Chapter Text
“Don’t you want to go play some baseball?”
The familiar voice was clear in her head, but the face of the small boy talking to her was always out of focus. Every so often, she would think or dream about the same childhood memory but could only recall one small conversation. And that conversation always involved the same small boy asking her if she wanted to go play baseball.
She questioned if the memory was reliable considering the conversation happened when she was around five or six years old, and now she was fourteen—almost fifteen—and living in a different country.
“Rin?” The voice above her was incoherent over the sound of the music playing in her ears. A shadow obscured the sun shining in her eyes and an earbud was forcefully pulled from her ear. “Hey.”
Rin popped one hazel eye open to find a pale girl with a swinging long platinum-blonde ponytail standing above her. “Emme.” She closed her eye. “You’re in the way of my tanning time.”
With a scoff, Emme plopped down on the grass next to Rin. “How can you act so casual when this is the last meet we’re going to do together? You know the team is going to miss you.” Emme laid down beside Rin, popping Rin’s earbud into her own ear. “What are we going to do without you?”
“Lose the best high jumper in the country.” Rin let a playful smile appear on her lips as she rested her hands on her wide ribcage. “I’ll miss you guys too. But you’ll find a replacement sooner or later and you’ll forget all about me.”
“I never imagined I’d go through my junior and senior year without my best friend there. We’ve been in the same class since kindergarten where we became friends over gluing some girl’s hair to her chair.” Emme released her blonde ponytail and fixated her green eyes onto the cloudless blue sky. “What were you just thinking about now?”
Rin couldn’t stand how soft and gentle Emme’s voice was, asking her about things she should already know the answer too. The truth was, Rin wasn’t just thinking about her childhood memory, but was also thinking about her estranged dad that, in twenty-four hours, would be in her life again.
She wondered if he ever thought about her or if he was proud of her accomplishments. The unanswered questions were haunting and never left her mind. They always stayed there, in the back of her mind, waiting for the perfect moment to grab her attention.
Rin jolted up, annoyed with the thoughts taking up her attention when she should’ve been thinking about her next event. She ran her fingers through her mid-length tangled brunette hair and effortlessly tied it into a low ponytail.
She noticed a couple of sweat spots on her racerback, white and red tank top while adjusting her red spandex. “I was thinking about this being my last event with you guys. That’s all.”
Emme knew Rin was lying but decided to not press her further. “Sometimes, you’re very difficult to talk to.” With a soft groan, she lifted herself up and placed a hand on Rin’s shoulder. “Go get that gold medal.”
Rin shoved her phone and earbuds into her bag and stood with a stretch. “I will.” She pivoted away from Emme and made her way toward the track with her hands on her hips.
“Walker.” Her coach made his way by her side with a clipboard in his hand. “Don’t think too much about it. Deep breaths and just do what you were born to do.” He gently hit her on the back with the clipboard and let her make her way toward the track where the high jump event was gathering.
There were cameramen behind Rin, filming the track and field events to showcase who was qualifying for nationals. Rin didn’t pay attention to them, but instead kept her eyes on the bar that was being set in front of her.
Today was her last chance to break the state high school high jump record before departing on a one-way flight to Japan.
And Rin wasn’t going down without a fight.
The event passed by in a blur, and before she knew it, there were only two contestants left.
“We’re down to our last two participants. The bar has been raised to 1.77-meters and Medina Ramirez from Hidden Oaks High will be jumping again. With one previous failure, Medina only has two more tries to clear the bar in order to advance to the height that will break the state record. Currently holding the state record at 1.82-meters is Carmen Julisten from Umbrek Academy.”
Rin stood off to the side with her heart racing like never before. Sweat dripped down from her forehead and trailed down to her neck, only to be absorbed by her tank top. She squatted and narrowed her light hazel eyes onto Medina who was preparing to jump.
The slow approach caught up to Medina, and she hit the crossbar with her ankle only to have it fall back onto the landing mat. She quickly rolled back onto her feet and took her place once more.
Rin was fiddling with her fingers, waiting for Medina to attempt the jump one last time. If she didn’t clear the crossbar, she’d be out of the running for beating the state record for high jump. And that was exactly what Rin hoped would happen.
“Ramirez takes her place and is on her last attempt to clear the 1.77-meter height.”
Rin held her breath as Medina took off with a better approach. She jumped off her feet, arched her back, and landed down on the mat with the crossbar trailing after her. Instantly, Rin threw her head back with a sigh of relief as she took her place, ready to jump.
Medina rolled off the mat with a defeated smile on her face. She stood off to the side with her coach next to her, waiting to see what Rin would do. “Second place isn’t so bad.” Her coach consoled her.
