Somersaults and Dreams: Rising Star

CHAPTER

Three

‘So tell us again what happened, Katya?’ Sian Edwards was saying, as the gymnasts sat around the giant kitchen table in the basement of Head-Over-Heels House, tucking into a supper of salad and cold roast chicken. Sian and Sophia, another of the Senior Elite girls, shared a flat at the top of the house, but they always took an interest in the younger girls. And it was impossible not to be interested in Katya Popolova.

‘My family runs Popolov Circus in Moscow,’ said Katya, who was already on her third helping. ‘Three generations all work together.’

‘And does everyone perform in the show?’ asked Kashvi, who was sitting astride a chair and staring at Katya in wide-eyed amazement.

‘Yes! My grandfather, he is clown,’ Katya explained. ‘My father does trapeze and high wire. My little brother Pietr is world’s smallest strongman, and my grandmother does acrobatics on horseback . . .’

‘Your grandma?’ asked Ellie with a look of surprise.

‘Oh, yes,’ said Katya, like it was no big deal to have a somersaulting granny.

‘And you?’ asked Tam. He had just about recovered from Katya’s kiss attack, but he had sat down on the opposite side of the table just to be on the safe side. ‘What can you do?’

‘I do many things,’ said Katya, helping herself to another baked potato. ‘Juggling, trapeze, high wire, tumbling, unicycle . . .’

‘Wow! Who trained you?’ asked Nancy.

‘Oh, circus is like one big family – everyone helps.’ For a second Katya’s twinkling eyes clouded a little and Ellie realised how hard it must be for her, knowing her family were thousands of miles away. ‘

OK, so tell us what happened with Toni,’ said Tam.

Ellie saw some of the others leaning forward, intrigued to know exactly how a small circus girl from Russia had ended up at one of the most prestigious gymnastic academies in Britain.

‘Is all big surprise!’ said Katya. ‘Toni, he come home to Russia to see his family – he is also Russian, you know. He comes to circus one night . . .’

‘. . . and sees you,’ added Bella.

‘And the next minute he’s whizzing you back to England!’ Robbie concluded. ‘Blimey – that’s all a bit like something out of a movie!’

‘It’s all a bit odd, if you ask me!’ said Scarlett. ‘I mean, it sounds too much like a coincidence – unless you’re going to tell us your uncle was an exinternational gymnast or something.’

She look pointedly at Ellie as she said this and Ellie knew what she was thinking – Scarlett never missed an opportunity to make Ellie feel like she had only won her scholarship to the Academybecause of her Aunt Lizzie’s success.

‘No, all my family are circus people,’ said Katya. ‘Is just my lucky stars that Toni comes that night!’

‘What did I tell you about luck!’ said Tam, grinning at Ellie and Nancy.

‘You must miss your parents,’ said Bella.

‘My mother died when Pietr was born,’ Katya said, quietly. ‘And my father think it is good for me to go to English school, and to have proper gymnastics training in one of the best academies in the world.’ She smiled again. ‘There he is right! But, yes, I do miss them – my brother Pietr especially.’

‘And the animals,’ said Robbie cheekily. ‘You must miss them.’

‘Yes, even them,’ Katya laughed. ‘I want to bring my favourite dog to Head-Over-Heels House but they say this is not possible.’

‘I’ve been trying to persuade Mum that we should get a Head-Over-Heels puppy for years,’ said Tam.

‘Maybe Katya could train it up and take it to Junior British Champs!’ said Nancy.

‘Well, obviously, Katya won’t be going to Champs,’ said Scarlett snootily.

‘Um – why not?’ asked Nancy.

‘Duh! Because she’s not actually British!’

‘My mother she from England,’ said Katya. ‘So Toni say I am allowed to compete over here too.’

‘Oh,’ said Scarlett, unable to hide her disappointment. ‘Well, only gymnasts who’ve qualified are eligible,’ she added. ‘Or perhaps you’ve failed so often you’ve forgotten that, Nancy?’

‘Then she’ll just have to qualify at the Challenge Cup!’ said Nancy through gritted teeth. ‘Just like me and Ellie.’

Ellie’s heart did a somersault. For a few moments she’d forgotten her fears about the make-or-break competition but now they all came flooding back.

‘There’s no way she’ll be ready for a major competition this term,’ said Scarlett. I doubt she even knows the rules!’

