Upside-Down…Again (Payson)

[Aaron Walker]

AJ had never been the most coordinated kid. Although he enjoyed sports and games, he had a habit for smacking himself in the face with the ball, tripping over his own two feet, and otherwise looking like a total klutz.

Still, on rainy days he usually ended up in the gym. It was the best place to get out some of his energy and try out some new game. He figured one of these days he would land on something that he was awesome at, or at least didn’t almost die every time he tried it out.

He’d never really understood gymnastics, but after seeing a clip of the last Olympics he decided to give it a go. Besides swinging on a bar would be sort of like swinging from a tree branch, so it had to be fun.

Problem was, he didn’t really know what gymnastics equipment looked like, or if Hammel would even have any, so he decided to make due with the pull-up bars to one side of the basketball court. He tried a few times, and failed to swing around on them. So instead he’d decided to just hang upside down by his legs for a while. Luckily he had planned to be upside down so he’d emptied his pockets beforehand.

He was in this position when another student walked in. “Hiya!” he said, waving as his face started to turn red.

[Payson Hartley]

Honestly? Payson had come into the gym expecting a workout. Instead, she found a boy hanging upside down from a pull up bar. Um... why? Why was he doing that? Didn't he know that blood rushing to your head was going to cause him a headache later? Apparently not, because there he was, looking like a monkey. The blonde eyed the boy cautiously, not wanting to be held responsible for it if he fell off and hit his head or something. "Uh... you okay?" she asked, making her way a little closer. "Your face... it's turning red..." That couldn't be good. It wasn't good, right?

She rolled her eyes, sighing and making her way to a relatively open space. Hey, even if Hammel didn't have the equipment she needed, at least she could get some stretching in? Gymnastics was her life, and she needed to stay limber if she wanted to convince her parents to allow her to try and compete in the Worlds in September of 2013. She had her qualifying score. Now, all she needed was for her parents to fly her out to Belguim... Minor issue. And, of course, for Max to come, because he was her best friend, not to mention that he was her brother.

"So, did you come here to make all the blood go to your head, or was there an ulterior motive?" Payson asked, sliding to the floor in her right splits, making sure that she wasn't straining herself too much. It would be bad if she tore a muscle. Her parents would kill her. Even though she had that funky power thing that made her eligible to go to Hammel... Whatever. Focusing, now?

[Aaron Walker]

“Is it?” AJ asked still upside down. He crossed his eyes, attempting to look at his own face. The effort only made him dizzy. “Guess I’ll take your word for it,” he said, trying to shrug. He watched her starting to do her stretches, giggling to himself. Something about his new perspective on things made simple things, like someone walking across the floor, look hilarious.

“Nah, I was gonna…,“ he started, trying to swing down off the bar and ended up landing in a heap on the floor instead. He laughed as she stood up and finished his sentence. “…try to do some of that awesome swinging around on bars stuff.”

“How about you? Preparing for something awesome?” he grinned, walking towards where she was stretching. Maybe she would let him join in. “See I saw this guy on TV the other day. I don’t really watch much TV. Waaay to boring. But he was awesome, swinging around like some sorta monkey or something. Soo cool.” He started jumping around, trying to mimic what he had seen on the television. But without equipment or skill, he looked more like he was trying (and failing) to do some sort of dance. “You know what I mean?” he asked, grinning at the girl.

[Payson Hartley]

"Yeah, it is," Payson said slowly, wondering what on earth the boy was doing. His eyes were crossed, and he looked pretty bizarre. Not to mention how he was randomly giggling. Was he okay? "You might want to come down from there..." she said uncertainly, a little concerned. Was it healthy for someone's face to turn that red? Er, probably not. Then again, who was she to judge? She wasn't a doctor or anything. So really, she had no place. Sigh. That was probably a bad way to think, but who honestly cared? She was a gymnast, not a pediatrician or whatever.

"But there isn't any... never mind." He could go on thinking that a pullup bar was equal to the even or uneven bars. She wasn't going to correct him. That would be rude. Besides, he could be all innocent and naive if he wanted to. She had work to do, and didn't really have time to teach him all she knew. That would take years and years. Blech. Payson stood up, then bent over her left leg, holding herself in her sandwichlike position. This hardly hurt her anymore. But still. It sort of helped. At least, it would help her with her Illusions on the beam, or something.

"Uh... depends on what you mean by awesome," Payson replied, a bit confused. She stood up, then did a couple practice Illusions. Perfect. "And yeah, I do. I know a lot of guys at my gym who can do that kind of thing." Because they were competing for a spot at Worlds. Naturally.

