There comes a time in everyone's life when they have choices to make.  One of the reasons why Madison wanted to make it big in gymnastics was because of where her family came from.  They were Jewish and her parents owned their own Jewish café called Cafe Falafel.  Her mom immigrated to Morgansville, New Jersey where she immigrated from Israel, met her dad and fell in love.  The rest is history.

Except Madison never wanted to work at her family's cafe. 

She did when she was younger mainly because they were the people who were flexible with her schedule.  Plus she wanted to make some money and she got to keep the tips she made so it was a nice job for a little.  But she never wanted to be one of those that took over the family business.  It's not that when she looked at her family's café she looked at it in disgust.  She actually thought it was really beautiful and was a beautiful and a symbol of hope that she too could make it big.

And she did.

Today they had some interviews to do with the team and then individual interviews.  Madison was thankful for this as it gave her an opportunity to be away from Coach Mark.

"Interviews are unfortunately apart of the job," Melanie said as she finished applying some makeup since they had an off day of practice.

"Hey, as long as it gets us away from Coach Mark, I'm all for it."

"You and me both," Melanie said laughing.  

*

"We are joined by the USA Olympics Women's Gymnastics team and I'm your host, Colleen.  I wanted to get to you Madison, because something that people may not know about you is that you are the only Jew on this team," Colleen said with a genuine smile on her face.

"I am, yeah," she said with a smile on her face.

"Can you tell us what it means for you or your family?"

"It's very special.  My mom immigrated from Israel to come to America because she wanted a better life for her and her future children.  It just means a lot to me and our community that I'm able to do this for everyone."

"That's so neat and now you guys are living the American dream."

"We truly are," Madison said agreeing with Colleen.

"Now, it's been in my understanding that you and your teammate who is also your best friend, Melanie Cole, have a little bit of a competition going on during the Olympics every year.  Care to elaborate?"

Madison and Melanie look at each other and laughed.

"Yeah, it's all friendly though," Melanie said speaking up.  "If anything it just makes us try harder. We see which one of us gets the highest score in each competition."

"Alright, alright," Colleen said laughing.  "We like a little friendly competition.  What would you girls say is the hardest out of all the competitions?"

"Vault for sure," Chloe said.

"Balance beam," Madison answered.

"Floor exercise," Natalie said.  "You have to nail every move perfectly."

"Balance beam," Lizzy said with a smirk.

"Vault," Melanie said.

What people didn't really know was that Madison and Lizzy didn't really get along.  Madison wasn't really sure what she ever did to her but it seemed like since day one she didn't like her.  Lizzy got along with everyone else but she wasn't sure why she singled out Madison.  They were all on the same team, weren't they?

"You actually have a birthday coming up, isn't that right?" Colleen asked Madison and she smiled for the first time in a week.

"Yeah, I do."

"Your going to be the big twenty-five on August 22?"

"It's crazy.  I'll be the oldest grandma," she said with a laugh.

It wasn't typical that girls stayed in doing the gymnastics for as long as she did.  In fact, it was almost unheard of.  

"Any plans for the big day?"

"Just practice and probably a team dinner," Madison said and all the girls nodded, except Lizzy who gave a tight lip smile.

"Out of all the teams here who would you say is probably your biggest competitor?" Colleen asked the group.

"Definitely China," Madison said and the girls agreed but Lizzy also said Australia.

"Really?" Colleen asked intrigued.  "What makes you say them?"

"They always bring it, you know?  They're highly skilled and always score the highest.  So we know that we gotta beat them."

"Well, that's it for today.  This is your USA women's gymnastics team.  Thank you so much ladies for joining me and happy early birthday, Madison," Colleen tells the group and they thank her.

"Hey," Madison greeted her boyfriend after she answered his phone call.  "What's up?"

"Hey, are you almost to your room?"

"How did you know I was out of it?" She asked but then realization hit her and she smirked.  "Are you in my room, Your Royal Highness?" She teased and he laughed.

