Love is Dangerous

5

I walk shyly up to Coach Karen. I clear my throat to get her attention. "Um. Ms. --- Coach Karen?" She smiled at me, her light brown hair making her blue eyes pop. "Yes, Jasmine?" I swallow and continue. "I think there might be a mistake. I tried out for Level Four. My name was under Level Five." I suck in a breath, waiting for her to correct it. But she doesn't reach for her clipboard. She grips my shoulders and looks me dead in the eye. "There is no mistake. You may have tried out with the Level Four's but you deserve that spot. You are a talented gymnast and I believe you will do great if you love it." She let's go and smiles. "I'll see you at the Level Five practices." She walks away and I let out my breath. Marissa comes up behind me and says, "Practice is important." She hugs me and we walk to the cubbies. "Not so fast," says a voice. I turn around and see a girl with short brown hair standing with her arms crossed over her chest. Behind her are two other girls standing in the same stance. The usual posse. Obviously the popular gymnasts. "What do you want, Melanie and Co.?" Marissa says in a bored tone, changing her stance to a mocking version of the trio in front of me. The girl's tone changed from deadly to sweet. But the sweet tone was even more deadly. "We just wanted to meet the new Level Fiver here." The leader, Melanie I'm guessing, walked over to me with her hands at her sides. She gives me a hug. She says loudly, "We'll make a good team." She leans closer and whispers in my ear, "You don't deserve this spot. You'll be out of here in a day tops. I'll make sure of it." She leans back and pats my back, smiling. But unlike Coach Karen's smile, it did not show in her eyes. She snapped her fingers twice and the three girls walked out simultaneously. I knew life was too good to be true.

We pull into Marissa’s driveway. I get out of the car and notice those three boys walking towards the beach. Marissa and I walk through the door and, for a second, I could’ve sworn I felt a pair of eyes on me. Interesting… We go up to her room and rest for a little. “Wanna go outside to the gym equipment and practice?” she asks after a little while. “Sure, why not. Like you always say, ‘Practice is important’,” I reply. She grabs her gym bag and I follow her. We walk over to a field that’s on a hill. It’s at the house next door, across from the house with the three boys. There is a pink bar, a purple beam, 3 gym mats, and a trampoline. “So which event first?” I look around, dramatically scratching my chin. “Hmm, how about beam?” she nods. “Alright. I’ll go on bars.” She runs over to the bar and glide kips. She works on cast to handstand, like she saw me doing. She gets just past horizontal, but falls down. She keeps trying. I turn my attention away from her and walk to the beam. I get on the beam and try to remember the skill list I saw.

Level Five Beam:                                                                                                      

Back walkover

Arabesque

Split leap

Straight jump

Handstand

Split jump

Scissone

Full turn

Dismount

I decide to try the easiest skills first. I start with the handstand. I grab the beam and kick my legs over my head. I step down smoothly and pose. I try a full turn. I stumble a bit, but I managed to stay on the beam. Arabesque. That was easy. It was in the level below me. Split leap, straight jump. Again, in the level below me. Split jump, scissone. That was a little harder but I managed. Back walkover. Oh gosh. I was horrible at those on beam. I tried a few times at my old gym, but I could never stay on. I hold my leg out in front, arms up by my ears. I take a deep breath and bend backwards. My hands touch the beam and I kick over. The first foot lands and I slow down, trying to find the beam with my other foot. My other foot hits the grass and I jump off. I guess I’ll get it another time. Marissa comes over and jumps on the beam. “You’re turn on bars.” She takes a deep breath, kicks, and tries a cartwheel. She lands on the grass but climbs back on and tries again. Practice is important. Those words keep going through my head. I jump on and work on my cast to handstand. I get it the first time and hold it there for a little. I fall back down and kip up, trying to connect the skills. After a few more practices, I go onto the trampoline. I practice front tucks and baranis. I clamber down and go to the mats. I guess Marissa and I had the same idea. We both got one of the blue and green mats. I set it out and stepped about 10 feet away from it. I run and go into my round off. I throw myself backwards and feel the mat beneath my hands. I land on my feet and try another one. I feel my hands touch the mat again and I landed it. I jump backwards, lunge and salute. I look at Marissa. She runs and, instead of going into a round off, she jumps on her hands and throws herself over. She landed her first perfect front handspring. I clap as she salutes to me. “Oh my gosh! Is that the first time you have done that?” She nods. “Yeah, practice is important.” She smiles and goes into a back walkover. I walk over to her. “Have you gotten your back handspring yet?” She shakes her head “Well, I guess I technically have. My coach put her hand near my back but never touched me. I got it but I lost it. Stupid mental blocks.” She shakes her head and walks to the mat. She does an elbow walkover and comes up, smiling. “Well, since it’s competition season, you can try and get it back. Have Coach Karen help you.” She nods and works on back limbers.

An hour later, Aunt Tasha comes out and yells to us. “Dinner’s ready!” We walk inside and I notice the same boys passing by us as we go inside. For some reason, I get all tingly inside. I notice my ticking is a little louder. Maybe even slower. I knock the thought out of my head and think of a song. The first one that comes to my head is ‘We Move like the Ocean’ by Bad Suns. I wonder why.