The dark-haired young woman breathed in deeply as she walked over to close her kitchen window, the smell of fresh cut grass and blooming flowers caressing her nose. The Virginia summer was drawing to a close, and while summer was a favorite season of hers, she couldn't deny she was looking forward to slightly cooler temperatures. Or, as cool as it got in Virginia.
Valentina Rodriguez hadn't intended to move to Mystic Falls, Virginia. Before last year, she hadn't even known it had existed. But once she'd aged out of the system, she'd been stuck in San Antonio with no home, no job, no car, nothing. The foster system was wary of giving older siblings custody, but seeing as Val had been left on the streets with no help or job prospects, it was an obvious no. After finding a part time job as a waitress, she found a tiny apartment further down south, but it was clear that it wasn't enough. And unless she could prove she was earning enough money, she would never gain custody of Hector and Alejandra.
But she had been, and still was, determined that they would not grow up in the system like she did. She'd contacted a distant relative of her mothers, (at least the woman was good for something, even if it wasn't taking care of her children), and found he was willing to house her until she got on her feet. However, on her way up to Boston where he lived, she'd passed through Mystic Falls. While there, she discovered they were looking for an assistant soccer coach at the high school. Needless to say, she'd acted rather impulsively, and applied for the job; she'd stayed in a motel for the time being, looking for a second job. Lord knew she couldn't afford an apartment and living expenses on just one.
But, the big guy upstairs must have been looking out for her. She managed to secure not just the full-time job at the high school, but a part time job on an ambulance. Val had worked very hard through her senior year to stay with soccer and procure her EMT-B license, and now they were both coming into play.
Valentina snapped herself out of her reminiscing just in time to see the clock hit 7:15. She cursed, she needed to be there by 7:30; if she was late again, Joseph would have her head.
Grabbing her gym bag, purse, and locking her apartment door behind her, she headed out of the apartment and into the sunshine, stopping to wave at Matt and Vicki Donovan as they exited their house just across the street.
The siblings were good neighbors, and Matt was a good kid; Vicki, however, was another story. While Val could relate to her pain of having an absent mother who showed no true concern for her, she couldn't excuse the way the older girl treated other people. Matt, however, was a favorite of hers. He repeatedly came over to help her with clean up after practice, since the football team and the girls soccer team shared the field on Mondays and Fridays.
"Good morning, Ms. Rodriguez!" Matt greeted politely as he locked their door. Vicki merely gave the slightly older woman a nod before heading down the hall, calling to her brother she would be hitching a ride with her boyfriend.
"Morning, Matt," Val returned giving him an exasperated look, "and how many times do I have to tell you to please not call me that?"
"At least once more, ma'am," Matt responded, slight cheer taking over his face. Val rolled her eyes.
"Alright, well, if you're going to make me feel old, then at least I can give you a lift to school."
Once they'd arrived, Matt waved good-bye before plugging in his earphones and walking towards his locker, looking slightly more gloomy than before. Val only winced once she noticed his longing look at the dark hair of Elena Gilbert.
Unable to waste anymore time, Val hurried to Joseph's office, which doubled as hers. Of course, squeezing a desk into the corner could hardly count as an office, but Joe was an older man who needed help, and the school definitely didn't care enough about women's sports to give him any. So, the two took it upon themselves to make it work.
She busted through the door right as the clock stuck 7:30 and the first warning bell sounded. Joe looked up from his paperwork, glasses perched on the end of his nose. Two brown eyes bore into her before flickering to the clock, then back to her. "Cutting it awfully close, aren't we?"
Val rolled her eyes, but couldn't suppress her smile as she placed her bags behind her desk and pulled out her laptop, "Hey, you said 7:30, I'm here at 7:30."
"Early is on time, on time is late-"
"-and late is unacceptable," she chimed in, cutting him off, "you've mentioned that once or twice." She sat at her desk and pulled up her desktop before muttering, "or a hundred times."
Joseph Santino was an Italian immigrant in his early fifties with an intense stare, salt and pepper mustache, and a highly competitive attitude. When Val had first been hired, she learned the last assistant coach had thrown up his hands since he couldn't handle Joe's schedule nor his demands. Seeing as Val had no life outside of working her other job and repeatedly requesting custody of her two younger siblings, it was perfect. Despite the hard, rough exterior, the man was a teddy bear once you really got down to it.
The pair began to go over the tryout applications, monitoring last years GPA's and conduct reports. Around noon, the lunch bell rang, and Val rubbed her temples, glancing over at Joe.
"I'm going to swing by the cafeteria, you want anything?"
He grunted out something that sounded close to, "Sandwich,", not looking up from the list of names in front of him. She simply accepted it and walked out of the room.
The halls were crowded, but the students parted whenever they noticed a staff member. Val suppressed a smirk as she remembered last year; for the first six months, she was repeatedly mistaken for a student and yelled at by other teachers, as well as asked out by male students. She couldn't really knock them for it; she'd been nineteen and still currently looked no older than fifteen, but it was nice to be treated her age.
As she neared the cafeteria entrance, a familiar face caught her eye. Elena Gilbert stood next to Bonnie Bennett and Caroline Forbes; all juniors.
Val could see the look in the eldest Gilberts doe brown eyes; the dull sadness that never went away, even when she was smiling, the constant zoning out. Her smile was convincing, but Val had mastered her own, so she knew it was fake. Changing course, she walked up to the group.
