Her Last Game

CHAPTER 1

I was walking along the pavement that would lead me to a street where I live. At the same time, I felt disappointed inside. Life was so unfair. With my head hung low and a racket belonging to mine in my hand, I headed home to drown my sorrow in mother's milkshake. Until my ears heard shrieks of laughter just a few meters away from where I was standing. It made me turned back and searched for the source of laughter.

The laughter came from a public park nearby. There I saw a group of girls sitting on a long park bench and were talking to each other. One of them who had straight red hair tied into a ponytail stood in front of her friends and was showing off something which she held in her left hand. I sat down under a shady tree, facing them and took out my smartphone. I pretended to type a message and mind my own business. I tried to not make it obvious that I was eavesdropping and watched the scene.

"Isn't it a beauty?"The girl asked and hugged the object. Her friends nodded back in agreement and few complimented. I peered at the object and saw that in her hand was a racket. A shiny racket. I quickly looked down at my phone so that they would not think I was spying on them.

"Daddy bought it all the way from China!" She swung it like she was one of the professional players. I stared at her in disgust and decided to go home than wasting my precious time there. I got up but stopped when the girl scanned the are while talking about aiming a moving object. She spotted a beautiful grey cat pacing near the colourful rose bushes. I could see that her eyes were glinting in mischief.

She gripped the handle of her racket firmly and raised it just above her hips. But then, she adjusted the position of her hand and raised it high above her head like she was playing tennis. When the shuttlecock had been thrown into the air, she slammed it hard as it darted straight to the unaware cat.

All of a sudden, I ran to the cat and hit back the shuttlecock. I saved the cat's life and before I realized what was happening, my hand with the badminton racket pointed at them and words came out from my mouth unexpectedly. "Your aiming was poor! You should concentrate on practicing your aim than purchasing high quality rackets than cost a bundle if you don't know how to use it properly."

I suddenly felt stunned at the words I said for it had been a long time since I had not spoken bold words. I felt proud like the hero that saved the world from catastrophe. Everything fell into utter silence. The red haired girl gaped at me in horror while other stared at us with wide eyes. I had forgotten the feeling of misery that existed in me before. I looked down at the cat rubbing itself against my legs as I knelt down and carried it home. It purred loudly as if its thanking me and I stroked its chin lovingly as I left the park. Leaving the girls to themselves.

The next day, after a quick breakfast, I hastened to school. The rain was pouring down and with my umbrella up, I was not soaking wet. But I was wrong. After I arrived at the school hall, my shoes were wet and they made sloshing sounds that really annoyed me. Then I thought about changing clothes and the only spare ones I had were in my locker. Just as I was entering the corridor, someone shoved me hard from behind and I fell down whilst my books scattered everywhere. I took a gander at that person and she smirked as she strutted past me with that horror-struck red haired girl. The guilt had a fine sheet of golden hair which she curled it around her fingers.

I stood on my legs and put up a fight when a finger tapped on my shoulder and as I whipped around in anger, I found out that it was sweet Fleur with a set of bright blue eyes even in a rainy day like this. She handed back my books and my heart cooled down.

"Trust me Coralie, practically every girls in this school had been shoved by the bully," Fleur stared at me and her expression was very serious which meant that I need not to laugh. I shrugged as we both walked together to our first class which was, dull history.