Food Wars of Our Hearts

Chapter 1: The mat isn't as soft of a landing as you would think

       "Today was the day. I am going to do it! No more being scared and hiding behind a wall of feelings! Nothing can hold me back now! And what is the worst that could happen? They say no? It's not that serious, I can learn to move on." Pinny said to them self in the mirror. They wrap their green spikes with a scrunchy and head down the stairs.

       Pinny's parents stood in the kitchen. Their mother was standing at the island in the middle of the room reading a magazine and sipping a coffee in their work dress, while their father sat at the breakfast bar with some cereal already dressed in suit and tie for work.

       The room had pure white counter tops and cream colored cabinets to frame the wall. These contrasted with the warm gray tile on the floor and the back splash. A table with three chairs sits next to the island. A stack of toast sat upon it with butter right next to the tower of bread.

       Pinny made their way to the tower of carbs and took a slice before hugging both of their parents and saying goodbye. And with that they were off to school. Today was the day.

       Walking into the building, as they have for the last three years Pinny walks up to their locker and gets the books that they need for class. Since tryouts were after school they would have to sit and stew in their own anxiety all day.

       Pinny has always dreamed of pole vaulting, they always have. Since the first time they watched the Olympics on TV with their parents. It just looked like fun ya know. No real reason other than they felt like it, and now they could finally do it, live their dream! Their school didn't have a pole vaulting team, since it is sort of a niche sport, but there was one that was run by one of the local gyms, but you had to be 17 to join. 

       The day seemed to drag on as Pinny waited for the final bell to ring. Tick, tock, tick, tock. The clock seemed to be taunting them, slowly ticking by the hours.

       Pinny sits back in their chair and exhales a deep breath. They were sitting in the last class of the day, and learning about calculus seemed like the least important thing they could be focusing on right now. All they could do is hope the bell rings soon.

       The sound of shuffling alerted Pinny out of their daydreaming. All of the other students were getting there things and trying to make it out the door as fast as possible, so Pinny took matters into their own hands and pushing past everyone else so they could make it to the gym in time. Pinny raced down through the halls to their car so they could drive to the gym, where tryouts were being held. 

       One of the dudes that always worked at the gym ran the pole vaulting organization. He was a cookie, a peanut butter chip cookie to be specific. He looked like he was around his early twenties and in good shape since he did work at the gym. Pinny was exited to talk to him more since the only time she had was when she came in to get the sign up sheet for try outs. He seemed like he would be a really good coach. 

       There weren't a lot of people there for the tryouts but that was only to be expected, but Chip, the dude running all of this was only going to coach 4 of them, so 4 out of like 16 is not the best of chances. 

       Tryouts went like most do. Not much to say there. They all turned in their physicals, they all did the 9' vault and the 10' to see how 'good' they were. 

       Pole vaulting works like this:

       The vaulter gets to chose the height for the competition but after the first one they go on to a higher pole that they need to clear. The vaulter gets three tries to vault over the first pole, then after you finish that one you get another three tries for the second and third. If you do not make it then your recorded height is the highest height you made. Unless you did not make the first vault, then it goes down as a '?NH?' no 'no height'. You must clear the bar entirely, you may not touch the bar at all and if the pole dislodges the bar even if they cleared the bar it is counted as a foul and a missed attempt.