Chasing Dreams, Year Two

by Shawn Keys

“Promise me you won’t take money from them?”

  Daniel hadn’t expected that. “I don’t understand.”

  “It’s the first thing they’ll do, Daniel. I know them. Even if they say they’ll let me do this my way, it will be their first reaction. They’ll want to pay you. That means they want to control you. They’ll say all the right words. They’ll say they want to make sure I’m getting the best training, and so if you are really the best coach, then they’ll say you deserve a salary that matches. Even worse…” She let out a small burst of semi-hysterical laughter that was scarcely shy of a sob. “… they’d be right! You do!” She bit back her emotions, forcing herself to go on. “But what they’ll really want is leverage.” She gave him another sidelong glance. “If you take money from them, then you stop being… well… mine. My choice. You’ll become theirs. If I ever break it off with them again when… if… no, when they get overbearing again, then I’d have to break it off with you, too.”

  She shook her head, fighting back tears. “I don’t want to do that. I know I am being horrible asking you this, because they will offer you a lot of money. Obscene amounts of money. The more you say no, the higher the number will go because they really think anyone can be bought.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Can you… promise that?”

  Daniel honestly wished he could have agreed no matter where he was in his life. He enjoyed being a man of principle. They might not be principles that everyone would agree on, but he had created a code for himself that made sense to him. That felt right. And good. So, he liked to think that if she had asked him that question at any stage in his life, he would have said ‘yes’.

  But he didn’t know that for sure. He’d been through a couple rough patches. Even now, money like that would help his family quite a bit. His parents didn’t live in poverty, but money on that scale would make them comfortable for the rest of their lives.

  What’s more, money like that would make him feel a little less beholden to Evelyn. He knew she didn’t see it like that. She saw it like they were sharing their lives. He saw it that way, too. But he’d really like to be pulling his own weight beyond the measly stipend he was expecting.

  He had to live with the fact that he was never going to make as much money as Evelyn. He didn’t mind that much now. It had taken a while to get used to the idea. His father was more traditional. He’d probably find it weird that Daniel wasn’t the one, to use an old phrase, ‘bringing home the bacon’.

  He’d solved that in his mind by seeing their new, small, extremely odd family as being partners. Maybe Cadence would strike it rich as a sports icon. Maybe she wouldn’t. Maybe Evelyn’s business empire would collapse due to a turn in the economy. Maybe it would last long after she was gone. Who knew? All they could do was stay true to each other.

  That security meant he could hold to his principles. It was one more reason he had to be thankful that Evelyn was in his life.

  With that freedom, he turned to MK and said with absolute honesty, “You have my word. If you come train with me, I won’t take money. Not from you. Not from your parents. Not from anyone. You can walk away if it doesn’t feel right. You can stay as long as you wish, whether you train with us or not. We’ll be there for you. The only thing I’m asking is that you go all in on this. With me for your coach or someone else. Either way, don’t give up. I’m willing to do this with you, if you’ll have me. I’ve given all my time to Cadence. Now… with her blessing… I’m going to spend some of that time on you. All I’m asking is that you respect our relationship and keep it quiet.”

  MK radiated thanks from her entire being. “I will, Daniel. For her as well as you. And for Evelyn for offering up her home to me. None of you are going to regret this. I promise.”

  Daniel gave a satisfied grunt of approval. “Good. Now. Let’s get home before you crash this car. I’ll show you to a guest room you can sleep in for the night. We’ll get you properly set up in the pool house later.”

  “Sounds perfect,” She said, lurking emotion still there but fighting it off as they struggled out of the heavy conversation. “And then?”

  “And then?” Daniel chuckled. “The next set of Nationals is only twelve months away. You get two days off. Then, you get to start regretting the fact we ever met. Because you are going to train your butt off. Come next spring, you are going to be ready!”

  Chapter 1

  The announcer came over the speaker at Foster Stadium, “Commencing her run at 4.0 meters on the pole vault: Julie… Plasse.” The speaker even dropped a small, dramatic pause between her two names to drive them home.