[Aaron Walker]

“Awesome…you know…like fun and cool and epic and stuff,” he explained to the girl. “You gonna do something like that?” He watched her stretch and winced a little. But she didn’t seem to mind it. Or at least AJ figured she didn’t. After all it wasn’t like someone was standing over her and making her bend in half like that. Still. “Does that hurt?” he asked.

He watched with wide eyes as she did a couple of practice moves. “Like that…that’s awesome!” he splayed out on the floor and grinned up at her. Hopefully she wouldn’t mind an audience. Not that AJ would notice if she did mind.

“You know guys you do that?” he asked excited. “That’s so cool. I wish I knew someone like that. I mean I know I lot of cool people. And some people who are close to cool I guess. But I don’t know anyone like that.” He grinned, unaware that he was rambling like an idiot. “Where’d ya meet guys like that?”

[Payson Hartley]

"I guess you could say that it's 'awesome' that I'm competing for a spot at Worlds in 2013," Payson said thoughtfully, shrugging. "Although I'm not sure if my parents would be willing to pay for me to go to Belgium..." Yeah, that was definitely going to be a major issue. Urk. "And no, it doesn't hurt. I've been doing this for about ten or more years now." Since she was... what? Did it even matter anymore? It was a long, long time. End of story.

Fabulous. An audience. Payson smiled, standing up straight again. "Thanks," she said, a bit shyly. "That's nothing..." At least, it was nothing when she was on a floor. It was too bad that the gym here had no mats or anything. She needed to practice her floor routine a lot. Sure, she had permission to have gym time after school, but still. Extra practice wouldn't hurt. Hurting her back or anything else would put her out of Worlds. And that was not an option. Therefore, practicing here was not an option either.

Payson blinked, feeling a little intimidated by the seemingly ceaseless chatter. "Yeah, I do. They've worked with the same coach that as me. I met them through gymnastics." Obviously. Judging by her moves and flexibility and all.

[Aaron Walker]

“The Worlds?” AJ asked, looking equally amazed and confused. “Is that kinda like the Olympics?” AJ’s mouth was hanging open. He had never even met someone who had been on a local news channel. He looked at the girl like she was some sort of creature from outer space. “Are you like…famous?”

I’ll bet she practices a lot if she’s a pro, AJ thought as he watched the girl with wide, fascinated eyes. Maybe she’d teach me some stuff. Too bad we don’t have many of those bar things. I’ll bet she could really look awesome then. Maybe..

“I could try to find you some gymnast stuff. There’s a gym in town,” AJ continued, thinking out loud at this point. He tried to recall what sort of gym it was, but he couldn’t exactly remember. He looked a little more lost in thought than usual as he tried to remember exactly what the equipment looked like on TV. “Or build something…”

He jumped up at the idea. After all, he had built a fairly stable tree house. And some ramps for him and his roommate to skateboard. How hard could it be?

[Payson Hartley]

"Yeah, Worlds," Payson confirmed, a bit shyly. She didn't exactly like talking about herself, and especially not about her gymnastics, because... well... what if they fell through? "And... I guess I'm sort of famous? I mean, I have endorsements and all, and I've been on TV once or twice, although just for competitions..." Did that make her famous? Somehow, she didn't think so. "I'm Payson, by the way. Payson Hartley." Because that totally made a difference. "Sorry, but I don't think I caught your name?"

Aww, he was sweet. "I know," Payson said, smiling a bit. "I go there every night, right up until I have to be back in time for curfew. That's where I train." Silly boy. "I'd be happy to take you down and show you around sometime. That is, if my coach says it's alright." Hmm. That might take some persuading. But then again, Coach Alex loved her. She was one of his favorites. So she might be able to pull some strings...

"I don't think building something would be the best idea," Payson said nervously, standing up straight and looking at her companion sternly. "Seriously. It takes special skills of a professional to be able to make something like that. They have to be really strong, and stuff. Just... please don't."

[Aaron Walker]

“Wow,” AJ said, totally amazed. “Can I get your autograph sometime?” He couldn’t wait to tell someone that he’d met a famous person. Although he couldn’t really think of who he would tell, it was still an exciting concept. It wasn’t like he talked to his parents all that much, usual just the normal check-in call. Maybe he would track down Jared later.

“Oh,” he said, snapping out of his thoughts for a moment. “I’m AJ. But I’m not famous. Not yet anyway.” Not that he had any idea how he would go about becoming famous, but it seemed like a good something he should do eventually.

“Really?” AJ said, his eyes wide with gratefulness. “That would be so cool. I promise not to get in the way.” Maybe he if watched her train then he could learn how to swing around like she did. Surely it would be better than hanging around on pull-up bars.

