Hes lost in his mind

Chapter 11 : Challenge 1 - Tennis

As I looked out of the window, as I looked at freedom, I knew Damien would punish me later. Punish me for running. 2 and 5 were asleep in their beds.

Suddenly, of all people, John appeared, head down. He was heading down the road. Suddenly, he turned to me, and started lashing at the gate, grabbing it and shaking the bars. There was no way he could get in - but it was a good try.

Then I remembered John was a vampire, and that he'd lost his memory, so I ran to the closet, heart pounding, and fished out the nightgown. I slipped it on, careful not to wake 2 and 5, and slid under the covers of my bed, quickly falling asleep from todays events.

***

"6! 6! Wake up! It's our first competition today!"

I woke up with 5 screaming in my ear, shaking me. 2 was pacing the room.

"is she dead?" she was asking "is she dead? Please say she's not dead!"

"I'm not dead," I murmured. She squealed and hugged me.

"you're NOT dead! Come on, get up! We've got to be at the first competition in half an hour! You're uniforms hanging in the closet!"

I went in to find an all-in-one suit, a black short-sleeve top with really short shorts. I grimaced but slid it on, and followed 2 and 5 outside into what looked like the back garden.

I gasped as i saw what we were doing - tennis. I loved tennis - as a child mum had sent me to a club, but I'd had to stop going because of money issues. I was top of the club - and I wasn't even gonna bother denying I was good at it.

"Everyone, welcome. As you know, one of you here will some day be my Queen. So, we will need to test you to see if you are worthy. One of the things not so major that a Queen must be able to do is play tennis, as she will be expected to play against other Queen's. Tennis is well known to be something Queen's do."

"so, you will be playing on triples. The team who loses will be sent to elimination, where I will register your results and see who exactly will be leaving us."

As Damien finished his speech I knew what I had to do. It wouldn't be so bad being vampire Queen - maybe I could give new rights to the humans? And, with £1000 and all the money from being Queen, I could look after my mum well.

"OK, are you girls ready? If so, play!"

I said I didn't go to the club anymore - I never stopped playing. I had loads of practice, and was pretty much an expert now.

We were in the teams of our rooms. Cat sent the ball flying across the 5, who hit it at 4, who OBVIOUSLY couldn't play tennis to save her life. She looked like she didn't even know how the hold the racket.

The ball hit the floor and we won a point. I cheered and slapped hands with 5, before going back into position.

This time Molly started it, and she looked angry that we'd scored the first point. The ball came flying at me, but I hit it with as much momentum as I could and it hit Cat in the nose, and she yelped as she fell on her back.

Next Cat served it at 2, who hit it too hard and it went out. I patted her on the back and told her it was still a good hit.

Next 2 served it, this time well, and it went to Molly, who passed it to 5, who passed it to Cat, who passed it sharply to me, and I shot it straight at 4. She flung herself to the side, grabbing Molly's leg. Molly shoved her off, saying "you're such a wuss!" and I laughed.

The game went on like this, and we hit the ball at 4 as often as we could. Molly usually dived in front of 4, but with that distance to cross she had a 3/10 chance of actually hitting it.

By the end of the game we won by 20 to 6, me having scored half of our points.

Damien clapped as we wondered over, Molly glistening with sweat, and 2 and 5 looking pleased as hell.

"well done, girls," Damien clapped. "Impressive play! 6, very well done! OK, girls, that will be all for today. Team two, I will see you for evaluation at 8 tonight,"

We all nodded and headed back to our rooms.

"4's out," 5 muttered to me on the way back. "She was TERRIBLE."

"I know, right? You were amazing out there, 6," 2 patted me on the back.

I blushed. "I wasn't THAT good," I murmured, "you guys were pretty impressive yourselves."

"Hmm, whatever."

We went into our room and I left the kettle in the corner of our room, placed in there by the maid, to boil, and sat on my bed.

"At least we're not up for evaluation tonight, no matter how terrible 4 was," 5 murmured. "that was tiring. And scary. I say go to bed early, go to the entertainment room if you wake up. How does that sound?"

"good to me," I nodded. "2, what are you doing?"

She was wrestling with a plastic bag, looking like a total maniac.

"trying to get this open. We all have one in our areas in the closet - they're from Damien for winning."

I went over to the closet and grabbed mine. It looked larger than 2's - were they different?

2 opened hers and laughed. It was a little bikini, yellow with polka dots. It came with a little letter 'for winning, you girls get to go to the castles pool as you wish. It is the first floor, just to the left. From Damien'

5's was the same, just in purple, but mine had something else too. I had the bikini in red, but I also had a little parcel. My letter read: 'Great performance today. You saved your team. I've never seen such great tennis skills. You may go to the pool freely as you wish - and I would like you to also visit the local library. I think you like books? Damien'

The parcel contained a book, my favourite book of all time, 'Harry Potter'. It was the first one, and I sighed. Why was I here, I asked myself again? Why was I still here, and why hadn't the effects off my singing worn off? I had to figure out how...