The flyaway girls, p.1
The Flyaway Girls, page 1
To Amanda Quigley,
the coach all gymnasts should have.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
About the Author
‘Who’s that?’ says Ellie.
‘Who’s who?’ I grunt. I’m reaching forward to grab my toe from a front split. This brings my nose uncomfortably close to the foam mat, which smells like the inside of a shoe.
‘That new girl.’
I turn my head, but all I can see is Ellie standing there, twisting her shiny ponytail and glaring in the direction of the front of the gym. Everything about Ellie is shiny: her leotard, her hair, her skin. Shiny on the outside, at least.
I start counting – one gymnastics, two gymnastics – and feel my hamstrings start to burn. Whoever Ellie is glaring at isn’t going away, and I need to do my stretches. I can see Kirsty and Jess looking over with interest; on the other side, I can hear Yelena and Briony.
‘I can’t get any flatter,’ Yelena says. ‘The back of my knee’s going to pop out.’
‘Want me to push?’ Briony says.
‘All right. But I wish I was double-jointed.’
‘Or triple-jointed.’
‘Or quadruple-jointed.’ Yelena gasps. ‘Ow!’
Eighteen gymnastics, nineteen gymnastics, twenty! I roll out of the splits, jump up and look over to the new girl. She’s standing with Louisa, our coach, and nodding and smiling as she coils her long dark hair into a bun. She’s wearing her school’s sports shorts and a T-shirt, and you can see from her muscles she’s been practising a lot.
‘Maybe she’s in Nationals,’ I say.
‘She doesn’t look like it,’ Ellie says, returning to her stretches, graceful as a cat.
I examine the new girl again. She’s short, but I think she’s probably around nine, maybe ten. Louisa only lets girls train with Nationals if they are good enough. I’m not – yet – even though I am already eleven, older than most of the Nationals gymnasts. But everybody knows I work harder than any of the Club girls – including Ellie, who is the only one as close to me as an all-rounder. Briony can sometimes beat me on bars, Kirsty is a great vaulter, and Ellie blitzes the floor, but nobody gets as consistently high scores at State Championships as me. Besides, it isn’t so long ago that nobody seemed to believe I’d make it to Club level. But after the last State Champs, when I beat Ellie by half a point – well, I proved that I can do it. Next stop, Nationals – and nothing is going to stop me.
But still. I hope the new girl isn’t a Nationals girl. If she is, it will make it harder for me. Well, that’s what it feels like, anyway. So I keep my eye on the new girl until Louisa brings her over to us.
‘This is Telia,’ Louisa says. ‘She’s joining the Club class.’
Ellie shoots me a ‘see, I was right’ look. I let out a long breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding.
‘This is Chelsea,’ Louisa says to Telia. ‘She’s our senior girl, so just follow her for the warm-ups, then we’ll start on the apparatus.’
I get a warm feeling in my chest when Louisa says that. Louisa walks over to the Nationals’ coach, Maddie, so I say to the new girl, ‘Telia, this is Ellie.’
Ellie looks Telia up and down, says something that is half way between a ‘hi’ and a hiss, and turns away. I am used to Ellie being – well, being Ellie, but even she isn’t normally so rude.
Telia raises her eyebrows at me. I make an ‘I’m sorry, she’s not my fault’ face and then introduce her to the other girls.
‘And now for the warm-up,’ I say. ‘Telia, it doesn’t matter if you can’t do everything. Just copy what you can.’
‘Okay,’ says Telia.
‘And if anything hurts, stop. You don’t want to get injured on your first day.’
‘Got it,’ Telia nods.
‘All right, everyone,’ I say. ‘Handstands going into a forward roll. Go!’
Ellie takes the lead, but not before giving me a withering look.
‘What?’ I say to her, but she leaps into her first handstand without answering. Telia waits at the end of the line, watching everyone carefully before she has a go. The younger girls are all laughing and joking as they go up and down the mats; Ellie is the only one who doesn’t join in on the chatter.
