Over the weekend, Gemma still felt sore and tired. She lay on the couch watching TV until her mum turned it off. Then Gemma lay on the couch watching nothing.

Her body felt exhausted. But more than that, her mind felt exhausted too. She was tired of feeling sorry for kicking Michael. She was tired of trying hard. She was tired of everything.

Slowly Gemma dozed off, and woke up to see her mum standing over her, holding a sandwich.

‘Hungry?’ asked Gemma’s mum.

Gemma sat up. As she started eating, she realised that she was very hungry. Vegemite on fresh white bread tasted great.

After a while her mum said, ‘Hey, why don’t you put on your favourite DVD? You know, that Olympics one?’ She winked. ‘I can tell you’ve been working hard at gym.’

‘Great idea. Thanks, Mum.’ Gemma jumped up to find the DVD. Suddenly she didn’t feel quite so tired.

The DVD showed the world’s top gymnasts competing in the individual finals. Gemma had watched it so many times, she felt like she knew all of the routines by heart.

But today the routines looked different. Where she used to just watch with her mouth open in wonder, now she understood what was happening. Gemma could already do some of the simple moves herself. She could even tell where the gymnasts lost marks.

Gemma smiled. She had learnt so much since starting level six.

Then, as she watched one of her favourite gymnasts on beam, Gemma noticed something.

She stopped the DVD and pressed rewind.

There it was again – a change-leap. Just like the one Gemma did in her own floor routine, except on beam.

That started Gemma thinking.

She already had a split-leap in her beam routine. Could she do a change-leap instead? Could she leap high enough to land safely on the beam?

Gemma stood up and marked out a line on the lounge-room floor. She tried the leap – run, run, change …

No.

Gemma landed in a crumpled heap. She hardly had enough time to split her legs, let alone swap them for a second split. She would have to jump much higher than that to do a change-leap on beam.

Gemma replayed the DVD back again. She watched closer than ever before.

Her mind buzzed with the new idea.

If Gemma could do a really good beam routine, then maybe Michael would forgive her for kicking him. If she could be extra good on beam, then she wouldn’t always be yelled at. She wouldn’t always be the worst gymnast.

But how could she leap high enough to swap her legs in the air?

She tried the leap again. This time, Gemma tried to leap extra high.

As she ran into the leap, her arm flew to the side and hit the TV cabinet.

Thwack!

Gemma rubbed her arm. Ouch.

‘Everything OK?’ Gemma’s mum asked from the kitchen.

‘Just trying a few things out,’ said Gemma.

Her mum walked into the room and picked up a glass vase. ‘Just like the good old days,’ she said as she walked out of the room with the vase.