𝙋𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙝 ➝ Zhuo Zhi

13: Yan Juice

Despite the teachers' similar reasons that Xueer had dropped out of school, Jia Li was still puzzled at why she pretended to be a Yu Qing student. No conclusions could be drawn, and she couldn't figure out why she, herself, was Xueer's choice to befriend. And ever since she had found out Xueer's identity, the auburn-haired girl never stepped foot inside Yu Qing's premises again.

Today, the tennis players were found busy, practicing all around in multiple courts. Jia Li was in her casual clothes since it was Friday, a simple white t-shirt and black jeans but her IDs were dangling around her neck together with her camera lace. She rounded the courts to take shots of each player as much as possible, avoiding stepping past the line and not disturb them.

Sounds of heels tapping pulled Jia Li's attention from documenting Xing Long's practice. She turned to see the same photographer from last week, snapping continuous photos of the group. When the woman saw Lu Xia walking to her direction, she excitedly pulled a mic and asked for an interview. But the freshman declined and straightly walked away. She shrugged at his attitude and proceeded in documenting the players as well, entering beyond the line, which annoyed Bai Yang.

"Hey," Bai Yang glared as the woman jumped and everyone turned to him. "This is not a place for interviewing, plus high-heeled shoes are not allowed in the court."

The woman shrugged as her eyes flew to Jia Li, who still had her camera raised but was looking at the two, "Then why is she allowed here? We're technically doing the same thing."

"Because she's our team's personal photographer." Qiao Chen piped in as the others looked at Jia Li, who lowered down her camera, unable to say anything.

"Please leave at once." Bai Yang grunted. The woman quickly snapped a shot of him before sauntering away with an annoyed frown.

Jia Li shot a grateful smile at Qiao Chen, who waved back cheekily, earning a smack by a ball Zhuo Zhi served.

"Focus." It was the only thing he said before doing another serve. Jia Li softly chuckled at Qiao Chen's pained expression before returning back in documenting Xing Long's practice.

Since Lu Xia had replaced Zhi Ming in the main team, the data-tennis player was then appointed by the captain to be their team's strategist. So right now, after school hours were over, Jia Li curiously watched as Zhi Ming pushed a cart full of tennis balls in front of the team, who were all standing in one line, hands holding their rackets in different positions. Confusion was visible on their faces as Zhi Ming gave them each a glance.

"I have made a new training plan," Zhi Ming began explaining his ideas and inputs to form a necessary training for the main players. "Jia Le, would you mind helping me demonstrate it?"

Jia Le pointed at himself, baffled from being suddenly called before stepping forward in front of Zhi Ming. The curly-haired boy crossed his arms proudly and squinted, "No wonder you keep staring at me. You just wanted to use me as an example."

Zhi Ming ignored his remark and faced the others, describing both their strengths and weaknesses before raising a pair of arm-bags and leg-bags filled with weights and passed them over to Jia Le.

Scoffing, "How can such a thing cause me any trouble? You are underestimating me." Jia Li rolled her eyes at her brother's confidence. But knowing how much those bags weighed, she inwardly smirked at how much her brother would suffer later.

Idiot, you'll regret what you said afterwards.

After explaining the rules of the training, Jia Le confidently positioned himself, twirling his racket after every perfect hit. Jia Li made sure to document him, chuckling later on as he began complaining about the heavy bags. But Zhi Ming refused and distracted Jia Le by correcting the ball's color. Jia Le eventually missed it and marched up to their strategist, accusing him of pulling him out of focus. However, Zhi Ming deflected his accusations with good reasoning, leaving her brother to sigh in defeat.