A Simple Twist of Fate
“Well today’s a very big day Isabelle! Today is the day you get that huge cast off,” exclaims Dr. Anderson in his booming voice.
“Yeah, I’m extremely excited! My arm will feel so much lighter!”
I remember the day clear as can be. We were on our 3rd event, floor. Floor has always been my best and favorite event, but not that day. I stepped onto the soft, blue, spongy but firm floor, and prepared for my double full. Set, twist, spot. I took my first three running steps, as the springs bounced beneath me. Then I reached down for my roundoff, and arched backwards into my backhandspring. As I set for my double full, something was off. When I made it around, 360º, I noticed I set too far back and I wouldn’t land correctly. When I finished my double full, 720º twist, I was still in the air. I had too much momentum for the skill. I landed and my body hit the floor. Unfortunately when I landed I made the mistake of putting my arm behind me. When I looked down, my arm was turning purplish blue and starting to swell like a balloon.
“How long should I take to recover from my injury?” I ask.
“You should take a week and a half to recover, then you can start going to gymnastics again.”
“Woo-hoo!” Yells my twin sister, as she jumps up and down.
I had almost forgotten Ivy was here with my mom, that was until she started to scream and jump. As the doctor removes my lime green cast, the weight on my shoulders gets heavier and heavier, thinking about gymnastics. How am I going to tell them I didn’t want to do gymnastics anymore?

On the car ride home, it was pretty silent, you could’ve heard a pin drop. But when we were supposed to turn left onto High Ridge Road, we all of a sudden kept going straight onto Golf Road.
“Mom, what are you doing? Aren’t we going home?”
“We just need to make a quick stop.” She replies.
As we kept driving on the long bumpy road, the thought of gymnastics popped into my mind again. I still wasn’t 100% sure I wanted to quit, but after my injury I lost the love for gymnastics. But I loved doing gymnastics with Ivy, competition was always our favorite. Seeing who beat each other at the meets was always fun! But if I quit, that would all end. I can still remember when we were in team 8, we were competing at the Harley Davidson meet, which was always hosted by Midwest Twisters Gymnastics. We both had one of the best meets of our life! When the awards came to the 12 year old division, Ivy and I were ecstatic. They started with 15th, then 14th, and so on for the all around. Then came 2nd and 1st place…
“And we have a tie for 1st place! But, receiving the 2nd place trophy is, Isabelle Owens!” The announcer shouts through the microphone.
If I wouldn’t have taken a step on my dismount I could’ve beaten Ivy by 0.025 on beam, and then beaten her in the all around! But even though I didn’t take 1st, it was one of the best moments of my life because I got to stand on the first place podium with not only my twin sister, but my best friend.
“Alright, we’re here!” Mom says.
“Why are we at Salto Gymnastics? We don’t have practice.”
I get out of the car and smell the fresh, cool air of fall arriving. My hands are starting to sweat, and I keep biting the inside of my cheek. I was thinking about the decision I was planning to make about gymnastics… We walk through the front doors of the wide tan building and into the gym. Then I am taken by surprise when a noise as loud as a crowd at a concert yells,
“Surprise!”
“Ahhh!” Escapes a scream from my mouth because of the shock.
As soon as I know it, I’m flooded with questions, hugs, and welcome backs. After 30 minutes or so, some girls brought out a cake with green sprinkles, and vanilla frosting, my favorite. After eating the cake and lots of catching up with my teammates, that I’ve missed like crazy, everyone starts to leave, eventually we do too after thanking the coaches for the very nice party. After seeing my coaches and teammates, I couldn’t make my final decision. But, deep down I knew what I was pulling towards.

“Ivy, I need to tell you something.” I say tapping my fingers on the table.
“Yeah, what is it Izzy?”
“Um...well, I...I think I want to quit gymnastics.” As I look down to avoid eye contact.
“What!” she shrieks.
“Not being in gymnastics this long has made me lose the love for the sport. I’ll miss being in gymnastics with you, I don’t think I’ll be able to get all my strength and skills back.”
“I understand, it just makes me sad that we won’t be able to do the sport together. Are you sure you want to make this decision?” She asks.
“Yeah, I’ve given this a lot of thought.”
After talking about the decision about gymnastics, for awhile, my stomach growled like a monster. We looked at each other, and smiled. We didn’t even have to say anything before we ran downstairs and pulled out the sprinkles, chocolate syrup, and ice cream.
“Mmmm, this is so good!” Ivy says with a mouthful of sundae in her mouth. “Yeah, I haven’t had a sundae in forever!” I reply.
As we finish up our sundaes and clean our dishes, mom comes into the kitchen. She has sweat marks on her shirts, and her earbuds in listening to music. It takes her a few seconds to realize we were standing there, observing her, snickering.
“Oh, hi girls. What are you doing?”
“We just finished our sundaes and just talked for awhile.” I say.
“Yum, that sounds delicious. What were you talking about?”
“Mom, I have to tell you something. I’m quitting gymnastics.”
“Oh...wow! Are you sure you want to quit?”
“Yeah, I’ve just lost the love for the sport.”
It was time to find a new hobby that I would love just as much as gymnastics. Which is going to be hard since gymnastics is the only thing I’ve ever done.