Rin thought the statement was preposterous. Second place was worse than placing third or fourth to Rin. It was a mockery that she was within reach of first, but she wasn’t quite there yet. Second place was an indicator that she needed to train harder and longer, and she couldn’t stop until she placed first again.
And that kind of thinking got her to where she was today.
“Taking her place to jump is Rin Walker from Wilson High. If cleared, Walker will move on to 1.82-meters.”
Rin didn’t waste any second after the announcer had finished talking. She took off with a fast approach, counting the steps in her head. She turned her back to the bar, lifted off the ground, and snapped her back to clear the bar.
The jump was executed flawlessly, and she landed down on the mat with applause following after her. She quickly rolled back onto her feet and took her place to jump again. Her face remained stoic as she waited for the workers to place the crossbar at 1.82-meters: the state record.
“Walker clears the bar at 1.82-meters and is now going to attempt to break the state record at 1.87-meters.”
She took off again using the same method she had the previous attempts. She threw herself over the bar, only to feel it collide with her leg and fall down after her. As soon as she rolled back onto her feet, she slammed a hand down in frustration before removing herself from the mat to jump again.
In her second jump, her side hit the crossbar causing it to fall again.
“Walker currently has two misses. She will only have one more attempt to clear the bar and break the state record.”
Rin took her place, zoning out the fans and her coach who were chanting for her. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, wondering if her dad was watching her right this very minute. She wondered, once again, if he was proud of the things she had done with her athletic career.
But who was she kidding?
He was all the way in Japan, and she was in the United States. And there was no way he’d spend his time watching her event on television when he had a baseball team to coach. But if he were watching her…if there was even a slight chance that he would ever see her jump and break this record, she would only have one thing to say to him.
“Watch me.” Rin muttered under her breath as she took off with a fast approach. The adrenaline pulsated throughout her body as she thrusted herself up over the bar and snapped her back right in time to clear it.
As she sailed down toward the mat, she finally felt herself let out a breath of relief with a rare, small smile on her lips. She had finally done it. After breaking school records over and over again, she was finally here at states with only one goal in mind: to break the state record.
And now, she had done it.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Rin Walker has broken the state record at 1.87-meters. She qualifies for the USA Invitationals.”
Rin stood up from the mat, only to find herself being pulled down by her teammates. Despite everyone gathering around her, the only person she went to hug was Emme.
“You did it.” Emme muttered, squeezing her arms around Rin’s shoulder. “We trained together for so long and we both broke records today.”
It was a victory for both of them, however, it didn’t actually feel that way. Pulling back from the hug, Rin noticed tears in Emme’s musty green eyes. She attempted to give her a smile, but the corners of her lips refused to curl up.
“Come on! Let’s get your medal.” Another teammate pulled Rin away from the chaos and she was awarded with a gold medal. Flashes of cameras and sounds of newscasters surrounded her as they threw question after question at her.
“Rin, is it true that you have already accepted a scholarship at Dennistown University?”
“What an amazing jump today! Do you think you’ll be able to beat the competition at nationals?”
“Plenty of universities have their eyes on Rin Walker, who now holds the state record for high jump. Rin, do you have any idea where you’ll be attending?”
Rin didn’t smile as she took her place to get her picture taken with Medina to her left and another girl on her right. Now that she had finished her state competition, she wouldn’t be attending nationals. She had already finished up her first year of high school early, with special exceptions, in order to transfer to Seido High in Japan to start her second year.
“Hey.” A small tap on her shoulder startled her and she whipped her head to find Emme behind her. “She just got here.”
Rin’s eyes scanned the direction Emme was looking at while she fiddled with her gold medal which was knotted with her dark brown hair. She finally stopped gazing when she made eye contact with her displeased mother, Jolynn Walker, who was standing next to Emme’s mom.
Begrudgingly, Rin followed Emme toward the stands where she stood in front of her mother
“It’s time to go.” Jolynn said, not expressing much emotion. Her dark brown eyes were fixated on Rin’s medal as Rin quickly removed it and shoved it into her duffel bag. “The flight leaves in an hour and it’ll take us thirty minutes to get to the airport.”
Emme tossed her platinum-blond hair behind her shoulder and faced Rin. “Oh, but I can come with you still, right Miss. Walker?”
“We were just discussing that.” Emme’s mom, Tali, interrupted. “I wanted to see Rin and Jo off, so we’ll drive them to the airport and you girls can have your final goodbyes.”
Rin nodded and adjusted the strap of her duffel bag. Jolynn and Tali, both Rin and Emme’s mothers, had been best friends since they were children. This automatically made Rin and Emme best friends as well since their moms were constantly hanging out and getting together, leaving the two girls to figure out friendship on their own.
