More Gymnastia.

Don't get offended by the Shawn Johnson part. We thought it'd be funny. We both actually don't care much for her, but we do think she's amazinggggg, and that she deserved every bit of her gold, and she deserved everything she's won in her career, and we do hope she goes on to 2012, because she's awesome to watch. :D

This is actually about Nationals, lol, obviously it's fictional. I skipped a couple of parts from the opening chapter.


"Do the dismount again," Valeri stated flatly, keeping his focus on the beam. "That was weak..." Nastia pushed herself back up onto the beam, throwing her arms and head back as she repeated the same dismount for the eleventh time in a row. She was halfway through her rotation when she landed...on her butt. Valeri groaned. "Come on already! That was high, it was real high, but what good does it do you if you land on your butt? Again." It was Nastia's turn to groan as she pushed herself back up onto the beam again. "The first day of Nationals is tomorrow, Nastia. If you don't concentrate, you won't medal. Do you want to medal?" Valeri asked his daughter, placing his hands on his hips. "Of course I do," Nastia retorted, midair, before landing her dismount and only taking a slight step. "Again." Nastia suddenly realised what was at stake. There were new seniors coming into the playing field, and she didn't want them to take it all away from her. She climbed up onto the beam, ready for another go at the dismount, a new energy filling inside her. She hurdled into a roundoff, set high into the twist, and felt herself...stick. "Amazing!" Valeri rejoiced so loudly, that the whole gym could hear. "That was just perfect, babygirl!" Nastia couldn't hide her smile as she walked away from beam, to grab some water and grip up. She felt ready for Nationals. She was prepared, focused, and determinated. Taking a deep breath going into her first bar routine, after warming up and getting conditioning out of way, she executed the first kip, cast handstand beautifully. Making her way to the highbar, she heard her father talking to her. "Are you excited?" he asked, to which Nastia replied with a very exasperated "Yes". Spotting his daughter on the Pak Salto, a transition from the high bar to the low bar, he had a smile on his face, noticing the attitude change in Nastia.
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The alarm sounded at six thirty in the morning and Nastia woke up with a start. It was all she could do no to leap out of bed. It was finally the day of nationals…the day Nastia would show the new seniors who was in charge. She quickly changed into her leo and slipped a pair of shorts and a loose fitting t-shirt over it. “Are you ready?” Valeri asked, placing an arm around her neck and kissing her temple. “More than ready…I’m pumped!” Nastia replied, jumping up and down like Rocky before entering the ring. Valeri laughed at his daughter’s eagerness. “Alright then…grab your bag and lets head out.” As they entered the arena, Nastia felt the butterflies start to flitter in her stomach. She always got nervous before a major meet, but she loved it all the same. As she looked around for Alicia, one of the best vaulters on the US team and Nastia’s best friend, she spotted a small, midget-like girl standing off to the side with a Chinese man. “Who’s that?” She turned to ask her father.
“Newcomer…Shawn Johnson. She’ll be challenging your record.” Nastia laughed. “Pfft…crazy daddy say what?” Valeri shrugged and laced his arm around his daughter’s neck, steering her over to Marta and the rest of the girls. Nastia turned around and looked at Shawn Johnson one last time before proceeding to the floor for warmups. She'd crush her, big time, no doubt. She stuck every landing during warm-ups, and, feeling rather confident, proceeded to the first rotation…vault. “Concentrate, Nast. Go for the goal and stick the landing,” Valeri whispered encouragingly in his daughter’s ear. Nastia nodded once, lining up at the start line. She waited for the light to turn green before taking off down the runway. In her side vision, she saw Shawn sitting on the bench, next to Alicia, HER best friend. What was she thinking trying to take her friends? She pushed the thought aside as she pressed her hands into the ground and sprung up onto the vault, doing a one and a half twisting yurchenko, before digging her heels into the ground to stick the landing. She had done it…she had nailed her most difficult apparatus. Smiling, she made her way back towards Valeri and jumped into his arms. He wrapped her in a warm embrace. “Great job, baby, very well done. Get your grips on.” Nastia nodded and grabbed her grip bag, putting them on and chalking up. She sat down on the bench, waiting for the gymnasts to move to the next rotation, bars. Finally, it was her turn again.
