Read Online Balance (Off Balance Book 1) by Lucia Franco - Free Book Online Page A

three months alone, or to train long hours in the gym without any parental supervision. The gym became our second home. The coaches were extremely close to the parents, which put them at ease when it came time to leave their kids. Plus, we were never completely alone, there was always an adult around, a friend or a mom to help out. While we thought nothing of it, to the outside world, I was sure it looked like neglect.
    “How old are you?”
    She tightened her wristband, her eyes focused on the movement of her fingers. “Almost seventeen.”
    “Oh—” My voice heightened. “Wow. So you’ve been here for a year on your own?”
    An innocent smile spread across her baby face as she looked back up at me. “I know it’s crazy being away from family, and hard at times, but you get used to it. Luckily, they understand our love of the sport and allowed us to stay. But it doesn’t come easy. My parents still live in the townhouse in Ohio and took out a second mortgage so we can continue to train and compete here.
    “Last year we had a girl, Sage, she was incredible, better than all of us and had future Olympian written all over her. Her form was impeccable and she was only nine years old. We used to watch her in awe, but unfortunately, her parents couldn’t afford to live in two different places anymore. She has an older brother and it wasn’t fair to him, so they packed up and went home to Washington. She cried, we all did. Seeing that made me realize how fortunate I am to be here. I don’t know if she’s training anymore though...hopefully she is. She was too good not to.”
    “Holly. You are up,” Coach announced.
    Holly smiled brightly. “See you later...and good luck.”
    While Holly geared up, I stripped the grips from my wrists and made my way to vault where a pair of brown eyes stood watching.
    “Hey, Reagan,” I said, being friendly. I was looking forward to making team friends.
    She turned to me, paused, then said, “Hey.”
    I wasn’t sure why, but I got the impression she wasn’t a fan of me being here, which kind of bothered me. Team girls were just that—a unified team. We worked together, were like sisters, and usually had an unbreakable bond. I had a good team of girls back home who supported each other to the end, so I expected to have the same here.
    “How long have you been on the team?”
    “I’ve been with World Cup since I could walk,” she responded hastily without picking her head up from the chalk bowl. “My family is actually from Cape Coral. I’m not a transfer.”
    Then she gave me her back and geared up to take her vault. I watched as Reagan performed an Amanar, landing almost perfectly without the slightest movement, not even a balance check. My eyebrows hit my hairline over her nearly perfect vault. Knowing I was next, I looked around for Kova to see where he was and noticed his eyes trained on her. Holy hell...there was a smile on his face. I mean, there should’ve been with that vault, but he didn’t seem like the type to ever crack a grin. Reagan beamed at him and walked to the end of the vault runway with confidence in her stride.
    I’d been practicing a double-twisting Yurchenko. Unfortunately, I almost always took a step once I landed, which earned me deductions. Most gymnasts took a step or a hop. It was hard not to with all the power and momentum forcefully flying out of us.
    My best bet would be to work on my alternate vault, but I wasn’t crazy about anything front flipping, so I avoided them as much as possible. I wasn’t a lazy gymnast, they just made me uneasy turning in the air in that direction. Not to mention, a blind landing was risky because I didn’t want to hyperextend my knees.
    But with that bizarre conditioning of bouncing on your knees Coach had us doing earlier, I was almost positive I was training my knees for hyperextension anyway.
    “That was incredible!” I said to her excitedly. While it was becoming more popular, an Amanar was one of the