  Daniel glanced up at the shack where the announcer sat, looking out over the stadium interior. “Well, someone is pulling strings.” Portesara’s National Track and Field competition was swirling all around them. There were three sports running at that precise moment. The athletes were announced when they joined the field for their first time, but it would be too much for the officials to call out every run.

  Cadence’s laser focus wasn’t interrupted. It was a sign of how locked in she was. She had already succeeded at the 4.0 mark and was now awaiting her turn for the next level. All she spared for Daniels comment was a soft laugh.

  Beside Daniel, Gordon Flax was looking a little perturbed. He was Julie’s coach, having inherited her and a substantial paycheck from her wealthy family when Gregoire was arrested. His mouth was twisted as if he had eaten something sour. “That’s probably her father at work again, paying the announcer off to get her noticed. This is her chance to get into the 4.0 club, remember? She missed it last year. Her turn to enter the history books.” He didn’t sound like he was mocking his student; more like he was simply very, very tired of dealing with her family’s bullshit.

  Daniel appraised the way Julie was setting up. “I like the way you have her lining up. She looks steadier. Think she can pull it off?”

  “Yeah,” Gordon said with professional confidence. “She might have an attitude, but she’s got skills to back it up. She’s done it three times in training.” He paused as his key protégé, Carla Nerrisse, came trotting over.

  She was panting, having just completed her own jump. A smile radiated off her lips as she wrapped her arms around Gordon. “Twice now! I think I know what I’m doing right.” Carla gave a bright laugh, thrilled to have gotten over the 4.0 mark for the second Nationals in a row. She leaned out to peer at Cadence. “I’m coming for you, Amirault.”

  Cadence still didn’t look away from vault. But friendly humor did crease her eyes. “Let’s see what you got, Nerrisse.”

  All four of them gave a small chuckle as they stood there waiting for Julie’s jump. Their teams didn’t train together, but the three pole-vaulters were the strongest performers by a significant margin. It was inevitable that they would come to know each other. From their first meeting, Cadence and Carla had carried on a good-natured yet spirited competitiveness. Despite being Julie’s teammate, Carla was a lot more at-ease around the woman she had been chasing in the Portesaran standings for the last year.

  Daniel’s chuckle wasn’t purely for the healthy rivalry between them. It reminded him of old times. It was great to be back in that environment, seeing athletes pushing each other to reach beyond their personal best and achieve something truly amazing.

  In front of them, Julie reached some internal state of readiness. She launched from the starting mark and charged down the run-up. Daniel’s keen eye tracked her explosive start. Good sprint. Then, evaluated her smooth acceleration as her stride reached top speed right before the mat. Good. Efficient. The pole dropped down into the box, finding stability there. Jammed it a little, but not too bad. Then, Julie was airborne. The pole bent and she rode its kinetic energy. Nice transition. It was like he was coaching her in his mind. Let the pole do the work. Good flow. Now twist. Julie finished the motion with a quick twist and release, cresting the crossbar and dropping back down to the mat without jarring the bar.

  However unseemly the announcer had
been, the additional broadcast had done its work to draw additional attention to Julie. A good portion of the stadium erupted in applause. The announcer cheered along with them, “Julie Plasse, ladies and gentlemen! One of Portesara’s own has entered the exclusive 4.0-meter club! Keep that applause going!”

  Daniel wanted to shake his head. If you listened to those words and didn’t know any better, you’d think Julie was the only one to accomplish that feat. Both Cadence and Carla had repeatedly hit that mark the previous year. He tried not to hold it against Julie or her family. It was an amazing accomplishment. It deserved to be celebrated. Too bad her and her family were determined to be insufferable about it, he sighed to himself.

  Putting his annoyance aside, he turned to Cadence. “Ready to go?”

  Her gaze stayed locked on the vault. “Absolutely.”

  “4.2. Nothing to it. Been here before.”

