streaming down her face. She was somewhere between 40th and 60th place, and had lost her overall lead in the race. She lost 2nd and third place as well. She had barely made it in the top ten—finishing tenth overall. What had happened in the race was just a huge blur to her. Her emotions took over her and she couldn't think straight. What had happened? What had gone wrong? She just cried, instead of trying to remember or understand. Instead, she rolled her bike over to the team tent, threw her bike in the corner and sat into the plastic chair, and continued to cry. Mara was already there. She had finished 9th place in the race—a huge success for her. Seth was congratulating Mara, but did have a few words for Riley.

"What do you think happened?" he said curtly.

"I—I don't know…" Riley continued to cry.

"Well, how about I explain a thing or two about biking to you. You were in the lead. There are another 150 girls here that want to be in the lead too! It's the last day of the race, and the perfect race to get you knocked out of the top position. So, whenever someone got the chance, they bumped into you, they made you work harder than the others, and they yelled at you. In other words, they ganged up on you. And instead of keeping it cool and playing the game, you missed the winning move because you were pushed into the back of the group, and before you knew it you found yourself staring at the peloton from behind, not able to catch them, and eventually losing to 49 girls who you've been beating all week long."

Riley remembered now.

"Quit the crying Riley. You aren't 10 years old anymore and you aren't in the USA anymore. The game is played rough in Europe, and you weren't up for it. You won the lottery but you missed the jackpot." Seth sighed before he turned back to Mara, who was dry heaving into a bucket. It was over 100 degrees outside and the race course wasn't designed for drinking while riding. "Oh, but it was a good lesson," Seth said sarcastically.

Riley wiped her eyes and pulled herself over to Mara, and rubbed her back as she puked air.
"Seth, I think we should get her an IV drip, she's severely dehydrated." Paul fumbled with some electrolyte juices and handed one to Riley and to Nicole who had just finished. Mara wasn't even capable of taking a sip.
"And miss our flight? I don't think so. Force her to drink, give her two Advil, and let's get out of here." Seth rolled his wheelchair to the van and started loading everything he was capable of loading, in a clearly distressed manner.

Alexis couldn't take the National team practice anymore. Too many bitchy girls in one gym. During lunch break she snuck out to Groovy Smoothie instead of eating the stupid steamed vegetables that the NGO brought over.

"Payson, where are you? Can't you come to the gym just for a few hours? I need you."

Payson was lying on her bed like a log, and couldn't be moved. The pain in her back was paralyzing her to the point where she couldn't lift a finger. It had been like that since the beginning of the week, when she lied to Alexis and told her she was going to visit Emily and her kids for the week. She didn't want Alexis to know what was going on. It would upset her and ruin her mental game.

"Umm, I'm actually at home right now. I just got back," she said through winces.

"So can you come? Please. It's only 2 hours of technique training."

"Uh, yeah," Payson killed herself for saying yes, but couldn't bear to say no either. "Let me just unpack my things and I'll be over."

Payson hung up, and tried to contemplate how she'd get out of bed. She dialed her mom, who was in the kitchen.

"Pay? Can't you yell through the house? You know the phone bill's high." Kim rested the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she removed cookies from the baking sheet. They were for the Rock parent's meeting tomorrow night.

"Mom, I need your help. Please just come here." Kim Keeler dropped the phone and ran to her daughter's bedroom.

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