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CHAPTER ONE.
GAME
2006
DANIELLA LOPEZ breathed heavily, stepping through the door of her hotel room. Her pre-match ritual had commenced early that morning with a run and now that they were back, the yoga session was to begin.
Dani followed her mother into the living room of the suite as she set out the mats. The girl chugged half a bottle of water before standing beside Mariella in their starting pose.
No words were exchanged between the two and a comfortable silence settled over them, only broken by the soft music playing from Dani's phone. Mariella had gotten her in the habit of preparing for her matches since she was young and now it was a ritual.
The blender in the suite whirred and Dani looked up from her downward-facing dog to glance at her aunt. Flavia Lopez was her coach and had once had a successful career in tennis alongside her brother, Dani's father. However, when he died, Flavia had decided to stop and begin coaching.
Now the two were dominating the tennis world and Dani was on track to be one of best tennis players in the world.
One of.
Flavia poured the smoothie into a glass and handed it to the girl. Dani welcomed it gratefully and began to drink. Mariella sat on the ground as Flavia questioned, "How are you feeling about today?"
Dani nodded, "Pretty good."
Mariella looked up at her, "How are you feeling about facing Tashi, she means."
Dani gave her mother a pointed look, "It depends on what kind of day Tashi's having. But today's a good day for me. So I could beat her."
Dani's father had died when she was young. Mariella wanted her to have a small piece of him as she grew up, so had entered her in their local tennis classes. That's where Dani had met Tashi. The two had instantly clicked with similar personalities and a great sense of competitiveness.
Tashi was a fierce competitor and therefore the only person Dani felt she was challenged by. Despite being best friends, they had an intense rivalry going on and the only reason they didn't hate each other was because they got on so well.
Their rivalry was to continue into college as they'd both been scouted for the Stanford team and had accepted their offers only a few weeks ago.
However, today they'd be competing against each other and it was sure to be an interesting match.
"Alright, finish that off and then we can get started on some drills," Flavia spoke, walking back into the kitchen.
Dani drank the rest of her smoothie and followed her mother into their next position.
