𝙋𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙝 ➝ Zhuo Zhi

15: First Game

The first game for the National High School Men's Tennis League Tournament had arrived. A good number of students were filling outside the school premises, buzzing with excitement, eager to watch Yu Qing's first tournament this year. Jia Li was amongst the crowd, maneuvering her way to find the easiest path to the park after class. Unfortunately, she forgot to ask for a map, resulting to her running around in circles.

Nope, I am not lost.

Because of her stubbornness to stay with the huge crowd of students, Jia Li found herself alone, wandering aimlessly. She huffed, denying to herself that she wasn't lost. But the tall trees and vacant courts around her proved otherwise.

Fortunately, her eyes spotted one of Lu Xia's cheerleaders at the bridge, carrying a map. However, it also seemed like the girl was lost, too.

"Senior Jia Li!" Qi Ying waved happily and jogged to her direction.

Over the past days of watching the team's trainings, Qi Ying, Peng Xiang, and Mu had served as her companions. She learned that the three of them were of the same year as Lu Xia, thus resulting to them calling her as Senior.

"Hi, Qi Ying." Jia Li greeted. "Are you heading to the game?"

The shorter girl nodded with a frown, "I am, Senior. But I can't seem to find the right direction."

"Me too." Jia Li sighed in defeat.

Both girls started walking wherever their feet would take them. But then, Qi Ying was called by another girl who wore a casual white dress, her short hair, half-tied. Thankfully, she was kind enough to take them with her as she was also going to watch the game.

When the three arrived, Jia Li could hear the audience chanting out their respective schools. Yellow, green, and blue cheering sticks were visibly seen waving by the students. Qi Ying turned to the pretty girl, "Do you know anyone who's playing?"

"Do you know Qiao Chen?" She asked to which Jia Li and Qi Ying nodded. "He was my classmate in Junior High." As if on cue, Qiao Chen and Lu Xia began walking to the court. "I didn't expect them to play doubles. They were almost defeated last time by their same opponents today."

Confused at not recalling any match from the team with another school, Jia Li blurted, "Why?"

An amused look ran over the girl's features as she explained. Qiao Chen and Lu Xia were supposed to play a match as singles. However, they encountered Yu Huang High School's doubles players. Because of their excessive pride to admit they had no idea about playing doubles, they challenged their opponents but eventually lost the game. Jia Li snickered, a plan forming in her head to tease Qiao Chen.

Qi Ying laughed and stared dreamily at Lu Xia, "I haven't seen Lu Xia playing doubles."

The girl chuckled, "This match should be interesting." Then she gestured at the two to an available spot for them to watch.

Jia Li excused herself to document the game, leaving her backpack with Qi Ying. Since she wasn't allowed to enter the court, Jia Li could only take photos from the stands. She positioned herself besides Zhi Ming, who was scribbling on his data notebook as usual.

"Hi, Senior Zhi Ming."

"Jia Li." Zhi Ming nodded, fixing his glasses.

"I hope Yu Qing wins this match." Jia Li sighed, watching the two players almost argue after shaking hands with their opponents. "Those two clash each other. Do you think it was really a good idea to put them in doubles?"

"It was their own decision." Zhi Ming stated, eyes focused on the two.

"Well then, let's just hope the school won't be embarrassed because of them." Zhi Ming only chuckled at her words.

The match between Yu Huang High School versus Yu Qing High School had started. Surprisingly, Yu Qing was the one who scored the first few points of the game. Jia Li was even more surprised that Lu Xia and Qiao Chen fist-bumped, clapping their rackets as well.

Maybe they practiced how to coordinate with each other.

However, she spoke too soon. Their opponents soon found out their strategy and began disrupting their coordination. Yu Qing's second doubles began arguing, throwing glares. From her position, she could see Jia Le covering his face from embarrassment and the others looking elsewhere.

So, it was Jia Le and Da Chi, who taught them doubles. Jia Li smirked to herself, excited to tease them for their poor lessons.

She glanced at Zhi Ming, who left her side and headed to the bleachers, a bottle of Yan Juice in his hand. Jia Li suppressed a laugh as the three passed the bottle to the girl, who ended up collapsing on Qi Ying's lap after exchanging a few words with Zhi Ming.

As Jia Li returned her attention back to the game, she could see the annoyance painted on their faces as the two kept missing the balls. Both kept clashing their rackets, bumping into each other as they reached for the ball at the same time. Then they would glare and argue with each other, clearly showing how they completely had zero coordination. She could see the pissed look on Coach Qi Na's face as she lectured them.

When the break ended, Qiao Chen was suddenly in trance upon looking up at the bleachers. He dropped his racket to which Lu Xia glared. Jia Li followed his gaze, landing her sight on the pretty girl she met earlier. So he likes her. Jia Li quickly captured the moment. He dreamily followed Lu Xia to the court but was halted by Si Yang.

"Qiao Chen, your racket."

He seemed motivated now that he knew that the girl he liked was watching him. With a serious look, he served the ball hard but ended up hitting the back of Lu Xia's head. Jia Li bit her lip to refrain herself from laughing. When the game resumed and they changed positions, Lu Xia ended up hitting Qiao Chen's head, too. Their teammates sighed and Jia Li could see her brother shrink back on his seat in complete embarrassment. Zhuo Zhi turned to his right, where her position was, holding back a chuckle. She met his gaze and quickly snap a photo of him and Jia Le. He squinted his eyes in a playful glare to which she shrugged and looked away, suppressing a smile.

Qiao Chen glowered over Lu Xia, who tilted his cap to cover the front of his face. Jia Li watched in confusion as they began creating a line between them, dividing the court.

What are they doing?

Just then, the radio became static and Huang Jing's recorded voice echoed throughout the entire park, catching everyone's attention. Coach Qi Na sighed heavily, and Jia Li could feel that she was definitely pissed off.

Upon resuming the game, Jia Li observed how Qiao Chen and Lu Xia were able to score because they applied playing singles in a doubles game. They're definitely an embarrassment.

As they won, Coach Qi Na harshly grabbed their cheeks and punished them along with Huang Jing and Xiu Wen by making them squat by the sidelines throughout the next games, which became quite easy for Yu Qing to deal with.

Impressively, the Golden Partners wrapped their doubles game in fifteen minutes. Jia Li couldn't resist the proud feeling as she grinned widely at her brother. Bai Yang's opponent fainted from exhaustion and was carried by his teammates. Xing Long's was scarred when he realized how aggressive Xing Long could be whenever he held a racket. And Zhuo Zhi seemed too chill for someone, who's playing in a match, easily winning his game.

Once Yu Qing was qualified for the next round, Jia Li weaved her way back to Qi Ying and the girl, who introduced herself as Xu Xing Zi. As the four left, Jia Li was left alone to wait for her brother and Da Yong. The bleachers were already deserted. No one seemed to be around, so she walked out and sat on a nearby bench, playing games in her phone.

"What are you doing here?"