Secrets, Socials, and Seigaku

chapter 42

I smacked his arm lightly, “No way are you doing this alone! I want to play half of them.” I told him with a smile that lions often wore when chasing their prey.

“A quarter.” Echizen bartered with narrowed eyes.

I gripped his shoulder tightly a toothy grin on my face. “I’m sorry, did I say this was up for debate?”

One of the creep’s many lackeys cut in. “We have to play against a girl? What kind of challenge is that?” All the boys laughed at the ignorant sexist comment.

My voice lowered to a whisper. “I think you should let me play all of them now.” My favorite past time had always been proving people wrong.

“No.” Echizen said firmly. “Just take your half.” He said in his usual uncaring tone and walked toward the baseline of the court.

“Okay boys!” I called the attention of every player on the court. A mischievous grin was glued on my face. This was going to be so much fun! I was so glad I went out today instead of staying inside. “If half of you could follow me onto this court I’ll be sure to show you how to properly pick up your balls seeing as you guys all lack a pair.” I finished off with an innocent smile.

You could see how each players face lit up with an angry blush in unison. “What did you say?” The boy who had made the sexist comment shouted at me, an angry blush still staining his cheeks.

“Are you deaf as well as ball-less now?” I asked with a concerned expression.

The boy’s face went from a flamingo pink to a cherry red as he stomped his way over to the opposite end of the court. “I’ll show you.” I heard him mutter.

“Sakuno!” I called to the girl who had vacated to the space between the two tennis courts. “Do you mind if I use your racket?”

She blinked and looked around for the object, but looked outwardly embarrassed when she remembered she had been holding it in her hand all along. “S–Sure! Here you go.” She quickly ran over, placed the racket in my hands, and ran back to her position.

I played with the racket, spinning it around in my hands like I would my own racket, and moved the strings around, assuring their strength. The pale pink color of the racket was something I was just going to have to deal with. In reality I would rather forgo the color, but beggars can’t be choosers. “I’ll tell you what,” The boy situated on the other side of the net started, “Being the gentleman I am, I’ll let you serve first.” Each word that rolled off his tongue made me want to gag. The phony authenticity of him was sickening. “Even better,” He turned to his fourteen other companions that stood where Sakuno watched. I watched as he had an epiphany and that cocky smirk on his face grew. “How about we let the lady serve every shot? What do you say fellas?” Hoots and hollers were heard as responses.

I smiled at the pitiable boy across from me. He had just signed their souls away to a losing bet, not that he had much of a chance to begin with. I feigned a curtsey, “Why thank you good Sir, in return allow me to grant you a favor…” I swiped a tennis ball off the ground behind me and set up to serve. The ball flew into the air and in a moment’s notice my hand came down with lightening speed and sent it flying to the opposite side of the court. The boy never budged to return the serve.

He blinked. His eyes stared at me, like he was waiting for me to serve, and I watched with delight as he registered that my hand was empty now. He looked behind him to see the tennis ball that had already been served hit the fence behind him. “What–what the hell was–“?

“Like I was saying,” I interrupted, standing up straight after my finished serve, “Allow me to make your defeat as quick as possible. You probably have things to do right? Like practice for those prefecturals?” I razzed.