  “And I’ll do it again,” Cadence affirmed in answer to him.

  “Shoes feel good?” Daniel asked, a bit of a private joke between them. The Kangaruin company had hired her as a spokesperson and started sending her free merchandise. She got a bonus for wearing them during competition. At first, she hadn’t liked the feel of their cleats and hadn’t been willing to compromise to make a few extra dollars. But they had grown on her until she began to use them regularly.

  Cadence’s grin confirmed that she knew what he was doing, teasing her a little to take some of the tension off. She didn’t deign to respond further.

  Knowing he had struck that fine balance between her being loose enough to move yet primed to perform, Daniel whispered, “Kill it.”

  With a bounce in her step that seemed inspired by the spring-legged marsupial logo on her shoes, Cadence went up to the rack, chalked up her hands and then took up her vaulting stance. She set in place without really looking. She’d been there before a thousand times.

  “Home field advantage, huh?” Gordon said, noticing the same thing. His team practiced in the stadium as well, but the families that supported him had the money to pay for private facilities.

  Daniel hummed in quiet agreement, not letting on too much about his concern. It was one of the challenges he had yet to attack when it came to Cadence’s training. A simple thing, really. It wouldn’t even matter at anything less than the highest levels of competition. But that’s where Cadence was headed. She hadn’t competed anywhere except in this stadium. This was where most of her practices were held. Like Gordon had said, she had home field advantage here. She knew where to put her feet by instinct alone.

  That wouldn’t be true elsewhere. The distances would be the same; those were set standards. But she wouldn’t be able to line herself up by her surroundings alone. The lights in a different stadium would change the shadows and give a different feel to her spacing. Small things. Tiny things, in the grand scheme. But those tiny things could whittle away at her absolute confidence and turn a gold medal performance into well… no medal at all.

  He needed to get her ready. She needed to train to get over higher crossbars, but the next step was to make sure she could keep the same level of confidence and performance no matter where she went in the world.

  For the present, her utter familiarity with this environment gave them both an advantage. He had no doubt she could perform right at the edge of her ability. She wasn’t preparing to go over the vault. In her mind, she was already over it.

  Ten seconds later, she was. Cadence sailed off the end of the springy pole like she was born for it. As always, the pure joy on her face suggested to Daniel that one day, she was simply going to grow wings and fly.

  But that day wasn’t today. Gravity renewed its hold on her and brought her crashing back to the Earth. She hit the pad with good positioning, then immediately starting scrambling for the side.

  Daniel met her at the edge, sweeping her up into a hug. It was sooo hard to stop from kissing her. He had to content himself with that bear hug, spinning her about twice as she laughed and tucked her face into his shoulder to plant a hidden kiss there.

  Eventually, he put her down and then spent a few more seconds trading celebratory exclamations. Daniel’s pride was painted on his whole face, while her own delight at hitting her gold-medal mark from the year before shone in her entire aura. Anyone who thought it a fluke or pure luck would be silenced. No-one was going to doubt her again.

  By then, it was time to step away and give the chance for the other two women to take their shot at the height. Daniel was aware of the injustice in Cadence’s placement. As the reigning champion, Cadence should have been jumping last. He suspected the ‘fair and equal’ choice to randomly pull the jumping order had more to do with the money than fairness. Previously the jump order had been determined by qualification rank. The change seemed awfully convenient now that Cadence was sitting on top of the pack instead of her wealthier competitors.

  In the end, he knew Cadence would survive the pressure. Cadence had showed poise and a total lack of concern at the subtle effort to cut her down. She had played it smart; she had been patient, waiting for the height where she wanted to start despite any pressure to go earlier.

  Now the pressure was back on the others. Cadence and Daniel retreated to one side, giving over the center stage for the other two to make their attempts at the 4.2 mark.

