Perfect Balance Gymnastics

Chapter Eleven - Trista

I nervously tap my foot on the ground as Alexis does her routine. It's so not far James made me go last! Alexis walks back after saluting and plops down next to me. I realize it's my turn and I walk in front of the bars and salute. I do a kip into straddled handstand and a giant. I do a clear hip circle into a squat on. I jump to the next bar and do a kip to cast handstand. I complete a half turn in handstand position and add a giant into my overshoot. I fully rotate but miss grabbing the bars and fall down to the mats in front of the low bar. My stomach has no air in it and I hobble up. I do a weak kip to cast handstand into sole circle and jump to the high bar. My dismount is a layout flyaway and I land with two whooping steps. I walk back to James and rub my belly. I score a sad 7.2. "Let's move to beam ladies!" He says, beckoning us to follow. 

I slouch behind him. I warm up with some jumps and turns then try my back tuck. I land with some wobbles and perform a sturdy aerial. I dash back towards a chalk try and put some of the dry white material on my hands. Once I come back, I see Carmen fall on her back tuck. She finishes the routine with a worried look on her face and I step to salute the judges. I mount the beam and do a half turn. I do a back handspring back tuck and wobble, but keep firm. I do leaps on the opposite half of the beam and complete a clean full turn. I do another half turn into a double aerial combo and flail my arms. I do a straddle jump and wolf turn, then stand and do my dismount. I run into a front handspring front layout and land with a tiny step forwards. Once I'm done, I see Savannah nervously salute the judges and start her routine. 

She does a mount to back walkover, then a handstand and full turn. She wobble's a bit but doesn't fall off. Next she does a wolf turn, ending in a steady position. She does an aerial back handspring and almost tips off. She pivots and does a back handspring back tuck. Only one foot lands on the beam and she slides off, crashing to the mats below. She remount's the beam and does some leaps. She walks backwards on her tiptoes to the edge of the beam and does a roundoff back handspring layout ½ twist dismount. She takes a small step and salutes the judges. "You ok?" I ask her. She nods silently as her score of a 7.2 pops up. Savannah tapes up her ankle as the rest of my teammates compete on beam. We walk over to the floor and I'm bubbling over with excitement. We all do some warm up tumbles and dance moves and finally, after Alexis goes, it's my turn. Savage Love blasts through the speakers and I fall into a split, then roll over. I kick my feet then kick into a handstand. I dance to the corner of the mat and run into a front handspring front layout ½ twist. I land with a small rebound and spin into a sassy pose. The song screams "Savage love" and I run into an aerial roundoff back handspring back layout. I full body roll into a middle split and sashay to the edge of the mat. 

I do a layout round off back handspring back tuck and do an aerial into a split and smile. I stand up and salute, then walk back to James. I look down at Savannah's phone and see a nasty replay of her falling on beam. Some people might laugh, but to me it looked painful. "You know people can get reported for cyberbullying." I say slowly. "Lily's dad works with Apple, she'll find some way to get out of it."Savannah says sadly. "He works with apple, not the gram." I say comfortingly. She sighs. Carmen and Marissa do nice routines and Savannah has more energy than normal. I notice one girl giving Savannah the evil eye and glare right back at her. I grab Savannah's phone which is luckily still logged in and I tap on the post. I click the rude account and press the report button. I write a hate filled rant about respect and jealousy. I click submit and some weird speech about the app's moderators looking into it pops up. A few minutes later Savannah's phone buzzes. Another notification says that the post has been removed, and the account has been temporarily banned. I grin as Savannah walks up to me. 

"What..?" She asks. "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." I say smoothly. "Go off girl." Paige says. "I bow to the queen of rant, Trista." Carmen says. We all laugh, and rotate to vault. Carmen does a practically perfect vault and Savannah does a clean and confident one as always. I run towards the vault and do a roundoff. I point my toes and land with a few sloppy steps. I salute the judges and run head first at the vault. This time I spot the wall as a flip and land with less steps. "Nice comeback Tris" James says patting my back. A decent 8.25 pops up on the scoreboard.

Trista's Score Card

Bars: 7.20

Beam: 8.70

Floor: 9.00

Vault: 8.25

AA: 33.20

I frown at my low score and compare to Savannah. "At least you got higher then me." I groan to her. "Barely." She says pessimistically. On bars Savannah Takes fourth with a wide grin and Marissa takes second. On beam, I get a gleeful sixth and Marissa gets third. "Your on fire girl." I whisper to her as we step on our podiums. She grins back. On floor Marissa takes sixth, Paige takes fifth and Savannah steals fourth. 

As the announcer calls my name for third, I can't help but gasp. A podium spot, top three!!! Then on vault, Carmen gets first. Her parents were screaming so much we all laughed. Paige gets tenth AA and Marissa gets fifth. Perfect balance gymnastics tackles fifth place in all of the teams and were all going to states!!! Best meet ever!!!