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.
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.
‘Not exactly,’ said Ellie, feeling a twinge of anxiety in her stomach again. ‘Oleg wants me to focus on perfecting my routines with the competition coming up.’
‘Ooh, Fran says the same,’ said Lucy. Fran was Ellie’s old coach from her Cornish gym, the place Lucy still trained. ‘She says if you rush into new moves before you’re ready you risk injuries.’
‘I know . . .’ said Ellie, without much enthusiasm. ‘So hey, how’s your gym coming on?’
‘I’ve got my Grade Four coming up,’ said Lucy, excitedly. ‘I’m determined to ace it, cos if I do then Fran says maybe I can try out for the Academy next year.’
‘Wow,’ said Ellie. ‘It would be so amazing if you were here too!’ She really missed her sister. There was no one at the Academy who understood what it was like to be Lizzie Trengilly’s niece at the Academy like Lucy!
‘Dad keeps saying he’ll need to win the lottery if he has two daughters at the Academy,’ giggled Lucy. Then she frowned. ‘But if I got a scholarship like you, we could make it work, couldn’t we?’
‘Of course we could,’ said Ellie, sounding more confident than she felt. The truth was that Mum and Dad could barely afford to keep Ellie at the Academy even with the scholarship. How would they cope with two daughters? But she pushed these thoughts to one side so they didn’t show on her face. ‘You just concentrate on gym and forget about all the rest.’
But Ellie couldn’t push her nagging anxiety out of her mind. She was still thinking about it when she and Nancy bumped into Emma Bannerdown as they were making their way into the changing rooms the next day.
‘Ah, Ellie, Nancy, nice to see you,’ Emma said. She looked both girls up and down with her cool, appraising grey eyes. ‘Did you have a nice summer break?’
‘The best!’ said Nancy. ‘We spent two whole weeks in Cornwall messing about in boats – it was epic!’
Ellie just nodded. She still felt shy in front of the Academy’s director and head coach. Emma had not only been an Olympic great but also a training partner of her Aunt Lizzie.
‘Well, this is a big term for both of you,’ Emma said. ‘Junior British Champs are only a couple of months after the Challenge Cup, so you two won’t have much time after you’ve qualified.’
‘If we qualify,’ muttered Nancy.