Her teammates clapped and cheered—even Allison—as she walked back to the start of the run to do it again. After, Mia paced nervously as she waited for her score. When her 9.7 was posted, she let out the breath she was holding and high-fived her teammates.

  Now she could relax. She only had to watch and cheer on her teammates until everyone was done and they could rotate to the next event. Between runs, Mia looked around the gym to watch the other events. A girl from the Mayfield team was in her ready position for her floor exercise routine.

  When the music started, the girl sprang into action. A second later, she stopped and shook her head. Her coach ran to the judge’s table to say something. After a minute, the coach signaled to the girl to start again. She got ready and the music started. She began her routine, and then stopped again. She shook her head in frustration and swiped at tears in her eyes.

  I know that feeling. Tears of frustration, not sadness, thought Mia.

  Riley came up next to Mia.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I think the wrong music keeps playing,” Mia said.

  “Oh, no!” said Riley.

  “I know,” said Mia. “Any little thing can throw off your concentration.”

  Allison joined the girls. “It shouldn’t,” she said. “She should be able to go on, no matter what.”

  “Yeah, but floor exercise is choreographed to music,” said Mia. “Having the music makes a difference.”

  The Mayfield coach signaled for the girl to try a third time.

  “See, I told you,” said Allison. “Her coach wants her to keep going.”

  For a third time, the music started, but it was the wrong song.

  “What the heck?” asked Riley.

  “Yeah, where are the sound techs? This shouldn’t happen,” said Mia.

  This time, the gymnast performed her routine without music. People in the bleachers and other gymnasts clapped in a steady rhythm to provide a beat and encourage the gymnast as she tumbled.

  Mia and Riley joined in the clapping. Allison did not.

  At the end of the girl’s routine, she didn’t rotate fully on a back tuck and fell forward. She landed on her hands and knees. She stayed there for a few moments, frozen. Finally, her coach went to her side, bent over, and whispered something in her ear.

  The girl nodded. She stood up and raised her arms, signaling the end of her routine. She walked off the mat with tears running down her face and her coach by her side.

  “Wow,” said Mia. “I feel so sorry for her.”

  “I don’t,” said Allison.

  “What is wrong with you?” asked Mia. “You don’t care about anyone but yourself.”

  “What? I’m not trying to be mean,” said Allison.

  “Right, you don’t have to try. It’s natural for you.”

  “Whatever,” said Allison. “My point is things go wrong all the time. Serious competitors keep going.”

  “Well, she did go through with the routine,” Riley pointed out.

  “Right, so she will get a score instead of no score. That’s a plus for them,” said Allison. “But she fell at the end, so that’s a wrap.”

  “Not necessarily,” said Mia.

  “You say there’s something wrong with me, but you’re the one rooting for the other team.”

  “I’m not rooting for them,” said Mia. “I’m just saying they had one bad performance.”

  “Right,” said Allison. “One slip-up can cost a team first place. You know all about that, right, Mia? Oh, sorry. I’m not supposed to remind you about that.”

  Mia didn’t answer. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave Allison her best glare.

  “The reality is that girl’s floor exercise routine just put the whole Mayfield team at a disadvantage,” said Allison. “As long as we do our best, we win today. Stop feeling sorry for the competition and focus.”

  As Allison walked away, Mia shook her head. “I know Coach wants us to support each other, but she makes it so hard,” she said.

  “You have to support her as a teammate,” Riley said. “You don’t have to like her or be best friends. Besides, you already have an awesome best friend.” Riley smiled wide and they both laughed. “Don’t let her get to you.”

  “I’ll try,” said Mia, “but that’s easier said than done.”

  CHAPTER 4

  ADJUST AND CONTINUE

  At the next team practice, the girls talked about their first victory as they stretched. They also talked about what happened with the Mayfield gymnast’s music.

  “How could that happen?” asked Riley. “Don’t they have people in charge of the music? Like, isn’t that their one job?”

  Mia and her teammates laughed.

  “Well, yes, they have tech people,” said Coach Taylor, “but anything can go wrong. People make mistakes. Technology doesn’t always work. It happens.”

  “So you think it was an accident?” asked Allison.

  Everyone was quiet for a moment.

  Coach Taylor blinked wildly like she was caught off guard. “You don’t think it was a technology glitch?” she asked.

  Allison shrugged. “Who knows? At the 2000 Olympics the vault was set two inches too low. It messed everyone up. That could have been a mistake, but maybe not.”

  “You need to stop watching crime dramas,” Mia said.

  “Oh, so the girl who doesn’t like jokes actually has jokes,” said Allison.

  “Ladies, that’s enough,” said Coach Taylor. “I don’t know what happened with the music, but the lesson to be learned from the Mayfield meet is that we need to be ready for anything,” said Coach Taylor. “You never know when something will happen that is outside of your control. You also never know when someone might try to purposely throw you off.”

  “So, do you think Allison is right?” asked Mia. “Do you think someone messed with the music on purpose?”

  “I don’t know,” said Coach Taylor. “Maybe. It’s definitely possible.”

  Coach Taylor sneered and looked lost in thought for a moment. “Actually, strange things happened when I was on the Brookfield team.”

