Somersaults and Dreams: Going for Gold. Cate Shearwater
spot.
‘Vivian was a huge talent. In any other era she’d have been the greatest gymnast in the world,’ said Sian. ‘But because of Lizzie she was always the runner-up.’
Ellie glanced over to where Vivian was sitting with Barbara Steele and the boys’ coaches. She wondered how that had felt – always finding herself in second place. Never quite good enough to win the gold. Was she still mad about it? Was that why she disliked Ellie?
‘After Lizzie retired, Vivian kept competing for a bit, but she was never as good,’ said Sian, ruefully. ‘It was almost like . . . like she lost her edge when she stopped chasing Lizzie.’
‘I don’t think she ever won a major gold medal after that, did she?’ said Tam.
Sian shook her head. ‘She’s quite a lot older than your aunt,’ she said. ‘Lizzie was only eighteen when she retired, but Vivian was at least twenty-five by then. Other younger gymnasts came along and Vivian dropped down the ranks.’
‘She retired a couple of years after Lizzie’s injury,’ Bella added.
‘Vivian doesn’t like me because of my aunt!’ Ellie said with despair. What could she do to change that?
‘At least it makes a change from you getting the star treatment all the time,’ said Scarlett who was walking past arm in arm with the sweet, fluffy-haired Welsh girl, Phoebe. ‘If you live by the sword you die by the sword, I say!’
‘Which means what, exactly?’ demanded Tam.
‘Just that Ellie gets all the perks of the Trengilly name,’ said Scarlett. ‘So it’s only fair she should cope with the downsides too!’
‘Scarlett, Ellie’s got this far on her own talent,’ said Sian firmly. ‘Nothing to do with Lizzie. We all know that.’
‘Do we?’ said Scarlett sulkily. She looked as if she wanted to say more, but even she didn’t dare when Sian was there.
‘Yes, we do,’ said Sian firmly. ‘And I’m also sure that Vivian is far too professional to punish Ellie for her family connection.’
Kashvi looked doubtful. ‘She is being super mean to Ellie though.’
‘I expect she just wants to push you,’ said Sian, although even she didn’t sound completely convinced. ‘She does it to everyone.’
‘Well, I’m just saying I wouldn’t want to be training a relative of my deadly enemy,’ said Scarlett.
‘Lucky that most human beings are lot nicer than you then, isn’t it!’ muttered Tam as Scarlett turned away with a flick of her blonde mane, dragging a rather reluctant Phoebe along with her.
‘There’s nothing I can do about it,’ said Ellie. ‘It’s not like I can stop being Lizzie’s niece, can I?’
‘Just keep working on your own programme,’ said Sian. ‘She’ll see how great you are.’
Ellie sighed. At least now she knew the reason why Vivian seemed to have it in for her. She just didn’t know how to fix it!
Ellie sat on the edge of the bath with an ice pack pressed against her ankle, her eyes squeezed shut. The pain in her ankle seemed to have got worse as the day went on and as she glanced down at it she saw it was red and swollen. She hadn’t told anyone it was bothering her. There was no point, she told herself. It would be better by tomorrow.
‘Ellie, come on!’ she heard Tam call. ‘Nancy and Lucy want to talk to you.’
‘Coming!’ said Ellie, hastily stuffing the ice pack in her wash bag and strapping up her foot to hide the bruising. She didn’t want the others to make a fuss.
‘Seriously, how long do you girls take in the bathroom?’ said Tam when she emerged a few minutes later. He was lounging in a chair in the neat little double room that Katya and Ellie were sharing for the week.
‘How did you even get in here?’ she asked, trying to change the subject. ‘I thought boys weren’t allowed in the girls’ dorms.’
‘Oh, I just told the coaches you were Skyping my sister and they said it was cool.’ Tam grinned. ‘And now I’ve discovered that you girls have a secret stash of cake I’ll be over every day to help you eat it!’ He waved a slice of home-made flapjack in the air.
‘Um, what happened to the food Mandy packed for you?’ asked Ellie. Mandy was the housemother who looked after the Academy gymnasts back in Head-Over-Heels House, their boarding house in London. She was also Tam and Nancy’s mum – and an amazing cook.
‘Oh, I got peckish on the journey up!’ said Tam, his mouth full of syrup and oats. ‘What took you so long in there anyway?’
‘I was just – doing a . . . face pack,’ Ellie lied, unconvincingly. Tam raised his eyebrow, but fortunately just then Katya yelped and pointed at the laptop propped up on her bed. Nancy and Lucy were waving at them on the screen from the bedroom they shared in Trengilly Cottage.
Since Nancy had given up gym for good less than a year ago, she lived in Cornwall with Ellie’s family and shared a bedroom with Ellie’s gym-mad little sister, Lucy. Nancy was crazy about anything to do with boats and now that she had swapped somersaults for rowing, she seemed happier than she’d ever been.
‘Vivian Ponting – you’re kidding. She was a real laugh as a competitor, wasn’t she?’ asked Nancy, when Tam had filled her in on the day’s events.
‘Not these days she isn’t,’ said Ellie, curling up on the bed next to Katya, tucking her strapped ankle out of sight. ‘The only jokes she cracks are about how bad everything I do is! Trust me, you’re missing nothing.’
‘Oh – I’m not missing gymnastics at all,’ said Nancy cheerfully. ‘I’m so totally over all that. It’s all about the pilot gig championships. That’s where it’s happening. Trust me!’
‘Pilot gig?’ asked Tam, pulling a face.
‘Bro, you never listen to anything I tell you!’ said Nancy. ‘Pilot gigs are six-man rowing boats. They were originally designed to ferry pilots out to sailing ships to help them navigate around the Cornish coastline.’
‘Sometimes they were used as lifeboats too,’ added Lucy, helpfully. Ellie’s little sister was like a smaller, red-haired version of Ellie herself. Ellie had missed her like mad when she first went to the Academy – she still did, although she was happier leaving Lucy now that Nancy was there, like a second big sister.
‘Yup, but now they just race for fun,’ Nancy went on. ‘There are loads of events coming up.’
‘I wonder if we’ll get to come and watch you,’ said Ellie. She hadn’t been back to Cornwall since Christmas and she was more homesick than she could admit.
‘Ooh, yes – this will be good!’ said Katya. She had struck up a firm friendship with Lucy last time they’d all been to stay, over Christmas. Her own family were far away in the Russian circus, so she’d been half-adopted by Ellie’s family too.
‘Ok, so after you guys win your golds at Euros you can chill by the seaside and watch me do the same,’ said Nancy.
‘Sounds perfect!’ said Ellie, with a sigh. ‘Only I’m not sure I’ll be making it to Euros if Vivian has any say in the matter.’