For the first time in a long time, gymnastics is actually getting frustrating

G

ymnastics is definitely her happy place.

Mimi spreads her arms and rises on her toes. They haven’t even warmed up yet but she wants to run lightly forward, leap into the air, arc and twist and fly and land with a graceful bounce…

Even when school’s good, gymnastics is way better.

“Hey, girls, sit down a minute,” Tova calls, gesturing everyone to the middle of the room. “I want to talk to you about the end of year gymnastics performance. As the top group, you know you’ll be performing twice, first earlier in the performance, and then as the final act.”

A few girls nod, and Lea calls out, “Sure, we know.”

“And of course, some of you will be performing solo. I’ll be speaking to you individually about that, and we’ll figure out when to schedule private sessions to practice your routine.”

There’s a murmur of anticipation, and a few heads turn in Mimi’s direction. She blushes. She knows she’ll be performing solo — Tova’s made that clear already — but she’s not going to be the only one, and this kind of attention makes her edgy, like she’s set apart from the rest of the group.