‘In circus there are no rules!’ Katya declared happily. ‘Is all about entertainment.’

‘Blimey!’ said Kashvi. ‘You’re going to get the shock of your life at the Academy then.’

‘Oui – gymnastics ees all about ze rules,’ added Camille.

‘And if you go breaking them you’ll be out of the Academy before you can say big top!’ said Scarlett smugly.

It was quite a squash in the room the girls were sharing. Mandy had moved in the old bunk bed that Tam and Nancy had used as kids and squeezed in another small chest of drawers. Nancy didn’t mind sharing with Katya, although she insisted on getting the top bunk.

‘Tam made me sleep on the bottom for years,’ she said. ‘Even though I was way too tall and forever bashing my head – I was black and blue all the time!’

Katya was thrilled with the bottom bunk. In fact, Katya was thrilled with everything. She seemed to have a permanent smile on her face, and she hugged and kissed anyone who came within a five metre radius of her – probably why Tam had offered to wash up rather than help the girls unpack.

‘I sleep always in different places,’ Katya told Ellie and Nancy, as she clambered happily into bed that night. ‘In circus you move around a lot. Different town every month.’

‘So how did you go to school?’ asked Nancy.

‘Oh, no school,’ said Katya. ‘My grandmother teach me.’

‘No school!’ said Nancy. ‘How cool is that! We do reduced school hours to fit in with our training, but we still have to keep up with our work. The Academy is really strict about that.’

‘But it’s fun,’ said Ellie, to reassure Katya. ‘School’s nice and the Academy is amazing. Just you wait – you’re going to love it!’

‘And you can forget about what Scarlett said,’ Nancy added. ‘Cos you’re going to totally rock it as an Academy girl!’

Ellie lay awake for a while after the others had dropped off. She always found it strange when she first came back to London, getting used to the night-time sounds of the city, so different to the soft lapping of the waves on Trengilly beach that she could hear from her bedroom at home. But it wasn’t just that stopping Ellie from sleeping. She couldn’t stop thinking about the dream she’d had on the train, and about the Challenge Cup – what would happen if she didn’t qualify this time round?

She had to qualify. Because if she didn’t, she’d lose her scholarship. Ellie’s parents were already making huge sacrifices to send her to the Academy, and there was no way they’d be able to manage it without the scholarship money. So, there was a lot more than just Ellie’s pride riding on the Challenge Cup – her whole future at the Academy depended on it. Even with the two other girls sleeping next to her in the room, Ellie suddenly felt very lonely.

CHAPTER

Four

In the early-morning September sunshine, the red brick building of the Academy shone brightly as a gaggle of Academy students sat on the steps, catching up on summer gossip before training began. As she approached, Ellie felt the same thrill of excitement she’d experienced on her very first day, last year. She reckoned she’d always feel that same buzz, however long she kept going.

Katya bounced up the steps beside her and Ellie grinned.

‘It’s like having a puppy,’ Tam joked, waving goodbye to the girls as he headed off into the boys’ gym.

Ellie and Nancy showed Katya to the girls’ changing room, where they found a gaggle of smaller gymnasts giggling in a corner. The younger girls fell silent at the sight of the two Pre-Elite girls.

‘Ah – the new kids in Development,’ said Nancy. ‘They make me feel so old and wise!’

‘You might be old but you’ll never be wise, Nancy!’ said Ellie with a grin. She recognised several of the younger girls who had been in Beginner’s squad last term, and she introduced them to Katya as the people she would be training with. Katya greeted every single one of them with a giant bear hug.

‘She doesn’t seem to have any problem making friends, does she?’ Nancy observed as she and Ellie pulled off their tracksuits and tugged their hair into ponytails, ready for training.

Katya was already giggling and swapping scrunchies with a girl who had a doll-like face and curly brown hair that fell in ringlets nearly as far as her bottom.

‘Who’s that?’ asked Ellie.

‘I haven’t seen her before,’ said Nancy. ‘I guess she must be new too.’

They didn’t have to wait long to find out the identity of Katya’s new friend. As the other members of Development headed off for warm-up, Katya tugged the little girl over to Ellie and Nancy.

‘Nancy, Ellie – this my new friend Lexi Davies!’ she squeaked.

‘Hello,’ said Lexi, blushing a deep crimson and lowering her eyes.

‘Lexi is new to Academy – like me,’ Katya declared.

