The night of the dance was fast approaching.
Soon it will be time for your revenge.
*But the Sailor Scouts aren't all bad, are they? Some of the new ones seem nice*
Idiot! They'll all betray you in the end.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Classes were over for the day. Finally! Michelle Mizuno, or Mitch as her family and friends called her, ran out of auto shop and went searching for her twin sister, Katherine. She knew that Kat would probably be able to sense her excitement, but she couldn't help it. She wanted to tell her before Jian-wa did, and she knew that she'd have to catch Kat before she went to pole vault practice to be sure that she was first. Fencing got out much earlier than pole vault, and she didn't think she could sit around waiting for her twin. Especially if Gaby decided not to take the bus home and waited for her in the library for a ride.
Oh, there they were! Kim and Kat had just come out of choir. Mitch could sense that Kat was a little down, which was unusual for her. Kat was usually very animated when she came out of choir because she loved to sing. And pole vault was next! What was up with that girl?!
"Kat! Kim! Guess what?!" She practically bounced over to them. "Jian asked me to the dance, isn't that exciting?!" She was so happy and she wanted them to share her excitement. But Kim looked a little confused. Well, after all, when Kim had left with Raye, Mitch had even hardly known Jian except as Kat's friend.
Kat looked up and smiled at her. "That's great," she said quietly, "I wondered when he would figure it out."
Mitch was a little confused. This wasn't what she was expecting. Part of the reason she had started flirting with Jian was to get even with Kat flirting with Isaac. (Now when was that again? She never could remember; she just knew it had happened.) She was trying to make her jealous, but now, she just really liked Jian-wa. More than Isaac, actually. But had she actually succeeded in her original goal? Kat did seem a tiny bit upset. But a little upset was not what she wanted. She wanted Kat to be happy for her right now.
"Kat �?"
"Well, I gotta go to pole vault. Bye."
Kim looked at Mitch as Kat ran off. "What happened to Isaac?" she wanted to know.
"Well, you know, we're still racing sometimes�" she realized that she hadn't even considered what would happen if he also asked her out. Usually she could find guys to go out with her anytime she wanted, but Jian had been such a challenge that she was leaning towards him more than Isaac, or anyone else for that matter. But she still kinda liked Isaac. "�well, I'll just have to promise him the next date. I'm sure he won't mind." She smiled at Kim.
But she was still a little upset by Kat's reaction
~*~*~*~*~*~
*What's your problem! * Kat thought to herself as she walked to the gym to change for practice. She wasn't really upset with Mitch. She wasn't interested in Jian, not like that. He was her best friend and that was all. But he was kind of her reserve date for the dance. She didn't really have anyone to go to the dance with, and it was the day after tomorrow. She blinked away the tears that were threatening. She wouldn't let herself cry over a stupid dance. "What did you expect?! That some hot guy was going to drop out of the sky and just happen to ask you to the dance? I mean just because you can't find Prince Charming, doesn't mean that you can't be happy for your twin sister." She sighed as she started to dress for practice. Since she had come to Earth, she hadn't found the right person to date. She supposed she was too picky and too much of a romantic. With her and Mitch's good looks, she could probably find someone to go with, but she preferred to go with someone she fell in love with. Or at least with a friend, like Jian.
Maybe she was just upset because Jian had been her friend first. He had been hers and hers alone. Sure he was willing to hang out with her siblings when she did, but he was one of the few friends that she had ever had who also hadn't immediately become friends with Mitch. So even though Kat thought that it was great that the two of them were dating, she had to admit that she was feeling like she had lost something special.
She walked out onto the field and felt a little better. She did like pole vault. It would feel good to escape gravity, just for a little while, and sail over that bar. She smiled at the thought.
Everyone was talking about the dance when she got to the pit, but she ignored their chatter and imagined going over that bar. Her PR (personal record) was 13'8'', but she felt that she was going to beat it today. No, she was certain of it!
Suddenly one of the girls on the team, Rita, grabbed her shoulder and said, "Did you hear?" Kat worried that Rita was going to tell her who she was going to the dance with, but instead she revealed much more interesting news. "Angel is back! We're going to win the next meet for sure!"
Kat had never met Angel, but she had heard all about her from her teammates. Everyone was relieved when Kat joined right after Angel left (family business or something) because she could vault pretty high. But Angel was supposedly even better than Kat! In fact she was supposed to be the best teenage female pole vaulter in Japan. This was something to see!
She looked around, but she didn't see anyone new around. "Is she here?"
"No, but I have classes with her. She's back at school, and she'll totally be here."
Soon it was time to start and still no sign of Angel, but Kat couldn't think of that right now. She was psyched about beating her PR.
~*~*~*~*~*~
After drills, they started actually vaulting. The guys had gone first, but they were all pretty evenly matched, so that had gone pretty quickly.
By now she had gotten over 13'8'' with no problem. She was the only one still going, but everyone always waited to see how high she (or Angel before her) could get. As she got ready to jump 13'10'', she heard a feminine tenor voice behind her say, "Sorry, Coach. I didn't mean to be late, but my teachers were all giving me make-up work after school. I'm glad I didn't miss everything. Hey, someone's up to 13'10''?! That's so cool!" Kat turned around and saw the person she knew must be Angel. She blinked; the name could not be more appropriate. *This girl could be an angel,* she thought. Realizing that this was her new competitor, she blushed at how low her attempt for a new PR must seem to the girl.
But that shouldn't matter, she realized. She shook her head to clear it and focused back on her goal. She started to run toward the bar and set her pole perfectly in the cross bar and left the ground. She flew over the bar and knew it was perfect. She let go and let gravity grab her and take her down again. She couldn't have done better if she tried. She was ecstatic, and as she jumped out of the pit, she was met with the cheers of her teammates. She couldn't help grinning and ran over to get her pole. Then she realized there was someone ready to jump after her. It was Angel! Well, what'd she expect? The girl was supposedly better than her.
She stopped and looked at Angel. She looked familiar, although Kat didn't think they had ever met. Kat tried to place where she'd seen her face before, but she couldn't remember. She had never seen any past yearbooks or team pictures or anything.
Kat was surprised at how easily Angel got over the bar, especially with no warm-up, or anything. Now the bar would go up to 14' and they'd have to go again. She realized she was now competing at a height she'd never jumped before.
~*~*~*~*~*~
