Cate Shearwater - Somersaults and Dreams - Rising Star

Tam rolled his eyes and Ellie glanced at him curiously. Despite being shorter than Nancy – and being born three minutes after her – Tam always seemed like the older sibling. He was calm, patient and a very talented gymnast. Ellie couldn’t imagine him getting worried about anything, let alone competitions.

‘I didn’t think you got nervous,’ she said.

Tam looked serious for a second. ‘Of course I do. Everyone does.’

‘But you got selected for GB Junior squad!’ said Nancy. ‘And you already know you’re going to British Champs. What on earth have you got to be worried about?’

Tam shrugged. ‘I’ve just been really lucky this year.’

‘Not lucky,’ said Ellie. ‘You’ve worked really hard. You deserve all your success – you earned it!’

‘There’s always an element of luck in any sport,’ insisted Tam. ‘I mean, if you hadn’t got chickenpox last term and missed Grades you’d have qualified for Junior British Champs then. That was epic bad luck!’

‘Maybe,’ Ellie said, doubtfully. Privately she still wondered whether she’d have qualified, even if she hadn’t been ill.

‘And it’s totally bad luck you keep shooting up like a sunflower, sis,’ Tam added, helping himself to the last of the home-made Cornish pasties Ellie’s mum had packed for the journey. Apart from gymnastics, there was nothing Tam loved more than food, and he seemed to be perpetually hungry.

‘It’s true,’ said Nancy, shoving her long gangly legs out into the train corridor. ‘Look at me. I’m officially the Big Friendly Giant of the Academy.’

‘Which is bad luck for me because it makes me look like a hobbit,’ said Tam. ‘And worse luck for you because everyone knows a sudden growth spurt can throw a gymnast off her game.’

‘Yeah, but it’s not like that’s the only reason I keep failing to qualify for British Champs,’ said Nancy, pulling a face. Then she sighed. ‘Maybe I’m just not good enough.’

‘Of course you are!’ Ellie protested. ‘You are an amazing gymnast – ten times more powerful than me. I’d love to be able to vault like you do.’

‘Yeah, but you know what Emma says,’ said Nancy with a resigned shrug. Emma Bannerdown was the director of the London Gymnastics Academy. A former Olympian herself, she knew exactly what it took to get to the top. ‘Gymnastics is not just about being physically strong. It requires mental strength too, and that means not falling to pieces in a competition.’

‘Yeah, well, Emma obviously thinks you have both kinds,’ said Ellie, firmly. ‘Or she wouldn’t be giving you another chance.’

‘Or promoting you and Ellie to Pre-Elite squad,’ said Tam who had polished off his pasty and was now helping himself to a tomato and chocolate muffin – one of Ellie’s mum’s famously bizarre recipes which usually tasted better than they looked.

‘Yeah – what’s all that about?’ said Nancy. ‘When neither of us have qualified for the Junior British.’

‘Emma must think that you and Ellie will qualify via the Challenge Cup,’ said Tam. ‘Which is definitely not easy, so she must really believe in you! That’s why she promoted you early.’

Ellie’s stomach did a flip at the mention of the Challenge Cup, the make-or-break competition that took place just before Christmas. It was her last chance to qualify for Junior British Champs next term and become an elite gymnast. ‘It seems like such a long shot.’

‘Well, I don’t care why she promoted us,’ Nancy was saying. ‘We’re going to feel so grown up compared to the babies in Development Squad. And we’re going to be training with Oleg!’

‘That’s definitely NOT going to be easy!’ said Tam and they all laughed. Oleg Petrescu was the kindly but eccentric gymnastic coach of the Pre-Elite squad. He was Romanian and he was famous for his rather unusual training methods.

‘Did you hear he spent the summer in Romania?’ said Tam. ‘He’s come back determined to be much stricter – the way they are over there. So you’d better watch out, girls!’

‘Ellie and I can cope with Oleg, can’t we?’ said Nancy with a giant grin. ‘Anyway, I reckon my muscles are twice the size they used to be after all the rowing I’ve done in the past two weeks!’

She bared her arms, which were indeed looking incredibly toned – even for a gymnast. The three of them, plus Ellie’s little sister Lucy, had spent nearly every day of their holiday out on the water, rowing, crabbing, sailing and messing about on Trengilly Creek. Nancy was a natural and could beat the others easily in a rowing race – even Ellie, who’d been rowing all her life.

‘Hey, and did you hear that Toni Nimakov found some gymnastic prodigy in a circus?’ Tam went on, searching around in the cool bag for more food. ‘He’s brought her back to the Academy!

Toni Nimakov was a four-time Olympic gold medallist who had coached the very best gymnasts in the world and trained the Elite squad at the Academy. He was terrifyingly strict but brilliant.

‘How do you know all this stuff ?’ Nancy demanded.

‘I have my sources,’ grinned Tam, pulling out three little bags of fudge Lucy had made for them as leaving presents. Each was tied with a different coloured ribbon and had a hand-drawn label with their name on it. Looking at the effort that Lucy had put into them made Ellie feel a pang of sadness. She wished she didn’t have to leave her little sister behind each term.

‘Don’t make out like you’re some kind of superspy,’ Nancy was saying as Tam tossed over her bag of fudge and started munching on his own. ‘You’ve probably just been on Facebook with Robbie Sipson. He’s the worst gossip ever.’ Robbie was one of the other boys at the Academy. He and Tam had become more friendly this summer, although Nancy thought he was irritating and even Ellie couldn’t figure out what Tam saw in him.

‘Never mind how he found out,’ said Ellie. ‘Did this girl really come from the circus? Doesn’t she have any formal gym training at all?’

‘Apparently not,’ said Tam.

Ellie was surprised. She remembered how hard it had been for her to start at the Academy behind the others last year. If the new girl had never been trained at all, it would be even harder for her. ‘How old is she?’ she asked. ‘What squad is she going into?’

‘Robbie said she’s twelve, so I guess she’ll be going into Development Squad, one below you guys,’ said Tam. ‘She’s meant to be incredible on floor and beam, but she’s never done the bars in her life!’

‘Ooh, I can’t wait to see this!’ said Nancy. ‘A girl who’s been swinging on the trapeze and walking the tightrope making a splash at the Academy! Scarlett is going to be up in arms about it.’

Ellie sighed at the mention of Scarlett Atkins. Scarlett resented anyone she thought showed talent and might be a threat to her Queen of the Beam status (or Queen of Mean, if you asked Nancy). She had made life really difficult for Ellie last year. Luckily Nancy and the other girls had made her feel welcome – Ellie made a silent promise to herself to do the same for the younger circus girl.

Ellie turned and glanced out of the window. The train was on the outskirts of London now and the green fields had been replaced by rows of terraces. She felt a flutter of excitement as they neared the city. The summer had been magical and it was so tough saying goodbye to her family – especially Lucy – but it was brilliant to be back in London, about to start a new year at the Academy.

‘I’m missing the beach already!’ said Nancy glumly, staring at the London houses. ‘I mean, I can’t wait to see Mum and all the girls, but remind me again why we want to spend twenty-five hours a week in a stuffy gym being tortured by slave-driver coaches?’