Things were quiet in the backseat of the car while Jolynn and Tali talked away about how they’d stay in touch. Instead of talking, Rin stared out the window with her head resting against the glass. She was thinking about all the things that would change as she moved to a completely different country.
Emme didn’t know what to say to Rin. Saying goodbye to her best friend of so many years wasn’t easy, and she definitely didn’t know where to even start a conversation.
“We’re almost at the airport.” Jolynn turned to face Rin. “Do you have your change of clothes? You’ll have to change fast because we’re short on time. Traffic was bad so there’s only twenty minutes until our flight.”
Rin only nodded in response and Jolynn continued her conversation with Tali.
emme class prez
Emme
<< image >>
Rin
lmao stop. we’ll facetime whenever
we can and we’ll figure it out with the
time changes. so please don’t cry or
i might actually laugh.
Emme
I know. I know. But it’s going
to be so different and I don’t know
what I’m going to do without you.
And if you laugh at me for crying I’ll send
you off with a black eye. Try me.
Rin
ooo. i’m so scared
Emme
<< image >>
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“Emme, help Rin get her stuff out of the back.” Tali said, parking the car and heading out to help Jolynn with her bags.
Emme thrusted a suitcase onto the ground and moved it toward Rin. “I can carry your duffel if you want.”
“No, it’s fine.” Rin waved a hand to dismiss Emme as she threw her duffel on the top of her luggage. “But can you watch my stuff while I go change?”
Emme nodded and headed inside with Rin where she stood next to Rin’s luggage, waiting for her to change, and come back out. After a quick minute, she came back out in gray sweatpants and a red and black Wilson High hoodie.
“You know, I didn’t tell him I was coming back.” Jolynn crossed her arms as she watched Rin and Emme play a game on their phones to pass the time. “I just figured, if I sent her to the same school that he coaches and teaches at, he’ll figure out it’s her.”
“What name will she go by?” Tali curiously glanced over at Jolynn who was holding her nauseous stomach.
“Kataoka.” Jolynn forced an exhale. “The last time he saw her, she was only six. All these years I told her that he didn’t want anything to do with her. I left Japan when she turned six and took her back to where I had grown up. If only you and I hadn’t gone to that overseas sports trip. I would’ve been playing softball professionally and I wouldn’t have been put in this situation.”
Tali took a deep breath. She knew Jolynn regretted many things and one of them was falling in love with someone on the overseas summer trip to Japan they had taken the summer before college softball training was supposed to start. After finding out she was pregnant, she stayed in Japan, gave up on her softball career, and raised Rin. When Jolynn realized things weren’t working out with her in Japan, she left, taking Rin with her.
“So why are you going back? You could’ve just had Rin stay here and compete in nationals.”
“Something is telling me to take her back to where she was born.” Jolynn admitted. “I’ve been hard on her all these years because all I wanted was a daughter to play softball like I did. Maybe some part of me thinks that if she meets her father and sees his passion for baseball, she’ll find some passion for softball and end up getting a scholarship somewhere for it. She was meant for softball. I know it. I can see it in her.”
Tali disagreed with Jolynn. “Rin is certainly a natural athlete. She’s good at any sport she tries.” Jolynn was stubborn and could never see how talented Rin was at track and field. She would refuse to see the amount of work, love, and drive Rin had to break track and field records.
After Rin had told Jolynn that she was choosing to do track and field instead of continuing her softball career, Jolynn refused to support her decision. She refused to pay for her items and refused to go to her meets. Tali ended up supporting Rin as much as she could and paid for items Rin needed.
“The flight to Japan is now boarding. Please make your way to Gate A8.”
“This is it.” Jolynn lowered her shoulders. “We’ll stay in touch, and I’ll keep you updated on how Rin is doing.”
Tali hugged Jolynn for the last time. “Try to go to one of her meets. It might be something worth seeing her compete. You’ll never see her this young again.”
Rin and Emme made their way to Gate A8 and stopped. “Text me as soon as you land.”
“I will.” Rin replied, hugging Emme quickly and turning away from her to board the plane. She knew Emme was crying and seeing that would only make it harder on Rin to leave.
She didn’t turn back and instead, headed onto the plane, and took her seat. Before she was able to put her earbuds in for the flight, her mother placed a hand on her shoulder.
“When we get there, we’ll take a taxi to Seido High. You’ll be met by your roommate who will show you to your dorm and that’s where you’ll be staying for your school semester. Got it?” Jolynn tightened her jaw. “I will be staying at an apartment and finding a job nearby. You won’t come home unless it’s a school break. Are you listening?”
Rin was surprised her mom had agreed to let her be on the track and field team at Seido. She couldn’t help but feel as though there were an ulterior motive behind her support.
“I know.” Rin said, popping her earbuds in and tuning out the rest of the world.