I’m surprised to see how easily Telia is able to copy what the other girls do. She has a neat, compact way of moving. The way she moves makes her look like she’s been training, and it’s only the way she doesn’t bother with proper openings and endings that makes me wonder if she hasn’t. Or whether she’s just had a bad coach.
Louisa walks over and claps her hands. ‘Time for some bar work,’ she says. ‘Go!’ Then she calls to Maddie, who is training the Nationals girls on the mats nearby, ‘Don’t forget to watch.’
I feel my face tingle when Louisa says that. Any time Maddie is watching us I try to do my best. To show I am Nationals material. To show I am serious.
Everyone races to the bars, except for Ellie, who walks, and Telia, who hangs back until I wave at her to follow.
‘Okay,’ Louisa says. ‘We’re going to start with some glide swings. Who can tell me what you need for a glide swing?’
‘Hollow chest!’ says Yelena.
‘Backside out!’ says Jess.
‘Toes higher than your hips!’ says Kirsty.
‘Right,’ Louisa says. ‘Let’s start with you, Yelena.’
Yelena climbs up onto the chair, which is there to help the younger girls reach the bars. She jumps, and Louisa helps her as she swings back and forth from the low bar, her legs up, and then flings herself into a dismount. She stumbles on the mats, and Louisa says, ‘Again! This time, stick your landing!’
Yelena’s second try is better. Louisa keeps instructing her: ‘Straight arms! Swing higher! Tuck your chest in!’
‘That looks like so much fun,’ Telia says.
‘Yep,’ I say.
‘I’ve only been on the monkey bars at school,’ Telia says. ‘Not real bars.’
‘See, I’m right,’ Ellie hisses in my ear.
I give Ellie a ‘who cares’ look, but Telia isn’t paying attention to us. She’s looking at the bars like they are made of magic. I remember when I first went on the bars, how much fun it was. I mean, it still is fun, but it’s different. Now I’m so busy on concentrating on getting my moves right that I’ve forgotten what it feels like, being that excited. Now the only thing that matters is getting into Nationals. Fun doesn’t come into it.
When Telia finally gets to climb up on the chair and prepare to jump, she is jiggling so much that Louisa has to tell her to stay still. She jumps into the swing, throws herself up in the air – and lands flat on her back. She lies there on the mats, giggling. Some of the other girls join in.
‘Let’s try that again, shall we?’ Louisa says, helping Telia up and directing her back on the chair.
This time, Telia tries to make her face serious. She takes a breath, jumps, swings, and – with Louisa’s help – lands on her feet.
‘Again.’
This time, Telia helps push herself away from the bars, and she puts her arms exactly as Louisa shows her.
‘Good girl,’ Louisa says to Telia. To Maddie, she says, ‘See?’
So that’s why Maddie’s been told to watch. My skin turns hot.
‘One more, because you’re new.’
This time, Telia is even more controlled. Usually, when gymnasts come to Club from Gymbarama, they can’t swing very high, or keep their arms straight. But Telia does everything Louisa tells her to do. No problems.
Ellie stalks up to Telia when she comes bouncing back to the line and says, ‘Where have you trained before?’
‘I told you I haven’t,’ Telia says. ‘This is my first time.’
‘Sure,’ says Ellie.
‘It’s true,’ Telia says. Her eyes turn liquid. ‘Why would I say I hadn’t if I had?’
‘You tell me,’ Ellie says. ‘I don’t know.’
Telia looks at me in shock. She wants me to do something, say something. I believe her, and Telia guesses I do. But I say nothing. My heart is echoing in my ears.
‘Chelsea,’ Louisa calls. ‘Come on!’
I try to put Telia out of my mind as I stand facing the bars. I bend my knees, put my arms straight out. I do all the things I know I have to do. I chant to myself, Nationals, Nationals, Nationals, the way I do every time I prepare to practise an apparatus.
I jump, and move into a perfect glide swing. When I dismount – feet together, knees bent, arms out – I turn to see if Maddie is still watching.
She isn’t.