"Maybe.  Guess you'll have to come to find out," he said as she let out a giddy laugh.

"I'll catch up with you guys later," she waved to her teammates without giving them a second glance.

"I can't believe you actually made it," Madison exclaimed as her boyfriend lifted her up and held her against the door.

"I told you I'd be here," he told her as he gave her a smile as she peppered kisses down his neck and he made their way to her bed.  

*

"How long are you going to be here?" She asked her boyfriend as they lay in her bed and she glanced at him as her hand ran from his pecs to his shoulder.

"Two weeks," he said with a grin and she sat up slightly to where she was leaning on her hand that was rested on her head.

"You'll be here for my birthday?" She asked grinning as well.

"I'll be here for your birthday," he confirmed and she let out a happy squeal as she climbed on top of him as he looked up at her wondering how he got so lucky to call her his.  

"Thank God.  What are we going to do though?  The team is already having a birthday dinner for me."

"We'll figure it out," he told her as he caressed her shoulder.  "We always do."

She hummed at the soft touch as she leaned in closer to him.

"Speaking of which," she began to talk as she laced their fingers together.  "I was wondering if you thought about when we tell everyone about us?"

"You mean the world?" He let out a laugh and she nodded her head.  "Well, I suppose we can do it whenever you'd like, really.  I know how I feel about you and you know how you feel about me.  We love each other and that won't change.  How about we wait until after the Olympics to go public?  That way the focus won't be on us."

"Good idea," she agreed with him as she nodded her head and leaned closer to him as she pressed her lips to his jaw and then her lips met his.  "I love you and I'm so glad you're here."

"Am glad I'm here too and I love you as well," he told her as he flipped their positions to have her underneath him and she let out a shriek of laughter.

*

It was the next day and Madison had woken up early that morning as it was competition day for them.  For breakfast the team ate together and had protein waffles with some fruit.  First was vault.  Madison was good with vault.  Her favorite was uneven bars but vault was a close second to her.  She was always pretty nervous on competition day and made sure to pack some really healthy snacks to put in her USA backpack.  She had packed trail mix, plantain chips and fruit as well as yogurt and some sandwiches.  Today she couldn't throw her food up.  She had to be completely one hundred percent.  If not for herself then for her team.  

"Alright, team, gather around," Coach Mark said and the five women did so as Madison and Melanie held hands.  "I know you all are full of nerves right now but try to let go of them and just concentrate doing the best you can do and bringing home the gold.  Bring it in.  On three - one, two, three-"

"USA!" The girls cheered as they lifted their hands up in the air and clapped at the end.

The only time that Coach Mark was borderline nice was on competition day.  Mainly because he knew as well as the girls that if he showed any signs of abuse than he would be speculated.  Torn apart by not only the media but also the judges as well as the other judges from other countries. So of course he had to play nice guy.  

On competition day Madison always tried to stay really hydrated.  She knew how dangerous it was if you weren't.  Madison had met up with her parents and her older sister earlier as they helped pep talk her and encourage her.  Her sister Roxanne, of course, had her camera with her as she was vlogging the whole thing not only for her channel but Madison's as well.  They couldn't post it though until after the competition day was done being filmed for TV and online.  It was lame rules but she guessed she understood since they didn't want any spoilers.

"You girls are going to do great," Coach Erin told them with a smile and Madison smiled at the brunette.

"Thanks coach," Madison said to her as she did some warm up stretches.  

If Madison were being honest she liked Coach Erin and Coach Lindsay so much more than Coach Mark.  They were tough but they didn't try to talk down to the girls unlike Coach Mark.  Maybe it was because they were girls too and they understood what it was like to be at a high level like the Olympics.  With Coach Mark, she never felt like she was good enough.  Like her accomplishments weren't enough for him.  He always wanted more and it seemed like he pushed her the hardest out of all the girls and she wasn't sure why.  Madison was tough.  She was strong physically and could lift more than most the girls on the team could.  But mentally was another question sometimes.

