Chapter 102

102 Tennis Amok

Vickie laughed as she said, “Well, if that’s your answer then we’ll go with it I guess.” September chuckled with her as well, and we all laughed together for a moment before we got back into our conversation again. “Yeah just don’t mess up,” Malachi said, still looking annoyed as he took another bite of food while looking up at the ceiling and sighing deeply. I think after that fight with the boys last time, he’s been very protective of his reputation and not wanting to do anything that will bring him bad publicity.

“I guess so,” September said in agreement before looking at me with a smile on her face. “I’m usually the leader of this group, being that I have the most experience in these missions.”

“How old are you?” Vickie asked.

“Eighteen, soon to graduate,” September said proudly.

Nikki laughed a bit before she said, “I’m sixteen. Clearly I’m too young.”

“Same for me,” I said.

Vickie nodded and looked over at me, smiling before she looked back at September with a smile on her face. “You’ll get there soon,” she said, turning back to Nikki and smiling at her too before looking back at September. “I’m fifteen too.”

“I thought you were seventeen,” I said.

“No,” Vickie said with a chuckle as she shook her head, “I’m only fifteen.”

.....

“Oh, my mistake,” I chuckled.

Vickie nodded in agreement as she looked back over to September with a smile on her face. “Wanna play some tennis?” she asked Nikki and September while looking at September first.

September smiled back at her as she looked at me, and I smiled back at her while nodding in response as I thought, When did they have tennis? The YMPA has everything else except tennis.

I’m not good at it though, I think I’ll just watch them for now.

Nikki nodded her head as she said, “Yeah that’d be great.” Vickie nodded her head as she said, “Okay let’s go get some rackets and meet in the courts in five minutes.” Everyone nodded, except for Malachi who kept eating his food until finally he took a bite of food and chewed it before saying, “Yeah fine.”

***

We were led outside, and not the outside outside, but outside of the building, and there were certain paths and places to go through. It’s so much to describe, like there were sections where there were fountains, statues, ponds and more. And there were other sections where it was just trees and grass, and even a section where there were flowers everywhere. There were different types of trees and bushes, and all sorts of plants.

I looked around at everything, and I was amazed that there was this kind of place here. The walls were made of stone and there were different statues placed every now and then.

It’s like we were outside a big park or something. Then we walked up to a door that had a sign above it that read “Courts” and opened it up to walk inside. It was a big room, with all the different kinds of equipment that one would need in tennis all over the place.

“Wow,” I muttered in awe as I walked around the room to see all the equipment that was used for tennis and all sorts of sports. There were tennis rackets, different kinds of balls, and even a table tennis table with all different kinds of rackets on it for everyone to use.

Vickie saw me standing there in shock with my mouth hanging open in amazement as she smiled at me while saying, “This is our court gym, where we do tournaments like basketball, soccer, football, tennis, badminton, all the good stuff.” September nodded her head as she said, “Yep that’s right.”

We walked over to where we had to use the different rackets, and there were different ones that were all different colors with different numbers on them that were different colors as well. This place was very hard on detail. Vicki grabbed a racket and began twisting it into my hand as she said, “Here you go.” I took it in my hand and looked at it in wonder before she continued talking.

But then I interrupted, “I don’t think I’m gonna...”

“You’ll be fine,” Nikki said. “Have fun for once.” I chuckled a bit before shaking my head as I looked back at Vickie as she said, “Come on it’s a lot of fun.” I sighed, “Fine, but don’t start yelling at me when we lose.”

September chuckled. Me, September, Greg and Nikki were going against Malachi, Vicki and Tisiah. Malachi was already giving me the death look and I gulped.

September tossed the ball into the air, then hit it as she said, “Ready?”

I nodded my head as I took the racket from her. Vickie did the same and looked at me with a smile on her face before she threw the ball in the air and served it, as the ball raced towards our side. Quickly Greg rushed in front of me and tried to block the ball with his racket as he said, “Come on!”

But it was no use. The ball fell to the ground, and it was their turn. “Yes,” Vicki rejoiced as she high-fived Nikki. Then Malachi served this time and Greg blocked his ball with his racket as he said, “Nice!” It flew over to their side but Vicki came in with a leaping hit from the side of the court as she said, “That’s close!”

They continued to play for a little bit as Vickie kept getting closer to our side of the court. Suddenly, as one of the balls sped towards our side, September zoomed and smacked it, knocking it down to their side before Vicki ran towards us to serve. But it was too late as September hit and we won the game.

“Yes!” Greg rejoiced, before he gave me a hug. He then pulled back and said, “That’s how it’s done.” I turned around and looked at Malachi, who was just sitting there looking at me with an angry glare on his face before he shook his head and sighed in defeat.

“Another game?” Nikki asked. All of a sudden Malachi’s face lit up and suddenly a rush of confidence went through him as he said, “Oh yeah. Let’s play again.”

“Vickie smiled at me as she said, “You’re up.” I nodded, taking the ball that was passed to me before I looked at Vickie and asked, “Are you ready?” I nodded, as I tossed up the ball. Now one thing about me you should know...I’m a terrible server, especially when I’m nervous. But now I had to get over that feeling, because it was not something that I wanted to do.

But I needed to show Vicki I’m a strong person, that I can get over this feeling. I don’t know why but this had something to do with Malachi and his attitude towards me. My confidence is being cooked by his staring look, and now it was time for him to see what I was capable of doing.

So I put my head up and looked straight ahead before I said, “I’m ready.”

I threw up the ball, and I jumped high, hoping for an over-the-head shot, but as I landed, my foot slipped on the floor and I stumbled forward before I fell on my face as I groaned in frustration. The ball dropped down to the floor, rolling away from us as Vickie laughed.

She laughed because she knew what had happened to me, and she knew I was scared to death about it too. “Don’t worry, it’s okay,” she said. “I know you’re nervous.” I chuckled, getting up as Vickie passed me another ball as she said, “I’ll serve this time.” I looked at Malachi, who was looking back at me with that same glare as he clenched his fists tightly while his jaw tightened before he growled loudly, “You can’t do it!”

Vicki didn’t seem to hear, but she tossed up the ball and served it towards our side. September rushed for the ball, and she hit it before Vicki got to it and hit it back before it fell to the ground. I sighed in relief as Nikki laughed at me.

“Good job,” she said. I smiled at her and nodded my head before I started to serve. I could try again, I thought. Maybe this time I would be able to get it over the net and make a nice shot so Vickie could return it. Maybe this could work out better.

Vickie smiled at me as she said, “Okay.” I nodded my head as I got ready to serve again but then Nikki got to the ball first before she hit the ball towards our side before it bounced to the ground. It was Vicki’s turn now, and she began serving.

Preview:

Eventually we were finished playing this game of tennis and went back into the court gym area where we got changed into our regular clothes that we were wearing now. I feel much better now because I was able to beat Vickie in the game of tennis even if only by a small margin. But my serving was still bad, and it made me very angry at myself because it was a part of me that I liked to use, and I wanted to do well at it.