Success at Silver Spires (5 page)

So then I was on my own again. And it actually felt easy. It was amazing because I was the only one who'd sculled this far, although there was another scull approaching rapidly. And as it came nearer, I saw it was Holly. She whipped her head round, noticed me, then turned back again immediately, and I don't know if I imagined it, but she seemed to be rowing even more quickly after that, which made me think she was trying to catch me up.

The gap between us was definitely narrowing, but I surprised myself by feeling suddenly competitive and sculling harder, determined to keep ahead of Holly, and wishing my arms were more powerful, so I could really whizz across the water. I put more energy into the action then, finding exactly the right angle and depth for my blades to push against the water and pull me along with a whoosh.

Holly wasn't gaining on me any more now, and I turned quickly to see how much further I had to go before I reached the buoys. Now they were nearer I could see that they weren't actually shaped at all like balls. I suddenly wished I could go on and on, further and further, I was loving it so much. Every sound seemed just right to me at that moment – the bubbles rippling along the sides of the boat, birds singing somewhere high above me, and, best of all, the soft slap of the blades as they swished through the water. The island was only about fifty metres away, and each time I turned quickly to check I was going in the right direction, I glimpsed the green and brown of the trees and specks of white between them, which must have been the sailing boats we'd seen earlier on the other side of the island.

Suddenly Celia seemed to be spurting along towards me and I realized she'd got a little motor in her boat. “Well done!” she called out to Holly as she passed her. “That's a good confident stroke you've got there!”

“I've done it before, that's why,” said Holly.

“Excellent.” Celia watched her for a few more seconds. “Right, I want you and Sasha to turn round in a minute.”

I slowed down then, and Holly caught up, so the three of us were all in a line, side by side, and it seemed suddenly very quiet because Celia had switched off her motor.

“I don't usually have to come out so far to get people to turn back on their first session! It's good to see such enthusiasm and natural ability from you two!”

Holly didn't say anything, she just turned neatly round. I wasn't quite so quick, because I went the wrong way at first. The boats turn so easily that you have to be careful not to overdo it. But Celia seemed happy with me.

“Nice work. Now if you two need me I'll be helping Izzy and Chloe, but if you're okay just to keep practising going backwards and forwards, that's great.”

I couldn't have begun to tell her how okay I was, so I just nodded hard and smiled like mad as she switched her motor back on and went zooming over to the others, leaving Holly and me alone – two silent scullers in a big stretch of rippling blue-grey water.

Holly didn't look at me at first, but then just for the tiniest moment she glanced across. When our eyes met I gave her a smile, but she lowered her gaze immediately. My perfectly happy time felt somehow a bit less perfect because of that, though I tried not to let it bother me and just kept sculling away, stroke after stroke, concentrating on getting the best possible action. Our silence felt too uncomfortable, though, when we were alone together so far away from the others. I was just wishing I could think of something to say when the perfect thing popped into my head. “Have you noticed we're keeping exactly in time with each other, Holly?”

She didn't reply and neither did she smile, but a moment later I realized our strokes weren't in sync any more and Holly was pulling ahead. Why had she changed her rhythm as soon as I'd mentioned it? It might have been a coincidence. But something told me she'd done it on purpose, and it felt like Holly was the one thing spoiling this lovely day.

“Oh, Holly, you're such a brilliant sculler!” It was Mikki's voice, and it made me realize how close we were to land. Most of the girls' sculls were still on ropes but a few others were on their own now. I caught sight of Izzy's tense pale face, but then a moment later she relaxed into a laugh when a Year Eight, called Georgie, crashed into her.

“Whoops! Sorry, Izzy! Haven't quite got the hang of it yet!”

I was glad that Izzy was managing to enjoy herself, even if sculling wasn't turning out to be her thing. Then I turned round at exactly the same time as Holly and we set off back towards the island. I didn't want to be near her now, though. It was too much of a strain. So I just sculled gently until she was well ahead.

“Whoa! I've got it, Ben! Look!” I heard another Year Eight call. I think her name was Charlotte. It was true, she was sculling really smoothly out towards me. She flicked her head round and broke into a grin when she saw me. “It's such good fun, isn't it!”

So then I slowed down even more and she came alongside me. For a while our strokes were exactly matching, and for some reason it seemed to make it easier to scull.

“Have you noticed,” said Charlotte, as though she was reading my mind, “that when you're in time with another boat, it actually seems to help?”

“Yes, you're right,” I replied, smiling to myself.

It was strange, but being in time with Charlotte felt so different from being in time with Holly. In one way I preferred it with Holly, because I moved faster and worked harder, which was an amazing feeling. But, on the other hand, it was an easy, friendly silence with Charlotte, and I could just tell she was enjoying herself.

“It's nice when you find you're good at something that you weren't expecting to be good at, isn't it?” she suddenly said.

I grinned and nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. And that was when I looked up and realized that Mrs. Ansell had taken a photo of us.

On the way back to school in the minibus, my emotions got all mixed up. Most of me was feeling really happy that I'd enjoyed the morning so much. Charlotte's words were still buzzing away in my mind –
It's nice when you find you're good at something that you weren't expecting to be good at
. On the other hand, I could already feel my happiness seeping away, because I didn't think I could bear to wait for the next sculling session. At least it was only three days away, as there was a mid-week session on Wednesday.

But something else was tugging at my happiness. In a word, Holly.

“I don't think she likes me,” I said to Izzy in a whisper.

