Green Valley

~7~

"Welcome to the 100th annual Green Valley Tennis Academy tournament!" the announcer said with forced enthusiasm. 

I've been at Green Valley for a while now, almost 6 months. It's great, I mean, it's the best tennis school there is! But it's not what you'd expect. There's drama, like any other school. In my grade, the main drama is caused by these 3 girls that are bratty and basically clones of Regina, Gretchen, and Karen. It's absolutely crazy. There are also love affairs; Amber, the Regina of the group, is having at least 4 affairs with different guys, but her boyfriend, Mason, doesn't really care because he's 'already lucky enough to have her'. Some people are so sick. 

And while we're on the topic of love, Noah's been absolutely impossible to get out of my head. Wait, no. I don't even like him. I don't know why I associated him with love. It's just that he's so...annoying-----ly nice. I'll be just picking out a snack in the cafeteria and he would be like 'Hey, Summer! What's up?'. I would be nice and all, but yo! I literally just answered your same question an hour ago!

Anyway, back to the annual tournament.

"This year is a special one, since this year is GVTA's 100th birthday!" the announcer jumped up. A scattered cheer went on in the audience. Basically no one was paying attention. Everyone was too busy absolutely dying of nervousness. I know I never mention my insecurities, partly because I have too many, but tournaments are so stressful. Just the thought of them give me the shivers. Like who invented tournaments, and why would you torture innocent people like that?! Anyway, everyone from GVTA needs to attend this tournament, so I'm here. Plus, I need to get my ranking up after I took a break from the arm scratch. Still don't know how that happened.

"There are also many wonderfully talented tennis players from around the world who have joined us today on this special occasion to play some tennis. Now, this tournament usually goes on for 2 or 3 days, so be prepared to be tired! That's if you make it far, though," the announcer,  laughed. This time, no one from the audience laughed. It's not funny if you're playing the tournament. 

I take in a deep sigh. I really want to win. I need to win. But I'm not sure if I'm capable of winning. It's just that...I'm not as good as everyone else here because I took that medical break. But it doesn't matter. I want to win, and I want it more than anyone here. 

~🥀~

"Summer Patefield and Brittany Hunter! You're up. You guys are on court 7," the announcer said.

My heart skipped a beat. My first match was about to be played. 

I walked up to the front desk and picked up a can of tennis balls assigned to court 7. I looked around. I didn't see anyone walking towards the table, which meant that my opponent wasn't here yet. 

"Looking for someone?" a strong voice suddenly said. I spun around and almost had a heart attack.

"Um, yeah, Brittany Hunter. I'm supposed to play her," I shivered in confusion, still surfing the aftershocks of almost being surprised to death.

"You're looking at her," she said, and spun around and walked away, "I'll see you on court,". That absolutely scared me. Are all opponents this competitive? It doesn't matter. I still want to win more than her.

I walked on to the court and suddenly felt a tsunami-sized wave of nervousness wash over me. My heart was almost jumping out of my chest, my palms were sweaty, and the butterflies in my stomach were absolutely terrible. I looked at Brittany again. She looked like she wants to win. And I just look extremely intimidated. I took a deep breath and strut my 'I'm not scared of you' walk. I want to win more than anything. 

I walked up to the bench on the side of court 7 and set my tennis bag on the floor. I put my water bottle on the bench and looked up to see Brittany already bouncing the ball on the court. God, she really wants to rush it, huh? I thought. Perfect. I could show Brittany that she couldn't treat me like her doll. 

I took off my sweater and purposely jammed the zipper three times, pretending to struggle. Then, after I took off my sweater, I took out my ponytail and retied it a little higher. I then took out my tennis shoes from my bag and neatly placed them on the ground before I took a large sip of water. I looked up. Brittany looked really impatiently, and she walked over to the other court. I smiled and carefully slipped my feet into my shoes. I tied my right show and then untied it, laughing. It was so fun pissing someone off. 

"Mrs. Patefield?" a deep voice asked that left my jumping up again. To my surprise, it was a referee. "You have a 2 minute limit to get ready before the match, and it's been 5. I will have to deduct a game from you,". Brittany smirked. What? This was completely unfair! He can't deduct a game from me because I took too long to tie my shoes! What the heck?!

I stomped on court and tossed the balls to Brittany's side of the court. It was her serve. 

She bounced the ball carefully, bouncing on her feet to get the blood moving. She stopped in ready stance, looked up at me, smiled, and leaned back to perform her serve. It zoomed on court and smacked into my racket strings, pushing me back. Her serve was extremely fast. My return was out, and she wasn't hiding it. She screamed 'out!!' with nasally voice and smiled. 15-0. 

She served again, but it didn't stump me this time. I jumped off the peak of the ball and smacked it down the line, making a winner. She didn't have a chance to get that one. I sighed. This was going to be a close match.