‘We didn’t think we’d seen you before,’ said Ellie. ‘Where have you come from?’

‘I was training in Liverpool,’ Lexi explained shyly. ‘But my father got a new job, so we had to move.’

‘Oh, Liverpool is a great gym,’ said Ellie.

‘Even if they are our biggest rivals,’ added Nancy with a grin. ‘Were you training with Eva Reddle?’

‘Oh yes!’ Lexi’s eyes lit up. ‘She’s absolutely lovely – and she’s the Junior British Champion, you know.’

‘She is for now,’ said Scarlett, who had just appeared in the changing room, sporting a new leotard and matching training shorts with her name emblazoned in diamantés across her bottom. ‘Until I knock her off the top spot, that is!’

‘Oh, so you reckon you’re going to win gold at British Champs now?’ asked Nancy, rolling her eyes.

‘Just watch me!’ said Scarlett coolly, picking up her guard bag which she’d forgotten. ‘Oh no, you won’t be able to – because you haven’t even qualified yet!’

‘Well I only started at the Academy in January,’ Ellie told Lexi, changing the subject quickly. ‘But everyone was really nice . . .’

‘Nearly everyone!’ said Nancy, rolling her eyes in Scarlett’s direction.

‘And your coach, Sasha, she’s super lovely!’ said Ellie, who kind of wished she was still training with her old coach who’d helped her so much.

‘Unless you get on the wrong side of her,’ added Scarlett, pulling a diamanté-studded scrunchie over her perfect bun. ‘If you do that she’s super strict, the scariest coach in the whole gym.’

‘I am not scared of Sasha Darling,’ said Katya with a little shrug. ‘I hear she was once in circus like me, so I think we will get on very well. Just like friends!’

‘Well, you’re not going to get on well if you’re late!’ said Nancy. ‘Come on!’

The girls all hurried into the gym. Ellie and Nancy waved goodbye to Katya and Lexi and went to join the other Pre-Elite girls, who were already lined up on the blue mat waiting for Oleg Petrescu.

The eccentric and brilliant coach had once been an international gymnast, training alongside many of the greats. He had a reputation for being fierce one minute and cuddly the next. ‘A bit like a bear,’ Nancy whispered as they waited for him to come over. ‘Only you don’t know if he’s going to be a teddy bear or a grizzly from one minute to the next.’

Oleg had a comical appearance. Like many gymnasts he was small, but since he had retired from competing he was nearly as round as he was tall. He had a large curling moustache like an old-fashioned strongman, and he liked to wear flamboyantly coloured tracksuits, usually in patterns that were about twenty years out of date.

Today he was looking incredibly fierce, despite sporting a pink and yellow tracksuit in a shiny material that made him look a bit like a small round spaceman. He did not even smile as he walked along the line of gymnasts, inspecting each of them as if he were a sergeant-major in front of a parade. Ellie felt nerves flutter in her stomach.

‘This year I am bringing a new regime to the Academy,’ Oleg announced in a loud booming voice that seemed too big for his little body. ‘In holidays I spend time in Romanian gymnastic school, where I train as boy. Things are very different over there.’

‘Uh-oh,’ whispered Nancy under her breath. ‘This sounds worrying.’

Oleg shot her a look. ‘In Romania, coach is like god,’ he said, his voice booming off the high roof of the gym. ‘The gymnasts, they obey without question.’

‘He thinks he’s a god now?’ whispered Kashvi.

‘In England there is not so good discipline,’ said Oleg glaring even more fiercely. ‘But in Oleg’s class, no more!’ he declared, waving his arms wildly to stress his point. Next to her, Ellie could feel Nancy trying hard not to giggle. ‘We will train Romanian-style. We will work like in army – bootcamp, drill, silence! And in this way I will make great gymnasts of you all.’

Bootcamp – army style – drills! This was worse than Oleg’s healthy eating obsession! Ellie glanced at Camille, Kashvi and Bella, all of whom were looking as alarmed as she felt. Of course, Scarlett wore her usual smug smile, as if she had nothing to fear from Oleg’s terrifying new training regime.

‘Well, I might as well give up now,’ muttered Nancy.

‘Does anyone want to quit?’ asked Oleg, fixing his stare on Nancy, his eyes bulging. ‘Because if you cannot take the heat, is time to get out of Oleg’s kitchen.’

‘Um . . .’ Nancy started to say, but Ellie jabbed her hard in the ribs.