“Really, it’s no problem,” he said, grinning. He was sure that Payson had only told him not to build some equipment just because she didn’t want to bother him. After all who wouldn’t trust his skills? “I built a tree house once, it can’t be that much harder, right?” He decided maybe he shouldn’t tell her that he had to re-build the tree house a few times as well because it fell apart.

[Payson Hartley]

Payson blushed, looking away for a moment. "I-I'm not that famous," she stammered, shaking her head. "I'm not an Olympian. Really, I'm not famous. My coach is. Besides, getting endorsements doesn't mean you're famous. Every athlete gets endorsements." Although it was pretty cool to have someone actually ask for her autograph. Geez.

"It's nice to meet you, AJ," Payson said politely, smiling sweetly at him. The rest of his greeting was highly amusing. At least, it was to her. She'd never met anyone who said things like that. Then again, she mostly hung around people who a. already were famous, or b. were incredibly close to being famous, like she was. It was nice to be around someone who was, well normal. Or at least as close to being normal as anyone could be in this school.

Payson blushed a little, smiling and nodding. "I still have to talk to Coach," she reminded him. "But I'm sure you can come in at some point. Even at open gym, where you can actually come in and stuff." So what if the place where she trained wasn't all elitist and everything? It was better that way, because then all gymnasts were created equal, not categorized by how much money their families had.

Oh god. He was still on about that. "No," Payson said firmly, crossing her arms. "It's much harder, and honestly, I wouldn't trust anything that's not specifically made for a gym." She didn't care about how good his skills were. She was not trusting him to build equipment. End of story.

[Aaron Walker]

“But you’re gonna be all famous one day, right?” AJ asked, still giving Payson the star-struck look. “And then I’ll have your autograph and I can sell in ton Ebay for millions.” He grinned at the idea. “And maybe I can get your coachs’ too and sell them as a set? Or just frame them up and point it out to everyone all the time.”

AJ continued to grin like a idiot as the girl commented on how nice it was to meet him. But he was still lost in the furutre dream of showing off her autograph. Maybe I should start a collection, he thought to himself. I could get everyone in the school to sign it. Cuz this place is full of awesome people so they’ll grow up to be even awesome-er If Payson was looking to meet someone ‘normal’ at this school, she wasn’t going to have much luck with AJ. Not the he would understand his lack of skill in that department. But if she was looking for someone who could be amusing and friendly, then she’d found her man.

He was snapped out his thought process by her firm statement that he should not build something for her. “Oh…” he said, looking a little crestfallen. “I just wanted to help…” He stared at his shoes, hoping she wasn’t mad at him. People were so hard to understand, but usually crossed arms and a firm tone meant he had done something wrong.

[Payson Hartley]

Payson blushed, looking down at her bare feet. "Um... I guess," she said in a small voice. Wait... selling her autograph? Was he trying to drive her nuts? "Coach would kill you," she informed AJ, laughing softly. "He hates publicity. And attention." He was nuts, pretty much. If only she was as good as him. Yeah, she should be so lucky. She was on her last Olympic cycle. Four more years. She would be nineteen. Hopefully, she wouldn't be burned out by then. Yikes.

Aww, now she felt bad. Payson reached out to put a tentative hand on AJ's shoulder, smiling at him hopefully. "I know," she assured him. "I just... I don't trust anything that my coach hasn't specifically ordered. You know what I mean?" Eh, he probably didn't, come to think of it, but there was no harm in asking. It was polite, after all. "I'm not mad." She really hoped that he didn't think she was mad at him... Urk.

"Listen," Payson said, determined to cheer him up. "It's a pretty clear space, so I can show you a few things." She paused, gauging his reaction. "If you want, that is."

[Aaron Walker]

“Oh don’t worry,” AJ said, waving at Payson’s concerned face. “I won’t be selling it for years. Autographs are the things ya gotta hold onto for years before they get worth a lot.” As if AJ knew anything about it. Still the thought had sounded right in his head. “Isn’t publicity good an all? I mean it’s not like I’m the paprazzi popping out from behind a bush. Although that would be kinda cool too. But I don’t have a camera.”

Although AJ had no idea why anyone would worry about trusting something a fifteen year old boy with no training had built, he was quick to move past his hurt feelings. All Payson had to do was mention putting on a show for him.

“That’ll be awesome!” he said, the grin back on his face as he moved to the side of the gym to give her more room. He was actually bouncing a little in his excitement. Maybe next time he could make a “Payson’s Awesome” sign to hold while she practiced. Wide-eyed and leaning forward he waited for her to begin.