Free Jump Start by Susannah McFarlane Page A

the beam.
    Almost done! Handstand, pretty good I think, now turn on both feet and run to the end of the beam. Dismount and stick the landing. Present with a big smile!
    It was over. It wasn’t great, but it was over.

    â€˜Nice jump,’ smirked Nema. ‘That was a jump, wasn’t it?’
    Nema was one of the girls in Emma’s gym squad but she was definitely not one of Emma’s best friends—at least, not anymore. The two girls used to be friendly but now Nema seemed more interested in her hair, which she flicked a lot, and being randomly mean to people. Emma didn’t bother answering.
    â€˜Hmmm, good kicks and great dismount,’ said Lauren. ‘But where were the jumps? I know you can do it, Emma. Just go for it. Next time I want to see really big jumps, even if you fall off the beam. In fact, I want you to fall off!’
    Emma groaned. She knew she couldn’t avoid the jumps next time. Lauren would make sure of it.
    Now it was Nema’s turn. She presented with a flourish, flew onto the beam and completed the routine without a single mistake. She even threw in a new trick from the next level.
    â€˜Perfect, Nema!’ Lauren clapped.
    Nema turned and beamed at Lauren. ‘Thanks coach,’ she said, and then with a sideways look to Emma added, ‘I really love jumping!’
    â€˜I really love jumping,’ Emma repeated quietly in a high-pitched voice. A perfect routine from little Miss Perfect, she thought. Little Miss Mean Perfect! But then it was Hannah’s turn and her attention turned back to her friend.
    Hannah almost skipped through her routine. She did two fabulous split jumps but then fell off the beam as she balanced for the handstand. As quick as a flash, Hannah got back on, did a brilliant handstand, ran down the beam and ended with a perfect dismount.
    â€˜Good work, Hannah,’ said Lauren. ‘Just settle yourself after the jumps before going on to the handstand.’
    â€˜No probs,’ said Hannah, cheerfully.
    Why didn’t Hannah mind about falling off? Why didn’t Hannah mind about anything? And why didn’t Nema have anything to mind about?
    It would be Emma’s turn again soon. There was only one thing she could think of that would get her out of doing her routine again—a mission alert for EJ12!



Emma was an average ten-year-old girl. She went to school, which she liked, most of the time. She had a family that she liked, most of the time—but not always all at the same time. Life went on pretty much as normal—sometimes really good, sometimes a little bad, sometimes a bit nothing.
    Emma’s favourite colour was blue—aqua actually. Emma liked to be exact about these things and there were some awful shades of blue around. She also liked purple and orange, but not together. She liked apples, pears, mandarins and grapes but she did not like bananas or grapefruit. She did like banana milkshakes though, but thought that bananaand chocolate milkshakes were much, much better. Emma liked chocolate. Correction: she loved it. Correction: she adored it. In fact, there was not much Emma would not do for chocolate. Luckily she also loved swimming, basketball and gymnastics!
    When she was not eating chocolate or playing sport, Emma loved emailing her friends, irritating her brother, drawing and reading about animals. Actually, Emma loved animals even more than she loved chocolate.
    She also liked maths. Emma didn’t care that some people thought it was a bit nerdy. She just liked the way you could count on maths. She liked the way the numbers made up patterns and how you could usually tell what was coming next. But most of all, Emma liked numbers because they made sense, they didn’t give you mean surprises, and you could rely on them.
    Doing maths was relaxing for Emma. It wasn’t that she didn’t find it hard sometimes, because she did, it was just that she liked sorting out the problem,she liked