Perfect

Perfect

Kali Taylor

Author/illustrator

******

To my family for always believing in me.

Maple Leaf Project

Brattleboro Vermont

Copyright 2018

One afternoon, 12 year old clumsy Kelsey Woods gets off the bus on Field Street in Massachusetts, and sprints down the road. When Kelsey arrives at her house she runs past her mom, Gracelyn, doing the laundry, past their baby kittens Valentine and Kinsley rolling around on the carpet, then bolts past her dad, Dean, who was watching National Golf on TV. Kelsey rushes to her light gray room, covered with gymnastics posters and medals, and grabs her gymnastics bag then suddenly trips over her book lying on the floor. Kelsey flies across the room, then slides across the wood floor.

“Slow down K,” Kelsey’s dad says, helping her up.

“I’m just really clumsy and I’m just really excited for gymnastics practice,” Kelsey explains while picking up her gymnastics bag. She walks to the kitchen to get a handful of her favorite foods, green beans and pretzels.

“Can I please get a puppy? I will play, feed, clean, and anything else you do to take care of a dog, please,” Kelsey begs her parents.

“Maybe,” Kelsey’s parents answer.

“Time for gymnastics,” Kelsey’s mom says.

“Finally,” Kelsey whispers. Kelsey and her mom drive to gymnastics in their pearly cream Lincoln. Kelsey’s mom drops her off in front of the gym, and drives away. Kelsey changes into her leotard and runs out to the floor. Once herself and her teammates are done warming up, they all start on the tumble track. Kelsey stands on the end of the runway, thinking about her skill. Kelsey steps her foot out and starts running down the long trampoline. She jumps as high as she can and does a front-tuck, then another. Right before the end of the trampoline she jumps one more time as fast as she can, and does one last front-tuck, landing on her knees on the squishy mat. Kelsey gets up ready to try again, she tries over and over again but never lands that skill.

At the very end of gymnastic practice she tries to master the front tuck again.

“Why can’t I just be perfect?” Kelsey wishes.

The next afternoon, Kelsey walks toward the front doors of the gym. Suddenly the bright blue sky turns to dark gray, the pink and yellow flowers planted along the building shrivel up, and the breezy wind turns into lightning. Kelsey runs to the doors, reaching for the handle, when she gets zapped by a beam of light. Kelsey freezes in shock. Kelsey suddenly feels more positive and confident. Then all is back to normal. She walks into the gym. She changes into her favorite pink and black sparkly leotard, then rams her clothes into her locker.

Kelsey runs out to the floor joining her teammates in conditioning. She feels stronger than usual, way stronger than usual, almost as if she could lift a couch above her head.

“Kelsey the power-house, getting stronger every day,” Coach Pavio smiles. After an half hour of conditioning, they move onto stretching and Kelsey feels so much more comfortable in her splits, but in a different way than just being more flexible.

“Kelsey you are the queen of flexibility today,” Khloe compliments.

“Thanks,” Kelsey answers. After stretching Kelsey’s group moves onto the uneven bars. Kelsey gets her grips out to minimize friction injures. She watches the coaches adjust the steel poles connected to the two wooden pieces, that they adjusted by distance between both bars, and height.

Kelsey moves toward the bars and kips up (a kip is a important skill used as both a mount and a element in a bar routine). She straightens her arms, grips the bar tightly and casts, swinging herself around the bar. Kelsey feels a sharp pain on both her hands, and looks down to see them shredded.

“I have massive rips on both hands, can I wrap them?” Kelsey asks Coach Pavio. But while looking down at her beat up hands, Kelsey notices that her massive rips are no longer there. They completely disappeared in a blink of an eye! Coach Pavio was about to answer when Kelsey interrupts.

“Never mind, they feel better,” she indicates, showing Coach her clear hands.

“What just happened? I just had two rips on my hands,” Kelsey thinks to herself, very shocked. Kelsey adjusts her grips and adds more chalk. She squirts water onto the leather material with two holes for both her middle and ring fingers. Then she rubs a square shaped piece of chalk along the leather and dowel rod.

After bars Kelsey and her group go to the floor exercise. Her group all stand lined up in the corner of the special exercise surface, ready to tumble. Kelsey runs, hurdles and springs off the surface of the floor, on a tumbling pass using grace and force. Kelsey stumbles, flying through the air and landing on her knees. Kelsey’s other coach Paula helps her up and tells her what she could have done to prevent the fall.

“Kelsey are you alright?” asks Coach Paula.

“Yeah,” Kelsey answers, not hurting one bit, like she can’t get hurt anymore.

“Whoa, I don’t hurt at all,” Kelsey thinks.

The rest of the events passed and it is time to go home. Kelsey’s mom picks her up and they go home. Kelsey races up the stairs to take a shower and call her best friend in the whole entire world; Alexandra, who lives across the street.

“Alexandra!,” Kelsey screeches into the phone, “At gymnastics I didn’t fall once on my front-tuck dismount on the beam or jump off the tumble-track onto the wood floor or smash my shins into the bar or anything I usually do!”.

“Bravo!” Alexandra laughs.

“I was having a amazing day, something was different,” Kelsey answers.

“I wonder?” Alexandra burst out laughing.

