by Jane Lawes
If she hadn’t been so nervous, Tara might have felt important when she got to walk out of her form room at lunchtime registration that Friday to go to Silverdale. Everyone knew that she was competing the next day, and they all wished her luck.
“Tara doesn’t need luck,” said Mrs. James. “You’ve worked hard,” her teacher told her. “That’s what will earn you that gold medal. You certainly deserve it. I’m very proud of you.”
Tara flushed and said a quick “Thanks” before hurrying away. She felt like she might cry, and she couldn’t think of anything more embarrassing.
Tara walked to the gym with Lindsay and Megan, as usual. The competition was a three-hour drive away and they had to be at the venue early the next morning, hours before the competition actually started, so they were travelling that evening and staying in a bed and breakfast. Their families would travel there on Saturday morning. Mum, Dad and Anna had all given Tara huge hugs that morning before she’d gone to school as she wouldn’t get a chance to see them properly again until the competition was over. She shivered slightly. The next time she hugged her parents, either she’d be a National champion…or she wouldn’t.
All three girls had bags with their Silverdale leotards and tracksuits, as well as pyjamas and everything they would need to stay overnight. They chattered and laughed all the way to Silverdale, full of energy in the spring sunshine and happy to be out of school early.
The gym was full of nervous excitement when they arrived, but it soon disappeared once they got down to some serious work. They were all far too focused to let nerves take over and stop them from concentrating. Tara and Lindsay went through their routine five perfect times, and it felt incredible.
We’re going to do this, Tara suddenly thought, balanced up on Lindsay’s shoulders with one leg held high in a Y-balance. We really could win.
And then she fell. “Oh no,” she groaned.
“What?” demanded Lindsay, thinking the worst. “Are you hurt?”
“No,” Tara replied. “Not this again! I thought we’d got this balance sorted.” They’d spent so much time working on the straddle lever balance – and it had been worth every second of training, because it looked brilliant now – but what if that meant their other balances weren’t good enough?
“Stop,” said Lindsay.
“Stop what?”
“Stop worrying! We can do the routine. You know we can.”
“Lindsay’s right,” said Clare. “You’re tired, and you weren’t concentrating. I could see that in your eyes. You’ll be fine tomorrow.” She looked at the clock. It was nearly four, which meant they’d have to stop working soon. “One more run-through, then go and get changed,” she told them. “I don’t want you to finish your last training session on a fall. Make your last run-through good, then you’ll go into the competition with confidence tomorrow.”
Tara and Lindsay nodded and started their routine again, while Clare went off to give Megan and Sophie some last-minute advice.
Tomorrow, echoed in Tara’s mind, and she felt a tingle of shivery excitement go down her spine.
Chapter Fourteen
After training, the six girls changed into their own clothes and got into the minibus the club had hired to take them to the competition. Tara sat next to Lindsay, and Sophie sat with Jasmine across the aisle from them. Megan was behind Jasmine and Sam was behind Lindsay, while Clare sat in the front with the driver. As soon as they had all got seated and were on their way, Clare passed them back a bag of sweets. They all got out the sandwiches and drinks they’d brought with them and settled in for a long trip. When Tara opened her lunch box, she found a little note from Mum:
Good luck, Tara! We can’t wait to cheer you on. Lots of love, Mum xxxx
She showed it to Lindsay, who smiled, and Tara felt shivers of excitement again. She was on her way to a National gymnastics competition! After all the hard work, she was almost there.
Sam and Megan both had magazines with them, and they whiled away an hour doing quizzes and tests to see which pop stars and film stars they were most like, and which colour nail varnish suited their personalities best. Sophie got out a pack of cards and started to tell everyone’s fortunes, but no one asked the only question they really wanted the answer to: would they return to Silverdale as National Champions?
Tara watched it slowly grow dark outside. Inside the minibus it was warm and they were all tired from the hard afternoon of training. They drifted into quiet murmurs to each other as they chewed the last of the sweets. Tara and Lindsay listened to music together, sharing Lindsay’s iPod headphones. With a soundtrack of upbeat music in her ear, Tara looked around at the others. Sam was telling Sophie all the latest gossip from their school. Sophie caught Tara’s eye. She gave her a grin, and Tara smiled back. Megan was putting Jasmine’s soft black hair into different styles. Jasmine kept trying to turn her head slightly to speak to her, and Megan kept pushing it back around. Tara giggled and leaned against Lindsay’s shoulder. Whatever happened tomorrow, she was glad to be here.
It was late when they got to the little bed and breakfast where they were staying for the night. They lugged their bags out of the minibus and trooped inside. Clare spoke to the woman at the desk and sorted out the rooms, while the girls looked around the lobby and peeked through the doors into the rooms on either side. It was a pretty house, with cream walls and a deep red carpet, and vases of flowers on the shelves and tables. They could see a big room with sofas and bookcases on one side of the hall. Tara thought it was a shame they wouldn’t really get to see much of the house – they’d be leaving for the competition early the next morning.
They went upstairs and found their rooms. Tara was sharing with Lindsay and Megan, while Jasmine, Sophie and Sam were in the room next door. Clare had the room on the other side of the younger gymnasts.
