turned pink and giggled. EE shook his head and sighed. The rest of us held our breath as the favourite took to the diving board. Looking very confident, she flapped her webbed feet all the way to the edge of the board and pointed her enormous bill in the air. Then she soared into the air, her wings tucked against her body. She twisted once, twice, three times – surely she wouldn’t have time for a fourth twirl? Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cherry adding up the twists. With a gigantic effort, Polly squeezed in a final spiral before hitting the water with a tiny sploosh.
The crowd cheered and got to their feet. I stared at the scoreboard anxiously. Would the judges award Polly the highest marks or would Trevor’s tumbling terrapins bring home the first gold medal for Great Britain?
For a few long seconds, the scoreboard didn’t change. When it did, I could hardly bear to look but I needn’t have worried – the terrapins had done it! Susie swept me up in her arms, laughing and cheering, and both Taz and Smudge purred louder than I’d ever heard before. Even EE seemed pleased and I couldn’t blame him – Team Superpets were off the mark and in the medals!
It seemed as though the terrapins’ success had inspired the rest of the Great Britain team. Lulu spun and twirled her way to a silver medal, narrowly losing out on the gold to a flamingo from Brazil. Hamish the otter from the highlands of Scotland, won us a bronze in the swimming. The atmosphere inside the stadium was electric and I didn’t even mind when Coco the koala snatched gold in the pole vault for Australia. By the end of the first day, Great Britain was second on the medals board and Gloria was delighted.
“A brilliant performance by the British team so far,” she exclaimed, gathering us all around at the end of the day. “It’s very close. Australia is in the lead at the moment and the USA isn’t far behind us. But if Great Britain gets more medals in the track and field events tomorrow than both of them, we can top the medals board!”
I glanced over at Taz and he blinked at me. With his speed and my talent for jumping, we couldn’t fail to win. Let Krusher and Ruby just try to stop us!
After the events had ended, Susie, EE and I said goodbye to Mrs Wilson, Lily and Smudge and made our way back to the Animalympic village with the other competing Superpets.
“I’ll certainly sleep well tonight,” Tim said, as we reached our apartments. “All that excitement has tired me out.”
“I don’t think Harriet and Taz will,” Susie said, reaching down to give my cheek a gentle stroke. “They’ll both be too nervous about their events tomorrow for that.”
Taz threw me a worried look.
“Nonsense,” Tim replied, ruffling Taz’s fur. “Animals don’t get anxious.”
EE wasn’t listening – he was staring at a parcel sitting on the mat by our front door. “What’s that?”
He reached down and picked the package up.
“To a brave little bunny,” he read from the label. “Good luck – you’ll need it!”
Ripping open the paper wrapper, he peered at the contents. “Belgian truffles? Who on Earth sends a rabbit chocolates?”
There was no point in asking me – I’d have preferred a nice crunchy carrot! And I didn’t have the faintest idea who had sent them, maybe one of my fans had discovered where I was staying. I glanced around for clues. The door at the end of the corridor closed suddenly, leaving me with the vague idea that two sets of eyes had been peering out of the crack.
Tim checked his doormat. “No one’s left any chocolates for us,” he said, staring at the box in EE’s hands and sounding disappointed.
EE clutched the truffles tightly to his chest and licked his lips. “I suppose I’d better look after these. We don’t want Harriet getting fat before her big day!”
Tim’s face grew hopeful. “I don’t suppose you want to share with m—”, he began, but EE didn’t seem to hear. Instead,
The crowd cheered and got to their feet. I stared at the scoreboard anxiously. Would the judges award Polly the highest marks or would Trevor’s tumbling terrapins bring home the first gold medal for Great Britain?
For a few long seconds, the scoreboard didn’t change. When it did, I could hardly bear to look but I needn’t have worried – the terrapins had done it! Susie swept me up in her arms, laughing and cheering, and both Taz and Smudge purred louder than I’d ever heard before. Even EE seemed pleased and I couldn’t blame him – Team Superpets were off the mark and in the medals!
It seemed as though the terrapins’ success had inspired the rest of the Great Britain team. Lulu spun and twirled her way to a silver medal, narrowly losing out on the gold to a flamingo from Brazil. Hamish the otter from the highlands of Scotland, won us a bronze in the swimming. The atmosphere inside the stadium was electric and I didn’t even mind when Coco the koala snatched gold in the pole vault for Australia. By the end of the first day, Great Britain was second on the medals board and Gloria was delighted.
“A brilliant performance by the British team so far,” she exclaimed, gathering us all around at the end of the day. “It’s very close. Australia is in the lead at the moment and the USA isn’t far behind us. But if Great Britain gets more medals in the track and field events tomorrow than both of them, we can top the medals board!”
I glanced over at Taz and he blinked at me. With his speed and my talent for jumping, we couldn’t fail to win. Let Krusher and Ruby just try to stop us!
After the events had ended, Susie, EE and I said goodbye to Mrs Wilson, Lily and Smudge and made our way back to the Animalympic village with the other competing Superpets.
“I’ll certainly sleep well tonight,” Tim said, as we reached our apartments. “All that excitement has tired me out.”
“I don’t think Harriet and Taz will,” Susie said, reaching down to give my cheek a gentle stroke. “They’ll both be too nervous about their events tomorrow for that.”
Taz threw me a worried look.
“Nonsense,” Tim replied, ruffling Taz’s fur. “Animals don’t get anxious.”
EE wasn’t listening – he was staring at a parcel sitting on the mat by our front door. “What’s that?”
He reached down and picked the package up.
“To a brave little bunny,” he read from the label. “Good luck – you’ll need it!”
Ripping open the paper wrapper, he peered at the contents. “Belgian truffles? Who on Earth sends a rabbit chocolates?”
There was no point in asking me – I’d have preferred a nice crunchy carrot! And I didn’t have the faintest idea who had sent them, maybe one of my fans had discovered where I was staying. I glanced around for clues. The door at the end of the corridor closed suddenly, leaving me with the vague idea that two sets of eyes had been peering out of the crack.
Tim checked his doormat. “No one’s left any chocolates for us,” he said, staring at the box in EE’s hands and sounding disappointed.
EE clutched the truffles tightly to his chest and licked his lips. “I suppose I’d better look after these. We don’t want Harriet getting fat before her big day!”
Tim’s face grew hopeful. “I don’t suppose you want to share with m—”, he began, but EE didn’t seem to hear. Instead,
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