Back on the Beam

CHAPTER 1

“This is boring,” Nadia muttered to herself.

She sat on her bed, tapping her pencil on the notebook in her lap. Her math textbook lay open on the pillow next to her.

It was the first math homework of the school year, but she just couldn't do it. Her eyes were on the problems in the book, but her mind was miles away.

She glanced across the room. In the corner, in a cardboard box, was a plaster cast. It had been cut right down the middle. That's how the doctor had gotten it off Nadia's foot.

Signatures in purple, green, and pink ink covered the cast. Every member of Nadia's gymnastics team had signed it. Well, every member except Blaire Birch.

Nadia remembered when she got that cast. In fact, it seemed like it was all she could think about.

The last gymnastics meet the year before was the county finals. Nadia was on the Riverside Middle School team, the Ravens. Nadia was one of the best on the balance beam. Her team had been counting on her and Blaire Birch to help them win the finals.

Nadia stared at the first math problem, but the line through the fractions reminded her of the beam. It also reminded her of her second attempt in the event at the county finals.

Nadia thought back to that day. Blaire had already had two turns, and she scored an 8.9. It was a very good score, but not good enough to win the event for the Ravens.

That meant Nadia would have to do even better. She needed to score a 9.2. On her first attempt, she'd scored an 8.8.

Nadia chewed her pencil eraser as she thought about that day. She remembered starting her routine. In the beginning, it had been perfect. She had practiced it about a million times, after all.

But toward the end, she had made a little mistake. She wobbled a tiny bit on the beam.

Nobody's perfect
, she'd told herself. But her heart started pounding, and she was worried she wouldn't be good enough to win the event for her team.

Her nerves had bothered her all day. By the time she dismounted, she was so nervous that she blew the landing. Her ankle twisted, and she landed in a lump on the mat. Suddenly she was in pain.

Nadia had screamed. Her best friends, Hannah and Alya, had run over to her from the sidelines.

Soon her mother was at her side too. Then Nadia was limping to the car and being driven to the hospital.

Before Nadia's mom drove away, though, Blaire Birch had walked up to the car. “You made us lose, Nadia!” Blaire had shouted at her. “Nice going!”

For the rest of the summer, Nadia had been in that stupid cast. She was stuck at home while her friends took gymnastics classes. Alya had even gone off for two weeks to gymnastics camp. Nadia was jealous all summer.

Now that the cast was finally off, she thought she'd be glad. But instead, with gymnastics tryouts only one day away, she was nervous, not glad.

She hadn't been on the beam all summer. She had no idea how she'd be able to compete with all those girls at tryouts the next day.

“There's no way I'll make the team,” Nadia said to herself. She picked up her pencil and started on the first math problem. “I might as well do my math homework,” she added.

CHAPTER 2

“You ready, Nadia?” Alya said as Nadia walked into the gym the next day after school.

Hannah added, “How's your ankle?”

Nadia shrugged. “It's a little sore, I guess,” she said. “I'm just so out of shape.”

Alya punched her lightly on the arm. “Come on,” she joked. “It's like riding a bike. It comes right back in no time.”

Hannah laughed. “Yeah,” she added. “It's like falling off a log. Easy!”

Just then, Blaire walked by. “Falling off a log, Hannah?” she asked. “If it's anything like falling off a balance beam, then I'm sure that Nadia will be great at it!”

Blaire walked away, laughing. Nadia felt tears spring into her eyes.

“Don't let her get to you, Nadia,” Alya said. “She's just feeling bad for herself because she couldn't win the finals for us either.”

“Exactly,” Hannah agreed. “You've always been better on the beam, Nadia. She's your biggest competition at tryouts, and you'll beat her, for sure!”

“If you say so,” Nadia said. She was still nervous about how out of shape she was.

All the girls from last year's team said hello and talked about their summers for a few minutes. Then Coach Levine walked in and blew her whistle.

“All right, ladies,” the coach said. “Let's get started. Remember, keep it simple today. Save the dangerous stuff for the big time, okay?”

“Okay, Coach Levine,” the girls replied. A lot of them had been on the team before, Nadia noticed. There were a few girls she'd never seen before, though.

The girls all lined up. Coach Levine looked them over. “You all know how this works,” Coach Levine said. “The best five girls in each event will be on the team. If one girl is in the top five in more than one event, she will compete in both events. Got it?”

“Yes, Coach Levine,” the girls replied.

The coach blew her whistle. Then the tryouts began.

Nadia went straight to the balance beam. “I better get through my beam routine before my ankle starts hurting,” she said to Hannah.

“You're up, Nadia,” Coach Levine said. “I'm glad to see your cast is off.”

Nadia mounted into a split and started one of the routines she had practiced last year. It wasn't a very hard routine, but one aerial tripped her up a little. Nadia wobbled as she landed and had to step off the beam so that she wouldn't fall. She heard Blaire laughing at her.

“That's okay, Nadia,” Alya called out. “Finish it!”

Nadia sighed and jumped back onto the beam. She finished the routine pretty well, and only took one extra step on the dismount.

Hannah smiled when Nadia was done. “You did great, Nadia,” Hannah said.

Nadia shook her head. “I practically fell off,” she said. “Blaire was totally right. I'll never make the team this year.”

CHAPTER 3

The next morning, Nadia overslept. It was only a few minutes, but she had to run the whole way to school. She wanted to get there early.

Coach Levine would be posting the names of the girls who made the team. Hannah and Alya had promised to wait for Nadia in front of the school.

“I picked the worst day to oversleep,” Nadia muttered to herself as she ran.

Finally, she went around the corner at Riverside Avenue and the school was in sight. Hannah and Alya waved as Nadia ran up to the school's front door.

“Finally!” Alya said.

“I can't believe you're late today. It's team-posting day!” Hannah cried, throwing her arms up. “Come on, let's get to Coach Levine's office.”

Nadia nodded. “Let's go,” she said. The three of them jogged past all the other students, who were looking through lockers and gathering books.

“First hour starts in like two minutes,” Hannah called out. “Hurry!”

By the time they reached Coach Levine's office, most of the other girls were already crowded around the list.

Hannah was the tallest of the three friends, so she peered over the heads of the other girls looking at the list.

“Yes!” Hannah cried out. “I'm on vault and bars!”

“Nice!” Alya said. “What about us?”

“Alya,” Hannah said, “you're on floor.”

“Great!” Alya shouted. She pumped her fist.

“And Nadia,” Hannah went on, “you made beam!”

“What?” a voice suddenly yelled. “Nadia fell and made the team anyway?” Nadia turned to see who had spoken. It was Blaire, of course.

“Oh, be quiet, Blaire,” Alya said. She turned and faced Blaire.

“No!” Blaire replied. “I don't want a girl who can't even finish her routines on my beam team!”

“Your team?” Alya shouted back. She got right in Blaire's face.

Coach Levine came out of her office. “What's going on here?” she shouted. Her face was red.

“Coach Levine,” Blaire said at once, stepping up to the coach, “how could you put Nadia on the beam team? Her performance at tryouts was horrible!”

Nadia shrunk back. She wished she could just disappear into the walls.

“It was not horrible,” Hannah said. “She just made one teeny tiny mistake.”

“Ha!” Blaire replied. “She fell off the beam!”