‘Right, onto the floor,’ Louisa says.
‘Goody!’ says Yelena.
‘My favourite!’ says Jess.
I notice Maddie ushering the Nationals girls to the beams. She begins barking instructions to them in a voi ce that even from across the room makes me a bit nervous. Louisa never talks to us like that. But Maddie gets results and that’s why, even though it’s Louisa’s gym, she gets Maddie to take Nationals. Everybody listens to Maddie. You wouldn’t dare not to.
‘I want you to start off walking up and down, regular handstands all the way,’ Louisa says. ‘And then I want handstand pops. Go!’
‘What’s a handstand pop?’ Telia asks me.
‘You sort of jump when you’re on your hands,’ I say. ‘You need to be able to do it for lots of moves, not only on the floor. But it’s pretty hard, at first.’
‘You won’t be strong enough,’ Ellie says. ‘If you haven’t trained before.’
‘Oh well,’ Telia says. ‘I’ll try it anyway.’
Louisa takes Telia to the side and holds her arms to demonstrate.
‘You need to have an open shoulder, like this,’ Louisa says. ‘Really attack the floor, boom-boom!’
Telia manages better than I thought she would. But she is finding it hard: by the time she has finished going down one side of the gym – handstand pop, handstand pop! – she is puffing and rubbing her shoulders.
‘Strong arms, girls! Point your toes at the ceiling!’ Louisa calls out. ‘Briony, push off harder. That’s better!’
After the handstand pops, we do cartwheels along a line of tape stuck to the mats, then do kicks to the front and to the side as we walk, then roll into the splits. Telia keeps up with all of it. That’s fine, I say to myself. These exercises aren’t that hard. But soon we’ll be practising somersaults and twists using the mini-tramp. That’s when it’ll be obvious that Telia is way behind the rest of us.
‘What are they doing?’ Telia says, as Louisa, Jess and Kirsty drag a high-jump mat into place, and arrange a square mini-trampoline in front of it. The other girls run and grab foam blocks from where they’re stored at the side of the gym and place them in front of the tramp. They are big and soft, and they’re placed around the mat in case we lose our balance, or fling ourselves too far forward.
‘Watch Ellie,’ I say. ‘She’s the best.’
Ellie snorts, like I’ve said something insulting. Louisa stands to the side of the foam blocks and readies herself.
‘Okay, girls,’ she calls. ‘Let’s go.’
Jess goes first. She runs full pelt at the tramp and bounces high in the air. She dives into a somersault, then Louisa helps her so she lands on her feet – well, she is supposed to land on her feet, but actually she lands on her bum.
‘Next time, you’ll need to go faster,’ Louisa says. ‘Kirsty, let’s go!’
Telia jumps up and down as she watches. She is beaming so much she doesn’t notice Ellie’s scowl. I have a strange feeling, watching her. I wish I were as happy as Telia. Instead, as I wait, I imagine what I need to do to make my landing perfect, to keep my balance, to not stumble. But it’s easy for Telia to be excited: she hasn’t trained before. Not like Ellie. And not like me.
Ellie doesn’t need much help from Louisa. She bounces higher and stronger than the others, and lands on her feet on the mat, her arms out.
‘Wow,’ Telia says. ‘She looks like those gymnasts on YouTube.’
‘Yeah?’ I say.
‘Yeah,’ Telia says. ‘She’s really good.’
It is weird hearing Telia be so nice about her after Ellie has been so awful. When it’s my turn, despite having imagined my perfect somersault, I stumble hard, and Louisa says, ‘Mondayitis, Chelsea?’
‘Something like that,’ I say.
Telia is after me. But before Louisa will let her try, she spends a while explaining how to jump, when to tuck her head in, and tells her she’ll help her land.
‘Are you ready? Three big bounces, then forward.’
Telia bounces once, twice, then again, and whips into a somersault, Louisa’s hands on her back and her stomach. She stumbles forwards onto the foam.
‘Good,’ says Louisa. I try not to think about how long it had taken me to be able to somersault like that. The important thing, I tell myself, is that I can do them now. If I can focus, that is.
