A/N: Apologies for the lack of updates. Please read and review.
RIIIING! RIIING! RIIING!
Val opened her eyes and shut them until her surroundings came into focus. The glowing red numbers on her alarm clock announced the time was 6:32.
'Probably a wrong number,' she thought as she reached for the receiver.
"Hello?" she croaked.
"It's Jacob," said the deep voice on the other end. "What's up, Valie?"
"Not me, I can tell you that much. Is there any reason you're calling this early?"
"Didn't Timmy call you last night?" asked Jacob."There's a team practice at 7:00."
"I didn't know," Val admitted. "I turned my phone off while we were outand I guess I forgot to check my voice mail."
"Well, don't take too long getting ready. My car's running."
Val hung up the phone, then tiredly hauled herself out of bed. She ran a brush through her hair so it would stay tucked behind her ears and dressed.
At the Birdhouse facility, the team worked their moves to the beat of loud, fast music that played from the sound system. They practiced for an hour, took a fifteen minute water break, then practiced an additional hour.
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"God, I'm exhausted," Val groaned at home.
She slowly worked her way through a stack of pancakes. The headline on the morning sports page caught her attention.
LOCAL TEEN SCORES SPONSORSHIP
Valencia Lightning, 15, a lifelong resident of Los Angeles, has broken the gender barrier that had been firmly in place since the birth of sponsored skateboarding. Valencia signed a contract yesterday to skate with the well-known franchise, Birdhouse, which is owned by the legendary Tony Hawk.
"I have a good feeling," Hawk said in a phone interview. "Val's a remarkably talented girl."
Valencia's background in the sport contains five years of working as stunt double for retired child star Donnie Lightning, plus wins at several regional contests.
The article was followed bysome photos taken during earlier stages of Val's career.