Free Sleepover Girls Go Gymtastic! by Fiona Cummings Page A

my solo routine first and it was pretty darned perfect. My walkover-cartwheel combo was spot-on, even if I say so myself. That kind of gave the others a boost and Frankie did just about the best arabesque and forward roll I’d ever seen her do. And even I have to admit that Fliss was absolutely brilliant. She was like a gazelle and went about a mile in the air when she did her stag leap.
    Rosie was next, and when she held her handstand I thought she’d never come down again. She never wobbled or anything, but I think she was so pleased with herself she missed her cue for her forward roll which meant she was late finishing her solo.
    Poor Lyndz. She was worked up about things beforehand, but when she realised that she’d have to start her routine before Rosie had quite finished hers, you could see the panic spread across her face. She looked just like a rabbit caught in the headlights – scared is the understatement of the year!
    Actually, old Lyndz was really very good in the end. Her log-roll went a bit off-course though and her ‘SC’ badge came unstuck and dropped off. She hesitated a bit before sitting up, not quite knowing whether she should pick it up or not. But she didn’t, and followed straight through with her backward roll. Unfortunately the badge decided to re-attach itself – to the top of her head.
    Rosie saw it first and started to splutter. Then I realised what was up, and had to swallow hard so I didn’t start snorting with laughter. Somehow we all got through our circle roll finale, which went down a storm. By the time we finished I swear that everyone was cheering much louder for us than they had for anyone else.
    “Did you hear that?” I gabbled excitedly when we’d taken our bows and run off. “The crowd loved us!”
    “We’re bound to be picked for the final now, aren’t we?” Fliss gushed. “And the camera crew is coming over too! That’s got to be a good sign!”
    Julia Ward was full of praise for us, and we chatted and laughed about how nervous we’d been. I was on such a high that I can’t really remember what we talked about. Or for how long. All I do know is that it only seemed a couple of minutes before someone told us that the judges were going to announce which groups would be going through to the final.
    “Is it OK if we stick with you and film your reactions?” Julia asked us.
    “Of course it’s OK!” Fliss beamed smugly. Then she whispered to the rest of us, “We’re hardly going to refuse to have our moment of glory captured on film, are we?”
    My heart was almost bursting out of my chest as the chairperson made a speech about how impressed they’d been by the standard of competitors, and how it gave her confidence for the future of gymnastics in this country.
    “And finally the moment you’ve all been waiting for…”
    She read out five names which we didn’t even recognise.
    “They must have been the ones in the other group,” Frankie whispered.
    Then she started with names from our part of the competition. Every time she spoke, my heart beat even harder. I was sure you’d be able to see it popping out of my chest. I don’t really remember the camera filming us, but I do remember us all clinging to each other and Fliss chanting, “Please let the next one be us!”
    By the time there was just one more group to announce, Fliss was clinging to my hand so hard that I’d lost all feeling in my fingers.
    “And finally,” the chairperson announced. “The last group to go through to the final is… The Sleep…”

“… The Sleeping Tigers!”
    Just for a second there, I really thought we’d won. In fact Fliss had already leapt off the ground before she realised it wasn’t us. A cheer went up from the back of the hall – it was from one of the groups of boys. They were all jumping around, punching each other and doing high fives.
    I turned to the others. They were looking dead miserable and Fliss had big tears welling up in her eyes. Unfortunately