“Hey Isabelle, I saw a flyer up at school today,” declares mom as she walks through the door.
“Oh yeah. What was it about?”
“It said that math club is starting today. I had a thought that you might want to join?”
“Sure!”
As we get in the car to go to school, I grab my Vera Bradley backpack and lunch box. Ivy grabs her Under Armour backpack, she decided she wanted to take hot lunch today. After the 15 minute car ride to North Shore Middle School, we jump out of the car.
“Okay, bye girls, have fun learning! I’ll pick you up around 2:30. And Isabelle I’ll pick you up at 3:30 after math club.”
“Okay, bye mom! Love you.” We yell as we walk to the front of the building of NSMS.

After our 8 hour school day I am exhausted. Yet, I still have to go to math club.
“Bye Ivy! Have fun at gymnastics.”
“Bye, Izzy, I’ll miss you at practice! Have fun with the geeks!” she says mockingly, but in a loving way.
As I twist my face and stick my tongue out at Ivy, I turn and walk down the hallway that feels like it will never end. ‘What if I’m not smart enough? What if they make fun of me?’ I’m very nervous and excited at the same time. Why are there nervous thoughts? I finally reach the room 528, Mrs. Swoll’s math room. I expected the room to be jam packed with dozens of kids, but instead there are only about 8 other kids, including me! I wasn’t sure I was even in the right room.
“Um, hello? I’m Isabelle Owens. I was wondering if I’m in the right room for the math club?”
“Yes you are! Sit by anyone you’d like. We were just starting calculus.”
I choose to sit next to a skinny, tall, brown haired, bright blue eyed girl named Ingrid. She was actually really pretty, but she must be really smart, because she was doing calculus, the same as me.
“Alright mathletes! Our first competition will be in 10 days! This is the most important competition because you can qualify for the state math team. They only choose 2 students from each school!” announces Mrs. Swoll.
That made me so nervous, my hands were sweating, and my face was turning as red as a tomato. I wasn’t sure I was smart enough to make the state team.

As I get in the car, mom asks how math club was. I tell her how we did calculus and it was really fun, and I want to keep doing math club. I tell her how I’m nervous to compete because I really wanted to do well. She tells me to suck it up because she knows I am smart enough to make the state team, with that remark she made me have an uncontrollable grin on my face. So, everyday I train really hard for the math meet, going to math club everyday, and I finally felt prepared to compete in the meet. It was just like gymnastics in a way. You practice really hard, and when you don’t get it right then you try until you find the right answer. And then all your hard work is put to the test with a competition. I wait and wait for the day to come and it was finally here.

“Alright Izzy! Get in the car! We’re going to be late if you don’t hurry up!” hollers mom from the garage.
“Okay! Be there in a second!” I shout while I run down the stairs and grab a granola bar for the math meet.
When I turn the corner to enter the garage, I see dad’s white Chevy Cruze. Dad’s home, he’s never home this early. I go to our black suburban and there dad is, right in the front seat next to mom! Once he sees me he gives me two thumbs up with a smile as long as a mile, and Ivy’s in the back seat grinning. I’m filled with relief when I see them, but I still have a million butterflies in my stomach, and my hands are still sweating, I’m super nervous for this math competition and there’s no doubt about that…

“Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls! The top qualifiers for the state math team are…”
As all the kids getting called up from North Lake, Richmond, Lake Country, Merton, Stone Bank, Swallow, and way more schools than I’ve ever heard of. I am super anxious to hear if I made the state team.
“And our last two qualifiers for the state team from North Shore Middle School are, Ingrid Blanch and Isabelle Owens!”
In that moment I was ecstatic, screaming with surprise, unable to move. It’s like I was paralyzed with joy.
“Yay! Go Izzy!” Yell my entire family as they jump up and down swinging their arms up in the air.
“I qualified! I can’t believe this!” I yell with shock and happiness, while my cheeks turn rosey red.
Today I learned that if you don’t try new things you won’t ever find out if you like a different hobby. Because of today I learned that math is my new favorite hobby, and I made the state team.