A/N: Sorry for the long break! Happy New Year! And happy first birthday to the reincarnation of Undying Champion!
Monday dawned bright and early for the five girls who had fallen into bed exhausted after qualifications. A gentle knock against their doors from Chow indicated that they had half an hour to be ready for breakfast, before another day of training.
Rolling onto her back, JJ yawned, stretching her arms out as she did. Her blankets were tangled around her waist, but she was in no hurry to pull herself out.
"Hey… how'd you sleep?" Aly asked quietly, drawing her attention across the room. JJ turned to look at her, finding Aly already up and gathering her clothes.
"Pretty good," JJ said softly, pushing herself up. "You?"
"Yeah, ok," Aly replied. "You mind if I use the bathroom first?"
JJ shook her head, gesturing for Aly to go. She watched as her friend disappeared into the bathroom, before untangling herself from the sheets and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.
It had been a little tense the previous evening. While the five girls had stormed ahead and qualified in first place to the team final, it was the individual finals that had caused grief. McKayla had qualified to the vault final in first place, as was expected. JJ and Gabby had both qualified to the bars final in sixth and seventh respectively. And JJ and Aly had both qualified to beam and floor, JJ in first for beam, and Aly for floor.
But the all-around remained elusive. Twice now, Aly had been the second strongest US competitor in the all-around, and had two fourth place all-around finishes at Worlds under her belt. She had even said to JJ multiple times that she wanted to take the number four and cut it in half.
And now JJ had knocked her out of the final.
Of course, she knew it wasn't like that. She and Gabby had simply had the better day. She knew any other day of competition, the result could have been vastly different. And Aly, to her credit, had tried her best to keep her team leadership up to par. She had congratulated JJ on making the final, but it had been tense. She had been noticeably more irritable after a physical therapy session with Larry, and JJ had responded by giving her the space she clearly needed to process the results.
They all needed to get their game faces on.
"All yours," Aly said, breaking JJ from her thoughts as she came back into the room. JJ looked up, giving her a small smile. Pulling herself up from the bed, she crossed the room to her bag, bending down to grab her toiletry case from the top.
"JJ?"
Straightening up, JJ turned expectantly to face her friend.
"I… I'm sorry I was such a grump yesterday. I was just… I guess I bought into all the trash talk saying that you were clearly the third best all-arounder on the team… and I don't even know why, because you beat me at Nationals. And Trials," Aly said heavily. "I just… really wanted to make the all-around. So it was a bit disappointing when I realized that I hadn't. And I know it's not fair for me to have taken it out on you, especially considering it was technically Gabby who beat me into the final… I just really wanted a chance to turn that number four into a colour, you know?"
"I know," JJ said softly, stepping forward and placing a hand on Aly's shoulder. "I get it… it's ok. You had every right to be disappointed about it"
"I really am happy that you made the final," Aly said with a smile, lifting her hand to cover JJ's. "You've proved everyone who says you're a weak all-arounder wrong. And now it's time to kick some naysayer ass on Thursday"
JJ laughed. "I promise I will. I'll do it for both of us"
Beaming, Aly pulled JJ into a tight hug, which JJ gladly returned.
"Did you have a good day today?"
Worn out from training, JJ flopped into a beanbag, holding her phone tightly in her hand. It had been a long day. Now that they had proven themselves enough to make a handful of finals, Martha had packed on the pressure – the expectations for them to back up their qualifications performance with the goods to prove they deserved their places were bigger than ever. JJ had been thankful for the grind of training. It helped her keep her mind off of what would be taking place in just 24 hours.
"We worked super hard. Martha's really grinding us to perfection. She wants us to back up our qualifications scores in finals and prove we deserve them"
"Speaking of… you were fantastic in qualifications, JJ, we're so proud of you! Finishing second in the all-around standings in your first international all-around competition… you should be really proud of yourself!"
"Thanks Mom," JJ replied with a smile as she settled in her beanbag. Her phone was in front of her, on speaker as the other girls milled in and out of the room. She was thankful Aly hadn't been in the room at that moment though; she didn't think she could handle seeing the look of disappointment cross Aly's face again.
"How are you hanging in there? Not feeling too anxious?"
At her mom's question, something stirred in her chest. Even though she had gotten decently good at shutting all her other thoughts from her mind, her feelings for Will seemed to push back through at the end of the day. More than anything, she wanted to vocalize it to someone… and who better than her mom?
"Yeah, I'm ok," she said softly, biting the words back as she continued to mull it over.
"But enough about gym… you should get a look at some of the boys we've seen walking around, they are so cute!"
Immediately, the desire to tell her mom disappeared. She managed to laugh, her cheeks flushing. "Mom-"
"I'll start giving them your number"
"Mom, seriously-"
"And that young boy on the British men's team, phwoar, JJ, he is a serious looker! Chat him up in the dining hall if you see him!"
"Mom!"
"Don't listen to your mother JJ, you don't need to be distracted by any dumb boys!"
JJ laughed, suddenly relieved she hadn't said anything about Will now that it was clear she was also on speaker with both of her parents. "Clearly Dad is the only logical parent around here, Mom, put him on!"
