How To Win A Guy In 30 Days

How To Get Inspired

"Have you ever felt happiness to the point of your insides writhe in pain?" Marly asked, popping a burrito inside her mouth.

"Nope," Vanessa said as she took the next serve. She grunted as she side stepped and missed the ball, her racket hitting empty air.

They were supposed to be in detention for an hour. But the girls had dropped a laxative pill, 'borrowed' from the nurse's room, in to the water bottle of the teacher-in-charge. And everyone knew the rest of the story.

"Because I do," Marly confided, her expression having a close resemblance to a Harvadian scholar. "I'm feeling pain and happiness at the same time."

"Uh sorry Marly," Jude said, moving a little away from her. "Didn't realize that my spikes have been on your ankle all this time."

Jude had soccer practices after school and had joined the girls afterwards, none of them planning to go home early.

Marly's jaw dropped as Jude smiled sheepishly. Vanessa and the rest of the gang laughed loudly, the sound echoing throughout the courts.

"Time out," Vanessa said and walked out of the tennis court. She joined her circle of friends who sat on the neatly trimmed patch of grass in the adjacent court.

Reen agreed to her without a protest. It had been an hour since they had started playing a game of singles, after safely averting possible threats coming from the detention incident. Vanessa was persistent that they continue playing, ignoring the fact that she had missed the majority of shots.

At first, Reen had been elated at her sudden victory, it was a big deal when it came to defeating a hard-core player. But after some time, realization had struck her that her opponent was not in a proper mental state to play. Vanessa could have been rooted to the ground physically, but her mind was elsewhere.

Vanessa sat on the ground, legs crossed. With her index finger kept underneath Marly's chin, she closed Marly's wide open mouth.

"You might not want flies going in through your mouth and out through your ears." Vanessa grinned.

"For a champion who lost multiple times in one match," Reen said, skeptically. "You look pretty relaxed."

The girls nodded in agreement. On another day, Vanessa would have brought down the whole place if she had lost a single game, let alone an hour's play. But just today, she was not in the mood for brooding.

Vanessa shrugged. "I just don't feel it."

"Now that sounds danger, Vans," Reen grumbled. "I'm really counting on you for tomorrow. I'm not accepting loss again."

"Don't worry, we'll ace through it." Vanessa forced a smile. "Just like we always did."

It was fair on Reen's side to be petrified of the game tomorrow evening. Since there were only five schools that played in the tournament, two pairs from each school in the doubles and singles category, three outs and they would be already out of the game. Let alone finals, they won't even get to the quarter finals.

"What happened to the petition for the carnival?" Vanessa asked suddenly.

"Uh," Marly drawled. "I'm going through it."

Vanessa narrowed her eyes. "I know that look."

"Okay. I totally forgot about it." Marly's shoulder slumped in defeat.

Vanessa snatched the packet of burritos from Marly's hand, catching her by surprise. "Forgetfulness is a despised trait, Marlene Heather," Vanessa said as she lent the packet to Reen and the others.