Ethereal

Chapter 10

"Um." I gasped, moving back to my original position as the ball rolled back towards us. I scooped it off of the ground. "A little more gentle, maybe?" 

Jasmine frowned but nodded. Travis was still staring off at Charlie, his eyes narrowed in scrutiny. Noah on the other hand, was watching me, specifically the ball I held in my hand. 

"Like this." I said, and threw the ball up, hitting it with my own racket. Surprisingly enough, my serve actually made it over the net and towards Jasmine. Who simply raised her free hand and caught it, nodding to herself. "Only when you serve it to someone, that person will hit it back over the net, and then you return it a few times." 

"Alright." Jasmine settled herself into a slight crouch as she prepared to serve the ball again. "Gentle." She repeated to herself, and then served the ball back to me. 

I managed to hit it and send it towards Travis, who, despite the fact that he wasn't looking, managed to hit it back so that it went towards Noah.

This continued for a few moments, until I missed the ball. It didn't surprise me that it was me that broke the rally, everything seemed to be so effortless for them. 

The ball rolled over towards Noah, who picked it up. "Who serves?" He asked. 

"Er, I guess it doesn't matter. Do you want to try?" I asked, watching as he shrugged in response. 

"You mind showing me again?" He asked, once again smiling at me with that dimple that made me feel as though I was melting.

"Sure." I nodded, and he walked over to me to hand me the ball. As he gave it me, his bare fingers brushed against mine with the lightest of touches, and it were as though a flood of energy filled my body. 

As though the energy had been pure adrenaline, I suddenly felt the strongest need to impress Noah with my serve, and for that brief moment I was filled with confidence that I could serve and earn a point for our team at the same time. 

So, as I tossed up the ball, preparing to swing my racket and serve, a few things happened. 

One, my racket made contact with the tennis ball. 

Two, all three of my friends quickly turned away from me to stare at Charlie as though something were about to happen. 

Three, a rogue tennis ball smacked into the side of Charlie's head, causing him to stumble and curse as he rubbed at the spot where the impact had occurred.

And four, I watched as my own tennis ball shot across the court at an alarming speed before smashing into the concrete wall across the room, breaking into pieces.

And nobody else was watching. 

I wasn't even sure how I had kept my eyes focused on the fast moving ball. Or how I had possibly given it enough force for that to occur. 

I felt my fingers loosen up on the racket, and heard the dull thud as it fell to the ground. I watched as Noah turned to face me with concern, and how suddenly I could hear ringing and how I felt sick to the stomach before my knees gave out beneath me and I was falling. 

Before I hit the ground, two strong arms had caught me. And though my vision was just black I could still feel, and I found myself clinging to the arms which had to belong to Noah, because he was the only person whose touch seemed to give me energy. 

After a moment I loosened my grip on him and my sight returned to me. I found myself laying with my back against the wooden floor, with a crowd around me peering down into my face. 

"Coming through!" I heard Mrs Butler call out as she pushed her way past the other students. "Goodness, Emilia! What happened? Er, Noah is it? Take her to the nurse would you?"