She smiled towards her father before making her way back onto the podium and swinging onto the low bar. She repeated her skills to herself in her head. Stalder shoot to high bar, cast to handstand, inbar stalder ½ to L, Ono, Healy, Gienger, piked stalder, Tkatchev, Pak salto, toe shoot to the high bar. When she reached for the bar, it wasn’t there…she grasped nothing but air and felt herself falling…and then she felt the mat beneath her. She curled her legs up, pulling them to her. Had this seriously happen? Did she really fall on her best routine? She had, indeed. Frustrated and upset, she hopped back up to finish her routine, taking a step on the dismount. She was not pleased. She stalked off the podium, pushing her father away when he went to embrace her. “Shoot!” she exclaimed, throwing her grip back on the bench. “It’s alright, you’ll come back,” Valeri offered, but to no avail. “Leave. Me. Alone.” Nastia screeched out through gritted teeth, pushing past him once again. Focusing and mentally performing her routines in her head, Nastia didn't notice the up-and-coming Shawn Johnson on beam, executing all the big tricks, but with splits lacking. Nastia felt her father's hand gently tap her back, urging her to get a move on up to the podum, her turn to shine and dance on the four inches that beckoned her. When she stood up, Nastia felt a little bit dizzy, but she didn't think anything of it. Taking deep breaths, she walked up the stairs leading to the podium, her father encouragin her in silence, his looks were enough to push her the extra mile. The judge seemed to take forever to salute, signaling Nastia to begin her routine. The championship was still in her grasp, thanks to a immensly high start value (A-score) on bars, even though she had missed. Nastia nodded to the judges, the people she hated most, and mounted the beam with a press handstand. Once fully upright on the beam, she took a step into a front aerial, a blind landing, and went straight into her flight series, a back hanspring step out, layout step out, landing it with no wobbles. She continued on, in the routine, thinking positive thoughts. She had two major skills left, an Onodi, wolf full series, and her signature move, a front aerial to land in a scale. And, of course, her famous Liukin Quad as a dismount. Nastia danced to her position, ready for the Onodi. She reached back and hit the beam..hard. Falling to the ground, she heard collective gasps, an "Oh, Crap." from Alicia, and a laugh. She had a hunch who the laugh came from. She wanted to show the girl just how she could finish up strong. Climbing back onto the beam, Nastia had a terrible headache, and was ready to just sleep. Although, She executed the Liukin perfectly, and stuck the dismount. Walking back to her father, he had a proud smile on his face. "I'm proud you got back up and did it, babygirl." He told her, kissing her cheek. Nastia shook her head and leaned into her father, laying her head on his shoulder and taking deep breaths. She was even dizzier than before, and she felt like the walls were closing in on her. She gasped harder for breath, clinging onto her father's shirt. "Daddy...I can't breathe!" She exclaimed, panicking. "I can't breathe, I can't breathe!" Nastia paused, letting out a moan into her father's shoulder. "I'm fine, Daddy. I'm good." Nastia turned and walked away, muttering to herself. "I can do this. I'm going to show them I'm here, and I'm going to fight." Valeri looked at his daughter, very concerned. "Maybe you should sit down for a bit...drink some water," he added, handing her her water bottle. "Try and relax, sweetheart." He patted her shoulder and sat down next to her. Nastia sipped slowly at the water before putting it down beside her. Nastia sighed, starting to run through her floor routine in her mind, hitting every skill, and hitting all the dance elements. Pausing in the middle to watch Shawn Johnson, she thought if it was possible to beat her. Being a math whiz, she added up A-scores, and Average B-scores, and came to the conclusion that it was possible, if she hit, to snatch the lead away from Shawn. Just then, Shawn finished her routine, stood up, and waved to the crowd. As she walked off the floor, she didn't notice she was walking off of the podium, not using the stairs. She toppled off, but popped right back up again, looking humiliated. Nastia bit her lip to keep from laughing, but failed miserably. She let out a laugh so loud, it echoed throughout the entire arena. She covered her mouth quickly and sat down, trying to play like nothing had happened. She closed her eyes and invisioned her preformance, perfect, flawless, and getting the highest score possible. "Nastia, you're up," Valeri stated, tapping her lightly. She stood up and made her way up the stairs, posistioning