Intertwined - Tangled series (Overprotective famous brothers)

Wrecked Winners

Alisha

We were in the dressing room, getting ready for our big day. The tradition of applying make up for one another continued, and I did Lauren's eyes. She had already done mine, and she had worked wonders. She went with the dramatic eye liner and smokey eye shadow, which really enhanced my eyes and my expressions during my routines. She had kept my other features rather subtle, so the eyes could steal the show. With Lauren, I was planning to emphasise the natural pout that she had with the classic dark red lips she carried off so well. Somehow, when you did your team mates' make up, you connected with them. And since today was a team event, it was needed the most.

"You guys, the arena is sold out. Guess we're gonna be breaking a lot of Russian hearts, huh?" Sam asked and a loud yeah went up in the air, with cheering and clapping that followed. I loved this atmosphere, where the tension was apparent but we tried to cut through it with humour and just general team spirit.

Martha walked in and gave us a few instructions about our entrance and a little delay in the schedule, about how we were not supposed to look down, smile but not make eye contact with other teams etc. We nodded and continued to get ready, fixing little things here and there. It was five minutes to our entrance. I decided I should check my oxygen levels one last time. They were behaving today.

"Fuck, you guys, isn't that Kayla on the huge screen?" Britney pointed out. We had a screen in the dressing room, so we could see what was happening outside in the arena. From what I saw now, the camera was on Kayla, the Kayla who left us.

She had changed dramatically. She had put on a little weight, but she was still an average looking person. She had become paler somehow, and she had forgotten how she loved smiling for the cameras. As soon as she realised it was her on the big screen, she put on her glares and looked down into her phone. The commentators were telling the audience that she was the ex-captain of team USA and was infamous for retiring when she was on the peak of her career, and she was the latest example of burn outs. They were telling the audience how she had probably come to cheer for USA and would regret leaving this sport. They were talking about her, pretending she couldn't hear them.

"This is so messed up, we need to get her into some place these hyenas don't chew her up." Lauren said. But before she had finished her sentence, I called Tyson to do something about it, to get her some place safer or at least sit with her so the haters stayed off. Since he couldn't be with me, he agreed to help us out here. The cameras had shifted, but we had figured out her location in the audience based on the chaos surrounding one specific spot. I saw two hulky guys break the crowd, and I figured Tyson was doing his job.

"Forty seconds till you're live girls!" An assistant yelled and we stood in the order we were supposed to enter in. I was first, simply because my name started from the alphabet "A". Taking a deep breath, I looked back at the screen. The crowds were cheering loud for their home team, Russia. United States of America would enter after Spain and United Kingdom, the last team to enter the arena.

Taking another deep breath, I cleared my mind of all thoughts. Purity. I put on a smile, reminding myself this was the team that won the world championship. This was the team was the Olympic favorite. I was the World Champion on floor and All-Around.

"Ten seconds!"

But then, Kayla was with us when we won the championships. Adrian had been cheering for me when we won.

"Three seconds!"

But life goes on.

"Go!"

Taking a step, I walked into the arena. Flashing cameras, cheers and chants filled the air. I could see people with banners and posters, and I smiled wide. I smiled genuinely, because I knew that no matter what happened, there were people who believed in us, believed in me. We could do this, and we could win this competition if we all performed our best. Each and everyone of us was capable to absolutely own this place.