  As they waited for Carla to set for her run, another pair approached from the side. Leading the way was Irène Minot. She wasn’t what anyone would immediately identify as an archetypical pole vaulter. She was certainly lithe and powerful in her own way, but she was a little shorter than ideal. Her youthful energy seemed impossible to confine inside her petite frame, always brimming forth as if eager to brighten everyone else’s day by her mere presence.

  Trailing behind her was her coach, Matteo Jaquet. The barrel-chested man was a real bear who had his own past in sports, though his passion had been in wrestling and judo. He had emerged as something of a generalist when he began to teach students at the local schools. Over several dinners, Daniel learned he had been active in what might be called guidance counselling, matching those with talent with opportunities as they left the educational environment. In the dead years, when Portesara’s athletic future had been less certain, he had helped promising students export themselves and get athletic scholarships at universities and colleges around the world.

  When Gregoire had been revealed as the monster he was, Irène had been one of the victims who needed to find a new coach. Matteo had taken her a long way, and he had done well to keep up her training. Given that Gregoire had been using Irène as a weapon against Cadence, Daniel felt somewhat responsible for her. Irène had also been instrumental in saving Cadence from being eliminated the previous year, helping her out when Cadence was the victim of an evil prank carried out by Gregoire in an effort to keep her from making her jumps. She had been like a family friend ever since and was the closest thing Cadence had in the world to a BFF.

  Irène let loose her brightest grin, hugging Cadence tightly. “That was a great jump! Congrats!”

  Cadence didn’t hold back, embracing her friend with equal warmth. “Thanks! I proud of you, too. Getting to 3.6 is a huge deal.”

  “Enough for 5th,” Irène sighed.

  “5th in an entire country!” Cadence shot back, not about to let her talk down about herself.

  Matteo’s deep voice rumbled out, “You packed on almost half a meter over last year. Don’t forget that.”

  Daniel merely smiled in agreement. Irène had a hard time finding the same confidence that her pole vaulting peers had attained, but that was partly because she was a couple years younger and hadn’t yet found her full talent. He wasn’t sure she would ever reach their level, but it was too early to say for certain. Even if she didn’t, as the others had said, being the 5th best at anything in a country of several million was nothing to be ashamed about.

  “Thanks. I… guess I should be happy, shouldn’t I?” Irène said. Her mouth went into a wide ‘O’ as she
pointed, “Oh look, there goes Carla!”

  The group turned to watch Carla make her first attempt. Determination was written on her face, leaving no room for doubt. Churning up the distance, she hit her mark well and launched upward toward the bar. Daniel held his breath, thinking she might have it…

  But then, she tapped the bar with her knee. It was precisely enough to rattle it. When it started to shake, the vibrations made it harder for her to keep clear, and it smacked against her elbow as Carla finished her arc. The crossbar followed her as it tumbled off its supports. A groan swept over the crowd.

  Gordon was there when she crawled free of the mat. He stooped in close, gesturing in what looked like supportive encouragement, deconstructing what had happened and helping her to refocus.

  They cleared away for Julie to make her own attempt. She looked impatient, already set and ready to make her run. Forced to wait until the field attendants got the cross-bar back up, Julie stood on the starting mark like a coiled spring ready to unload.

  Seconds later, the field judge raised the flag indicating she was clear to go. Instantly, Julie rocketed into motion.

  As soon as she set off, Daniel knew she wasn’t going to make it. He admired her conviction and her attitude. But her answer to the higher bar was to run harder and attack it more desperately. Willpower could help, but it needed technique to back it up. In this case, her skills hadn’t matched her will. She gave it her all, but still unseated the bar and sent it plummeting.

  As another groan swept around the stadium, Julie pounded on the mat and looked absolutely furious. Scrambling off the crash pad, she waved off Gordon’s commiserations and didn’t seem interested in talking over what went wrong. She stalked back to the starting point like a tigress, angry at having missed the first prey she had pounced on and determined to try again as soon as possible.

  Daniel turned away, leaving Gordon to the problem of handling his athletes. He wished them all the best, but in the end… they were the competition.