Good evening everyone! Despite my busy work schedule, I will try my best to keep up with this story. Hope you enjoy and PLEASE review! :D
Gregory sighed, looking at his watch before looking around at the darkening sky. Did she chicken out, he thought? Would there be a no show? He was about to go home when he heard someone approaching. He turned to see Vanessa had finally arrived.
"Gee, what took you so long? It's almost supper time!" Gregory crossed his arms.
"Sorry..." Vanessa scratched the back of her neck. "I ran into something... no pun intended."
Gregory blinked when he noticed she was a bit scraped up. "What happened to you?"
"Nothing.. don't worry about it. So, let's do this race. What are the rules?"
"Okay..." Gregory decided to drop it. "We start at this line I drew here. We race one way all the way to the end of the block. If you make it, I'll tell you what you need to do next to give you a better chance of getting on the team."
"Fine. Easy enough." Vanessa said, crouching down into ready position.
Gregory blinked at her. "Vanessa... you know you're racing against a boy, right? A very fast boy."
Vanessa looked up at him, smirking playfully. "Well, looks like you'll feel that much worse then when I beat you."
Gregory became a bit flustered then. "Don't be so confident!" He said, crouching into starting position next to her. "Okay... on your mark... get set... go!"
Vanessa burst forward, biting her lip. Despite being a bit tired from earlier, she knew she had to get to the finish first. She was neck and neck with Gregory, and she knew she couldn't fail. She was within the home stretch, crossing the finish line as she slowed to a stop, catching her breath. "So, who won?" She looked around. "Gregory?" She turned to look behind her, noticing that the boy was on the ground, nursing his foot. She gasped, jogging over to him. "Hey, what happened?"
"I... I think I twisted my ankle... I tripped over something." Gregory hissed.
"Dang... here, let me help you up." Vanessa said, taking his hand.
"You know... I DO feel worse that I lost." Gregory frowned.
"Hey now, come on. We'll have a rematch when you're feeling better."
"But you WON. Not your fault I'm a klutz."
"Because it's fair. This can be a practice run." Vanessa smiled, and Gregory smiled back.
"Well, I'm still going to help you in the meantime. A promise is a promise. Thanks, Vanessa."
"No problemo." She giggled, helping Gregory back to his house. That night, she stared at the ceiling, the day's events flipping through her head until her exhaustion finally overcame her.
The next day at school, Vanessa and Gregory sat together at lunch, talking about getting her on the track team.
"Okay... so here's what you can do. See, coach Bill isn't the only one who decides who gets on the track team, and the same goes for all the other school sports and groups. "
"Wait, why's that?" Vanessa tilted her head.
"See, my mom's a school teacher for another district, so she knows all this stuff. She told me the official roster for all the teams can't be finalized until the principal approves it."
"Really? Hm... do you think the reason why I can't get on the team is because of the principal?" Vanessa asked.
"I can't be sure, but it's a good place to start anyhow." Gregory answered.
Vanessa nodded, shooting a glare at Taryn when she and Candace snickered at her and Gregory as they walked by. "Fine. As soon as school is out today, I'm going to see the principal."
"Do you want me to come with you?" Gregory asked.
"No. I'll let you know how it goes." Vanessa smiled. The bell rang, signalling the end of lunch.
Vanessa shut her locker, grabbing her things and exhaling deeply as she headed down the hallway. She stopped outside the principal's office, biting her lip for a moment as she slowly opened the door. She looked around inside, seeing the school principal muttering to himself and jotting something down. He had a number of quirky items on his desk; a paperweight with a crown insignia, a red and white striped cup to hold his utensils, not to mention a bowl of candy he would offer to his victims when they had to spend detention in his office. Like luring prey into a web, Vanessa thought to herself. She stood up a bit straighter, approaching him.
"Principal Kingsley?" She said, getting his attention.
The man, nearly completely bald and possibly several years past his point of retirement, glanced up, taking off his over sized reading glasses. "Oh, Vanestha VonSthark... hm, you're not on my detention litht... did you need something?"
