Hi! I'm Katie Phillips. I'm a 15 year old gymnast! The best in my class. My sister thinks I'm a big show-off - says the girl who cried when she got a 95 on a test. She's also the girl who won a horse competition with a broken leg, and fractured index finger. Anyway, here's my story!

"That's it, Katie! A little more," My gymnastics instructor, Carla said. I held my hand stand for a minute before removing my right hand from the equation. I know what you're thinking. "That is so easy everyone must be really bad if she's the best in her class." This is the easiest thing I can do that they are still teaching. Most people struggle with it. I flipped over into a bridge, and then grabbed

both my ankles with their opposing hands, and twisted my back. "Great job, Katie!" Carla called walking over to me. A few of the other people in my class applauded, the others continued with their work. Blushing, I flipped over into a back bend, and kicked my legs over my head. "Alright, ready to head over to the beam?" Carla asked. "Yep," I said walking over to the beam and climbing on.

"How was your class?" My best friend, Lily asked. "Great, how was yours?" I asked. She does dance. Not ballet, I don't remember what it's called. "It was pretty bad," She admitted. "This girl sprained her ankle, so she can't participate for a few months." I grimaced. "Ouch." Lily nodded. "The teacher said I improved a lot since last week, so that's good."

Later that night at home, my sister was - big surprise - bragging about her horse show coming up. "And you ALL have to come!" She insisted. "Even you," she said to me, faking a smile. "When is it?" She rolled her eyes as if I was supposed to know. "Friday, at four." That's when my next gymnastics class is - Fridays, and Wednesays. "Can't," I admitted trying to hide my happiness.

"What? Yes you can," Ellie insisted. "I can't," I said again. "I have gymnastics that day." Ellie groaned. "You can skip ONE day!" I rolled my eyes. "Just like you skipped a day of practice for my show." Ellie sighed. "That's different! Horse back riding is actually important, and unlike you and gymnastics, I'm good at it." I faked a smile. "Sure," I said. She looked happy. "I'll come when your interests matter to me."

A few days later, on Friday, everyone seemed too happy when I walked into the gym. "What's going on?" A girl a few years younger turned to me. "A few people are moving up!" I grinned. "Wow! One of them is you, for sure! You've made a lot of progress." She smiled back at me. "Thanks! You too." Carla walked out of the storage room, and clapped her hands.

"Alright girls!" She called. "There are 5 out of the seven of you moving up. We have 3 more girls joining us next week, so we won't have a tiny class." She pulled out a piece of paper, and started reading names off of it. "Emma, Lola, Kayla, Katie, and lastly..." She paused. The girl I had been talking to, (Maya) hadn't been called. "And before I call the last name, I want everyone to know they all did great and improved greatly."

"Now then," She continued. "The last person moving up is..." She smiled and read the last name off her paper. "Maya! Congratulations!" Everybody clapped, and I'm sure I saw Maria scowl at Maya. "It should have been me," She muttered as she walked by Maya to the bars, plastering a fake smile on her face.

"She's wrong you know," I said to Maya. She turned around. "I know." She said. "Carla knows what she's doing. There's a reason I moved up." She smiled at me. "And I'm going to prove Maria wrong. Carla doesn't make mistakes when it comes to gymnastics." I laughed. "But anything else - god forbid - she does correctly." I grimaced, causing Maya to laugh. "Thanks," She said walking towards Carla to talk to her.

"How was your show?" I asked Ellie, washing my hands. "You wouldn't know," She said. "You weren't there." I sighed turning the water off. "Why do you think I'm asking?" She looked up. "Horrible. I fell off my horse - TWICE!" Oh wow, how HORRIBLE. Not like that's happened before, I thought. "Oh. I'm sorry." She rolled her eyes. "It's not like falling off a beam, by the way. It's humiliating." She said.

I snorted. "Right. As if falling in gymnastics isn't embarrassing." She pushed her chair in dramatically. "It isn't!" I dropped my bag on the ground. "You've never experienced it!" She slapped her leg. "YOU'VE NEVER FALLEN OFF A HORSE!" Okay. That's it. She's always acted like gymnastics is so easy. I'm DONE. "THAT'S BECAUSE I'M NOT A FAILURE!" She looked stunned. I'm not even sorry. "Well then." She said, swallowing.

"Dinner's ready," My mom called to us. She was used to our banter, but she looked flushed and angry when we walked in. "Did you call your sister a failure?" She asked turning to Ellie. "No! She-" My mom put her hand up. "I don't want to hear it," She said. "You're grounded." Ellie looked at me angrily. "Wait! For just tonight, right? We have practice tomorrow." Ellie looked at our mother in desperation. "For a week."

My mom said. I quietly sat down, a sliver of guilt creeping into my mind. "Where's dad?" I asked. "He's buying groceries he'll be home later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night, I heard my parents whisper-fighting downstairs. I got up and crept to the stairs to listen. "I can't believe you, Rob!" my mom yelled. "What have I done!?" My father sighed loudly. "Shush! You'll wake the kids!"