herself on the floor, she waited for the buzzer to sound, signaling the beginning of her routine. She put on her best glare, for effect, and preformed to the best of her ability, landing her first pass flawlessly. Entering the corner for her second tumbling past, the first of 4, Nastia realized that she didn't have a high enough A Score. She thought to herself, "What the heck? Might as well try!" and ran powerfully into a attempted quadruple twist...she placed her hand behind her as she fell to the ground, and heard a sickening *CRACK*. Regaining her composure quickly, Nastia continued with the routine, wincing in pain whever she applied weight to the wrist. She decided she couldn't even go for the third tumbling pass, and just did a switch ring leap and straddle full down the corner. She realised if she could still make her last pass, she'd have silver. Nastia was ready. Dancing to the corner, the room started to close in on her again. She ignored that and the shooting pains in her wrist. She ran and did a roundoff and didn't even try to twist, she was too exaughsted. She came down on her neck, and lost consiousness. Valeri stood on the sidelines, waiting for her to get up. “Come on, Nast, shake it off!” He shouted onto the podium. She didn’t move. “Nastia!” he shouted, but still no response. As it occurred to him what had happened, he leaped onto the podium and kneeled beside his only daughter, stroking her hair lightly. “Paramedic!” he shouted over his shoulder, as two men were making their way up the stairs. “Squeeze my hand if you can hear me,” he instructed, stroking Nastia’s cheek. There was still no response. 8 hours later, in the hospital, Nastia awakened to flowers, and a wheel of cheese. Blinking more than she needed to, she glanced at her family, and mumbled something under her breath. "Dad." She said, looking at her father. "Yes?" Valeri asked, tears in his eyes. "Did I get Gold?". Valeri started to cry openly, looking at Anna for help. She obviously didn't know where she was, and only thought that getting gold mattered. "Sweetheart, no." Valeri said. "You have a serious concussion, and we thought you were in a coma, and sweetie.." He started, but his words were lost, as Nastia fell back asleep. Nastia woke up the next morning slowly, blinking a few times before actually opening her eyes. Gazing around the room, she saw her mother asleep in the chair next to her bed. Her father wasn't in the room. She was confused. Where was she? She tried to remember what had happened the previous day...Nationals...that..new girl... her fall on bars...but what else? "Mama?" she asked in her mom's direction. Anna awoke from a horrible dream, looking at her daughter, "Yes?" Anna inquired, wiping the sleep out of her eyes. "Wha-" Nastia paused, closing her eyes and praying that the dizziness she was feeling would go away. "What..what happened, Mom?" Anna let out a small sob but quickly covered it up, trying to smile. "You fell on floor...on your neck. It wasn't pretty from what I hear. You lost consciousness, we couldn't get you to wake up. You've been sleeping for awhile." Anna placed her hand against Nastia's forehead and then stroked her hair. "How are you feeling?" Nastia squinted, the lights in the room suddenly too bright. "Um.." she stuttered, " my head hurts really bad..." She coughed and then reached up to rub her eyes. "And my neck and back are really sore." Anna breathed a sigh of relief. "You gave us quite a scare, Nastie." The concered mother told her only child. Anna thought that she was glad that she hadn't been there to see the accident, she was shopping outside the arena, but after the night of restlessness, she wanted to have been there, thinking the worst, that it could have been the last time she saw Nastia. Nastia bit her lip, "I'm really sorry, mama. I didn't mean to scare you." She winced as she tried to move. "Owww." She looked over to see a bunch of tubes coming out of her wrist and arm. "What are all these for? I don't like them." She tugged on the IV connected to her hand. Anna shot a look at the various tubes and fluids being transferred into Nastia's bloodstream. "You were severely dehydrated after vault, which probably caused you to fall on beam, which led you to the concussion, that made you think you were invincible during your floor routine. And now..this." Anna finished the explanation with a shaky voice. Nastia tried to lift her arm to point. "Ow" she muttered. "What's that?" She asked her mom, gesturing with her eyes towards the cheese. "I'm not hungry.." Anna chuckled as she followed her daughter's gaze. "That's from your friend Shawn. She thought you might get hungry." Nastia rolled her eyes. "She's not my friend...and why in the world would I want cheese?" Her mother rolled her eyes right back at