whole summer practicing gymnastics on that beach of yours?’
‘Yes, but we did loads of other things too,’ said Ellie. ‘Surfing and kayaking. Nancy even wanted to go cliff-jumping, but we figured Emma would kill us if we brought her back with a broken arm!’
‘Glad to hear you had some fun,’ said Sian, grinning at Ellie like a protective older sister. ‘And came back in one piece!’
Scarlett was still scowling.
‘Scarlett, don’t you know if the wind changes your face will get stuck in that sour expression forever?’ asked Nancy.
Just at that moment, Katya Popolova descended from the washing line in a double somersault, landing on the grass just centimetres from where the girls were standing. She finished with a funny little flourish, two bright violet eyes sparkling at everyone and a smile spreading from ear to ear.
She looked even tinier on the grass – especially next to Nancy. If they hadn’t been told she was twelve years old, Ellie would have taken her for not much more than eight or nine.
‘I am Katya Popolova,’ the small girl piped up. ‘What are your names?’
‘I am Nancy Moffat,’ said Nancy, grinning and extending a polite hand to the smaller girl. ‘This is Ellie Trengilly.’
Katya’s face lit up. ‘Oh, I am so pleased to meet you!’ she said, launching herself at Nancy, wrapping her arms around her waist and hugging her tightly, before turning and doing the same to Ellie, much to both girls’ surprise. ‘Your mother say we will share a room,’ said Katya, smiling from Ellie to Nancy happily.
‘Well, that’s cool,’ Nancy grinned. ‘It’ll be a bit of a squish but the more the merrier – right, Ellie?’
‘Totally,’ said Ellie who had taken an instant liking to the tiny tightrope-walking circus girl.
‘And this – he must be Tam – your brother?’ said Katya, grabbing Tam and giving him a kiss on both cheeks that made him go bright red. ‘You have the same eyes.’
‘Um – yes!’ Tam blurted, stepping back nervously as Robbie practically collapsed with laughter.
‘What you were doing on the washing line was amazing!’ said Ellie. The beam had always been Ellie’s toughest piece of apparatus, so to see how Katya managed to perform so effortlessly on an even narrower surface was amazing. Ellie wondered what her secret was. ‘How do you do it?’
‘Oh, I learnt to walk on high wire when I was small,’ said Katya. Her face lit up like a sparkler again. ‘You want me to show you now? Is easy!’
Ellie hesitated. It was incredibly tempting, but she was pretty sure Emma Bannerdown would go mad if she saw any of her gymnasts risking their bodies like that. A gymnast’s career could be destroyed by injury. Ellie was aware of this better than anyone: her own Aunt Lizzie’s Olympic gymnastics dream had ended that way.
So, no matter how tempting it was, Ellie figured she should play it safe. Luckily she didn’t have to disappoint Katya, because just then Mandy called all the gymnasts in for supper.
‘Oh good! My tummy is bumbling!’ said Katya.
‘Do you mean rumbling?’ asked Nancy.
‘Exactly,’ said Katya, linking arms with Nancy and Ellie and dragging them into the house. ‘Let’s eat!’
‘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!