[Author's Note: I originally started this chapter as a continuation of the last one, but I was having trouble getting passed the first paragraph. Months ago, I started a companion piece that I was going to eventually publish as a one shot. I decided I would insert it as the next chapter since it meant getting another chapter up with a lot less work. It also involves a time skip to the next day. Be warned, this chapter and the following ones might be a little Payson x Sasha heavy.]
4:00 A.M.
The alarm blared to try to wake the sleeping girl. No teenager would enjoy waking up at this hour on a Saturday, but Payson Keeler thrived for it. This morning was different story though; her head was pounding, nausea overwhelmed her body, and it pained her to swallow her own saliva. Fighting the urge to drift back into a deep sleep, Pay climbed out of her queen sized bed and headed for the bathroom. Her mother, father, and sister were currently in Minnesota visiting family and friends, but Payson had to stay back and train since she was an elite athlete going to the London Olympics. Payson splashed her face with cold water in hopes to lower her body temperature a few degrees. She knew Sasha would send her home if he even got a hint that she was not feeling well. With the Olympics a few weeks away and a national competition to test the Fab Five, she could not risk to lose a day of training at this point. Her vault had not been perfected, and some of the new tumbling sequences in her revamped floor routine were sloppy at best. Payson Keeler knew that training today was necessity for her even if Sasha or Coach MacIntyre believed otherwise.
About forty five minutes later, Payson had been able to get dressed and drink some Gatorade to restore any lost electrolytes. The thought of breakfast made her want to purge the previous night's dinner, so Payson did not eat. A decision she would most likely regret later. Pay headed out the front door because she would be late if she didn't leave at this point. Arriving with five minutes to spare, Payson put on her best poker face to enter the gym. At five in the morning, the gym was quiet and empty. Sasha and Mac were chatting in the office, and Jordan, her only other teammate there, was sprawled out on a bright blue mat trying to stretch out her hip flexors. "Hey Pay. Sasha and Coach MacIntyre wants us conditioning this morning." Jordan cheerfully called as Payson retreated to the locker room. Great, running around the gym with ankle weights strapped to her legs trying to complete obstacles would do wonders for her body. Payson tossed her duffel bag and sweats in to her locker. A worn black and gold leotard and booty shorty covered her body, but it did little to keep her warm in the air conditioned gymnasium. It was one of her training leos that she wouldn't miss if she threw up on it. Shivers ran through her body as Payson entered the freezing training area. Jordan had switched to climbing ropes at the back end of the gym while the coaches had entered the floor to observe.
Kaylie, Lauren, and Colleen showed up while Payson began to loosen her muscles by stretching. The trio was making happy chatter as they headed towards the locker room. Payson let out small grunt of distress as stood up to begin a circuit of conditioning. She joined Jordan climbing ropes to begin. It took all she had to pull her body up the twisted twine. Climbing up and down, she made it through eight reps before taking a breather. "Payson, is something wrong?" MacIntyre shouted from the platform outside the office. He knew the gymnast could scale those ropes thirty times without stopping; something was up. Pay shook her head in response, not able to muster up her hoarse voice to shout back. "Back to climbing." MacIntyre ordered. He knew that Payson would stop training and let him know if she was in absolute danger. She had been the one to bring Lauren's problems to his attention. "Belov, does Keeler look herself to you?" he asked in a hushed whisper as Lauren, Kaylie, and Colleen joined Payson and Jordan on the ropes. Sasha glanced towards all five girls and studied them. "She seems a bit slow and fatigued today." he was able to answer. Mac was about to reply, but screams began to fill the air. Payson was now lying on the floor with her teammates surrounding her, all of them screaming for help. "Don't touch her!" Sasha instructed as the two coaches ran to the scene.