Whipping out my phone, I changed the playlist to the new one Alice set up for our gymnastics practice as I walked into the basement-turned-gym. Emmett and I made a deal with Alice that she could claim the basement as gymnastics practice if football was in offseason. Otherwise, the basement was ours.
Glancing at the impromptu trophy case Alice had placed in front of the wall across from the door, I rolled my eyes. My sister had to put motivation in the room where I rarely spent any time during offseason. Heading over to the balance beam, I took a deep breath before beginning my routine. Alice was insistent that I learned gymnastics at the age of two. Seventeen years later, she still forces it on me, but gave me the freedom to work out my routines and music for floor, as long as I put up with what she put on me leotard wise.
Finishing my routine, I began the dismount Alice suggested I do. It upped the difficulty of my routine, but this was the first time I attempted it. Staring at the beam, I cartwheeled across, finally pushing off and attempting to somersault twice before landing on the mat. Surprisingly, I made the landing and stuck it, not losing my balance or having to right myself.
"Go team!" Emmett said as he entered the makeshift gym.
"Thank ye kindly. Alice suggested I do the landing. I thought she was killing me, but I thought wrong," I commented, hitting my brother's outstretched fist.
"I'm surprised she hasn't forced this on you yet." Emmett commented, climbing on the beam and focusing on the other end. He then proceeded to do one of the impossible dismounts in Cullen history. What Emmett, and my other siblings, didn't know was that I had already attempted the same landing on my own and had almost killed myself when I was little.
"Bring it." I grinned, climbing on the beam in the same place he did, answering his wordless bet that normally starts a competition between us. I then began the dismount, praying that this time I could make it with the experience I had gained.
I completed the "around the world" turn as Emmett and I had dubbed it where our bodies turned in all directions at the same time. I had to do a final somersault before sticking the landing. Halfway through the somersault, I hit the mat headfirst and blacked out.