The Prince of Tennis | Zhou Zhi

Chapter 1

Lu Xia and I were sitting on one side of the bus when 2 boys were talking about tennis and one girl who was looking at them shyly.

I was laying on Lu Xia's shoulder, trying to sleep but the boy kept talking.

"Are you kidding me? You don't even know how many grips there are?" One of them said, as I tried to keep my eyes closed.

"If you want to do a kick server, you have to use a western grip. Like this..." The boy continued, making me open my eyes to see how he demonstrated. 

He held up his racket in a specific position, making me roll my eyes as I went back to closing my eyes hoping to fall asleep.

"The racket is perpendicular to the ground. Hold the racket like you are shaking hands..." The boy continued as I annoyingly got up Lu Xia's shoulder and crossed my arms, already knowing that I'm not going to take a nap.

 "You see?" 

"So noisy." "God. He's so annoying." Lu Xia and I said simultaneously, clearly annoyed making the boy drop his racket.

"Who are you guys? Is this your bus?" The boy said as he picked up his racket.

"That's right. Hold the upper part. That's the right way." Lu Xia said as the boy with the glasses nodded his head in realization.

"The shaking hands thing you just said is the Eastern grip." Lu Xia continued, as the bus started to to come to a certain stop.

"We are arriving at Persimmon Tennis Park Station." A voice said on the PA announcement.

Lu Xia and I started to gather our things before Lu Xia told the boy once more.

"Many beginners can't tell the differences." He said as we both left the bus and started to walk to where the Persimmon Tennis Park would be at but I figured that we were getting lost. 

"Lu Xia. We can ask her for directions." I told him as I pointed to a girl standing next to a post, as if she was waiting for someone.

"If you're sure." He said as we both started to make our way to her.

"How could I go to Persimmon Tennis Park?" Lu Xia asked the girl.

"Are guys playing the match?" The girl asked with a small smile.

"So how do we get there?" Lu Xia asked again.

"Uh... Turn left. Then walk along the street. You won't miss it." The girl said, unsurely pointing to the left.

"Thanks. Let's go, Lu Lian." Lu Xia said as I followed him down the street.

"You know... She sounded like she wasn't sure where it was located." I told Lu Xia, looking around the area.

"Well... She was the only one around so might as well." He replied, shrugging his shoulders.

After a few minutes, we were finally at the match but they said that Lu Xia was 5 minutes late and was disqualified so Lu Xia and I both decided to lay down somewhere.

Just as I was about to lay down, I hear running footsteps getting closer and closer.

"Didn't you guys come here for the game?" A familiar voice asked as Lu Xia sat up and nodded.

"How was your game?"

"I was 5 minutes late and was disqualified."

"I'm so sorry. I showed you the wrong way."

"Is there anyone else to blame?" Lu Xia said as everybody became silent.

"I'm thirsty." I suddenly said as Lu Xia nodded his head in agreement.

"Could I buy you guys a drink? I can't make up for my mistake but I still want to apologize." The girl said as Lu Xia started to leave with me following but he ended up stopping before turning around to wait for the girl.

The girl noticed and smiled before walking with us to the nearest vending machine.

When we got there, the girl was having trouble scanning the drinks so Lu Xia decided to insert some coins and sooner or later, we got our drinks.

"Kid.s" A familiar voice said as we all turned around to see the boy from the bus.

"It's all because of you that I missed the game. What? You can't wait to go home  since you lost?" The boy said as Lu Xia and I just shoved past him.

"I'm talking to you guys! Kids like you guys has to wait 10 years to teach me how to play." He continued, pointing his racket towards us threateningly.

Then all of a sudden, the girl bumped into the guy as she spills her drink all over his clothes.

"Sorry." She said, making me laugh silently.

"How can I watch the game in dirty clothes?" He asked, angrily.

"Hey. Have you learned the grip? I can teach you when I have time." Lu Xia said to him before taking a sip of his grape flavored Fanta.

TIME SKIP

We were now in the tennis court with Lu Xia getting ready to do his match. I was standing in the sidelines with the girl, watching them.

"A self-righteous brat like you should suffer a little to behave yourself." They boy said from across the court.

"Let's begin." Lu Xia said confidently before going to his side of the court.

Soon enough, the boy started to bounce the ball up and down on the ground before throwing it up in the air and serving the ball across to Lu Xia's side but Lu Xia just stood there, not moving.

I smirked to myself already knowing that Lu Xia was going to win the whole match.

The next serve, the boy served it to Lu Xia's side but Lu Xia hit the ball back to the boy's side, earning Lu Xia a point since the boy missed.

Lu Xia glanced at me while I gave him a smirk and a nod as Lu Xia did the same thing.

The next few matches, Lu Xia won almost all the matches but this match was different. The boy hit the ball back towards Lu Xia but the racket flew out of his hands, flying towards Lu Xia.

"Lu Xia!" I yell, running towards Lu Xia and before you know it, I was on the ground, my head aching with blood flowing out of my head.

"Lu Lian. How many times have I told you... Don't enter the field during matches?" He asks, looking at me with worry in his eyes.

"Too many times that I can count." I said with a small, playful smile.

Lu Xia helped me up as a lady walked up and escorted me out of the field and the match continued.

Lu Xia grabbed his racket and gripped it, throwing the ball in the air before hitting the ball with the Twist Serve, making the ball hit the floor but bounced up and into the boy's face.

Lu Xia kept doing the same serve over and over until he knew that the boy had enough.

"This is the last one." Lu Xia said with a small smirk.

"No. I give up. I give up." The boy said, holding his cheeks in pain.

Lu Xia did one last serve but softer before resting the racket on his shoulder with a small smirk.

"You need to work harder."