On Telia’s second turn, she lands on her bottom. I land on my feet.
On Telia’s third try she lands on her feet too. Louisa barely has to guide her. I feel as if there’s something tight around my neck.
Telia skips to the back of the line.
‘This is so cool,’ Telia says.
‘Nobody asked you,’ Ellie snaps.
‘What?’
‘You’re a liar,’ she says.
Telia’s cheeks are already pink from her somersaults; now they turn pinker. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You must have trained before,’ Ellie says. ‘I don’t believe you haven’t.’
‘But I haven’t,’ says Telia. ‘Honest.’
‘How can you somersault like that, then?’
‘I’ve got a trampoline at home,’ she explains.
‘Sure,’ Ellie says.
‘It’s true,’ Telia says.
‘Leave her alone,’ I say. But I don’t say it very loud, and I’m not sure if Ellie hears me.
‘I just don’t like liars,’ Ellie says.
‘Ellie,’ Louisa calls. ‘Hurry up.’
Ellie runs off to take her turn, delivering one last nasty look at Telia. Telia’s eyes are shiny with tears.
‘She’s being so mean to me,’ Telia says, again. ‘I don’t get it. I only just got here. What have I done to her?’
I swallow. ‘That’s just what she’s like. Don’t worry about it.’
‘Chelsea,’ Louisa calls. ‘Focus, please.’
I jog up to the tramp and jump on. I bounce – one, two, three times – and jump as high as I can, up and out. But I can feel that my body is off kilter. I’ve misjudged the jump. Louisa rushes close and tries to help spin me around, but it’s too late. I land on my back, on the foam, looking up into Louisa’s disapproving face.
‘What was that supposed to be?’ Louisa says.
‘I don’t know,’ I say.
‘I expect more from you,’ Louisa says.
‘I know.’ I shake my arms and legs as I climb off the foam. I keep my eyes to the ground and stand away from Ellie and Telia in the line. I stare at the blue mat on the floor. I stare and stare, trying not to blink. I have the horrible feeling that if I blink I’m going to start crying.
On Telia’s last try she lands on her feet again. This time, when she comes back into line, the younger girls gather around her.
‘Hey Telia,’ Yelena says. ‘What’s your favourite part so far?’
‘I like all of it,’ Telia says.
‘We all go to different schools, except for Kirsty and Jess,’ says Briony. ‘Where do you go?’
Telia chats away with the girls, but she keeps looking over at me. I pretend not to notice.
It’s time for my last turn. I hesitate a long time before I start bouncing. This time, I jump high – higher than Ellie, I’m sure – and turn neatly into the mid-air flip. This time, I land on my feet, perfectly balanced, arms out in front at first before I raise them high in the air.
‘At last,’ says Louisa.
I walk back to the line. That’s the kind of jump I should have been doing the whole time. It shouldn’t have taken me so long to get it.
‘That was great,’ says Telia. ‘What will we do next?’
‘Ask Louisa. I’m going to get a drink.’
I stomp off to reception, where the bags are kept. I take a long swig out of my water bottle, then stare out of the window, between the Blu-Tacked posters of gymnasts in full flight, to the grey concrete car park in front of the gym, my back to the apparatus, to Telia, to everybody.
•
When I get home after training, it’s time for dinner. While Mum’s serving our stir-fry, I grab the milk out of the fridge and slam the fridge door. As I pour, I manage to slop it all over the bench. Having to clean it up puts me in a worse mood than I’m already in. I sit down at the table, and more milk splashes out. I wipe it away with the side of my sleeve.
‘You’ll break that glass if you’re not careful,’ Mum says. ‘And did you ask your brother if he wanted one too?’
‘He didn’t before,’ I mutter.
‘Maybe he does now.’
‘Yes, please,’ Kieran beams.
My chair scrapes against the tiles as I get up and return to the kitchen. I plonk the glass in front of Kieran, he grins and says, ‘Thank you’, in his sweetest voice.