It was hard to take a man who lisped to this extent seriously, but Vanessa managed to keep her composure. "Um, yeah... I wanted to ask you a question about... about a school team I'd like to join." Vanessa replied.
The principal seemed to stiffen a bit, chuckling nervously. "Er, yeth, yeth, sure! H- Here, sthit, have sthome candy! I alwayth appreciate the, er, better sthtudenth stheeking my help to contribute to the school..."
Vanessa cleared her throat, gingerly taking a piece of candy and popping it in her mouth, muttering a quiet thank you. "So, what I wanted to ask was... I've been trying to get on the track team since I came here. I... I practice really hard and I love to run. But I keep getting turned down. I was wondering if you could help me."
Mr. Kingsley shifted uncomfortably in his seat, clearing his throat. "I sthee. Well, I'm sthorry that you were unable to make the team... I leave dethisions up to the coaches, as long as the sthtudenth trying out for sthchool teamth aren't in any administrative trouble, I usually don't have any further input. You could alwayth try out again next year!"
Vanessa furrowed her brows. "Mr. Kingsley, something doesn't add up here. I know I can race faster than anyone on the team now, I can prove it. Also, the coach said it wasn't up to him, so someone had to tell him that-"
"Mr. Kingsley? Oh, hello, Vanessa, sorry to interrupt."
Vanessa turned, widening her eyes a bit. Mr. Turner came in the room then, giving her a nod. This was her chance; the very person who made incredible records when he attended school would vouch for her, he just had to.
"Mr. Turner..." Vanessa stood up, facing him. He was a bit on the pale side with jet black hair. She cleared her throat, building up her confidence. "I... I was just asking the principal about joining the track team. Our school hasn't won one meet in almost ten years... I know I can do it. You were the champion of the school, I can make us win again. You believe in me, don't you?"
Mr. Turner blinked, glancing at the principal for a moment, who remained silent save for adjusting his bowtie. He then smiled gently at Vanessa, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Oh, of course I do. I heard you've been trying very hard. Yes, this school was once the jewel of the island when it came to high school track. Just keep trying, and I know you'll do great."
Vanessa blinked, too star struck to realized the over-generalization of his words. "O- Oh... thanks, Mr. Turner. I just... I love to run. It allows me to chase my dreams... literally."
"Oh, I totally understand what you mean." He chuckled softly. "And now I get to chase my dreams at higher speeds because I drive. Now, I have a few things to discuss with the principal, so you'll have to excuse us."
She nodded. "Okay... thanks, Mr. Turner." She beamed, skipping out of the office.
"So... you accomplished nothing. They gave you a bunch of filler hopes and got you out of their hair... well, except that Mr. Kingsley HAS no hair." Gregory said the next day.
"No, don't you see? I've got this in the bag! If I can get Mr. Turner to back me up, I'll definitely get on the team! I just have to prove to him that I can do it!"
"If you say so..." Gregory shrugged. "Dunno how a driver's ed teacher is going to help though."
"He's the former track champion of the school. Mr. Kingsley will have to listen to his advice, especially because this school has lost to Coram high for nearly a decade."
"Well... if it helps, I overheard the principal's going to be at the next track meet. If you can show him then, maybe he'll change his mind." Gregory said.
"But I can't show him if I'm not on the track team to begin with..." Vanessa sighed.
Gregory thought for a moment, smirking. "Hey... all you need is a pair of good sneakers and a track... right?"
Vanessa looked up, smiling at him. "Yeah... yeah, that's all I need." She giggled then, her confidence swelling.
That night, Vanessa could barely sleep. She was going to blow all of them out of the water, and this would be her ticket to getting on the track team.
It had to be.
A bit of a shorter chapter, but I'm still taking time to get all the characters in and going before we get too deep into the plot here. I hope you enjoyed and this left you with many questions to be answered! Until next time, my friends! :D