Back on the Beam

by Jake Maddox

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: Homework

  Chapter 2: Tryouts

  Chapter 3: First Warning

  Chapter 4: Doomed

  Chapter 5: Second Warning

  Chapter 6: Practice

  Chapter 7: Nerves

  Chapter 8: Bad Attitude

  Chapter 9: The Meet

  About the Author

  About the Illustrator

  Glossary

  Female Gymnastic Events

  Gymnastics Words You Should Know

  Discussion Questions

  Writing Prompts

  Other Books By Jake Maddox

  Internet Sites

  Copyright

  Back Cover

  CHAPTER 1

  Homework

  “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

  Tryouts

  “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

  First Warning

  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!”

  “That’s enough, ladies,” Coach Levine said. She stepped between Hannah and Blaire to separate them. “Everyone get to class,” Coach Levine said.

  “Yes, Coach Levine,” everyone replied. The girls started to break off and head toward class.

  “Nadia,” the coach added. “Wait a second, okay?”

  Hannah and Alya looked at Nadia. She waved them off. “I’ll catch up,” she said quietly.

  As her friends walked off, Nadia turned to Coach Levine. “What’s up, Coach?” she said.

  “Nadia,” the coach replied, “I wanted to talk to you about your performance at the tryouts.”

  “I’m a little out of shape,” Nadia replied. “I just got the cast off last week, so I haven’t had any time to practice.”

  The coach nodded. “I know,” she said. “I’m giving you another chance because you were injured, but you’ll need to work extra hard now.”

  “I know,” Nadia said, nodding.

  “I mean it,” the coach added. She put a hand on Nadia’s shoulder and said. “If you don’t show some quick improvement, I’m going to have to give your space on the beam team to someone else.”

  “What?” Nadia said, shocked.

  “I’m sorry, Nadia,” Coach Levine said. She started to head back into her office and added, “There are a lot of girls who’d like your space. We have to be fair, you know.”

  The office door closed with a thud. Nadia stood there, staring at it.

  “I can’t believe this,” she muttered to herself. “I’m going to get kicked off the gymnastics team!”

  Just then, the bell rang.

  “Great,” she said. “Now I’m late to class.”

  Nadia turned and ran down the hall toward her first class.

  CHAPTER 4

  Doomed

  It was hamburger day in the cafeteria. That meant dry, flat burgers with plastic cheese, and oily potato puffs. Nadia loved potato puffs. The lunch lady always gave her a few extra puffs.

  Nadia grabbed a cold chocolate milk and paid for her lunch. Then she left the lunch line and looked for her friends. She spotted them sitting at a small round table in the corner by the windows.

  Nadia plopped her tray down beside Hannah and Alya. “Hi, guys,” she said.

  “Hey, Nadia,” Alya replied. “How’s it going?”

  Nadia was barely listening. She looked like her mind was miles away as she poked at her potato puffs. “This stinks,” she said.

  “Oh come on, Nadia,” Alya replied. “You love potato puffs!”

  “Yum,” Hannah said, picking a puff off Nadia’s tray. “Who doesn’t love these things?” She pretended to eat the puff, then suddenly laughed and tossed it at Alya.

  Alya shrieked and moved to one side. “Quit it!” she cried, laughing.

  “The food isn’t the problem, silly,” Nadia said, rolling her eyes. “I’m going to get cut from the team!”

  “You are not,” Hannah said. “Don’t worry about what the coach said. You’ll be fine in no time.”

  “Yeah,” Alya agreed. “It’s not like you have to win a gold medal in the Olympics. You just have to be in the top five on the beam. That’ll be easy for you.”

  “Exactly,” Hannah said. “You’re a natural.”

  Nadia shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “My ankle was kind of sore at tryouts. I think that’s why I fell!”

  Alya took one last bite of her burger. “I’m done,” she announced. “Want to go outside for the rest of lunch? It’s nice out.”

  Nadia sighed. “Sure,” she said.

  “Cheer up!” Hannah said. “The fresh air will do you good!”

  The girls got up and carried their trays over to the dirty tray station. Suddenly, something bumped Nadia. Her tray dropped to the tile floor with a loud crash. Ketchup and dirty paper plates flew everywhere. A splatter of chocolate milk landed on her sneakers.

