Cate Shearwater - Somersaults and Dreams - Rising Star

Somersaults and Dreams: Rising Star

First published in Great Britain 2015

by Egmont UK Limited

The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN

Text copyright © 2015 Cate Shearwater

Illustration copyright © 2015 Jongmee

The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted

First e-book edition 2015

ISBN 978 1 4052 6879 0

Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1422 8

www.egmont.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties.

Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

For Elsie, Nancy, Kate and Lexi –

gorgeous gym girlies!

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Somersaults and Dreams: Rising Star First published in Great Britain 2015 by Egmont UK Limited The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN Text copyright © 2015 Cate Shearwater Illustration copyright © 2015 Jongmee The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted First e-book edition 2015 ISBN 978 1 4052 6879 0 Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1422 8 www.egmont.co.uk A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

Dedication For Elsie, Nancy, Kate and Lexi – gorgeous gym girlies!

CHAPTER One

CHAPTER Two

CHAPTER Three

CHAPTER Four

CHAPTER Five

CHAPTER Six

CHAPTER Seven

CHAPTER Eight

CHAPTER Nine

CHAPTER Ten

CHAPTER Eleven

CHAPTER Twelve

CHAPTER Thirteen

CHAPTER Fourteen

CHAPTER Fifteen

CHAPTER Sixteen

CHAPTER Seventeen

CHAPTER Eighteen

CHAPTER Nineteen

CHAPTER Twenty

CHAPTER Twenty-One

CHAPTER Twenty-Two

CHAPTER Twenty-Three

CHAPTER Twenty-Four

CHAPTER Twenty-Five

CHAPTER Twenty-Six

CHAPTER Twenty-Seven

CHAPTER Twenty-Eight

CHAPTER Twenty-Nine

CHAPTER Thirty

Acknowledgements

Back series promotional page

CHAPTER

One

Ellie stood in the middle of the Olympic arena, waiting for the music to start. She shivered with fear and anticipation. This was it. Her chance to win the gold medal she’d always dreamed of. It all came down to this final routine.

The audience fell silent as the music started, a haunting strain that seemed to bring Ellie’s limbs to life. It was like she was a puppet, being tugged by the strings of the melody. She forgot about the audience, forgot about the arena, forgot that she was in the biggest competition of her life as she lost herself in the magic of gymnastics.

Ellie performed as she had never performed before, leaping higher, spinning faster, tumbling more powerfully. And, as the music moved towards a crescendo, she launched into her final tumble sequence. As she flew through the double pike to finish, she felt like an exotic bird, twisting a myriad of colours through the air.

And then she landed . . .

. . . and there was silence. Total silence. No applause, not a single hand clapped. Ellie glanced around breathlessly at the sea of blank faces, staring at her, unsmiling. And then, high up in the back row, someone stood up and shouted, ‘This girl is not eligible to compete. She hasn’t qualified for Junior British Champs!’

Ellie woke with a start. It took a second for her to register where she was: not in an Olympic arena, but on a train heading back to the London Gymnastics Academy for the start of the autumn term. She shook her head and blinked a couple of times but somehow she couldn’t seem to shake off the vivid dream.

‘Ah, Sleeping Beauty is awake!’ said Nancy who was sitting next to her. ‘Were you dreaming of gym again, Ellie?’

Ellie felt herself blushing. ‘Yeah. How could you tell?’

‘Oh, you were doing funny things with your hands,’ said Nancy with a grin.

‘ And you were humming your floor music in your sleep!’ added Tam, who was sitting across the table from Ellie.

Ellie laughed. ‘No, I wasn’t!’

Tam just shrugged. ‘So what was it this time? Commonwealth Games . . . the World Championships . . .?’

‘Olympics,’ Ellie admitted.

‘Ooh – I like it. Dream big!’ said Nancy. ‘How did you get on?’

‘You realise it was only a dream – right?’ Tam asked her.

‘Yeah, but it could be one of those fortune-telling dreams, couldn’t it!’ said Nancy. ‘I’ve had one of those. In it Sasha was telling me I was talking too much during warm-up – and then the very next day she actually did! Spooky, huh!’

‘Um – that doesn’t exactly take a crystal ball!’ said Tam. ‘Sasha tells you off practically every other day!’

Nancy huffed loudly. ‘Yeah, well, it doesn’t take a fortune-teller to know that Ellie’s going to make it to the Olympics either,’ she declared. ‘I mean, she’s so dedicated she even keeps up her training in her sleep!’

Ellie laughed, and so did her two best friends. It was easy to see they were twins. Even though Tam had dark curly hair, whilst Nancy’s was straight and straw-coloured, they shared the same warm chocolate-coloured eyes and upturned noses – now even more covered in freckles than ever after a fortnight in Cornwall, staying with Ellie’s family.

‘Anyway,’ Nancy continued. ‘I want to know how Ellie got on in this Olympic dream! Did you end up on the podium with a gold medal round your neck? I bet you did!’

‘Sorry to disappoint you,’ said Ellie with a sigh. ‘But it was more of a nightmare. They kicked me out because I hadn’t even qualified for Junior British Champs – let alone the Olympic team!’

‘Ouch!’ said Nancy, pulling a face. ‘Classic anxiety dream then. I get them all the time – only usually, in mine, I’m doing a routine in my pyjamas.’

Ellie laughed at the thought of Nancy taking to the floor at the Olympics in her fluffy, kitten-covered PJs.

‘That’s nothing,’ said Tam. ‘I once dreamed I was performing in one of Nancy’s leotards!’

Nancy shrieked with laughter. ‘Which one? Ooh – I bet you’d look gorgeous in my pink-and-purple comp leo – the one with all the sparkles!’