Two days later Kelsey has her first gymnastics meet of the season. Kelsey is wearing her purple and navy blue long sleeve leotard, with her straight dirty blonde hair puffed up in the front, and her black warm-up suit. Kelsey is ready to start the meet. After warm-up, stretching, and the national anthem they start. Kelsey’s first event is vault. Kelsey glances over at the long, thin cushioned carpet leading up to the springboard, and the tall vaulting table matted with a leather like material. While she is waiting she fidgets with the clumped up cloth around her wrist. She watches each of her teammates, and the judges. The judges watch every move of each gymnast’s form, technique, execution, and landing.

Next, it’s Kelsey’s turn, she salutes to the judges, steps onto the runway, then starts running then running faster and faster. Kelsey is running faster and faster every second, speeding up to the fastest she has ever ran in her life, ten times faster. Kelsey is running so fast she almost runs into the vault but, she hurdles onto the springboard using all her power, then springing straight onto the horse and landing without any stumble or wobble. Kelsey salutes to the judges again with a big smile. She has one last turn and does it as perfectly as the last.

After she performs the vault the judges give Kelsey her score. TEN. Kelsey got the best score you can get, with no points taken off. PERFECT. Now it’s time for beam, Kelsey looks down the long, skinny piece of equipment made of leather like material, adjusted to the tallest height. Kelsey goes through her routine with straight arms, legs and pointed toes, and the steadiest landing. She receives a score of another perfect ten.

In the next events Kelsey gets more tens, winning each event and all-around score in awards.

“Kelsey what an outstanding performances, well done,” said Coach Pavio.

“Wow, that was amazing,” Coach Paula says, speechless. Suddenly a very tall man walks up to Kelsey.

“Hi, I am Leo the beam judge, we hope to see you perform like this again,” says the tall judge, followed by the other judges. When all the gymnasts gather their bags to go see their parents, Kaleigh and Reagan walk over to Kelsey.

“You did amazing,” Kaleigh and Reagan jealousy compliment.

“Thanks, you did too,” Kelsey nicely answers. Kelsey walks up the stairs to her parents.

“That was magnificent,” Kelsey parents say.

“Thanks, it was really fun.”

The next week Kelsey has another gymnastics meet, getting perfect scores again, like she not even trying. The next afternoon, Kelsey’s parents surprise Kelsey with a present for doing so amazingly well in both gymnastics competitions.

“Hello,” Kelsey shouts, while she walks into the house from school. Kelsey tosses her backpack to the side of the door. A small fluffy golden puppy sprints towards Kelsey, jumping into her arms.

“Surprise!” her mom says, walking through the hallway.

“Like your new puppy!?” Kelsey’s dad says. Kelsey sets the golden puppy down, kneeling down playing with her.

“Wait……..What?..This is my puppy!” Kelsey answers. Her parents give her a little grin, and Kelsey smiles from ear to ear.

“I’m going to name her Morgan,” Kelsey says while cuddling Morgan.

Later that day, Kelsey is spending the day at Alexandra’s house.

“So what happened?” asks Alexandra with a smile.

“I finally got a puppy! ,” Kelsey says gleefully.

“That is so exciting, what did you name him or her?”

“I named her Morgan!” Kelsey explains happily.

“She is so adorable!” Alexandra says while Kelsey shows her a picture of Morgan. After Kelsey and Alexandra eat dinner they watch elite gymnastics while eating their favorite ice creams, vanilla and mint chocolate. Kelsey squeezes her big fluffy pillow in her arms, when her favorite gymnast does her first vault. Kelsey watches all of the professional gymnast’s form, with no-stop pointed toes and their straight arms. A gymnast flips swiftly across the floor falling down to her knees, but she quickly gets up and starts leaping through the air, and dancing to the music. Even though that gymnast stumbled she still won that event, because of her hard work through the rest of the routine. Kelsey and Alexandra watch for hours and hours until Alexandra falls asleep on her brown leather couch. At the end of the meet the commentator, Nastia Liukin, says,.

“Hard work beats talent if talent fails to work hard and mistakes are proof that you are trying.”

“All these incredible gymnast’s worked to be at the top,” Kelsey thinks. Maybe Kelsey’s new power isn’t so good after all.

The next day, around nine o’clock Kelsey is awakened by the thunderous barks of Parker, and also by the thought of never being the same as she was before. Kelsey goes down stairs, and lets Morgan out of her small, dark, lonely cage.

“It’s okay Morgy,” Kelsey says while lifting Morgan up on the couch and finding a fuzzy blanket. Kelsey soon fell asleep on the soft, cushioned couch, right next to Morgan.

The next week Kelsey has her third gymnastics meet of the season. She tries to work hard but everything comes so easy. It might seem cool, but Kelsey loves challenges. Kelsey wins and wins, but it does not seem fair to the other gymnasts.

A week later Kelsey and Alexandra are watching their favorite movie ever, The Elephant's Friend, on Kelsey’s comfy black leather couch holding her adorable kittens. Kelsey cuddles Valentine in her arms and Alexandra squeezes Kinsley.

Kelsey is lying in her her soft fluffy white bed trying to go to sleep but she is kept awake by the commentator’s voice repeating. “Hard work beats talent if talent fails to work hard, and mistakes are proof that you are trying,”. Kelsey feels as if she will always be able to do everything in gymnastics perfectly.

After breakfast Kelsey puts on her navy gymnastics coat and walks outside to jog with Morgan.

Kelsey runs and runs following Morgan, being tugged faster down the sidewalk. The weather is getting colder and colder the further they run. Once Kelsey and Morgan get to the end of the road, Kelsey turns around pulling Morgan back the other way.