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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
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library
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For Elsie, Nancy, Kate and Lexi –
gorgeous gym girlies!
Contents
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
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