True Colors

True Colors

by

Sarah Gordon-Macey

I dedicate this book to my coach, Keri Woodman, who helped me and supported me in gymnastics.

Maple Leaf Book Writing Project

Brattleboro, Vermont

Copyright 2013

Introduction

Hi. My name is Lorelei. I live in Essex, England, and I am a gymnast. I love it because it is a physical activity that includes lots of tricks. Not like magic tricks, but things you’re really good at tricks. Like, if you are good at math and you know an easy way of answering the problem -- something you can do. A trick. I am 9 years old, which is 4th grade for me.

I have a very best friend, well, friend/ total enemy, who I have known since we were practically born. Even though we got into a huge fight in this year. You don’t know her, let me tell you who the heck she is. She is Mira Rose and she is a dancer and a gymnast. Now let me tell you about that fight...

Chapter 1

You all know Friday the 13 myth, right? Well, that was the day of our fight. . . . well, the start of it.

I knew that day at gymnastics was gonna be HARD. Especially since we were getting ready for our qualifying meet. Oh boy, I did not expect

Mira to be such a meany at the big practice before our second meet of

the year.

But, back to the beginning. I was going to school that day in

my average, pink high tops, red jeans, and a logo justice shirt. I was

walking to school, ALONE, until I bumped into Mira. “ ‘Sup Lori! You

know, since I am the best gymnast in our level, I will win the qualifying

meet. You’ll probably get last place, just like last year. “

“ Hi. Um... why are you being sassy? What have I done to you? And I have been working really hard lately, so maybe I will get a good

placing. But still, why? “ I was surprised at Mira, and a bit weirded out.

“ You’ll just have to see for yourself if you’ll get a good placing!

But still, I will win,“ said Mira. Then she walked off to school, whipping her hair.

Then I also trudged to school, a big brick building, with a huge parking lot, the most AWESOME playground, and millions of people walking around it.

Chapter 2

As I got closer to school (more like jaiI) I saw my crush, Gray.

He never really knew who I was until January. Now we hang out a lot.

So I saw Gray, but he was talking to the most popular person in my grade. Vivian. I was, I was furious. Did he even like Vivian? Right then I was so mad at Vivian. I felt like Gray didn’t even care about me. Did he? If he did, he didn’t act like it. I wanted to go up to Gray and tell him how I felt, but I wasn’t stupid so I decided not to. I was saved by the school bell, so I went inside. As I was walking, Vivian stopped right in front of me, tripped me, and I fell. And fell. I made a loud THUD as I landed on my stomach and it made me lose my breath.

Gray walked up to me.

“ Hey, you ok? “ Gray said, with his perfect accent. “ Looks like the queen struck again. Let me help pick those things up. “

OMG, he was so sweet, with his cute smile! So sweet, that I have lost my train of thought!

Where was I? Ah yes. So after school ended, a school day

of staring and drooling at Gray, I carpooled with Mira to practice.

“Lori, you excited!? I know I will rule the world after our meet! I

have been working SO HARD lately. Did you see how much more

muscle I’ve gotten. You know you’re not talking much today. Why?“

said Mira, full of words as usual.

I was so mad that I did not answer until 20 minutes later.

“Lori answer me! Why aren’t you answering me?“

“Because, I saw Gray with Vivian today. Do they have a thing

going on? Oh, and because you were bragging a lot today, just ‘cause you’re SO TALENTED and you always win the meets. I remember when you were the worst one in class.

“ I know for a fact that Gray and Vivian aren’t dating! And ouch, Lori. That last comment was just rude! “

We did not talk for the rest of the day.

Chapter 3

We got inside the gym about 5 minutes after Mira and I started not talking. I started changing into my super awesome sparkly leo when Zuzu touched my shoulder. Zuzu is a 9 year old who is very bouncy and has curly red hair and blue eyes. ” TOUCH! YER IT! “ Zuzu squealed.

“ Hang on Zuzu! I’m changing! “ I said, annoyed that she was in my space bubble.

“ But everyone is playing! Lucy, Kimi, Madison, Milly, Sarah,

Mira, Me, and Raini! Can’t you hurry up?” Zuzu said, sounding even

annoyed than I was. Zuzu is Irish. She was born in Ireland and moved to England when she was 5.

“OK GIRLS! TIME FOR...PRACTICE!!!” called Coach Johnson.

We all walked into the gym to do our stretches. Just normal stretches. I was super-excited because today was our last practice before the meet and I wanted to show everyone how much I improved. Nervous, I walked toward the floor. I took a deep breath and went for it! I nailed my routine, shocking everybody. Mira, of course, was in disbelief. Since we were not talking, she wrote on a paper, “ You did good, but can you do the rest of your routines flawlessly? “

So I showed off all of my other routines, again nailing them.

“ How on earth did you do that so gracefully? “ said Zuzu “ I

thought you were like totally behind? “

“ I took lots of private lessons and practiced at home. “

Then everybody else showed off their routines and worked on their flaws. At the end of practice, we all left to have dinner and get a good night’s sleep.

Chapter 4

My mom picked me up after practice. I was surprised when she turned the car in a direction away from my house.

“ Lorelei, I want to give you a surprise before your meet. Now

close your eyes. “

“ My eyes are closed. “

“ Good. Now take your headphones and Ipod touch and listen

to One Direction. “

“ But, how will I see it to put it on One Direction? “

“ Alright, you can open your eyes for that, but then I want them

closed again! “ So I put on my Take Me Home album (my favorite one) on shuffle and listened.

