Letters to Nowhere(96)

I took every handstand right to the edge of tipping over, and I caught my layout Jaeger, completely stretched, by the very tips of my fingers. I had a tiny step on my double front dismount.

When I turned around to see Bentley’s reaction, he had a hand to his chest. After I made it back to the bench, he said, “You gave me a heart attack on those handstands. I think if Stacey had breathed a little harder from the other side, you would have fallen over.”

I grinned at him and loved the fact that he had made me do something that made him extremely nervous. Served him right. He should have to suffer a little for those extra turns he made me do.

Before beam, Stacey stood beside me, rubbing my arms, loosening me up. “Nina said I need to be more artistic. I’m not sure how to fix that today.”

“It just means energy,” she said. “That comes from somewhere other than your limbs.”

My beam routine was even better than the one I had done in Houston at the last camp, especially since I didn’t collapse into a panic attack this time, and I landed my tucked full with my chest higher. As soon as my feet hit the mat after my double pike, I saw Stacey, of all people, bawling her eyes out.

Stevie, Blair, Ellen, and I had no idea what to say. She made us huddle together and hug her and then she finally mumbled, “That’s the first time none of you have fallen off beam in a meet. I’m so proud. All four of you had bad feet and terrible leaps years ago. We’ve come a long way.”

I smiled down at the floor, not wanting to rain on Stacey’s moment by laughing. But it was pretty obvious she and I would never have the serious chat about philosophical aspects of life and death like I’d had with Bentley. Stacey was gymnastics. She was exactly like me before I lost my parents—a one–track gymnastics mind.

The only score I looked at all day was floor, since that was my last event, and it was the highest floor score I’d ever gotten. When they flashed the meet results, I ended up second and Stevie placed third. Ellen won the juniors and Blair was fifth. I’d fulfilled half of my deal with Bentley by placing second, but today’s scores were only a part of the Pan Am equation, and we had to wait for those results to be announced whenever the committee finished talking about us.

On my way to the bathroom, Jordan found me and picked me up, giving me a huge hug. “You were so awesome!”

“I’m so glad you didn’t go home,” I said into his neck.

“You’ve never stuck that vault before, have you?” he asked.

“No way. I almost fainted.”

“I think my dad did, too.” He set me down on the ground again and kissed me. “Go wherever you were headed before I get you in trouble again.”

He gave me a nudge in the direction of the arena, and when I returned to my teammates it was time for them to announce the Pan Am team.

Ellen’s name was announced first. Then Blair, which got a huge yelp from all of us. In fifth place, she’d been right on the bubble, taking that last spot. Then Stevie’s name was announced for the Senior Team, followed by three other girls. I held my breath and crossed all my fingers behind my back. And then Nina Jones herself spoke into the microphone and said my name.

Karen Campbell.

When I walked up to get my flowers and plaque, I heard Nina announce Bentley as the Team USA coach for the senior girls. Even though it was more Coach Cordes’s style to give the giant bear hugs, I got one from Bentley today. And then he said, right into my ear, so only I could hear, “It’s just the beginning, Karen.”

The beginning. I like that.





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Acknowledgements


I just want to take a moment to thank all the readers who picked up this book; Letters to Nowhere is truly the book of my heart and it means so much to me that readers are willing to go on this journey with me. Thanks to those who followed me from the Tempest series all the way into the depths of a contemporary story, very much lacking in time travel and hand-to-hand combat.

A special thanks to all my early beta readers (would love to name each of you but I’m determined to keep this short) who read and supported Karen’s story long before I had any idea what to do with this book. I value each and every one of you for your time and your feedback. I hope you see bits of your efforts sprinkled throughout this manuscript.

Thanks to the amazing, intelligent and meticulous efforts of my copyeditor and proof reader. Also thanks to the gymnastics community for being some of the most passionate and dedicated people in the entire world.





About the author



Julie Cross is the International Bestselling author of the Tempest series, a young adult science fiction trilogy which includes Tempest, Vortex, and the final installment, Timestorm (St. Martin’s Press). She’s also the author of Letters to Nowhere (8/13), a mature young adult romance set in the world of elite gymnastics, as well as several forthcoming young adult and new adult novels with publishers like Entangled, Sourcebooks, HarperCollins, and St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne Books.