  “Really? What happened?” asked Mia.

  “Once, when we competed against Mayfield, the lights went out,” said Coach.

  The girls gasped.

  “I know,” said Coach. “Someone could have gotten seriously hurt. And when we competed against Town Ridge, someone pulled the fire alarm.”

  The girls shook their heads and mumbled to each other.

  “Did someone do those things on purpose to mess up the athletes?” asked Riley.

  Coach nodded. “No one could prove it,” said Coach. “But yeah, I’m sure of it.”

  Mia and Riley looked at each other with shocked expressions.

  “How do you know for sure?” asked Allison.

  Coach waved a hand and said, “Forget it. I don’t want to rehash the past or worry you girls. It is possible that what happened to Mayfield was a simple technical error that couldn’t be corrected in the moment. The takeaway is that we need to be prepared to compete regardless of what’s thrown at us. We should be able to adjust and continue, no matter what.”

  “That’s exactly what I said at the meet,” said Allison. She gave Mia an “I told you so” look.

  “With that in mind, we are going to practice our floor exercise routines with no music,” said Coach.

  “Then, I am going to play random songs so you can practice improvisation.”

  Some girls groaned and others laughed.

  “You will need to adjust in the moment and continue your routine,” Coach said. “This will be good practice in case something goes wrong with your music during a competition.”

  During her turn, Mia imagined every beat in her mind. She moved through her routine with grace and power. Performing with no music was easy. She had been trained to mentally run through her moves, with or without the actual music playing.

  On her first tumbling pass, she did a front tuck followed by a roundoff, back handspring, back tuck. The parts in between the tumbling passes needed music the most. The body rolls and hip shakes looked a little silly without the music.

  When it was Riley’s turn, the music started, but then it cut out.

  “No!” Riley shouted.

  “Adjust and continue,” said Coach Taylor. “Hear the music in your head and keep moving.”

  Riley stumbled through the moves a bit but then refocused and got back into a groove. She finished her routine without any major mistakes.

  “Great!” said Coach when she was done. “Now it’s Allison’s turn.”

  Allison got into her ready position. When the music started, it wasn’t hers at all—just like what happened at the competition against Mayfield. Allison blinked hard but started her routine. By the look on Allison’s face, Mia could see that she was trying to match her rhythmic moves with the new music.

  Halfway through the routine, the music changed again—to a fast-paced country song that was totally not Allison’s style.

  “Not fair, Coach!” Allison shouted.

  “Adjust and continue,” Coach responded.

  Allison kicked her legs out side-to-side like an amateur square dancer, which made everyone laugh.

  “Now, that’s funny!” shouted Mia.

  When the music stopped, Coach Taylor said, “It wasn’t easy, right?”

  “Doing the routine with no music was probably easier than having it change in the middle,” said Allison.

  Mia agreed with her, but she couldn’t help but snap back at Allison. “Of course, whatever you do is most difficult,” said Mia.

  “Ladies, please,” said Coach. She held up her hands like stop signals. “Each of you faced a different challenge and you worked through it. You adjusted and continued. You completed your routine, which, in the end, helps your team in competition.”

  They were all quiet for a moment.

  “Adjust and continue,” said Coach. “Let me hear you say it.”

  “Adjust and continue!” they repeated.

  “No matter what,” added Coach.

  “No matter what!” the team yelled back.

  CHAPTER 5

  A HARMFUL PRANK

  The next meet was against Town Ridge Middle School. After warm-ups, Mia, Allison, and Riley were among the Rams assigned to floor exercise as their first event. After practicing with no music, Mia was sure she could adjust and continue to whatever might come her way.

  Mia and her teammates were still getting settled when they heard girls shouting at both the beam and uneven bars.

  “What on earth is going on?” asked Coach, who was standing nearby.

  Girls from the Town Ridge team were scratching at the palms of their hands and the bottoms of their feet. Many of the girls wiped their hands on the fronts of their thighs to rid their hands of the chalk, but this caused them to claw at their legs too.

  “I’ll be right back,” said Coach. She ran across the floor exercise mat to the judges and then ran over to Town Ridge’s coaches and assistant coaches. After a brief, tense-looking conversation, Coach Taylor returned.

  “What’s going on, Coach?” asked Mia. “They think some kind of itching powder was put into the chalk bins,” said Coach Taylor. Mia and Riley gasped, but Allison laughed. “Allison!” said Mia. “You have such a warped sense of humor. Seriously. This is not funny.” “Mia’s right, Allison,” said Coach. “We need to be respectful during competitions.”

  “Sorry, Coach,” said Allison. “But it’s itching powder. It’s harmless. Someone is obviously pulling a prank on us.”

  Coach shrugged. Mia noticed that Coach also slightly curled her lips, like she was trying not to smile or laugh a little bit.

  Mia smiled a little then too. Maybe it is just a harmless prank, she thought.

  Mia and her teammates watched as the itchy Town Ridge girls wiped their bodies with wet towels. Others ran into the locker room to wash off the chalk. One girl who was coated in white powder started to sneeze. She bent over and put her hands on her knees. She then fell forward and rolled onto her back. Her coach ran to her side and put her ear up to the girl’s lips to hear what she was trying to say.