“ Ok you can open your eyes now. “

“ Where are -- NO WAY! WE ARE SEEING ONE DIRECTION!? OMG! I LOVE YOU MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! “ Ok so for people who do not know, One Direction is a British boy band who I love. There are five guys: Niall, Zayn, Louis, Liam, and Harry. Tons of tweens and teens

LOVE them and would die to meet them. I was and still am in love

with them. I love everything about them.

“ There’s more. I bought VIP passes so you can meet the band.“

“ Really?! Oh my gosh I would die to meet them! Especially

Zayn! You know he’s my favorite. “

We went in the enormous arena to find our spots. There were so many people there, I couldn’t even count!

The concert was AMAZING!!!!!! They did ALL my fave songs, like One Thing and Live While We’re Young. After the show my mom and I went backstage with our passes. As I was walking into the room where I would meet the band you wouldn’t believe it. Guess who I saw getting the autographs with the band (and flirting with Zayn). Yep, I saw Mira!

I was filling up with rage because, well, for one, ZAYN IS MY FAVORITE (which, OF COURSE, Mira knew). Also, I was mad at Mira already, and I did not expect her to be there! I was getting very confused. Did my mom buy her tickets too? Did she know we were mad at each other? So many questions were jumping through my head, I didn’t know what to think. It would be super awkward if my mom set this up, because we were like SUPER mad at each other. Did she? I didn’t really know or want to ask because I just wanted to go meet my favorite band.

I went to the room set aside for VIP audience members and met Harry first.

“Hello, who are you? “ said Harry.

“My name is Lorelei Fields. I am 9.“

“WOW! What’s your favorite song in Take Me Home? “

“Well, I think its a tie between Live While We’re Young and Kiss You. “ I talked with Harry a little more then I went to Niall, and Liam, then Louis, then to Zayn.

“Hi Zayn. I’m Lorelei, well, my friends call me Lori. You are my favorite and I love you! Can you autograph my One Direction book on the Zayn page?! “

‘Sure I can, where is it?”

“On my bedside table at home.“

“ I don’t know if I can leave, but you seem like you won’t kidnap me, so , okay. “

“ Come on! Our car is this way!“

We brought Zayn home, and he said he needed a place to stay, so he asked if he could sleep in the guest room. Well, I could not turn down that opportunity so I said sure.

O.K, none of that was really true, but was me day dreaming. I actually had my book and he already had a super fancy hotel he was staying at. He signed my book, and we went home to get a good night’s rest before the next day’s meet.

Chapter 5

The next morning I got ready for my meet. It was ‘80’s themed, so we warmed up in poofy skirts and polka dotted shirts with leg warmers too. After that, we got ready for our first event. My stomach had butterflies as I approached the Vault. I ran as fast as I could, sprang on the springboard and flew in the air, barely touching the vault and sticking the landing. I scored a 9.6 on vault. Our second event was bars. I started with a kip, then a front hip circle, to a jump up on the bar, to the next bar, then another kip, cast, swing down, then a dismount all done so gracefully it landed me a 9.89. I was so excited, because a year ago I couldn’t even swing myself over the bar! I wondered if Mira had noticed. It looked like her meet was going pretty well. I missed having her to giggle with and let off steam between events.

Our third event was beam. I did my mount, then all my weird beam tricks leading to a dismount, which was a handstand side handstand quarter turn. It was beautiful. I could tell that it had gone just right. The judges gave me a 9.5.

Our last event was floor. I was nervous, because even though I did it right once in practice, all the other times (even at private lessons) I did it wrong. I would miss some steps or miss my landing. Would those things happen today?

The music started. I started to move around, do the steps, the tumbling, the complicated poses. It was all there. My nerves went down and everything felt right. I flew. Then the music stopped. I stopped. It was over. I did Amazing. I got a huge score. 9.9. Then there were awards.

“ And in first place with 38.89...... Lorelei Fields! “ the announcer said.

I went to the podium and got my trophy and medal. I waved my hand high, feeling very proud of myself. Suddenly... Mira, being the Mira she is, pushed me off the podium, just because she got second place with only 31.66.

“YOU DON’T DESERVE TO BE STANDING THERE! YOU’RE TERRIBLE AT GYMNASTICS AND YOU ALWAYS WILL BE! “ Mira said, her face beet red with anger.

“What are you doing?“

“ I NEED TO BE IN FIRST PLACE AT ALL TIMES! IT IS HOW IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE! IT IS MY LAW! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE TERRIBLE AT THIS, LIKE YOU ALWAYS ARE, AND I AM SUPPOSED TO BE THE BEST. “ And then she dissolved into tears, running out of the gym and into the parking lot. Her parents ran quickly behind her, but the rest of us just sat there speechless, me still lying on the gym floor. I had twisted my ankle in the fall from the podium.

Chapter 6 -- Mira’s Say

It’s not my fault! I had reasons to feel the way I did. I have been doing gymnastics from the time I was three years old. When I started, I was the worst one in the class, and everything was hard. When my family came to see me, I felt deep down, after they hugged me, that they weren’t really impressed. That made me start stressing.

I was pushing hard before the meet and had no idea that Lori had improved so much. When I did not win that meet, I was scared and ashamed because it reminded me of when I was little. I lost control of my actions. When I saw Lorelei, laying broken on the mat below the podium, I felt awful.

So I just wanted to let you know that. This is top secret. Don’t tell anyone. I have to go now. My Mom’s calling. She says that Lori is on the phone and is asking to come over to talk. Wish me luck!

The End