Beaming Through It All

Chapter Two

My next competition was approaching, and as every time I had a competition coming, it was the one thing that kept my mind busy all the time. When I got up in the morning, I stretched in my room before going down for breakfast, to check on my flexibility. I then had a very quick breakfast, but very well thought too because I needed to swallow a lot of energy to be as efficient as possible at the club. At school, I didn't care about what the teachers said, and I repeated all my routines in my head to make sure I knew them perfectly. When at last the afternoon came, I was the first warming up and I concentrated hard on all my moves, gathering all the energy I had to get them right. And at night, before sleeping, I felt my stomach contracting because of the stress.

Obviously I had nothing to worry about. I had always placed well and nothing wrong had ever happened during a competition. Or ever.

April once had fallen off the bars at training, and in such a way she had broken her wrist. I remember her crying while Rachel was bending next to her, doing her best to comfort her, and Alison quickly calling 911. She had been unable to practice the whole month following that event.

Luckily for me, I had never had this kind of problem. And although Jill kept repeating me I was practicing a dangerous sport ('Don't you realize you could actually break your neck on that beam? I mean, god, you're so unconscious! I really don't get it, wait, no, I really don't!'), somehow I was convinced gymnastics could not betray me.

I mean, how could they? Gymnastics were my whole life; I would be totally lost without them. I spent most of my time at the club, and whenever I wasn't there I was thinking about it. It was like I was made for that sport.

'Jenny,' Rachel called. 'Pearl is done with the floor. Come do your routine again!'

I jumped off the beam and headed to the floor where I put myself into my starting position. It was the last training before the competition and I was getting very excited. And excitement usually helped me have more energy and be quicker, and better.

As soon as the music started, I moved with it on the floor and performed my tricks in rhythm. My first diagonal was perfect. I landed without trembling on the ground, which made me smile, but I remained concentrated. Second diagonal... Another perfect one. I heard people whisper but I tried not to think about them. I had one last diagonal and a few other tricks before it ended. When it did end, there was a big silence in the gymnasium. I turned my head towards Rachel, and saw everyone had gathered around her to see me perform.

Rachel was smiling.

'You got it!' she said enthusiastically. 'You're gonna rock tomorrow. Now go stretch and change, I want you perfectly in shape for the big day!' I smiled and walked passed her and the other girls watching. Seeing their impressed looks made me even more eager to be on the following day.

Which was perfect indeed. Or almost.

I started on the bars, where I had always been the best, and where I got the best mark in the individuals. Vault was not as perfect, but I did well too. And floor was amazing, according to the girls, and to the judges too. The last thing I had to do was the beam, on which I was going to perform a double backflip for the first time in competition. I was more than excited. And for me, it was a good thing.

When I heard my name in the loudspeakers, I got up and walked straight to the beam, already thinking about my moves.

There I was, facing the beam, waiting for the score of the previous competitor to be revealed. I rotated my wrists to keep them warm and thought about my routine and everything that was going on. I had just been awesome on three apparatus. I was always awesome on the beam, I had just a little more effort to do and I would probably be on the podium half an hour later. I could hear the spectators talking, being enthusiastic, but the noise was distant, unreal. I was too focused to care about it. For a second I thought about my mom, who wouldn't be here to congratulate me at the end of the competition, and of Jill, who had stopped coming at gymnastics a while ago, because it made her sleepy, and who was probably shopping right now, or hanging out with some of her many friends. And then, the score of the girl before me came out. 12,155. I could totally beat her. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, opened them, presented myself to the judges and ran to the springboard to enter the beam.