Cate Shearwater - Making the Grade

Somersaults and Dreams: Making the Grade 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 2014

ISBN 978 1 4052 6878 3

eISBN 978 1 7803 1421 1

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 and Lucy and all the wonderful gymnasts and coaches at Baskerville’s Gym Club. With all my love.

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Somersaults and Dreams: Making the Grade 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 2014 ISBN 978 1 4052 6878 3 eISBN 978 1 7803 1421 1 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 and Lucy and all the wonderful gymnasts and coaches at Baskerville’s Gym Club. With all my love.

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

CHAPTER Thirty-one

CHAPTER Thirty-two

CHAPTER Thirty-three

CHAPTER Thirty-four

CHAPTER Thirty-five

CHAPTER Thirty-six

Acknowledgements

Back series promotional page

One

Ellie stood on the beach and stared out across the creek. The pale winter sun was just rising over the water and everything was still, except the gentle bob of the boats and a solitary seagull looping in the air. It reminded her of a gymnast turning circles on the bar.

She shivered with excitement and cold. The day she’d been dreaming of for so long was finally here! She’d woken up early, far too excited to sleep. So she’d slipped out of bed, taking care not to wake her little sister Lucy, pulled on her flip-flops and stolen down to the beach in her pyjamas and duffle coat. She didn’t want to waste a second of this day.

The water sparkled under the sun and Ellie gave a little sigh. She knew she was going to miss this place like mad. But she was going to the Academy! She had won a place at the London Gymnastics Academy, the best gym in the whole country, where famous gymnasts like Sian Edwards and Emma Bannerdown and even the great Lizzie Trengilly, Ellie’s aunt, had trained.

Just thinking about it made Ellie want to somersault with joy. She grinned as she looked around. There was no better place for somersaults than the beach.

So Ellie kicked off her flip-flops, shrugged out of her duffle coat and prepared to launch herself into a tumble sequence across the cold, damp sand. She started with a simple round-off flick, then sprang into a neat aerial – like a cartwheel with no hands. The chill wind caught in her hair as she moved, and she could almost imagine she was leaping across the ice-cold water.

‘I should have guessed you’d be head over heels with excitement this morning!’

Ellie landed with a jolt and spun round at the sound of the familiar voice. Her gym coach, Fran, was standing outside the little boathouse watching her with a smile playing across her lips.

‘Fran!’ Ellie cried. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Your dad said this is where I’d find you,’ Fran laughed. ‘And I couldn’t let you go without saying goodbye, could I?’

‘Thank you,’ Ellie said, still breathless. ‘For coming to see me off. And . . . for everything. I couldn’t have done it without you.’

Fran sat down on a rock and Ellie perched next to her. Fran hardly looked old enough to be a coach. With her small, compact gymnast’s body, rosy face and long, dark hair, she could have been mistaken for Ellie’s older sister. She had been coaching Ellie since Ellie was a little girl of five. She’d been the one who first picked her for the Beginner’s squad, seeing some spark of talent in her all those years ago. Since then she’d witnessed Ellie’s triumphs – and her failures; seen her battling competition nerves, injuries and setbacks; seen the way she pushed herself harder, determined to be the best.

And it had been Fran who’d suggested the move to the Academy. She’d always said she didn’t want to push Ellie too fast, that a careful and steady approach was best. But last month she’d told Ellie that if she wanted to go all the way – to British Championships, Worlds, maybe even the Olympics – she would need to move to a bigger club. And of course that’s what Ellie wanted! It was all she had ever dreamed of since was a little girl.

Fran had asked her old friend Emma Bannerdown, former World Champion and now director of the London Gymnastics Academy, to give Ellie a trial. To Ellie’s astonishment, Emma had agreed. And, to her even greater amazement, she’d offered Ellie a scholarship to train at the Academy.