said Ellie.
‘Katya Popolova,’ said Kashvi, an Indian girl as pretty as a princess who dressed like a tomboy and talked like a cockney street urchin. ‘She’s Russian.’
‘Ah – so she’s the girl Toni found?’ said Tam. ‘Well, I can see what he saw in her. She’s amazing.’
‘Talented but totally undisciplined,’ sniffed Scarlett.
Ellie glanced at Scarlett, who was looking as glamorous and groomed as always. She should have been beautiful with her creamy complexion, sheet of long blonde hair and startling green eyes, but there was something about the permanently dissatisfied expression that she wore, and the condescending spark in her eyes, that spoilt her otherwise perfect looks.
‘She’ll never make a gymnast,’ Scarlett went on. ‘She’s all showy moves with no polish.’
‘Then the Academy will give her polish,’ said Nancy.
‘Really? It never worked for you, Nancy Moffat,’ said Scarlett with a silky smile.
Robbie sniggered and Tam glared at him.
‘You need to polish up your people skills, Scarlett,’ said Tam. He might spend most of the time teasing Nancy, but there was no way he was letting anyone else do it.
‘I’m just saying that Katya Popup, or whatever her name is, won’t last five minutes at the Academy,’ said Scarlett with a shrug. ‘Gymnastics is about discipline, precision, focus – not about silly circus tricks and showing off.’
‘Camille – wow – I love your new hair,’ said Nancy, rolling her eyes and deliberately changing the subject. ‘Did you get it done in Paris?’
Camille Bertinet was sporting a very stylish new hairstyle – cut in a gamine bob that would have looked boyish on somebody else but which seemed chic and super cool on the young French gymnast.
‘Oui – no more buns for me!’ she said with a very elegant French shrug.
‘Lucky you!’ said Nancy. ‘Mum scrapes my hair back so tight for competitions, I feel like I’ve had a facelift.’
‘I swear you’ve grown again, Nancy!’ said Kashvi
‘Don’t remind me!’ said Nancy. ‘I’ve been drinking gallons of dandelion tea because I read somewhere that it stunts your growth, but it’s not working! I keep shooting up like a beanpole.’
Ellie grinned happily. She was thrilled to be reunited with her squad mates who she hadn’t seen all summer. Even Sian Edwards had greeted Ellie with a big hug. ‘You look brown as a nut,’ she laughed. ‘Did you spend the whole summer practicing gymnastics on that beach of yours?’
‘Yes, but we did loads of other things too,’ said Ellie. ‘Surfing and kayaking. Nancy even wanted to go cliff-jumping, but we figured Emma would kill us if we brought her back with a broken arm!’
‘Glad to hear you had some fun,’ said Sian, grinning at Ellie like a protective older sister. ‘And came back in one piece!’
Scarlett was still scowling.
‘Scarlett, don’t you know if the wind changes your face will get stuck in that sour expression forever?’ asked Nancy.
Just at that moment, Katya Popolova descended from the washing line in a double somersault, landing on the grass just centimetres from where the girls were standing. She finished with a funny little flourish, two bright violet eyes sparkling at everyone and a smile spreading from ear to ear.
She looked even tinier on the grass – especially next to Nancy. If they hadn’t been told she was twelve years old, Ellie would have taken her for not much more than eight or nine.
‘I am Katya Popolova,’ the small girl piped up. ‘What are your names?’
‘I am Nancy Moffat,’ said Nancy, grinning and extending a polite hand to the smaller girl. ‘This is Ellie Trengilly.’
Katya’s face lit up. ‘Oh, I am so pleased to meet you!’ she said, launching herself at Nancy, wrapping her arms around her waist and hugging her tightly, before turning and doing the same to Ellie, much to both girls’ surprise. ‘Your mother say we will share a room,’ said Katya, smiling from Ellie to Nancy happily.
‘Well, that’s cool,’ Nancy grinned. ‘It’ll be a bit of a squish but the more the merrier – right, Ellie?’
‘Totally,’ said Ellie who had taken an instant liking to the tiny tightrope-walking circus girl.
‘And this – he must be Tam – your brother?’ said Katya, grabbing Tam and giving him a kiss on both cheeks that made him go bright red. ‘You have the same eyes.’
‘Um – yes!’ Tam blurted, stepping back nervously as Robbie practically collapsed with laughter.
‘What you were doing on the washing line was amazing!’ said Ellie. The beam had always been Ellie’s toughest piece of apparatus, so to see how Katya managed to perform so effortlessly on an even narrower surface was amazing. Ellie wondered what her secret was. ‘How do you do it?’
‘Oh, I learnt to walk on high wire when I was small,’ said Katya. Her face lit up like a sparkler again. ‘You want me to show you now? Is easy!’
Ellie hesitated. It was incredibly tempting, but she was pretty sure Emma Bannerdown would go mad if she saw any of her gymnasts risking their bodies like that. A gymnast’s career could be destroyed by injury. Ellie was aware of this better than anyone: her own Aunt Lizzie’s Olympic gymnastics dream had ended that way.
So, no matter how tempting it was, Ellie figured she should play it safe. Luckily she didn’t have to disappoint Katya, because just then Mandy called all the gymnasts in for supper.
‘Oh good! My tummy is bumbling!’ said Katya.
‘Do you mean rumbling?’ asked Nancy.
‘Exactly,’ said Katya, linking arms with Nancy and Ellie and dragging them into the house. ‘Let’s eat!’
‘So tell us again what happened, Katya?’ Sian Edwards was saying, as the gymnasts sat around the giant kitchen table in the basement of Head-Over-Heels House, tucking into a supper of salad and cold roast chicken. Sian and Sophia, another of the Senior Elite girls, shared a flat at the top of the house, but they always took an interest in the younger girls. And it was impossible not to be interested in Katya Popolova.
‘My family runs Popolov Circus in Moscow,’ said Katya, who was already on her third helping. ‘Three generations all work together.’
‘And does everyone perform in the show?’ asked Kashvi, who was sitting astride a chair and staring at Katya in wide-eyed amazement.
