***Michael's POV***
Ashton drove Lauren and I to the gym while Calum and Luke covered for Lauren and stayed back to watch Emily and Andrew. Lauren was looking through CD's she grabbed the whole ride.
"What are you doing?" I asked her.
"Trying to pick a song for one of my routines tryout with." She said not looking up from looking through the CD's.
"Well what do you have to do?" Ashton asked.
"You have to be a little more specific than that." She laughed.
"Well what do you have to do in the tryout?" He asked.
"Well it depends on what they want me to do. I'm probably going to have to do everything, so uneven bars, vault, balance beam, and floor." She explained. "Right now I'm trying to pick a song for the floor exercise."
"I thought they already had preset song." I commented from what I've observed and remembered from watching the Olympics in the past.
"Yeah but my specialty and trade mark is taking modern day songs and creating my own routines for them, it's what I'm known for back home, but it's highly frowned upon and I have to modify the songs so there's no lyrics and so it's a certain amount of time because there are certain rules and criteria I have to follow." She explained to us.
"Well why don't you use the music you're allowed to use?" I asked her.
"Because that's boring and I don't like that music. I want to use music I would want to listen too. Plus if you do really well people you remember you more."
I gave her response some thought. I never thought about it that way and she had a point. It was kind of boring watching them perform to similar songs.
**
It took a while but we finally made it to the gym. The complex was huge and had to have been 10x bigger on the inside.
"This place it amazing." Lauren said in awe.
As we walked to the front desk she started pointing out all the different equipment to us. In the center there was a giant space in the middle of the gym; Lauren said that was the "floor" and explained that that's where girls do their floor routines. All around the floor, different stations were surrounding it with multiple sets of equipment everywhere. There were four balance beams, three uneven bars, two vaults, and two trampolines like what Lauren has in her yard. There was also a long trampoline against the back wall and a pit filled with foam cubes at the end of it to land into.
"Hi, I'm Brendan and you must be Lauren?" he asked shaking Lauren's hand.
"Yes." she responded.
"And you are?" Brendan asked referring to me and Ashton.
"Michael." I introduced myself shaking his hand he gestured for me to shake and Ashton did the same thing introducing himself as well and we explained that we're friends with Lauren.
"So Lauren what made you interested in joining Manly Warringah?" Brendan asked.
"Well you guys were the only gym I could find that had an International program." Lauren explained.
"Yes we do, I'm actually in charge of the program, why?" he asked.
"I want to go to the Olympics." She calmly stated.
"That takes a lot of time and will. Do you think you have that?" he asked.
"I do."
"Well get suited up and show me what you can do." Brendan said.
**
**Lauren's POV**
After Brendan showed me where I could change into my leotard, I ran back out to stretch quickly before I started. By the time I was done it was 2 o'clock and most of the girls who were practicing had left.
"Here" I said handing Michael a video camera.
"What's this for?" he asked.
"I need you to record me. It helps me see what I did wrong and what I need to practice for next time." I explained and ran over to Brendan who was waiting for me by the balance beams.
"Ok so here's what we'll do, you'll do everything twice and show me what you can do each time. We'll start with beams, then vault, then bars and then floor, okay?"
"Okay." I replied and hopped on the beam.
As I worked my way through each station I was a little hesitant I wouldn't get in to the gym. Brendan didn't really show too much emotion from my routines. He only carefully observed and took notes, depicting my routines and the precisions of my flips.
As soon as I finished my first floor exercise to Angel With a Shotgun by The Cab Brendan came over walking to me.
"What song was that?" he asked.
"Angel With a Shotgun by The Cab." I said nervously.
"But there weren't any lyrics."
"I know I modified the song and cut out the lyrics so I could use it."
"Why would you do that? I mean like why wouldn't you use the traditional music?"
"Because that's boring and back home I'm known for taking modern day songs and using them in my routines. Why?" I asked nervously.
"It was good!" he said enthusiastically and it felt like weights were lifted off my shoulders.
"It was different; I've never seen someone do that before. It makes an impression." He explained.
"I know that's the point." I laughed.
"Show me another one." He said and I ran putting another CD in the stereo, this time to Dear Maria, Count Me In by All Time Low. When I finished Brendan came up to me again with the same reaction.
"To be honest, at first I wasn't too impressed and thought you were just another average gymnast wanting to make it big time, but after these floor exercises, I have a good feeling about you kid." Brendan said to me.
"I'm serious when I say I want to be in the Olympics. I can do this, I want this." I made it clear.
"Well if you're willing to put in the time and dedication I think we can pull it off." He smiled.
"So I'm in?" I enthusiastically questioned.
"Yeah you're in."
YOU ARE READING
Clarity ~ m.c.
FanfictionAfter losing her mom to the war in Afghanistan Lauren thought it was the hardest thing she would have to go through, but after her dad turns to alcohol and becomes abusive Lauren now has to juggle trying to protect her little brother and sister from...
