Make It or Break It Episode 1.19 The Only Thing We Have to Fear

Lauren's back from China, and the news isn't good.

She came in last on the beam -- which was NEVER happened before. She says she choked because she got absolutely no love from her so-called teammates on the National Team.

As for the rest of the U.S. team? They won four medals -- compared to China's eight.

If The Rock gymnasts are going prove they're the best, they'll have to do better than that. Way better.

That's why Kaylie, Emily, Payson and Lauren are "camping out" at The Rock. With the Chinese invitational only days away, they've been living and breathing gymnastics 24/7.

But will it work?

One person who doesn't want it to work is Ellen Beals of the National Committee. She shows up at The Rock to stop Sasha from holding the meet. She can't convince him to call it off, so he tries to "persuade" the gymnasts to pull out of the competition.

She all but tells Emily she'll lose her scholasrship if she competer. It seems the committee knows about her job at The Shack. What's more... Sasha finds out too. He shows up at The Shack and confronts Emily, upset that she didn't tell him just how financially strapped her family is, becase he could have found a way to help. He tells her she has to choose: the job or the team. Emily's worried her family won't have enough to get by without her job, but she makes the only decision she can. She chooses gymnastics.

And Emily has another painful decision to make.

Emily and Damon get back together and say "I love you" for the first time. Everything's great. Damon's even recorded some songs and entered a contest. And wins!! The grand prize? Opening for Green Day on their European tour. But when he calls Emily with the good news, she responds with some very bad news. Because of the no-dating rule, Emily has to choose betweem Damon and gymnastics, and she chooses gymnastics.

She's not the only Kmetko making changes. Chloe tells Steve she can't see him anymore.

Meanwhile, Kylie's also feeling the pressure to pull out of the competition. It also doesn't help her stress level that her dad has filed for divorce from her mom. Plus, MJ's telling her she could lose her sponsors if she goes through with the meet. Kaylie needs her dad's advice, so she goes to his hotel. He's a much different Alex, who admits to having made a ton of mistakes as a dad, husband, and manager -- but he offers Kaylie a bit of advice. He tells her to think of herself and pull out of the competition.

Payson's feeling a different kind of pressure. She's been working out with the team but still hasn't done any actual gymnastics. Kim tells Sasha about Payson's fear, and he comes up with a plan. He tells Payson to help Emily get over her fear of doing a blind landing off the vault. Sasha's plan works brilliantly. Payson helps Emily nail a blind landing and Payson does a handspring off the vault.

Over at the Tanner house, Lauren's making a difficult choice too. She tells Carter he has to move out, because she doesn't want to risk losing Kaylie's friendship. She admits to being in love with hiim and Carter realize Lauren has acted like a true friend to him. He reaches out to her, and it's a great moment... except when Kaylie walks in and gets the wrong idea.

Will this be the end of Kaylie and Lauren's friendship, once and for all? Does it mean Kaylie and Carter are off again? Most of all, will Kaylie react by pulling out of the competition? If so, can The Rock girls kiss their dreams goodbye?