“We’d better hang our leotards up so they don’t get creased,” Lindsay suggested, pulling hers out of her bag and smoothing the navy blue velvet.
“Good idea,” said Megan. Her own leotard already looked a bit crumpled.
“Hand me yours, Tara, and I’ll find some hangers.”
Tara carefully lifted her precious Silverdale squad leotard from her bag and gave it to Lindsay. She admired the three navy blue leotards hanging on the front of the wardrobe. They were sleeveless and a white flame shape flickered down from one shoulder. Tara loved how it felt to wear that leotard and know she was part of the Silverdale squad.
“I am so tired,” yawned Megan, snuggling down in one of the beds.
“I’m setting an alarm for seven,” said Lindsay.
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” groaned Megan. “I could sleep for ever.”
“Then you’ll sleep right through your chance at gold,” giggled Tara.
It was late. Tara couldn’t tell how late because it was too dark to see her watch. Megan’s breathing had evened out into sleep long ago, and Lindsay was lying completely still. Tara was going through the routine in her mind. Suddenly she had a horrible mind-blank. What came after the forward walkover? She searched her brain but couldn’t find the answer. Her body knew the routine, she was sure of it – if she could only practise it, she would remember. She sat up and silently slipped out of bed. She moved her bag into the corner as quietly as she could and started to mark through the routine. Lindsay rolled over in her bed and sat up.
“Tara?”
“Sorry,” Tara whispered. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I wasn’t asleep. I’ve been thinking through the routine.”
“Me too. I couldn’t remember it.”
“Let’s have one practice together and then go to sleep,” whispered Lindsay, joining Tara on the floor.
They were marking through their routine as quietly as possible, doing the few balances they had space for, and remembering the rest without actually
doing it, when they heard a noise outside. Tara came down from the straddle lever balance and held her breath. The door opened.
“What’s going on in here?” Clare asked in a low voice.
“Sorry, we were—”
The coach stopped Tara halfway through her explanation. “Girls, I know you’re determined to do well tomorrow, but midnight training sessions aren’t going to help that. You need to get some sleep.”
“We just wanted one last practice,” said Lindsay.
“I’ve seen you two in the gym this week,” said Clare, with a smile. “You’ve done enough.” She went out, closing the door silently behind her. Megan was still snoring away in her bed.
Tara thought about what her coach had said as she settled her head on the comfy pillow. They’d done enough. Did that mean that Clare thought…? She stopped herself. She wouldn’t even think it. It would be too much like tempting fate. But, oh, she thought, if only it was true!
Chapter Fifteen
The next morning, after a breakfast of cereal, fruit juice and toast with strawberry jam, they set off in the minibus again. The National Acrobatic Gymnastics Levels 1-4 Competition was being held in a huge sports arena. When they got there, they had to weave their way through a maze of corridors. They followed the crowd of girls and boys dressed in tracksuits, all of them chattering hard in voices loud and high-pitched with nerves.
When they finally entered the arena, Tara’s first thought was that she had never seen a gym so massive. There was tiered seating for the audience all the way around, and blue sprung floors had been put down for the gymnasts. Tara looked at the area they would be performing their routine in later and shivered.
“Come on,” called Jasmine, walking off arm-in-arm with Sophie. “Let’s go and find some space in the warm-up gym.” They were already dressed in their Silverdale leotards and tracksuits, and had scraped their hair up into neat buns before they left the bed and breakfast.
Sam led them through a thorough warm-up and then they began to work on their balances. Clare nodded approvingly at Tara, who was high up on Lindsay’s shoulders with one leg held in a perfect Y-balance. Competition time was getting closer and closer now, and Tara tried not to think about the judges behind their table, or the other gymnasts in their brightly coloured leotards. She tried to forget about all those seats around the arena and the hundreds of eyes that would be on her, and her parents watching, and Clare and everyone at Silverdale expecting big things… She lowered her leg so she was standing with both feet on Lindsay’s shoulders, then took her partner’s hands to jump down in front of her, landing with a bit of a wobble.
Suddenly she felt sick. She couldn’t do it. She hadn’t even been at Silverdale for a year yet – what was she doing at a National competition? There was no way she could compete against the other gymnasts here, who had probably all been training since they were tiny. How could she walk out onto that floor, knowing that if she messed anything up, everyone would see that she wasn’t the great gymnast she wished she was?
“Come on, it’s time to go back into the main gym,” Clare said.
Tara followed along behind the others, but she was hardly aware of where she was walking. She felt small and lost, just like she’d felt on the first day at secondary school. What she wanted more than anything was to run away and go back to doing gymnastics in her back garden.
Tara’s nerves and doubts were in danger of taking her over completely… But then the march-in started, and she felt a tiny jolt of excitement return. She couldn’t help enjoying the feeling of being a real gymnast while she walked neatly around the floor in a line with all the other competitors. And by the time that had finished, she was actually feeling a bit better.
