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“Why don’t you warm up with the girls, and then you can show us what you can do. I saw on your transfer documents that floor is your favourite.”
“Yeah.”
“Teagan’s our champion floor gymnast. A little competition will be good for her.”
“Great,” I say, but it’s full of sarcasm that I’m sure she doesn’t miss.
I join the others and come to a stop beside a light-haired girl who’s stretching into splits.
“Hey,” she says, a welcoming smile on her lips. “I’m Calli.”
I can’t stop the smile that pulls at my lips, finding someone who’s not immediately seeing me as some kind of competition.
“Hi, I’m Stella.”
“I’m not sure whether I should tell you that you’re stupid or brave for this,” she confesses, clearly having heard the altercation in the locker room.
“I guess we’ll find out,” I laugh, switching positions.
It turns out I’m not the only one who’s here to try out for the team. A handful of other lower sixth students have turned up, all of whom Miss Peterson knows because they’ve been competing lower down the school. I am the only actual new person, which is why I’m the one called on to show off my skills.
Clearly Miss Peterson has done her homework as she sets the girls up on the different apparatus once two other teachers join us but keeps me, Teagan and her two shadows standing beside the sprung floor.
“Show us what you’ve got then, Stella,” she says, her eyes shining with excitement.
Challenge accepted.
Adjusting the waistband of my shorts, I step up to the corner of the floor, feeling the eyes of every person in the room on me.
Most just want to see what I’m capable of, but there are three at least who are currently praying that I fall on my face. And it’s those three sets of eyes I meet right before I take off on my series of tumbles across the mat.
I manage a solid landing just an inch inside the line, and after sucking in a deep breath, I realize that the room around me is in silence.
Glancing over at Miss Peterson, I find she’s got the widest smile on her face, her hands together as if she had clapped, while the three beside her fume to the point their faces are glowing red—none quite as brightly as Teagan’s.
“Your previous coach wasn’t exaggerating,” Miss Peterson says as Teagan mutters, “It wasn’t that good.”
Whatever.
I spend the next two hours ignoring the hate-filled stares they shoot across the gym and focus on losing myself in doing some of my favorite things.
Cheer has always been my number one, but gymnastics is a close second. Dad signed me up for my first class when I could barely stand and I’ve been addicted since. I just love that weightless feeling of flying through the air. That’s the exact reason I climbed to the top of a cheer pyramid at my first opportunity.
“I’ve decided,” Calli announces when we finally get back to the locker room after our session. “You’re brave.”
I laugh as I make my way toward her.
“I think I prefer that option.”
“Just watch your back. You’ve probably already realised this, but Teagan, Lylah and Sloane are mega bitches.”
“Oh really, I didn’t notice,” I deadpan.
Some of the girls shower and replace the image of perfection they walked into these locker rooms with. I, however, just pull a hoodie out of my bag and throw it over my shorts and sports bra, preferring to shower at home.
Campus is quiet when I emerge from the building. Thankfully, Teagan and her bitches were too busy to pay me any attention as I slipped out. Her confidence was already in tatters while we were practicing, so I don’t think she had the energy to go another round with me.
There are still cars littering the parking lot. I scan the expensive models, shaking my head at the insane wealth of this place.