‘You!’ said Oleg, transferring his gaze to Ellie and eyeballing her suspiciously. ‘You are Elizabeth Trengilly, right?’

‘Um – yes,’ said Ellie, colouring as Nancy let out a snigger next to her. No one ever called her Elizabeth, and very few people even knew she’d been named after her Aunt Lizzie.

‘So you and this giggling girl here,’ Oleg glared fiercely at Nancy, who instantly stopped sniggering, ‘you must do Challenge Cup if you are to qualify for British Champs.’

‘Yes,’ said Ellie. Nancy nodded seriously.

‘I ask myself if you are even ready for Pre-Elite, but Emma say you will prove yourselves. I hope this is right.’

Ellie’s stomach did a flip. ‘We’ll try,’ she said.

‘Try is not good enough for Oleg!’ he barked. ‘You must succeed – or is back to Miss Darling and her babies for you both, understood?’

Ellie nodded. She glanced over to where Sasha Darling was talking to the scared-looking bunch of new Development kids. She might miss her old coach, but there was no way she wanted to be demoted, and she silently vowed to work so hard that Oleg would never even think of it again.

‘Good, then let us begin!’

CHAPTER

Five

The Pre-Elite girls quickly got an idea of exactly what Sergeant Oleg’s training regime involved. First he put them through the most gruelling warm-up they’d ever done in their lives. ‘No amount of medals could ever be worth this pain!’ Nancy observed as Oleg made them hold the plank position for a whole five minutes before making them do two hundred sit-ups in a row.

Then he presented each of them with a training schedule, broken up into ten minute segments of intense repetitions to be completed at top speed. At the end of each segment, Oleg blew a whistle.

‘He thinks he ees ze football ref now!’ whispered Camille as the girls passed between rotations.

‘SILENCE!’ Oleg’s voice boomed out, echoing off the high ceiling of the gym. ‘No slacking, no chatting, no daydreaming – just work, work, work until you drop.’

But in fact the silence rule wasn’t necessary, because if they were going to complete each of the ten-minute rotations they barely had to breathe, let along gossip.

It was pretty intense. In the floor segment, Ellie had to complete three back to back versions of her floor routine, followed by a series of tumbles onto a pile of mats. Then on to the bar, where she had to do sets of top turns, upstart handstands and giants. And the same again on the beam and vault, plus conditioning circuits in between.

As they went along, Oleg stood watching, frowning and occasionally calling out things like, ‘Pull your arm back quicker on the dismount,’ or, ‘You’re not finishing into corners’. It was completely unlike the way they’d trained under Sasha, but to her surprise Ellie found that she really took to it. The new intensity was exhilarating, and she liked the way they were each responsible for their own training programme. They could choose to slack and not complete their repetitions in the set time – or they could rise to the challenge. Ellie had always been self-disciplined, so Oleg’s style suited her perfectly. And there was no time to think of anything but gymnastics, which was kind of wonderful!

On the beam Ellie even managed to perfect flipping over in her tricky front salto followed by a sheep jump. They were both moves she’d done before but the really difficult bit was connecting the two together. Each time she had tried it in the past she had lost forwards momentum and started to wobble.

But then Ellie recalled Katya on the washing line – the way she’d seemed to glide rather than walk, how she’d barely seemed to need the rope to support her at all. Ellie decided to pretend she was on the high wire with just a flimsy piece of string beneath her feet, the only thing keeping her upright the sharp stillness of her body. She tried the move again, flipping up, back and around, and then as she came into the connection she pulled herself sharply upwards, defying the downwards pull of gravity. She imagined that she wasn’t aiming to land on a strip of wood ten centimetres wide, but a tiny sliver of rope.

And it worked. She moved effortlessly from move to move and landed without a wobble. As she came back down to earth she heard a voice from behind her say, ‘Better.’

Ellie nearly fell off when she realised Oleg was talking to her. She’d been so engrossed in practising that she hadn’t even noticed the coach come over to watch her.

‘Thank you,’ she managed to stammer. ‘I think maybe I could try a layout with the sheep jump too.’

But Oleg shook his head. ‘Now is not time for learning new moves,’ he said firmly. ‘You want to qualify at the Challenge Cup, you cannot afford to make mistakes. You play it safe. Stick with what you know.’

‘But if I could put in some new skills, raise my difficulty levels . . .’

