tion id="uc14c514d-5408-5387-875d-ed940ef96ab6">
Somersaults and Dreams: Rising Star
First published in Great Britain 2015
by Egmont UK Limited
The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN
Text copyright © 2015 Cate Shearwater
Illustration copyright © 2015 Jongmee
The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted
First e-book edition 2015
ISBN 978 1 4052 6879 0
Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1422 8
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties.
Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.
For Elsie, Nancy, Kate and Lexi –
gorgeous gym girlies!
Contents
CHAPTER Eight
CHAPTER Nine
CHAPTER Ten
CHAPTER Eleven
CHAPTER Twelve
CHAPTER Thirteen
CHAPTER Fourteen
CHAPTER Fifteen
CHAPTER Sixteen
CHAPTER Seventeen
CHAPTER Eighteen
CHAPTER Nineteen
CHAPTER Twenty
CHAPTER Twenty-One
CHAPTER Twenty-Two
CHAPTER Twenty-Three
CHAPTER Twenty-Four
CHAPTER Twenty-Five
CHAPTER Twenty-Six
CHAPTER Twenty-Seven
CHAPTER Twenty-Eight
CHAPTER Twenty-Nine
CHAPTER Thirty
Ellie stood in the middle of the Olympic arena, waiting for the music to start. She shivered with fear and anticipation. This was it. Her chance to win the gold medal she’d always dreamed of. It all came down to this final routine.
The audience fell silent as the music started, a haunting strain that seemed to bring Ellie’s limbs to life. It was like she was a puppet, being tugged by the strings of the melody. She forgot about the audience, forgot about the arena, forgot that she was in the biggest competition of her life as she lost herself in the magic of gymnastics.
Ellie performed as she had never performed before, leaping higher, spinning faster, tumbling more powerfully. And, as the music moved towards a crescendo, she launched into her final tumble sequence. As she flew through the double pike to finish, she felt like an exotic bird, twisting a myriad of colours through the air.
And then she landed . . .
. . . and there was silence. Total silence. No applause, not a single hand clapped. Ellie glanced around breathlessly at the sea of blank faces, staring at her, unsmiling. And then, high up in the back row, someone stood up and shouted, ‘This girl is not eligible to compete. She hasn’t qualified for Junior British Champs!’
Ellie woke with a start. It took a second
