Page 36 of Salto

A completely new place with new coaches sent my nervous system into overdrive; my body was humming, my heart racing despite not even having done anything yet.

There wasn’t space for hesitation. It was like my body knew it was being evaluated and would be asked to do the unexpected.

We started with beam warmups, and soon each beam became a station. The last beam was with Hana, where she watched us one-on-one. I worked on my switch leap pass for a while until it was my turn to be evaluated.

She looked me up and down when I came over, assessing my frame, and then she gave a curt nod.

“Name?”

“Scarlet Hale,” I said quickly.

“Let’s see a layout step out,” she said. “Two connected.”

I sucked in a breath and nodded. Alright then. Into the deep end it is.

The thing was, I hadn’t been expecting to be doing this. I’d done the skill before. But it had been years.

It sent an electrifying thrill through me, trying something I hadn’t allowed my body to do since I was seventeen.

I reached up, arms above my head, squeezed every part of my body, pictured the skill in my head, The Code diagram flashing in my mind like a perfect photograph.

It was like jumping off a tall building. My stomach clenched with adrenaline, and oddly enough, I almost smiled.

What was wrong with me?

Somehow I barely hesitated before jumping back into the double layout step-out series, landing it without a wobble.

When I landed, I felt a small twinge in my back, but there was something in my chest that opened simultaneously, smothering any pain I felt and replacing it with pure satisfaction.

I looked at Hana.

She didn't smile or anything, but she nodded. With a notepad in hand, she scribbled something down.

“You met the height, but I think you could get even more,” she said.

I’d take it.

Then she told me to go and practice dismounts into the pit.

I did double pike dismounts until I almost felt dizzy, which was nearly impossible for me. I was moving my body in ways I hadn’t in so long. By the time the beam rotation ended, it almost felt too soon. I wanted to keep going.

Let my world spin, I thought. Let me spin until I can’t see straight anymore.

Just let me feel this way forever.

Vanta called out across the gym to rotate, and that’s when Hana told us our next event.

“Head to bars,” she instructed.

The euphoria I felt during that first rotation was tempered a bit when I realized I was going to bars with Rove.

Something took over my excitement, a nervousness that had nothing to do with the skills I was about to attempt.

Rove was up on a spotting block on the high bar, and a few strands of hair had fallen out of his ponytail and into his face. He tucked the stray strands behind one ear and smiled at us briefly when we all came over to him.

“Alright, let’s start with some straddle Jaegers, then we’ll try some Paks, and lastly, I’d like to have some of you attempt Tkatchevs.”

Tkatchevs. Today?