"Hi, girls," she greeted cheerfully. Caroline and Bonnie both chorused a 'hello', happy to see the coach.
Val Rodriguez was a favorite among the students. Seeing as she wasn't much older than the seniors and still looked like she belonged in high school, as well as the fact she got along with just about everyone. The male students talked about her constantly, but the girl's favorite thing about her was that none of them dared say anything directly to her. Despite being very pretty and youthful looking, there was a fiery intimidation in the Latina's brown eyes that was enough to cause most to back down.
"Hi, Ms. R," Elena said politely, and Val raised an eyebrow. It was well practiced, and very convincing.
But Val knew better.
"Girls, is it ok if I borrow Elena for a minute?"
Once they were outside, Val guided the younger girl to a bench and sat down. "I hope I'm not hijacking too much of your lunch hour."
Elena merely shook her head, straight brown hair rustling, "No, I'm not too hungry anyway." She attempted to smile, but something about the older woman's presence melted away her attempts to be casual.
Valentina sat next to the girl, letting out a sigh. "I'll tell you what, this Virginia heat is something else. Don't get me wrong, Texas is rough but this stuff? Whew!" She fanned herself a little, and Elena gave a small giggle. "How are you feeling about summer being over?"
Elena shrugged, pressing her lips together before answering, "Fine, I guess. Excited to get back to normal."
Val nodded. "And how's Jeremy?"
That particular question made the younger girl grimace. "He's…well, he's moving forward, just like me."
Val wasn't stupid, she knew Elena just didn't want to rat out her younger brother. The coach was no naïve fairy herself; she'd been raised in a highly populated city in Texas, she knew what drugs looked like, especially pot.
"And how are you?"
Elena smiled, but it never reached her eyes. Those eyes stayed sad, dull, hopeless. "I'm fine."
Sitting forward now, Val put a hand on the younger girls shoulder, "Look, Elena, I'm not going to go into this big speech about how I can't imagine how you're feeling and how I'm so sorry and blah blah blah. Because that's what people always told me, and I hated it. So," she gave her a warm smile, "I just want you to know that I'm listening. I'm not a big conversationalist, so that means I always have an open ear whenever you just need some time to vent. And anytime you or Jeremy need a ride, or a non-parental adult figure to help out every once in a while, I'm here. No judgement." She held out her hand, "Phone, please."
Slightly confused and dazed, Elena pulled out her phone and put it into the staff members waiting hand, "Wait, what do you mean, 'that's what people always told you'?"
Val only gave her a soft smile as she typed in her number. "When I was twelve, my dad died. A drunk driver hit our car and sent it into a ravine. I was in the passenger seat, and wasn't injured nearly as bad. Help got to us only five minutes after he'd passed."
Elena's mouth dropped open, eyes widening. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"
The older woman merely raised a hand, "Don't. It's ok, you don't have to apologize. I got to give my dad comfort in his last moments, and it was a long time ago." She handed the phone back. "I put my name and number in. Call or text anytime, ok? I work swing shifts at night on the ambulance, as you know, so I'm up at weird hours anyway."
Catching the time on her watch, Val stood, shooing the young girl away so she could get a hot meal before all the food was gone. As she started to walk off, though, Elena suddenly turned and hugged the older woman. Despite Val being 5'1" to the younger girls 5'7", she returned it the best she could. Pulling away, Elena gave her a soft 'thank you' before jogging back inside.
After the next day at the school was over, Val allowed herself a few hours of reading before changing into her uniform. She pulled the sides of her hair back, more grateful than ever she'd decided to cut if. Despite always having it in a ponytail, there were several unfortunate incidents of finding blood in her hair after particularly harsh trauma calls. After that, she'd chopped it to her shoulders.
The first few hours of her shift with her partner, David, were uneventful. But they both knew it was the towns little back-to-school bash the high schoolers liked to throw tonight, meaning there would be at least a few calls for drunken teens. She'd already double checked the ambulance was fully stocked with IV fluids before lounging on one of the beds wit her book. She was about halfway through To Kill A Mockingbird, and so far, it was her favorite. It was so dark and warm in the bay, and the words began to blur as her eyes got heavier...
BBBRRRIIINNNG! BBBRRRIIINNNG!
The sound of the alarm snapped her awake to see David also rolling off of the other bunk. They both rushed to the ambulance as the dispatchers voice came through.
"We have an animal bite at Mystic Park, I repeat, animal attack at Mystic Park just off of Lugway Ave."
"Didn't they just find two bodies, dead of animal attacks?" Val asked as they pulled onto the road, lights flashing and sirens blaring. David nodded his head, tousled curls bobbing.
"Yep, both found dead with bites to the neck. Buddy of mine in the coroner's office said their carotids had been ripped out."
Val briefly took her eyes off the road to raise an eyebrow at the paramedic, "What animal goes straight for the carotid?"
The scene was gruesome. Whatever got Vicki had serious teeth and precision, but luckily the puncture wounds were small. Otherwise, the poor girl would have bled out before they'd gotten there. As she and David loaded Vicki into the truck, Matt approached her, eyes red and swollen, face streaked with tears.
"Val, is she-" he swallowed, "is she gonna be ok?"
Val put a hand on his shoulder, "We've got her stabilized, but we need to get to the hospital ASAP, ok? Are you riding with her?"
The younger boy nodded before climbing into the back. Val jumped into the drivers seat, switching on the lights and sirens, her own words echoing in her head as she headed as fast as allowed to the hospital.
What animal goes straight for the carotid?