5. Anna

Anna

O ne month later…

"I can't believe we're going to Paris for the International Games. This is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me!"

I rolled my eyes at the woman seated across from me on the plane. Nadia Gordan was one of my teammates for the Games in Paris, much to my horror. I'd first met her about ten years ago at Nationals. She was an up and coming sensation and the darling of the press. As the sport's resident bad girl, I hated her on sight. She was so perky, so girlie, so…blonde. It just made me want to punch her in the face.

I'd run into her dozens of times over the years. Gymnastics wasn't a huge sport in terms of number of athletes, and while people came and went, it was inevitable that pretty much everyone knew everyone. Every time I saw her, she greeted me like an old friend, no matter how rude I was to her.

The little princess seemed to have led a charmed life. She was the daughter of gymnastics royalty, two medal winning gymnasts who'd met and fallen in love at the International Games in Atlanta. They'd retired from the sport when Nadia was Nadia was born, and turned instead to coaching, recruiting other winning gymnasts for their coaching staff, including Olga Shevchenko, who was hand-picked to coach their precious daughter.

I was sure that happy little Nadia never had to work three jobs to pay for her coaching fees and travel expenses. She never looked out into the stands and realized that none of her family could come up with the money to attend her competitions. Odds were good that Little Miss Sunshine's whole family would rent a fancy castle or mansion here in France so they could watch her compete in the Games, while my family would be huddled around a TV in one of the neighborhood bars that had a satellite dish.

Nadia laughed, the sound like nails on a chalkboard to me, but totally charming the poor fool who was her seatmate. She'd probably get a marriage proposal before this flight was over. I leaned forward and gave her a glare.

I wracked my brain, trying to remember if I'd ever heard any gossip about Nadia's dating life. She either kept it super private or she was a twenty-four year old virgin. Or maybe she was asexual. I couldn't imagine her doing something so lowbrow like having sex.

Me on the other hand, I loved sex. And everyone knew that the Games were the perfect place for quick and torrid interludes. Sex amongst the athletes was so rampant they gave out condoms as you arrived. Not that I needed condoms. No, I was hoping to find myself at least one hot and masc woman while I was here and have some dirty fun with them. Maybe a shot putter or weightlifter…

Leaning back in my seat, I closed my eyes. I should probably get some sleep so I wouldn't have jet lag when we got to Paris. I wanted to be fresh for my first practice – and the opening ceremonies. We'd all been assigned to a team coach for this competition, one I hadn't worked with before, and I wanted to make a good impression.

By the time my long nap was over, the plane was making its final descent into Paris. As soon as the seatbelt light turned off I surged to my feet, eager to stretch my legs and get off this flying tin can. I'd never been a big fan of flying and this overseas flight had seemed interminable.

I reached up to grab my bag from the overhead bin, taking half a step back as the weight hit me, sending me off balance. Then I yelped in pain as the back of my head cracked against someone else's. Hard.

"Hey!" I said, spinning around and nearly dropping my bag.

"Ow, that hurt!"

I recognized that voice…

Nadia turned around with an uncharacteristically grumpy look on her face. Her normally perfect hair was askew, her ponytail now lopsided on her head after our collision. She had shadows under her eyes where her mascara had rubbed off during the trip. Who wore mascara on an eight hour flight?

Her expression cleared when she saw it was me.

"Oh hey Anna, guess we should be more careful."

"We should be more careful?" I exploded. "If you weren't so busy flirting with that old guy next to you maybe you'd watch where you were going. I probably have a bump from your hard skull!"

"Excuse you!" Nadia slammed her hands on her hips, which caused the thin nylon of her official team travel jacket to pull tight against her small breasts. Not that I noticed or anything. "Anna Parker, I've always tried to be nice to you and you're always rude as hell to me. What exactly is your problem?"

I stilled for an instant, shocked to see a different side of Little Miss Sunshine. I guess the long trip had made her cranky. Or maybe I'd finally gotten under her skin.

"You're my problem," I said loudly. "You and all the other rich bitches who think you're better than the rest of us who have to work for a living."

"I am better than you," she fumed. "But not because of money, but because I consistently score higher than you in all my routines. Like I will at the Games. Hope you enjoy standing on the sidelines while I'm on the podium getting my gold medal!"

She was yelling now. There was a shuffle of people as someone pushed their way down the aisle towards us. At first I thought it was the air marshal, but then I saw it was someone more terrifying: Ekaterina Ivanov-Johnson, our team coach.