‘Forget about difficulty,’ said Oleg. ‘When you prepare for competition, you must think only execution! Execution! Execution!’

Then he moved away. Ellie’s heart sank, particularly when she saw Camille working on a new vault and Bella practising a new skill on the bar, but she knew Oleg was right. For now, she just needed to focus on qualifying. Ellie gritted her teeth and pulled herself back up on to the beam.

Not everyone was so sure about Oleg’s new approach, though. In the changing room after the first session, Nancy declared, ‘I’m a gymnast – get me out of here!’

‘It wasn’t that bad,’ said Bella, who was pulling on her school uniform.

‘It’s the silence that gets me,’ said Kashvi, tying her school tie in a messy knot.

‘Oui! I ’ave never seen Nancy keep quiet for so long in all ’er life,’ remarked Camille, and the others all giggled.

‘Well, I rather enjoyed a rest from the incessant chatter,’ said Scarlett who was brushing out her golden hair in long even strokes. ‘And I found Oleg’s style of training refreshing. But perhaps it requires a dedication and focus that some of you don’t have.’

She looked pointedly at Nancy as she said this. Nancy was about to say something cutting in response, but at that moment Katya appeared along with the rest of Development squad. She was looking very glum.

‘What’s the matter?’ Ellie asked.

‘I do not like that Sasha Darling!’ declared Katya. ‘She make me do cartwheels and round-offs all morning.’

‘Just cartwheels and round-offs?’ asked Ellie, confused. It didn’t sound like the inspirational coach she remembered from Development squad.

‘And walking,’ said Katya, her big violet eyes flashing crossly.

‘Walking?’ said Nancy.

‘She said Katya doesn’t walk right,’ explained Lexi. ‘Because she’s so bendy from the circus.’

Katya wiggled like a worm as if to demonstrate. ‘She tell me I learn bad habits and I have to unlearn them.’

‘Oh, she did that to me last year,’ said Nancy with a shrug. ‘Don’t stress about it!’

‘She’s right. Sometimes Sasha makes you go right back to basics to unpick bad habits you’ve got into,’ Ellie explained.

Katya sighed theatrically and slumped down on to the bench.

‘Did something else happen?’ asked Nancy.

Katya shrugged. ‘Well, at the end of session I get a little bit bored,’ she said.

‘Yes?’ asked Nancy curiously. ‘And . . .?’

‘And I am deciding to show the girls my Chinese pole routine on the ropes.’

‘What?’ gasped Kashvi.

‘Without Sasha’s permission?’ said Bella.

‘And she caught you?’ asked Nancy, who knew better than anyone what Sasha could be like when she got mad.

Katya nodded, half apologetically, half gleefully. ‘In middle of the chopper.’

‘Um – what’s the chopper?’ asked Ellie curiously.

‘She climbed up the rope like a monkey,’ explained Lexi, eyes bright with admiration. ‘Then when she was at the very top she sort of turned upside down, in the splits and spun around. It was incredible! Even the way she climbed the rope – like she was walking up it horizontally.’

‘I learn to do that when I was three year old,’ said Katya, without a hint of bragging in her voice.

‘I wish we’d seen it!’ said Nancy. ‘It must have been while Oleg was making us do that horrible warm-down in the studio.’

‘So zen what happened?’ asked Camille.

‘Did she fall?’ asked Bella her face creased in concern.

‘No, but – um – then Sasha turned around,’ said Lexi.

‘Uh-oh – you unleashed the pink fury!’ said Nancy.

‘She shout at me to come down right away,’ said Katya, pulling on her school skirt back to front. ‘Then she talk very, very fast about not being in circus now . . . ‘

‘Then she made her do more walking,’ said Lexi sympathetically.

‘Walking and walking,’ said Katya, dolefully buttoning up her school blouse. ‘It’s not very much fun!’

‘So you haven’t exactly had the best first session!’ said Ellie, smiling sympathetically.

‘Well, it will get a lot worse if you’re late for school too,’ said Nancy, glancing at her watch. ‘Which we are all going to be if we don’t get a wiggle on.’

Katya grinned. ‘Ooh, I am good at that!’ she said, and she wiggled enthusiastically.

CHAPTER

Six

When Ellie Skyped home that night, she already had so much news to fill her sister in on.

‘Are you learning loads of cool new stuff ?’ asked Lucy, who wanted to know every single thing about her first day back.