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.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Kat's first two attempts had failed and she only had one more chance to jump 14' and succeed. Otherwise Angel, who had got it the first time, would win. She still could remember how easily Angel had gotten over the bar. It was as if the wind had reached up and helped her over. She refused to fail this time. Not with Angel watching. "I can't lose," she demanded of herself.
She ran towards the bar, put down the pole and escaped from gravity once again. She angled herself over the bar and gave an extra push to get over. It worked, but she had touched the bar and it wobbled unstably. As she landed, she realized that she needed to get out of the pit as soon as possible, or if the bar fell, she would lose. She jumped out in a direction she usually didn't go, not realizing that the pit had been partially put over the sand pit, and lost her balance. As she fell, she put her hands down to catch herself, but managed to scrape the palm of her right hand. "Good job," she told herself sarcastically.. That was something she expected from Gaby or Mitch, not herself. To make matters worse, the bar stayed where it was. She had succeeded, but she now felt like an idiot.
"You okay?" A concerned voice asked her. At first she thought it was a guy, but she looked up and saw it was Angel. Her aquamarine eyes were filled with worry for the younger girl, but Kat didn't want to look like a wimp in front of her. She nodded and tried to smile, but her hand actually hurt quite a bit.
Angel offered her a hand to get up, and Kat took it. But as soon as she was up, Angel looked at her palm in concern. "Oh, you have to clean this right away." Kat looked at it and realized that there were sand particles seemingly embedded in where she had skinned her hand. Angel led her to the first aid kit that the coach kept by the side of the track and found some cotton balls and cleaned the wound with some rubbing alcohol and found some antibacterial ointment. As she started to clean the wound, Kat found herself blushing. *She must think I'm such a baby to need attention like this,* she thought, *but maybe she's just really nice.* She smiled to herself at a new thought. Maybe Angel wanted to be friends. And if she did, maybe she would also want to hang out with her at the dance. After all, Angel hadn't been in Tokyo for awhile, she probably didn't have a date. Not that it'd be hard for her to find one. Kat had to admit that Angel was very pretty. She was tall, thin, had pretty blue eyes and a cute short haircut for her dirty-blond hair.
When Angel finished with the alcohol, Kat didn't know how to respond. She didn't know whether to be upset because Angel seemed to think that she needed taking care of or to be glad that she was there to make sure Kat was ok. She decided a simple thank you would be best.
"Thank you very much," she said politely
Angel laughed. "Oh, I'm not done yet." She took Kat's palm and kissed it. "A wish that your palm might be healed fast." Then she added the antibacterial ointment. Kat was blushing even more furiously now. Angel was obviously very mature and elegant. She wondered if she was just being really nice, in a charming sort of way, or if there was any chance that the two of them could be friends. Kat certainly hoped so. Angel was quickly becoming her new idol.
When Angel was done, they made their way back to the rest of the team. They were looking at the two of them expectantly. Rita came forward. "Hey, we were wondering. Can you still jump as high as you used to?"
She smiled, "Um, I haven't for awhile, but I can try."
Kat looked at the bar and realized that it was almost a foot above where it was before. Her heart sank. She'd never get over the bar at that height. Not yet, anyway.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Angel was over the bar, but she just barely got over it without knocking it off. This was horrible! She had gotten so out of shape in such a short period of time. How did she expect to compete professionally if she got this out of shape with a short vacation? Ok, a long vacation, but that wasn't her fault, was it? She couldn't believe that she had almost knocked off the bar at 14'8''. She used to be able to get to 15' with no trouble. She rolled out of the pit and realized that the other girls had talked the girl with the long green hair into trying. *Poor girl,* she thought.
She watched as the girl tried to get over the bar three times, but she failed every time. The last time she was really close, but the bar wobbled off of its posts and fell right before she got out of the pit. Angel could tell that she was very upset by this. But Angel was actually very impressed with the girl. Someone had told her that her PR was 13'8'' before today, so almost making it a foot above that was something to be proud of.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Kat heard the clank of the bar and knew she had lost. And with everyone watching. With Angel Tenoh watching!
She had finally placed her, while watching her go over the bar. She didn't know how she could miss it. She was practically the clone of Amara Tenoh, who was the Queen of Uranus. Her eyes were greener, obviously from her father's influence, and her hair was a tiny bit less yellow and was styled slightly different, but there was no mistaking that that was the face of Amara's daughter. And the way she seemed to flow with the wind over the bar, there was no denying it. She knew that Amara had another child, but she had never met Puroko's sister. It made sense. The Puroko's family went on vacation before she had gone to her first pole vault practice and just got back the other day. Angel had all the good manners and charms of her mother and of Michelle Kaiou, Amara's cousin who lived in their house and who must have helped raise the girl. And she was beautiful, just like the rest of the family.
Kat couldn't believe she had failed in front of her!
"Good job!"
She turned to find Angel holding out her hand once again, this time obviously to shake it. She looked into the aquamarine eyes, searching for some sign of teasing, but it wasn't there. Angel honestly thought she had done a good job. Kat relaxed and took her hand. She even was able to genuinely smile. "I didn't do anything compared to you, Miss Tenoh! You looked like you belonged to the sky when you vaulted."
"Oh, well, thanks, but I�." Angel was cut off as the other girls crowded around her to give their congratulations. Kat decided she should take the opportunity to escape so she could change and go home.
