Summary

The Prologue opens at the Olympic Trials. Sera Wheeler is on the floor about to perform in the hope of gaining one of the coveted spots on the USA gymnastics team. She blocks out everything, including her family in the stands and her coach. She executes a high leap, feet perfectly together as she spirals and soars. She knows she is too old to try again. This is her one shot, and she fears coming this close only to miss the Olympics. She knows that her father, Bob, wanted to name her Sarah and never cared about being anything other than a mediocre car salesman in Waynesville, Indiana. Her mother, Charlene, wanted her to be “More than just another girl” (6). Sera's name was a compromise.

Part 1 opens next. In Chapter 1, Sera and the other young girls in a child's gymnastics program “flitted around the...