Greetings, readers! It's been some while since I've written anything, I was in a bit of a funk and quite busy, but I have quite a few ideas building in my head and it's getting crowded up here. So gonna let some of them loose onto (figurative) paper. I hope you enjoy this exciting (and initially unexpected) sequel to Keeper. Please leave lots of lovely reviews!

It was another long day at the arcade, Mr. Litwak tidying up a bit as two girls played the game Sugar Rush and bickering a bit.

"Man, next time I wanna be Vanellope! She ALWAYS wins because of her extra powerup."

"But we flipped the coin on it, remember? I got heads."

"Hey, Mr. Litwak! How come Vanellope has the special power? Can't they all have it so someone else can win?"

Mr. Litwak overheard the girls, smiling a bit to himself as he came over to them. "Well girls, not all people who win start out that way. See, like Vanellope there, it takes a lot of hard work to get to be number one. And sometimes, real number ones are okay with NOT being number one. That makes them real winners in the end."

"Wait... so she wasn't always this good?"

"No one ever starts off that good... we all start the same. But the most important thing is you have to have a good heart, and a dream."

"Hm... maybe if the other racers practice enough, they'll be as good as Vanellope someday. Thanks, Mr. Litwak! We'll be back tomorrow!"

"Get home safe, girls." He nodded to them, locking up after letting them out. He smiled a bit sadly to himself, closing up for the night and putting on his jacket. He glanced over at the wall a bit, sighing lightly before he left the store. On the wall was a yellowed, worn local newspaper article from the 1950s... the headline, a bit faded, read 'Local Student Makes New Track Record.'

A pair of feet crushed the gravel underfoot as a girl ran, panting a bit from practicing for several hours. She did this day after day, finally slowing to a stop, checking her watch as she took out a notepad, smiling as she marked a line on it. Her raven hair was tied up in a ponytail, her hazel eyes looking up to see evening was fast approaching. She picked up her schoolbag, heading home where she would rest from a long practice run. Since she came to the school, she tried every year to be on the track team. She just knew that somehow, she could prove to the coach she was track material. She was a junior now, and all she wanted was to do what she loved. To run.

The next day at school, she sighed as she sat in class, taking out her books and looking at the clock. As she looked around, she noticed a new face, raising a brow. The teacher came in, setting down her things to take attendance.

"Sheena Richardson?"

"Here!"

"Julia Brooks?"

"Here!"

"Randy Flannigan?"

"Here!"

"Candace Howard?"

"Here!"

"Simon Murphy?"

The tan boy responded by clicking his tongue and giving his teacher a thumbs up, with which she rolled her eyes.

"Okay, he's here... Vanessa VonStark?"

The raven haired girl raised her hand. "Here."

The blonde next to her snickered a bit, smirking and rolling her eyes.

"Taryn Mulford?"

"Here." The blonde responded.

"Alright, and class, we have a new student with us today, Gregory-"

"Please, don't say my last name... it's dreadful." A boy with black hair groaned.

The teacher blinked. "Well, if you insist... anyhow, anything you would like to share with the class, Gregory?"

Gregory cleared his throat. "Um... well, my favorite color is orange... because my favorite holiday is Halloween, you see."

"Oh, who cares!" Randy stuck out his tongue, making the class chuckle a bit, except for Vanessa, who glared at him.

"Shut up, Randy." Vanessa hissed at him, sighing. She couldn't wait for class to be over.

She had more important things to worry about.

Once school was out for the day, she raced out of the class, heading down the hallway up to the bulletin board where a list was placed with a number of names. She bit her lip, looking down the list to her disappointment.

She hadn't made the track team.

She suddenly heard snickering behind her. She turned to see Taryn and Candace approaching her.

"Aww, poor little Vanessa didn't make the track team again. You know why? There's no room for LOSERS." Taryn mocked her.

"We're going to beat Coram high school this year, and the only way we're going to be the best on the island is if you BUTT OUT." Candace added.

"Give it up, Vanessa. If you weren't able to impress Coach Bill after freshman AND sophomore year, you won't THIS year either. Just go in the geek corner and suck on your thumb where you belong."

Vanessa glared at them as they headed outside toward the track. She was faster than all of them, she knew it. She wasn't just going to accept failure, not this year. She marched out to the track where the girls and boys teams were warming up. She went up to coach bill, crossing her arms.

"Coach Bill, I want to know why I didn't make track team." Vanessa huffed.

Coach Bill was not a very outgoing man, a bit on the short side and always seemed to be jotting something on his clipboard. His voice could put anyone to sleep. How he became the coach was anyone's guess.

"Not enough spaces." He answered monotonously.

"You're kidding, right? There's more than twice the amount of girls on their team than there are on the boys team! I can beat them coach, please just let me prove it to you!"

"Not up to me. There's always next year."

"Vanessa, stop whining. Don't you know failure when you see it? You see it in the mirror every day. Now, stop wasting our time and do something better with yourself." Taryn said, making Vanessa back up as she marched forward, before pushing her into a puddle of mud. She and the other kids laughed before heading back to the track to warm up. Vanessa bit her lip, standing up and trying to clean herself off to no avail. She sighed, heading back past the school to head home when she noticed some seniors in driver's ed in the back of the school. Their teacher, Mr. Turner, was instructing them. Vanessa looked away, hoping he wouldn't see her. She idolized Mr. Turner, having attended the high school years ago and was known as Bo "Speed Demon" Turner. His track record was unmatched, even to this day, years after he graduated as a student.

"I'll never be a great racer like him if the coach won't even give me a chance..." She sighed as she headed home. As she did so, someone stuck their hand out, handing her a paper.

"Please attend our meeting at the park tomorrow, miss. We are protesting Gene Walker's deforestation project out in the Hamptons to build. Thousands of woodland animals are being dispersed and as an environmentalist, we need to protect the nature of Long Island!"

Vanessa cleared her throat. "Uh... thanks..." She took the paper, tilting her head. she shoved it into her backpack, too disappointed to worry about forests and animals now.

Right now, she had to figure out how she would fight to earn a place on the track team.

Well, an interesting start, huh? Sounds pretty familiar... anyhow, I hope you enjoyed and let's start those reviews! More to come soon! :3