  The girl’s parents scrambled down the bleachers and ran across the gym to get to their daughter’s side. The girl’s mother pulled her into a sitting position and put an asthma inhaler to the girl’s mouth. The girl sucked in the medicine, but immediately started gagging, coughing, and wheezing. It looked like the inhaler was not helping her to breathe easier.

  Frantic, the girl’s coach stood up, and waved her arms. She shouted, “She can’t breathe! She’s having an asthma attack! Call 9-1-1!”

  Mia and her teammates were stunned and silent as they watched the scene unfold. Mia was embarrassed that she had smiled about this at all, that she thought for a second that the itching powder was a funny practical joke.

  “Do you still think it’s a harmless prank?” Mia asked Allison.

  Allison shook her head and looked concerned.

  “What should we do, Coach?” asked Riley.

  “There’s nothing we can do but wait,” said Coach Taylor, whose face was pale. She crossed her arms tightly across her chest and paced back and forth.

  The ambulance arrived within minutes. Paramedics entered the gym, and the Town Ridge gymnast was soon carried out and taken to the hospital. Officials cleared away all of the chalk bins and stands. They replaced them with new, clean bins. They also brought out brand-new buckets of chalk to prove to everyone that the powder was fresh.

  One of the judges then came over the loudspeaker.

  “Attention, everyone. First, I want to apologize to everyone for what happened. We will be investigating this to see if we can identify the person who tainted the chalk and put at least one girl’s health at risk. Second, I want to thank you for being patient while we tended to the Town Ridge gymnasts. We talked to the Town Ridge coaches. They said the girls are definitely rattled …” The announcer paused.

  “Do you think they’ll forfeit?” asked Mia.

  “They’re losers if they do,” said Allison.

  “Girls, please be quiet!” said Coach.

  They all turned their attention back to the official making the announcement.

  The announcer continued, “But they have decided to continue with the competition.”

  Everyone in the gym clapped.

  “Since the gymnasts have been sitting and waiting for a while, we are going to allow everyone to run through warm-ups again before we officially begin,” the announcer concluded.

  Coach Taylor let out a heavy sigh. She turned toward the girls and said, “Adjust and continue. You heard her. Go out and warm up. Clear your heads and get ready to compete.”

  On the bus ride back to Ridgefield Middle School, the girls were quiet despite their win. Celebrating seemed wrong after what had happened to the Town Ridge team.

  Mia sat in the last seat with Riley, far away from Allison. Still, Mia whispered as she spoke because she only wanted her best friend to hear her.

  “I think the music issue at the first meet and the itching powder today are related,” said Mia.

  “You do?” asked Riley. “You don’t think the music mess-up was an honest mistake or technical problem?”

  “I would have, if that was the only thing that happened,” said Mia. “After what happened today, I can’t help but think someone is purposely sabotaging the other teams.”

  “Who would do that?” asked Riley.

  “Allison,” said Mia without hesitation.

  “Come on, Mia. I know you guys don’t get along, and she’s definitely got an edge to her. But do you really think she would go out of her way to do those things?”

  “It doesn’t take much to mess up the music or add itching powder to the bins,” said Mia. “All she would have to do is push some buttons on the music console or toss some powder into the chalk bins as she walked by. It’s so easy. People are crisscrossing the gym all the time. It would be hard to spot someone doing it.”

  “I don’t know, Mia.”

  “Plus, she has that sick sense of humor. She thought it was funny and harmless,” said Mia. She swallowed hard, embarrassed again because she thought that, too, for a moment.

  “At first,” said Riley. “But then she seemed upset that the Town Ridge gymnast had such a bad reaction.”

  “Well, maybe that proves she has a conscience when she goes too far,” said Mia. “Plus, Allison hates to lose. She said it herself.”

  “Nobody likes to lose,” said Riley. “I don’t like to lose, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sabotage other teams. That’s next-level stuff, Mia.”

  “I know,” said Mia. “And I think Allison is capable of next-level stuff. She’s got the temper and nasty attitude. She booed Coach Taylor at the first practice.

  She bawked at me for two whole years. She had zero sympathy for the Mayfield girl when her music cut out. Today, she laughed when the girls were scratching their skin raw.”

  “Well, when you lay it out like that, it makes sense,” said Riley. “But what should we do? Should we say something to Coach?”

  “I don’t know,” said Mia. “We have no evidence. If I say something, Coach might think I’m accusing Allison just because I don’t like her.”

  “True,” said Riley.

  “I guess all we can do is watch her closely from now on,” said Mia. “Maybe she will do or say something that will prove it.”

  CHAPTER 6

  TRUST EXERCISES

  Mia shuffled her feet through light, fluffy snow as she walked the four blocks to the gymnastics training center. She didn’t jog or prance with pointed toes, like she did at the start of the season. Her emotions rose and dipped after what happened at the meet against Town Ridge.

  One minute, she was energized and determined to prove that Allison was behind it all. The next minute, she was depressed and angry that one person’s need to win was ruining her team’s whole season.

 

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