Vigilance

Hollywood's Bleeding

Vanessa

Her blood rushed in her ears, the beat of her legs on the track was soothing, and she overrode the overwhelming urge to collapse with a certain ease that could only be learned. 

She hadn't been too badly injured in her last fight thanks to Raven. But between her chronically sore muscles, bruised ribs, and four hours of sleep, she wasn't too thrilled by the prospect of the school day in front of her.

"One more V!" Her coach called, and drew Vanessa's attention back to the royal blue track ahead of her. "You know the drill!"

She knew the drill.

Adrenaline surged briefly and traveled from her chest to her extremities. She locked her core and pumped her legs as fast as they would go, funneling all of her anxieties into her motions. She whipped past the finish line.

She had an inkling that all of her pent up aggression was part of what made her talented. That and a killer set of legs.

"Excellent form Vanessa!" Coach Carly Bryant called, and waited for her star athlete to jog off the track to engage her in a conversation. "You all set for the race?"

"Yeah." Vanessa caught her breath strictly through her nose to lower her oxygen intake. "I'll be there, spikes laced." Mentally she double checked her unspoken schedule. No important patrols or any major city events to watch. She should be all set.

"Great." Bryant slapped her varsity athlete on the sore shoulder, a painful daily ritual. "Run a cool down lap, and stretch! You don't want to pull anything, there'll be college scouts on Friday."

Vanessa laughed anxiously in reply and jogged back onto the track to stretch her muscles out with a cool-down lap.

The steady burn in the back of her throat, the clarity of her mind, and the rhythm her body fell into following her legs was repetitive and steady. One of the only steady things she had learned to count on.

As soon as she finished the loop she swung out her muscles and twisted her back, hoping to hear a crack or two.

All around her, the other female athletes finished their personalized workouts as well. It wasn't strictly runners that trained each morning. It was swim, crew, tennis, cheer, lacrosse, even sports like basketball and hockey that were less favored by a private school in Manhattan.

Vanessa had transferred to Governor Williams High after eighth grade, on a track scholarship. She didn't even want to know the strings her mother had to pull to get her into the school, and she wished that she didn't know how much her mother had to pay, even considering the reduced fee.

All she could do was work harder, train harder, do better, and get into an excellent college to pay her back. Everyone told her she was on the right track but she still felt so out of place.

Vanessa knew her mother loved her and could care less as long as she did her best, but no matter how hard she tried the other students were so... flawless. So much better than her. It was incredibly frustrating.

The first bell sounded, which meant fifteen minutes until school started at eight. Vanessa touched her toes one last time and headed to the locker rooms.

As she peeled off her workout clothes, facing the wall, she did the math. Nearly seven hours until school ended and she could go home. She was thinking about patrol.

Typically, her and Raven did separate patrols. It was the best use of their time. But some nights they liked to reconnect and do a patrol together. It helped them recognize patterns, track people of interest, keep tabs on suspicious behavior. Plus, he had a motorcycle, and she liked that motorcycle now that she was used to it.