Chelsea reaches out, slings her arm over Dani’s shoulders, and squeezes. “See? You’re not alone.”
Dani sniffles a bit and looks away, her eyes shining. Damn it, I didn’t mean to make her cry.
Emma, Jaime, and Sierra are still on the other side of the vault run, talking too softly to be heard, but it’s suddenly super obvious a battle line has been drawn, and I’ve aligned myself against Emma.
Janet walks over and frowns at the tears swimming in Dani’s eyes. “Dani, why don’t you take a quick bathroom break?” she whispers, with her back to the other girls, ensuring they don’t hear her. I was not expecting that. It kind of makes me want to hug her. It was genuinely kind and had nothing to do with our training or the Olympics or anything except making sure Dani was okay. My mind spins as I try to figure out the last time I saw a coach act like that, and the only answer I come up with isnever. Never. Not even Pauline. Crying happens in training, frustration overflows, exhaustion takes over, but even Pauline would just walk away, ignoring us until we got ourselves together.
Dani nods, wiping at her cheeks quickly and walking away. “Audrey, I want one clean one and a half twist, and Chelsea, let’s see both your vaults.” Janet turns to the other girls. “Ladies, warm up.”
They move off to the floor, Sierra leading them with a smug smile on her face and Jaime smirking. It’s so weird to see Emma falling in line behind them. How is she siding with them? I hate that we’re divided, and I hate that I don’t see a way to fix any of it.
“Come on,” Chelsea says, pulling me out of my own head. “You’re really close to sticking that one and a half. Get your hands down a little quicker onto the horse and you’ve got it.”
Right. Vault. C’mon, Audrey, concentrate on vault and not the drama.With a quick inhale and exhale and then a head shake, the drama slides away.
Huh, I guess Janet’s shake-it-off thing actually works.
“Let’s go, Rey!” Janet shouts from the vault, where she’s adjusted the springboard for me. She claps her hands together sharply, and I can’t help but notice that we have the other trio’s full attention, even though they should be warming up.
Janet follows the path of my eyes. “Girls, let’s go!” she calls out and that jolts them into action.
“Remember, quicker into your block,” Chelsea says from behind me, pulling my attention back to the task at hand.
I take off at a run into a roundoff back handspring, hands quick to the vault and off, twisting one and a half times around, open up and land, stick. That was a good one, and my back didn’t even twinge.
“Excellent,” Janet says with a firm, approving nod. “Go on and get some water before joining the others in warming up for floor.”
I move away and flash Chelsea a thumbs-up for the advice. It really was the best vault I’ve done in a long time.
“Audrey,” Janet calls out. “Why don’t you go check on Dani first?”
Spinning in the opposite direction, I head for the bathroom, pulling at my wrist guards. I use them for vault, but I don’t need them on floor. I’m only about halfway there when someone falls into step beside me and my heart gives a soft lurch at his proximity.
“Nice vault,” Leo says, his voice low and a little rumbly.
“Thanks,” I whisper back.
He doesn’t break stride as he leans slightly into me, the back of his hand gently ghosting over mine, sending a wave of shivers through my entire body, and then he’s gone, his longer stride pulling him ahead, his vision focused solely on the exercise bike in the far corner.
It was no more than a spilt second, but my heart rate doesn’t slow as I continue on toward the bathroom, trying to subtly glance around the gym to see if anyone noticed. As nice as that felt, we just cannot do things like that on the regular if I’m going to keep my sanity or my spot on the team.
I slip through the bathroom door and find Dani with her hands on the edge of the sink, staring into the mirror, and any fears I have about Leo are gone. This is way more important. There are tears running down her cheeks and tissues on the ledge in front of her full of smudged black eyeliner and tan concealer. Her reflection gives me a watery smile.
“Janet wants us out for floor, and if you could make sure Emma feels you breathing down her neck for that all-around gold, that’d be great.”
Dani snorts. “Yeah, that’ll happen.”
“What? You finished, like, two-tenths of a point behind her at trials, and you actually beat her on day two. It’s possible.”
“Please, the judges were handing out points like candy that night, Rey. I just can’t believe you guys are fighting. It, like, defies the laws of the universe.”
“I guess so. She’s … I don’t know. I’ve never really seen her like this. It’s gotta be the pressure.” It feels like the problem is working itself out as I speak. “Personally, I think she’s terrified of you.”
The thought hadn’t even really occurred to me until I said it. The whole world expects Emma to win the all-around, maybe most especially Emma herself. Her only rival was supposed to be Irina Kareva, but Dani’s rise over the last year has been meteoric and took literally everyone by surprise. Maybe, despite the media attention at trials, even Dani doesn’t understand how close it is between them.
“Whatever it is, she’s pretty dumb to fight with her best friend right before the Olympics.” There’s something in her voice, like maybe she feels guilty. “I’m sorry if I—”
“No way,” I cut her off. “I believe you. If Emma thinks that siding with those girls is going to get her any closer to the gold medal podium, then that’s her choice, but I know you’re telling the truth.”