her. "Well, it was a nice gesture of her to think about you. Doesn't that count for something?" Nastia chose to ignore the last part. "Can I go home now?" "You will not go home." Valeri said, in a stern voice as he entered the hospital room. "But you certantly can give me a hug." He continued with a smile. Nastia grimaced in pain as he gently embraced her, but enjoyed having him there, none the less. She looked up at him, laying back down on the pillows. "Why not?" she asked, looking with pleading eyes. "Everything hurts and I just want to lay in my own bed and watch Gossip Girl. Besides, I want these stupid needles out of me," she said, scrunching up her face and trying to take the IV out again. "Anastasia!" Anna emxclaimed, strenly. "You will not go home yet!" Valeri nodded a thanks to his wife and turned to face Nastia. "She's right. We need to make sure you're fully recovered before returning home." He sighed. "And, look." He pointed, "There's a TV here. You can watch Gossip Girl right in your bed. And stop fiddling with the IV's!" "But dadddy, it's not the same!" Nastia cried, "I'm in pain, and I want at least something to go my way today!" Valeri looked sternly at her. "They are taking care of you here. We will go home when they say you can go home. Now, enough." He took the remote from her and flipped it on, turning it to the WB. Nastia pouted. "Gossip Girl doesn't come on for another 2 hours and I'm bored /now/," she whined, still nonchalantly trying to pull the tubes out. "I hate it here, it smells like a bathroom." Anna concealed a snort of laughter, and Valeri glanced at her, and gave her the signal. "Nastie, baby, we brought your two favorite things here, besides us, of course!" Nastia looked at her. "What is it?" she demanded, grumpily. "It's Rex and Lexi!" Her father exclaimed, not being able to hold in his excitement. "VALERI." Anna called as she flashed him the famous 'Liukin Look'. "You weren't supposed to tell!" Anna growled. "Sorry, bae." He shrugged, walking towards the door. "The hospital made an exception, since you're such a good athlete and whatnot." Valeri opened the door, and all of the sudden. "What the...?" He said. IT'SSSS SHAWNY CHEEESE! It was the same newcomer that had defeated Nastia at the meet just 24 hours ago. "I'm here to help you get better, did you like my cheese, didja, huh huh huh?!" The little muchkin bounded around the room, hyper as could be. Nastia held her head in her hands. "I already have a headache...I'm not really up for visitors. I'll see you later... okay?" She tried to sound as polite as possible. "Where are Rex and Lexi?" she asked, looking at her father. "And the cheese was uh...great, Shawn...thanks... a lot." Shawn hopped out of the room, screaming goodbye to everyone she could find, then Nastia threw her extra pillow at her, causing Shawn to topple over. "Hehehe, you funnaaay, my sista!" Shawn said, going all ghetto. Nastia rolled her eyes, and asked again, "Where are Rex and Lexi?" Valeri's walked out into the hall and searched up and down. "Well, I'll be..." He giggled. "Anna come see this.." Anna got up and began walking towards the door. "I want to see!" Nastia echoed, trying to push herself out of bed. She heard her back crack and collapsed back down onto the pillows, groaning. Anna laughed from the doorway. "Wow," she chuckled. Nastia started to whine. "I wannna see!" She was going to get her way somehow..she HATED secrets. And nobody around her was smart enough to keep secrets from her. Her dad, Valeri, pulled out his digital camera and started taking pictures. "Come show me!" Nastia urged her parents. Valeri made his way back into the room as slowly as possible, just to annoy Nastia. Nastia glared, using the look her mother had first perfected and she had inherited. "Hurry. Up." she demanded, tapping her fingers on the side of the bed. Valeri chuckled and sped up slightly. He placed the camera in front of Nastia, still laughing. "Oh. Wow." Nastia murmured with a laugh. "I guess Rex was a girl all along." Anna exclaimed, with a wide smile. Valeri laughed, and went out into the hallway to retrieve on of the puppies. He brought in a ting black female and said, "Babygirl, name her whatever you want. She's yours." Nastia looked up at him, taking the puppy in her arms. "Really?! Aww." She held the puppy close to her, stroking it's tiny head. " I'll name her... hmm." She stopped to think. "Lola," she smiled. "she looks like a Lola too!" Valeri grinned. "Now, if you keep her, you do realize..." Nastia waited for him with baited breath. "...I get to hold her, too." He finished with a grin.


Excerpt Copyright (C) 2008 Megan (Name withheld for safety) and Meredith (Name withheld for safety), All plot lines, story titles and characters portrayed are property of Megan and Meredith.