  The whole cafeteria turned to look. Nadia felt her face getting hot.

  “Oops,” someone said behind Nadia. It was Blaire Birch. “Seems like I lightly bumped into you.”

  “That was mean, Blaire,” Alya said. She stepped up to Blaire and stared her down.

  “Whatever. It was an accident,” Blaire replied, turning away from Alya. “It’s not my fault your friend Nadia has zero balance.”

  Blaire quickly spun toward Nadia. “You better work on your balance, Nadia,” she said. She jabbed her finger toward Nadia’s face and added, “It’s called a balance beam, you know. Not a falling beam.” With that, Blaire walked off, tossing her hair.

  “Want me to knock her into the trash cans?” Alya said, glaring after Blaire.

  “No,” Nadia replied sadly. Her shoulders sagged. “I think she’s right. My balance is awful, and I’m doomed.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Second Warning

  The gymnastics team’s first official practice was that day after school. The rest of the day dragged on and on for Nadia. She was excited to start practicing, but nervous, too. When the bell rang, Nadia met Alya and Hannah in the locker room.

  “Ugh, I hate the new team leotards,” Alya said, standing in front of the mirror in her leotard. “Why can’t we just wear last year’s?”

  Hannah shrugged. “The whole student body voted to change the school colors to orange and green, remember?” she said. “I don’t know about you, but I kind of like them.”

  “What do you think, Nadia?” Alya asked. “Do you like the new colors?”

  Nadia got up and went to the mirror. “Who cares?” she said. “I can’t think about leotard colors right now. I’m too nervous.”

  “Well, I hate them,” Alya said. “Though I must say, I do look good in every color.”

  Hannah rolled her eyes. “Don’t be nervous,” she said, turning to Nadia. “I’m sure the wobble in tryouts won’t happen again.”

  “Wobble?” Nadia replied. “You mean fall!”

  “Fall, wobble,” Hannah said. “Same thing. Just don’t worry about it!”

  “Yeah,” Alya agreed. “If you’re going to worry, worry about how silly we look in orange and green!”

  A sharp whistle came from the gym. The girls looked at each other.

  “We better get out there,” Hannah said. “Sounds like practice is ready to start.”

  The three friends walked out of the locker room and into the gym. After stretching and warm-ups, Nadia joined the other four beam girls.r />
  “Hello,” Blaire said to the group. “I’m the captain of the beam team this year. My name is Blaire Birch.”

  The beam team girls looked at each other. Nadia frowned.

  “Since when does the beam team have its own captain?” asked June. Nadia knew her from last year’s team.

  “Since I said so,” Blaire replied. “Now, first on the beam today will be Nadia. Everyone else practice your routines on the mat or the low beam. I’m going to watch Nadia and tell her everything she’s doing wrong.”

  Nadia sighed deeply and walked up to the beam. As she mounted, her ankle started to hurt a little. She tried to ignore it.

  Right away, though, she was doing even worse than she had at tryouts. She could feel Blaire watching her. Her ankle started to burn as she started a cartwheel.

  “Whoops! Watch that wobble, Nadia!” Blaire called out, laughing.

  Nadia felt like she was on the beam for an eternity. Every wobble and every misstep made her wish she was off the beam, at home, in bed, hidden under the covers, far away from Blaire Birch.

  Finally the routine was over. She dismounted as quickly as she could. It was sloppy, and she took two steps backward and fell. She landed right on her butt.

  Hannah saw the fall from where she was stretching near the bars. “It wasn’t that bad, Nadia!” she called over. “Don’t worry!”

  Blaire stood over Nadia. “Don’t listen to Hannah,” Blaire said. “She’s wrong. It was that bad.”

  “Leave me alone, Blaire,” Nadia said.

  “Why should I?” Blaire replied.

  She stood over Nadia and leaned down, pointing in her face. “You’re terrible, and my little sister didn’t make the team,” Blaire said. “She’s way better than you. I hope Coach Levine kicks you off of the team, so my little sister can take your place!”

  “Go away!” Nadia snapped.

  “All right, move it along, Blaire,” Coach Levine said, walking up. She blew her whistle. “Looking good, everyone. Keep it up!” she called out to the gym.