Just Picture It

Chapter 37- Tennis Practice or Marathon Training?

Monday, January 30th 3:20PM

Lincoln High School

The afternoon classes went by quickly. It helped that she was able to have a seat next to Korbin in all of her classes. But, she noticed that Korbin seemed more distracted and edgy as his tennis match approached.

When he went to get ready for his match, she told him, "You'll do fine. You have worked really hard this weekend. I'll catch as much of your match as I can."

Korbin was only able to say, "How...?" before Jamie gave his arm a final pat and raced off toward the girls' locker room. He stared after her briefly, but then turned to get ready himself.

As Sondra, Danica, Hillary and Jamie got close to the door, they heard Susie yelling at those already in the locker room. Jamie stopped. Hillary looked over at Jamie in concern and asked, "You changing your mind?"

Jamie shook her head and directed, "Go change in your usual spot. I'll find a corner and be out before she even knows that I'm there." They exchanged looks, but didn't argue and quickly disappeared through the door.

Jamie immediately heard Susie's taunt, "Danica, where is your new friend? I heard she might be joining. She must have been scared off."

By then Jamie had slid in behind another group and split off to a corner out of Susie's line of sight. Jamie saw Danica glare and flip off Susie, but Susie was already walking away.

Jamie was actually thankful that she had the spandex shorts and tank on under her uniform. She stripped off her uniform, pulled on a large t-shirt, and grabbed her shoes. In less than thirty seconds Jamie was heading back out the door as she tied the shirt in a knot at her hip. She even managed to time her exit for when Susie had her back turned.

Hillary and Danica nodded in agreement when Sondra muttered, "I need to get some spandex," while Susie yelled at the players to hurry up.

Susie was one of the last out of the locker room. When she saw Jamie, she tripped and did a double take. Susie glared, but didn't say anything when she saw Coach Marshall watching her. Susie turned away from Jamie and addressed the whole team. She announced, "We need to work on our strength and stamina. Starting today we are going to start every practice with fifteen laps, fifty sit-ups, and fifty push-ups while the coach takes a few to give small group instruction." Susie with a smug expression as they groaned in response. When they had all started running Susie went to the middle of the court. She fingered the large bandage on her nose as her smile faded and she watched the runners jealously.

Jamie hadn't bothered groaning. She had just shrugged and started running. When she saw that the laps went past the boys' courts, she smiled thoughtfully. The rest were panting after a couple of laps, but Jamie kept up a good rhythm. Jamie noticed that the longer they ran the more Susie frowned. It wasn't long until she was yelling about how bad everyone was doing. After several more laps Jamie thought Susie might just be on edge enough for her plan to work.

She passed Nancy to run next to Sondra, and made sure to use a voice that carried as she said, "I don't know how fast Susie usually is, but if her feet are half as fast as her mouth, she'd beat us all."

Sondra shushed Jamie, but Nancy was already heading for Susie.

When Susie yelled for Jamie to do an extra fifty laps both coaches and teams stared in concerned shock. Terrence shook his head at Susie, but Jamie just nodded and kept running. When Jamie went past Korbin's court, he looked concerned until she winked and smiled. Korbin shook his head and focused on his upcoming match.

Susie and Nancy watched Jamie run laps without slowing down. Nancy muttered in an outraged tone, "She shouldn't even be here. She is the one who made it so we can't play, and now she expects to be welcomed to the team."

Susie frowned at Nancy's words before saying, "She'll be begging to quit after this practice. No one will know if she is any good or not because she won't touch a racket. They will forget all about her soon enough. I don't know what your problem is though, at least you can still play."

Nancy shook her head, but didn't tell Susie that no one else was willing to be her tennis partner, and she wasn't good enough to be on varsity in singles tennis. Instead of answering she ordered, "Just keep on her at practice. I'll talk to Aaron and work on another plan."

After Susie nodded, Nancy went back to running. It didn't take long before she was wondering if she had made a mistake in suggesting they work on conditioning. Susie might love the exercise, but she hated it. Fifteen laps had seemed worth it earlier, but now she wasn't so sure. Usually, she didn't regret any decision, but after her lunch plans hadn't gone the way she expected, she was doubting herself.

If Moe or Korbin had attacked Aaron, it would have meant a sure spot on the team for him. They would have been out of school, and Aaron would have been able to claim that the injuries they had inflicted had been the reason he didn't win today's matches. Coach Riley might have argued, but the principal would have made it happen.

Then, the new girl hadn't backed down in front of Susie. That had been a shock, and Susie had been pissed. Now that she thought about it, Jamie and Sondra had screwed with several of her recent plans. She glared at them as they ran, but soon she focused on what would have to happen next.

She had talked to Aaron, and he knew what to do. He would have to work his butt off to impress this afternoon, and then he would keep his distance until the time was right. He wasn't looking forward to the next stage, and she had some doubts herself, but there wasn't much choice now that those girls had ruined her plans.

What do you think of the evil mastermind? How did you like how Jamie got to watch Korbin's match? Let me know what you think. I live for my reader's comments, and votes... although following is always an accepted alternative. ;) Thanks for reading.