Page 100 of The Forever Vault

It was only when a whistle cut through the air that everyone stopped yelling, and someone - I think it was the British coach - asked Ezra and Jack to explain, quickly.

“Well, the elevator just stopped, mid-floor. We hadn’t touched anything,” Jack started.

“So, we tried the phone in there, but no one answered,” Ezra continued.

“That’s when I tweeted.”

“We needed to get to the locker rooms!”

And back and forth they went, like they had told it a hundred times.

Based on Jack and Ezra’s descriptions via direct message, Zane and Cassandra found them pretty quickly once they left us. Despite getting a hold of arena staff, the maintenance specialist had gone home to take care of a sick kid and the person covering for him had little elevator experience. That was about when Woodward found them.

In the end, with help from paramedics and the onsite fire crew, they were able to climb out of the roof of the elevator and to the next floor, where the firemen had opened the door.

Ezra was fine, but Jack had cut himself on the ceiling of the elevator - thus, the continued paramedic presence. Jack didn’t want to miss the finals, so it was treat on the move or not at all.

“And now everyone knows everything,” Ezra said.

“So can we go get our uniforms on and get our arses out there?” Jack asked.

“Yes!” Woodward said. “We likely have a few minutes to get you warmed up.”

And just like that, the group broke apart. Jack and the British team went their way, and Cam and I, and the rest of the coaches and Team USA, went ours.

Through the din, before we could even cross back to the other side, I heard it. The chant. The chant that I knew made Cam’s eyes water with happiness, and would put any of Ezra’s qualms aside.

USA! USA USA!

I had to smile. It was a great feeling. I turned to see Ezra’s reaction, but Cam’s fingers found my own and my eyes immediately went to his.

“You got this, Cam.”

“I do now.”

Zane herded Ezra into the locker room as the rest of the guys headed back to the podium to continue the warm up.

Coach was right. It would only be a matter of minutes.

* * *

“How is this happening?” Cam asked me.

He was referring to the fact that we were in first place after two events. The two the team had struggled on for years: pommel horse and rings. Cam, Orion and Miles had all placed in the top eight on the horse, and Orion had the highest score for the rings.

“You’re all amazing,” I said, while we waited to move to the next apparatus.

Cam scoffed. “More like we’re all trying harder.”

“That, and the crowd is with you. I know that’s giving you guys a boost.”

“That’s been nice.” Cam nodded in agreement. “I can barely differentiate Ty’s screams from all the others.”

“Hey,” I said, grabbing his arm to make sure he was paying attention, “you got this.”

“Maybe I should’ve worn your lucky jockstrap.”

“I can always go grab it if you want.”