I rub chalk on my sweaty palms. "Today's order is, Bars, beam, floor, vault." James says. I nod confidently. For my warmup, I use the springboard to kip up to the high bar and turn half way on my cast handstand. I do my overshoot and weakly grab the bars, forcing myself into a slow kip to cast handstand. My arms burn as I slide off the bars. After everyone warms up, we sit in silence and watch Savannah's routine. She does a clean routine and lands with no steps. Next, it's my turn. I salute the judges and kip up to a straddled cast.
I do my sole circle and stand on the top of the low bar. The next section is easy, jump to high bar, kip to cast handstand, two clear hip circles into a giant and half handstand pirouette. I prep for my overshoot jump to the low bar. As I'm rotating, my feet slam into the high bar and I have to bring my legs up to avoid hitting the mat below. I do a slow and strained kip to cast handstand and sole circle. I make it to the high bar and do two giants before my layout flyaway dismount. I land cleanly and walk towards James. Angry tears bud in my eyes, it wasn't fair I was so tall! "My legs hit the bar." I say. "It's ok red, shake it off." James says, patting my shoulder. I sit down miserably and I see my score pop up on the board. 8.25. My stomach curdles. I needed to get nines on every event. Invitationals, maybe not so much. A 30.00 AA is easy. But at State, I couldn't afford a score like 8.25. We rotate to beam and I'm last. I warm up on beam with a front tuck and an aerial. I land the skills with nothing but a few wobbles and my smile returns. Marissa lands her back handspring back tuck with no wobbles and scores a stunning 8.95. I swallow jealously and wait for my turn. I salute the judges after Alexis goes and mount the beam. I do my full turn into leaps and land nicely. I do an aerial back handspring and wobble a bit, squat down a bit to keep balance. Straight toes, I think as a do my back extension roll.
My front handspring front tuck is mostly clean and finally I'm at my dismount. I flash my arms a bit and do a half turn. Back handspring back layout ½ twist and I'm done. I took a step on the landing and it wasn't as nice as I would've liked, but I'm overall satisfied. Savannah is looking at her phone and her eyes are misty. I start to walk over but Trista sits next to her and says something. Floor is next and I'm up fifth. I warm up some dance moves and tumbling during my 30 second time slot. What..?" Savannah asks Trista as she smiles wickedly. "Nothing. @BFFS4EVA was just banned for cyberbullying and tormenting a future Olympic gymnast for being human. Everyone makes mistakes. Lily's biggest one was being an immature insecure bully." Savannah gasps "Go off girl." I say. "I bow to the queen of rant, Trista." Carmen says.
We all laugh. Once I'm up, I smile at the judges and start my wolf turn as the music starts. I do a front tuck roundoff back handspring back layout ½ twist and land with a rebound, almost sending me out of the white line. I do leaps into the center of the mat and throw an aerial. And a straddle jump. I dance to the corner of the mat and do a roundoff back handspring back pike. I land with minimum rebound and give an award winning grin to the judges. I move my body to the music and cartwheel halfways, then fall into a middle split. Once the music ends, I stand up and salute the judges. "Way to come back Red!" James says. I smile. 8.75, I think. A decent score. I know I can do better next time. James leads us to vault and we all warm up with a simple handspring vault. "Paige, you're up after Trista, ok?" James tells me. "Yep." I reply. Carmen does a beautiful vault as always and Savannah scores a sweet 8.85. Trista stumbles a bit and just like that, I'm up. I run towards the springboard and do a strong roundoff. My feet slam into the springboard and I tuck my head into my chest.
I land with a step and salute the judges. James nods for me to do my second vault and I run towards the springboard again. I flip cleanly and land with no straps. My score is an 8.5 and turn to Marissa for my AA. She's grinning to herself, probably calculating her score. Minutes later I receive my card.
Paige's Score Card
Bars: 8.25
Beam: 8.50
Floor: 8.75
Vault: 8.50
AA: 34.00
I smile down at my card. Maybe not as good as I would've liked, but I scored out! State was going to be my time to shine.
YOU ARE READING
Perfect Balance Gymnastics
ספרות חובביםSavannah... New boy at school, her ex friend Megan and popular girl Lily think that he likes Lily, but drama and a school dance will conspire against that Marissa... Marissa has always been the consistent gymnast, besides her kip struggles she's al...