“That's because she thought she was going to be the best sculler and get all the attention, and you've come along and spoiled everything!” Izzy replied. “I'm quite glad actually. She shouldn't be such a show-off!”

The main thing that was worrying me was that at the end of the session I'd heard Holly asking Ryan when she could go in a quad scull as she'd sculled before and didn't want to get bored. And she also asked if she could choose which people could go with her. She'd quickly added that she thought it should be Mikki, Charlotte, Tilly and Caitlin. I was a bit confused because she'd named four people plus herself, so why was it called a quad, when surely that meant four people altogether? I hung about waiting to hear what Ryan would say and got a shock when I heard his reply. “There's one name you've missed out there. And that's Sasha. But, anyway, it's early days yet. Give it time. People need to get much more practice on their own.”

“I hope I don't have to go in a quad scull with Holly,” I said to Izzy anxiously.

“You could tell Ryan you'd rather stay in a single,” said Izzy, frowning.

“But what if I don't get a choice?”

“Don't worry about it now, Sasha. Wait till it actually happens. Ryan said give it time, didn't he? So it definitely won't be in Wednesday's session.”

Izzy was right. I ought to concentrate on happy thoughts. “Guess what, Izzy?”

“What?”

“I'm so pleased that I've found something I'm quite good at…”

“
Very
good at, you mean!”

I gave Izzy a grateful smile for saying that. “And I'm determined to get as strong as I can this week by having my induction at the gym as soon as possible. Then I'll go to the gym every day and use the rowing machine, so hopefully I'll be even better next time. I'm going to try and find Mrs. Truman as soon as we get back.”

“She might not be there. It's Sunday, remember,” Izzy pointed out.

“But if she
is
there, just think, I could be rowing again this afternoon, and all I'll need to do is close my eyes and imagine I'm in a proper scull, not sitting on a machine!”

Izzy was frowning. “I don't think you ought to go to the gym so soon after you've been rowing though, Sasha. That might be too much for your arm muscles when you're not used to using them. I know with ballet training you have to build up your training gradually until your muscles are used to being stretched. I guess it's the same with rowing.”

She's very wise, my best friend. And she was right. I would start the next day.

The others were so happy for me when Izzy and I told them all about our morning at Pollington Water. It was lunchtime and we already felt buzzy, because there's something about the grand Silver Spires dining hall and the delicious food on the menu every day that gives you a lovely warm feeling of being part of a massive family.

“Good old Sash!” said Emily, hearing our news. “You're a dark horse, aren't you!”

Antonia had been concentrating hard all the time that Izzy and I had been talking and I guessed she was trying to take in the various technical terms we used to explain everything about sculling. But her eyes shot wide open when Emily said I was a dark horse.

“It's an expression that means you've been keeping it secret that you're actually really good at something,” explained Nicole.

“Except that I didn't even know I was any good at sculling until today!” I laughed.

“Not like Queen Holly!” said Izzy, lowering her voice.

The other four leaned forwards and Emily planted her elbows on the table, as Izzy told them in a low voice how good Holly was, but also how we didn't think she liked anyone else being quite as good as her.

“I can't stand show-offs,” said Emily.

Bryony sighed and rolled her eyes. “She should realize that it's all about teamwork,” she said simply.

“Well, she might
have
to next weekend because she's asked Ryan if she can go in a quad scull with Mikki, Charlotte, Tilly and Caitlin,” said Izzy.

“A quad scull? Don't you mean a
quin
scull if it takes five altogether?” said Nicole.

“I don't think there's such a thing as a quin scull,” I said, closing my eyes to get a picture of the boathouse to try and recall if there were any boats for five people in there. Come to think of it, I couldn't picture any stable quads either, and I was wondering if there even
was
such a thing. If it was a racing quad, surely it would be much too difficult for us. That made me nervous again until I remembered, with a little rush of excitement, that I was going to have a nice long chat with Mum and Dad straight after lunch, to tell them all my news. I couldn't wait.

On Monday morning I got up and dressed in tracky bums, T-shirt and trainers, packed my school uniform in my PE bag and had my school bag ready, all by quarter past seven.

“See you at breakfast!” I said to the others, as I rushed out of the dorm.

“My goodness! Someone's got the wind in their sails this morning!” said Matron, leaning over the banister as I ran downstairs.

“Going to the gym, Matron!” I called back. “Got an induction!”

“Oh! Happy induction then! Do a bit of jogging for me, won't you!”

Matron is such a friendly, jokey person. We're really lucky to have her at Forest Ash. I was smiling to myself about what she'd said as I hurried over to the sports block. I'd never heard of having the wind in your sails before, but I guessed it meant I was whizzing along really quickly. I liked that expression. If only it mentioned sculls instead of sails it would have been perfect.

The day before, I'd asked Mrs. Pridham if she thought I'd be able to book an induction at the gym, and she'd said I should ask Miss Vernon, who is actually in charge of the gym, and who should be around on a Sunday because she is the assistant housemistress at Elmhurst. I'd kept my fingers crossed as I'd run all the way to Elmhurst, but when I'd finally found my way to Miss Vernon's room I'd suddenly felt really nervous, wondering whether she'd think I was a bit cheeky coming to find her at the weekend. When I'd knocked she'd come to the door and given me a nice smile, then looked puzzled, probably because I was from a different house. But once I'd explained in a big gabble what I was there for, she'd nodded and smiled again, then invited me in to her room – which looked like more of a small flat – while she found her gym rota. I'd been so happy when I'd booked the only free spot in the whole of Monday – seven thirty in the morning.