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.
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