"No JJ, Max is hot!" McKayla chimed in as she came racing into the room. She jumped into the beanbag beside JJ with a loud FLOOMP. "He is dreamy!"
"Ok well he's definitely not interested in my four foot ten ass," JJ shot back as Aly and Kyla joined them. Aly laughed, while Kyla grinned, clearly a little confused at what direction the conversation was going in.
"You don't know that JJ, you have a seriously banging body, I bet all the male gymnasts have a thing for you!"
"Do we really have to reduce my baby girl to her looks?" Michael chimed in from the other end of the line.
"If I had a dick, I would want to have sex with you!"
The room erupted into laughter as JJ's cheeks flamed bright red.
"Ooohkay, I think we'll leave you girls to it," Sandy chuckled. JJ could hear her dad laughing behind her, but that didn't stop the heat rushing even further up her cheeks.
"Yeah, I'm gonna hang up before Mac says something even worse, because believe me, that's about as tame as she gets," JJ shot back, making her parents laugh even harder.
"Alright, well, we love you! And we're wishing all of you good luck for tomorrow, you girls are going to be amazing!"
"Thanks Mom"
"Thanks Sandy!" Aly called over McKayla's shoulder. "Bye!"
"Bye girls!"
Hanging up the call, JJ turned to McKayla, ready to lay into her, but inevitably, all she could do was laugh.
"I'm never going to be able to say your name in front of my dad again," she laughed, making McKayla grin.
"I try my hardest," she giggled, shuffling over as Kyla squeezed into the beanbag beside her. Aly came to sit on the floor in front of JJ, hugging her knees to her chest.
"Honestly, between Max and Will-"
"Who said anything about Will?" JJ said quickly, cutting Aly off. The other three girls stared at her for a moment, McKayla's lips quirking into a knowing smile.
"I see our feelings from camp have solidified," she said quietly.
"No, they haven't," JJ said defensively. "He's just my friend"
"Your super hot friend," McKayla quipped. "As Aly was saying, between him and Max, your opportunities are just getting more and more endless!"
"Just my friend," JJ repeated firmly.
"Your friend who totally wants to bone you"
"MAC!" JJ shrieked, her cheeks flushing red as the three girls dissolved into giggles. "Ok I've had enough, why don't we focus on finding you a guy? You've already made innuendos to Usain Bolt"
"He's totally your type Mac, tall and silent," Aly teased. "We'll find you someone to rub your feet at the end of the day, before they take you to bed and have their way with you"
The girls laughed, but surprisingly, McKayla did not. Her expression had fallen, and all of a sudden, she jumped up from her beanbag.
"I have to go to bed," she muttered darkly, before turning and leaving the room without so much as another word. The other three stared at each other, confused, before Kyla slowly got up as well.
"I guess… I should go to bed too… big day tomorrow," she said softly, giving JJ and Aly a smile before turning and following McKayla's footsteps.
"Come on… let's go," Aly said, beckoning for JJ to follow her.
As stunned into silence as the others by McKayla's odd behavior, JJ obliged.
"JJ? Are you awake?"
Rolling onto her back, JJ looked across the dark room towards Aly's bed. They'd been in bed for nearly two hours, but JJ just couldn't get to sleep. Her stomach was completely aflutter, her mind racing.
"Yeah," she said softly.
Aly let out a sigh. "I'm so nervous. I actually feel like I might be sick"
Silently, JJ agreed. Tomorrow was finally the team final, and there had never been more pressure on them to deliver.
Throwing her covers back, she slipped out of bed and padded across the room to Aly's bed.
"Scooch over," she whispered, making Aly giggle as she shuffled over to let JJ in. Moments later, they were both squeezed into the little wooden bed, their hands laced tightly together as the reality of the next day washed over them.
"I'm nervous," JJ said quietly. "But I'm also really excited… it's the Olympic Games… our first final… I just can't believe it's really here"
"I can't believe we're really here," Aly gushed, squeezing JJ's hand a little tighter. "All those years we watched Carly and Shawn and Nastia… now it's our turn"
"Do you think we can do it?" JJ breathed, refusing to use the word she really wanted to say. She didn't want to jinx them after all.
"If we just do what we've done in training," Aly replied softly. "I think we have a good chance"
"Will said he's going to watch from home," JJ said suddenly. "I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or worse"
Aly giggled. "You totally have a thing for him"
"I do not!" JJ said indignantly, even though her heart gave a little skip. "He's just my friend Aly"
"Your friend who makes your stomach do flip flops every time he watches you compete," Aly pointed out.
"Shut up," JJ whispered, making Aly giggle again.
"Think of him as your good luck charm. You always do really well when he's watching, even if you're nervous. Because deep down… you want to intimidate the hell out of him"
They both laughed.
"We should go to sleep," JJ said softly.
"And then bring on tomorrow," Aly breathed, reaching over and giving JJ a tight squeeze. They held on for a few moments, before JJ let go, sliding out of the bed and heading back to her own.
Back under her own covers, she turned to face the window, taking a deep breath to try and quell the butterflies living in her stomach.
24 hours from now... and she would either have made her dream come true... or watched it slip away.