There were a lot more gymnasts here than there had been at the Regional competition. The Silverdale girls found their place on the benches lining the floor space and waited for everything to start. Tara scanned the tiered seats for her parents’ faces, but she couldn’t see them – the crowd was just too big.
It wasn’t long before the first competition – Level 4 Girls’ Pairs – got going, but it would be ages before it was Tara and Lindsay’s turn. Watching the other levels compete was making Tara very nervous. They were all good, and not many made mistakes.
“D’you think Jas and Sam are good enough to beat that?” she asked Megan, after a pair of girls had finished a routine packed full of spectacular balances. They were definitely the best so far.
Megan wrinkled her nose in worried thought. “I don’t know,” she replied honestly. “But their routine is pretty amazing!” They all watched Jasmine and Sam, who were getting ready to perform over on the other side of the floor. They were rubbing chalk on their hands to help them grip and they looked nervous.
“Time to find out,” muttered Sophie, as their friends walked out onto the floor.
They all knew the Level 4 pair’s routine so well that they noticed instantly when they started a fraction of a second too late. Sophie and Megan looked at each other anxiously. Tara gripped the edge of the bench and leaned forward to watch. Jasmine and Sam performed well, just like they always did, but as the routine went on, their timing slipped a little and Tara realized that they were going to have to make it up somehow. Their routine finished just after a balance – if there wasn’t enough music left for them to hold the balance for the full four seconds, they would lose serious marks. Jasmine and Sam obviously realized that too. Seeing a chance to make up a precious second of time, Sam threw Jasmine up into a somersault before she was ready. Jasmine did her best to control her body round in a single somersault instead of a double, but she landed messily. The single somersault would bring their difficulty score down quite a bit, and they’d lose presentation marks for that wobble. Tara covered her face with her hands.
The pair carried on with their routine as if nothing had gone wrong, and performed their finishing balance perfectly. They’d made up the extra second they needed, but it had probably cost them a medal. Tara could hardly look at their faces as they walked off the floor. Their chance was gone and they knew it.
“Sorry, Jas,” Sam said quietly, when they’d pulled their tracksuits back on and were sitting with the others.
“Don’t be,” Jasmine replied sadly. “It’s just one of those things.”
“At least you didn’t fall,” Megan added, trying to be helpful.
“There’ll be other competitions,” said Sophie.
“Easy for you to say,” sighed Sam. She leaned back against the wall, staring with empty eyes at the floor, where the Level 4 Boys’ Pairs competition had now started. “You’ve still got your chance at gold.”
When the scores were in, Sam and Jasmine had come fifth, meaning they didn’t get a medal at all.
“Come on, you two,” said Clare to Megan and Sophie, “it’s time you went out to the warm-up gym.”
“See you later,” Megan said, waving to the others as she and Sophie got up.
“Good luck!” said Jasmine warmly. Sam was silent.
As the boys continued to compete on the floor, Tara and Lindsay chatted quietly to two girls on the next bench.
“Your pair would have been brilliant if they hadn’t messed up that somersault throw,” said one of them, a small girl with long brown hair tied into a plait.
“I know,” sighed Tara. “They were trying to make up time because they started a tiny bit late,” she explained, realizing that to people who didn’t know the routine as well as they did, it probably looked like Sam and Jasmine just couldn’t do that throw very well. “If they can’t win at Nationals I don’t know how the rest of us can!”
“What Level are you competing in?” asked the other girl, who was taller. “We’re Level 2.”
“So are we,” said Tara. “I’m Tara and this is Lindsay.”
“I’m Josie,” said the taller girl.
&n
bsp; “I’m Nikki,” added the other. “Looks like we’ll be competing against you!”
“Bring it on,” laughed Lindsay. Tara laughed, too, but the mention of competing made her stomach plummet again.
“Linds!” Jasmine said just then, shaking Lindsay’s arm to get her attention. “Megan and Sophie are on!”
Megan and Sophie performed their routine carefully. After what had happened to Sam and Jasmine, they didn’t want to let anything go wrong. Clare had given them a routine that showed off their strength and energy, and they put just enough power into it to dazzle the audience, while holding enough back to stay in control. The Silverdale gymnasts all cheered up – even Sam – when they were given the highest score so far.
Megan high-fived them all when she came back and then watched tensely while the remaining Level 3 pairs performed. Sophie sat completely still on the end of the bench. She hardly even breathed until the last score was up – and they were confirmed as the Level 3 champions! Tara was so excited for them that she almost forgot she still had to face the judges herself.
But during the next round – Level 3 Boys’ Pairs – Tara’s doubts and worries returned. Her turn was getting closer and closer, and suddenly her eyes filled with tears. She didn’t want to mess this up and let Lindsay and Clare down.
Sam noticed that Tara was upset and leaned towards her. “Are you okay?” she asked. “Let’s go out to the warm-up gym.”
Tara got up uncertainly and followed the older gymnast.
“Tara…” Sam began when they were on their own, and then she paused. She looked down at her bare feet and scrunched up her toes, scuffing them on the soft blue-carpeted floor. “I know I wasn’t very nice to you when you first started…” Tara didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry,” Sam blurted out. “I guess I was jealous.”