By Her Side

Chapter 35: Drowning In Sorrow

~ Amelia's POV ~

Friday, the nineteenth of May. It's the day of our tennis semi-finals. If we win this then we're going to be playing in the championship game. I was sitting in the chair at the court watching Lisa play, we were ahead as I could see. But somehow, I wasn't paying any attention. I can see her play... I'm watching her play. I'm watching Coach Glass walk around as she watches the game... My mind was wandering off. I took a glance at Claire every once in a while, she was in the back watching the game as well. I'm still pissed about all these notes that I've been getting. Then my thoughts went to wondering if Claire and I are actually done. She hasn't acted or ask anything ever since Tuesday when she saw me cry in my car. I sigh and Avery looked over at me.

"Amy, are you alright?" I heard her whispering over at me.

"I'm fine, just tired and stressed about personal things. This shouldn't be throwing me off from the game."

Lisa just tied with the girl. I looked over at the score, we just need a tie break this last round. I sat back and I heard my name. I looked up to see Coach Glass call me. "Amelia, you're our tie breaker." She smiled.

I plastered a smile on my face and grabbed my racket. "Good luck." Avery said and gripped my hand, squeezing it, she's such a supportive person to me. I smiled.

"Thanks, I'll need it." I said as I got up and out to the court.

My opponent started off the serve and we went arc to arc for a while. She was good, I could overcome her. Though my mind is somewhere else. I feel tension building up in me as we played. My swings started to become even more powerful, I just hope I don't lose all my control, and overdo it because I could get called for. But it felt nice to relieve all the tension. We continued to play and I was ahead of her by a point. I just need to win this to get the match and win the game. I had no control over my swing as I continued to intensely hit the ball and keeping them in the boundary area of the court.

After a while I decided to hit the ball with a bit more tension as we go and finally she missed her last hit and the match was declared. We won. We won the match and the game. We're now going to the championships. I exhaled and walked to the center of the court to shake the girl's hand. We smiled and walked off our separate ways to our teams.

"We're going to the championship game!" Lisa said.

I smiled and she ran into my arms and hugged me. I gave high fives to all the other girls and we went over to high five the opponent players. I began placing my things in my bag as Coach Glass walked over.

"That was a nice move Amelia..."

"Thanks." I said, zipping up my bag.

"You know, you looked very tense out there. And I bet those hard hits are helping you relieve tension..."

"...Kind of." I said.

"Well... just be careful. I'm warning you, it's nothing bad, but just be careful. I'll let it slide. Though are you alright? You've been in a daze the entire game... is it still bothering you?"

"I'm... Good. Don't worry about it. It is, but it's something I can deal with later. We have to practice for the championship now. So, I'm trying not to let any of it get in my way."

"...Alright, but don't block it out... It can hit you hard and affect much more if you push it further back. Just don't overdo it." She said. I nodded. "Well, I'm very proud of you Amelia."

"Thank you." I smiled and she hugged me.

"Okay, I'm heading earlier than usual. I have some things to take care of." Coach Glass said.