Love-Game [A Prince of Tennis FanFiction]

[06] One Game

Chapter 6: One Game

***

Well isn’t this just my luck. The one person I thought I’d never see again is standing right in front of me with a wide grin on her face. “I haven’t seen you in forever!!” The familiar face grins at me from behind her tennis cap.

I simply nod, not knowing what I could possibly say in this situation. It doesn’t take long. It started low; a small whispered conversation between two people I’m much too busy to mention starts a catalyst reaction throughout the courts.

Before I could even comprehend what was going on, the court is filled to the brim with murmurs and dangerous rumors.

“They know each other?!”

“No wonder she was able to do that earlier.”

“Isn’t she the newbie who sleeps during practice every day??”

My old rival lets out a small laugh. “Wow that sure spread fast. And what’s this about sleeping at practice?!”

I frown at her, is she really talking about that right now? I manage to finally formulate a response in my head when I’m interrupted by VP, looking very shocked. “You two know each other.”

The Captain grins even wider and nods, “I guess you could say we’re old rivals.”

VP’s eyes immediately turn to me. I don’t answer. I sigh and pick up my racket, hoping she’d forget about the one game and let me get some sleep. I don’t think today’s my lucky day.

“You didn’t forget about our game did you?” I turn back to VP; she isn’t looking pleased that I tried to walk away.

I let out another sigh. “You’re going to play against each other?” Captain asks looking quite amused. With a slight smirk, she looks to VP, “I wouldn’t if I were you.” VP is looking shocked, and so am I. Her face spells out the unspoken question, why not? Apparently the Captain saw it too. “You’ll lose.”

VPs eyes widen just as the court gets another visitor. I don’t notice Ayumi by my side until she gasps. “What’s he doing here?”

I turn to her, “Who?” She motions to the man entering the now silent tennis court. He looks fairly old, around mid-thirties maybe. His dark hair is cut short and he’s carrying a clipboard with a stack of papers on it. He scans the courts before stopping in our area. He makes a swift beeline for our court, looking as if he’s in a hurry.

“Coach, you’ve already decided on the regulars?” Captain doesn’t seem to be the slightest bit surprised at his presence.

“I was just about to announce it.” His voice is deep, and for some reason, it sounds like he’s angry. He turns to me, looking thoughtful. His eyes flicker from me to Ayumi. “Why are there two of you?”

Ayumi grins, she happens to love hearing that we look alike. “We’re twins; she wasn’t here yesterday so she wasn’t ranked.”

He nods in understanding. Captain seems to disrupt his train of thought, “Actually, she was about to play a game against Cheiko-chan.” I turn to her in shock. Who’s Cheiko?! Wait a minute... don’t tell me, VP’s name is Cheiko?

Our new “coach” raises an eyebrow in amusement. “I didn’t exactly authorize it, but since you haven’t been ranked yet, this’ll count as your ranking match.” He says, addressing me directly.

I turn to Ayumi, and back to the new ‘coach’, who I still don’t know his name. “Ranking match?!” I don’t remember ever saying I wanted to be on the team.