After Madison finished her warm up stretches, she along with the girls went over to their area as they waited until it was their turn to go.  Since Madison was captain and Melanie was co-captain, they encouraged the girls a lot whenever they were feeling nervous or like they couldn't do something.  It helped push everyone, including even Lizzy.  

Australia, China, Russia and France had already gone and it was now time for the USA team to go.  Madison knew that with William being here it had already caused quite a stir in the atmosphere.  People were more excited that a young prince was here, especially watching the women's gymnastics.  Of course when he had done a short interview a few days ago congratulating everyone on making it this far they asked him what his favorite sports was to watch in the Olympics.  His answer?  Women's gymnastics.  Then because they just weren't satisfied with that answer, they pried a bit more to try and see if he had a favorite gymnast he liked to watch.  He guessed they wanted to see if his answer had changed from it being Madison all those years ago, but he was sly about it and asked them what they thought.  

Because of this - more people tuned in to watch the women's gymnastics this year than years prior.  

"Let's see.  Let's play Where's Waldo but instead where's the prince?" Melanie said with a glint in her brown eyes making Madison roll hers.

"I mean it's not that hard to find him you idiot," she teased her best friend.  "He's literally in the front row," she told her with a nod in her head as she tried not to be obvious.

"So, was it a surprise?"

"You knew?" Madison asked as she gasped.  "Couldn't have warned me?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Melanie asked teasing her as she ate her banana and drank her water.

"How would you feel if I did that to you and your boyfriend Marcus?" Madison asked teasingly as she leaned forward.

"I would love it," Melanie shrugged her shoulders.

"Boo," Madison pouted.  "You're no fun."

"Why do you think I like you having all the surprises?"

They had already decided who the main four were which for the USA team were: Madison, Melanie, Lizzy and Sophia.  The alternates were Natalie and Julia.  It was now USA's turn to do the vault after they cheered for Lizzy, she ended up doing better than Lizzy thought she would ending with a score of 14.546.  Now was Madison's turn.  During Lizzy's turn, while Madison was chatting with Melanie, her leg was shaking.  

"Come on, Madison!" She chalked up as she could hear her teammates yell where they were sitting and made her way over to the vault.  

"One of the greatest opportunities of watching the Olympics is being able to watch this girl - Madison Metcalf," Jordan who was a commentator spoke up.  "She shines especially when she does the uneven bars but vault is a close second for her."

She begins to run and does a Yurchenko before she springs on the vault.  She did three flips and made sure to do a pike before she landed flawlessly.  The crowd was cheering as she smiled and walked fast over to her coach gave her a fist bump.  Even if you didn't know Coach Mark or Madison personally, you could feel the awkwardness that they exuded, but the commentators didn't focus on that as they focused on the scoring Madison would receive.

"The results are in and it looks like she got 0.3 points deducted probably due to the slightly bent knees she had when she was spinning but other than that she was amazing," the woman commentator said, whose name was Anastasia Petrov, who had competed on the USA women's gymnastic team in the Olympics.  "Her level of difficulty score is 5.0 and overall score is 15.255.  You can see Madison letting out a sigh of relief as her coach is happy with the results.  I believe she could have done a little better but she has a chance to make up for it in the next round."

"I agree and you as well, Anastasia, have competed at the level of the Olympics.  You know what it's like.  The challenges you face as an athlete on this level.  It's not easy."

"It's really not, Brett," Anastasia said.  "It's hard but these girls have all proven that they are the best and that they deserve to be here.  I remember what it's like being apart of the Olympics and while it's tough, it's also fun.  It's about what you make of it."

--

HI FRIENDS!  I'm so sorry for the long wait but I hope this chapter was worth it.  I just finished my midterm paper for my cybersecurity class and got a 100 on it so I was super happy about that.  I only have one more semester and then I'm done with college!

What do you guys think of Madison and William so far?  They will definitely be different from Evelyn and William :).