Gymnastia

So, my friend Megan and I were extremely bored, so we decided to write a book/story about Nastia and her life. Here's the first part. We have almost 9 pages so far..woot. I'll post the whole thing here when we're done with it.


Gymnastia
Written By:
Megan
and
Meredith



“But Daddyyyy…” she whined, pouting as best she could while holding her handstand, “I’ve been up here for ten minutes!” Valeri shook his head, turning away from his daughter. “Fine then, give up. Go ahead, quit. Right now, other gymnasts are getting better…better than you. But if you have your heart set on it, quit right now.” Groaning, she released her grip on the high bar, plopping down and landing perfectly on two feet. "I could barely feel anything anymore…the blood was rushing to my head…I couldn’t breathe!” Valeri rolled his eyes, disregarding his daughter’s comment almost entirely. “You breathe through your nose, not your mouth. Enough with the excuses! I know you can do this, you’re just being lazy.” Doing her best to maintain her composure, Nastia simply stared at her father before stomping off towards the office, slamming the door at Valeri as she did so. Valeri softened his expression to look his daughter straight in the eye. "Please... don't make all this work for nothing. I can't go through that again...especially not with you." " I love your confidence in me..." Nastia retorted. "Vanessa was afraid of you, if that's who you're referring to." "A great coach has to be feared, not loved." Valeri came back with a slight smirk in his eyes. Nastia turned to face him, glaring. "A great father has to be behind his daughter, no matter what." Nastia shot back at him, crossing her arms."In the gym, I am your coach. At home with Anna, I am your father and everything else is left behind." Valeri stated. "But, don't you get it yet?!" Nastia exclaimed, dropping her grips onto the blue padded floor. "You're not there for me at home! If I make one mistake here", she gestured at the gym, waving her arms, "Then you DON'T leave it behind. You just want to loom on mistakes. Dad, I miss when gymnastics was fun." Nastia finished, walking out of the gym, tears welling in her eyes, replaying what she had just said in her mind. Valeri sighed, following her out the door. "Nastia, get back in here. We need to talk about this, you can't just run away from me like that." Nastia laughed sarcastically and kept walking, kicking the tire on her father's SUV as she passed it. "You're full of crap, Dad. I'm not perfect, I'm horrible, I get it. I'm the biggest disappointment in your life, you've made that clear." she said through silent tears. "And you can have your damn convertable back, too." Nastia turned around and told her father. "I don't want to be associated with you." Nastia walked down the sidewalk, ignoring her father's calls telling her to come back. "They didn't even want me in gymnastics in the first place." Nastia thought to herself, wondering why she ever pursued the sport. When she arrived home, she saw that the mail had arrived. She saw a note for her as she rifled through all the bills. After running up the stairs to her room and cuddling her cat, Goldy, she opened the letter. Dear Nastia, it read. I think you're an amazing gymnast and that you really are an inspiration to every young gymnast. You always have beautiful artistry in everything you do, which really helps improve the sport of gymnastics while it's focused on difficulty. I wanted to tell you that I'm one of your biggest fans. Bye! Love, Haley. Nastia read the letter 2 more times, and then finally folded it, up tears welling in her eyes. "I can't give this up." She remembered the love of the sport from when she wanted to sleep in her leotard, thinking it would give her great gymnastics dream. She remembered the fear, the frustration, and everything else in between that pushed her farther and farther to become who she was today. Nastia Liukin. Elite Gymnast, Olympic Hopeful. She was going to do this. Nastia placed the letter on her desk and gathered her gym bag again. She tried to enter the gym as quietly as possible, hoping her father wouldn't hear her enter. She placed her bag against the wall and walked out onto the floor, playing her floor music in her head, she began to dance. She didn't bother to open her eyes and just let her body move her to where she belonged... on the floor, on the mat, doing what she loved most. she felt the stress of 14 years of hard work and dedication peel off as she continued the routine, unaware of her father watching from the office window. She finished with a quad twist and went to sit against the far wall, by the pit, pulling her knees up and resting her head against them. She felt her eyes begin to water again as she thought about all of the work and effort she put into the sport she loved so much. This was her life. Valeri approached his daughter slowly. Once he had reached her, he placed a hand on her back and began to rub. "You see it now, don't you babygirl. I do everything to motivate you. I love you more than anything in the world. I want you to achieve your goals, not mine." Valeri told his only daughter, with tears making their way towards the front of his eyes. "You can do whatever you want to do in the sport, babygirl." He told her, calling her her favroite pet name again. "Dream as far and wide as you want. Everything is within your reach. I'm just here to help you grasp it. This is all you." Nastia lifted up her head, and looked at her father. Words were not needed as the held each other in a tight embrace. "I'm sorry, Daddy." Nastia whispered, tears once again flowing steadily down her cheeks. "I didn't want to hurt you." Returning back to normal after they had talked for about 10 minutes, Nastia was ready to go. Calling to her father, she exclaimed, "Oh, Daddy, and by the way..." Valeri turned around to face his daughter. "I'm not doing conditioning." Nastia finished with a giggle, and ran off to do a front tuck into WOGA's pit.

Excerpt Copyright (C) 2008 Megan (Name withheld for safety) and Meredith (Name withheld for safety), All plot lines, story titles and characters portrayed are property of Megan and Meredith.