Jeon Jungkook is Korea's next gymnastics hopeful, preparing himself for the 2012 London Olympics. With the competition months away, Jungkook's coach pushes him into an American training camp in the state of Arizona where he will train alongside only...
But before I could start the pluperfect tense lesson, he stopped me.
"Before we start, what about-"
Guitars blared suddenly then, cutting him off midsentence. I jumped with a drowsy scare. My alarm--it hadn't been entirely turned off. I reached across him and unlocked my iPod, flicking the alarm off.
"What about what?" I asked him.
Costa's red aura darkened a bit. Reflexively, I scooted back on the bed, realizing I had leaned close enough to smell his aftershave. He watched my face carefully as if trying to pick something apart. The bed creaked under the weight of its occupants. I patiently waited for him to continue.
"What about breakfast?"
I coughed, entirely dumbfounded. Suspicious. Frozen. I thought about what Kan had said the day before as I peered at Costa's stiff face.
'My enemy.' Kan said. Really, Coach? Would an enemy say that?
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"Four more, Jeon. Those last two didn't cut it. They were horrible."
Crossing his arms most instructively, Coach Kan walks alongside the rings apparatus. His head bobs left and right as he examines his patient's body, perfection the only cure for the Jungkook's inherent illness of unpointed toes and closed shoulders.
Jungkook tries again, puffing a harsh breath from his lungs as he tries to maintain a complex handstand hold. His shoulders shake, fatigue creeping into his forearms as he wills the rings not to move too much. Utter control over the apparatus is what the judges are searching for--no swinging, trembling, or bodily jerks. Absolute control over the body. Ownership, and confidence.
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"Shaky Jeon! That inverted cross is too shaky! Tighten up your core or I'll add another."
Ever since Jungkook bluffed about not adapting to the Phoenix Power Arena well, Coach Kan has been extra hard on him at practice...when he can. The other coaches and trainers are so frequently milling about that Kan can only yell occasionally. His rude, 'what the fuck was that, Jeon?' has been replaced with diluted constructive feedback. However, Jungkook can see all of the unsaid things in his coach's aura. And they aren't nice. Not in the least.
