Читать книгу Somersaults and Dreams: Rising Star - Cate Shearwater - Страница 7

CHAPTER

Two

It was great to be back at Head-Over-Heels House, the large, tumbledown building that was home to all of the out-of-towners, the Academy students who boarded during term time. Ellie and the twins were dying to see all their old friends, but when they walked through the front door they found the house practically deserted.

‘What’s going on, Mum?’ asked Nancy, giving her mother Mandy Moffat a massive hug before flinging her luggage down in the hallway. ‘Where is everyone?’

Mandy wasn’t just the twins’ mum; she was also Head-Over-Heels housemother, which meant she looked after all the gymnasts who boarded there. She made sure they were fed and clothed, and she also helped them through all the ups and downs of gymnastic life. Ellie wasn’t sure what they’d do without her.

‘You’d better go out to the garden and take a look at what’s going on!’ said Mandy with a smile. ‘I must admit, I’ve never seen anything like it.’

‘Sounds exciting!’ said Tam, giving his mum a quick peck on the cheek before dumping his stuff on top of Nancy’s and heading for the patio doors. ‘Cheers, Mum! Come on, girls. Let’s check it out.’

‘Oh, how I’ve missed clearing up after you two!’ laughed Mandy as the twins sped outside, leaving bags scattered everywhere. Ellie followed them.

They made their way out into the back garden to find lots of the other Academy students scattered over the grass on an assortment of rugs and deckchairs. There was copper-headed Robbie from the boys’ squad, and Kashvi, Camille and Bella from the girls’. Even Sian Edwards – the most Senior gymnast at the Academy who’d won a medal at the last Olympics – was there. And there was Scarlett, lying in a sun-lounger wearing a giant pair of shades and a scowl and glaring hard at something on the other side of the garden. They looked to see what had caught her attention. ‘What on earth . . . oh!’ said Nancy.

A washing line was strung across the garden. It ran from the low kitchen roof over to the red brick wall at the end of the garden, fixed carefully at each end. And walking along it – as if it were the most natural thing to do in the world – was a girl that Ellie had never seen before. A tiny pixie-like creature with white blonde flyaway hair and a face that twinkled like a cheeky little elf. And she was gliding like an ice skater along the thin strip of rope without the teeniest hint of a wobble.

‘Whoa!’ breathed Tam.

‘How is that even possible?’ said Ellie. ‘It’s just a flimsy bit of rope!’

‘She must be some kind of fairy,’ said Nancy. ‘With invisible wings or magic space dust or something!’

‘Amazing, isn’t it?’ said Bella, a tiny dark-haired girl with a wise face and two little buns which looked like monkey ears.

‘Yeah, an’ she’s been up there all morning,’ said Robbie. ‘Walking along the fence post too – and the ridge pole of the kitchen roof. She’s a nutter if you ask me!’

‘Seriously?’ said Tam, looking at the younger girl in admiration. ‘And Mum let her?’

‘She made her get off the roof,’ said Scarlett loudly from her sun-lounger. ‘And she did tell her not to walk the washing line either, but Katya seems determined to ignore instructions.’

‘Katya?’ said Ellie.

‘Katya Popolova,’ said Kashvi, an Indian girl as pretty as a princess who dressed like a tomboy and talked like a cockney street urchin. ‘She’s Russian.’

‘Ah – so she’s the girl Toni found?’ said Tam. ‘Well, I can see what he saw in her. She’s amazing.’

‘Talented but totally undisciplined,’ sniffed Scarlett.

Ellie glanced at Scarlett, who was looking as glamorous and groomed as always. She should have been beautiful with her creamy complexion, sheet of long blonde hair and startling green eyes, but there was something about the permanently dissatisfied expression that she wore, and the condescending spark in her eyes, that spoilt her otherwise perfect looks.

‘She’ll never make a gymnast,’ Scarlett went on. ‘She’s all showy moves with no polish.’

‘Then the Academy will give her polish,’ said Nancy.

‘Really? It never worked for you, Nancy Moffat,’ said Scarlett with a silky smile.

Robbie sniggered and Tam glared at him.

‘You need to polish up your people skills, Scarlett,’ said Tam. He might spend most of the time teasing Nancy, but there was no way he was letting anyone else do it.

‘I’m just saying that Katya Popup, or whatever her name is, won’t last five minutes at the Academy,’ said Scarlett with a shrug. ‘Gymnastics is about discipline, precision, focus – not about silly circus tricks and showing off.’

‘Camille – wow – I love your new hair,’ said Nancy, rolling her eyes and deliberately changing the subject. ‘Did you get it done in Paris?’

Camille Bertinet was sporting a very stylish new hairstyle – cut in a gamine bob that would have looked boyish on somebody else but which seemed chic and super cool on the young French gymnast.

‘Oui – no more buns for me!’ she said with a very elegant French shrug.

‘Lucky you!’ said Nancy. ‘Mum scrapes my hair back so tight for competitions, I feel like I’ve had a facelift.’

‘I swear you’ve grown again, Nancy!’ said Kashvi

‘Don’t remind me!’ said Nancy. ‘I’ve been drinking gallons of dandelion tea because I read somewhere that it stunts your growth, but it’s not working! I keep shooting up like a beanpole.’

Ellie grinned happily. She was thrilled to be reunited with her squad mates who she hadn’t seen all summer. Even Sian Edwards had greeted Ellie with a big hug. ‘You look brown as a nut,’ she laughed. ‘Did you spend the 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!’