Authors Notes
The quotes give me the feels. Happy Reading ^.^
"When I got home, I saw many bruises on my thighs and shins..." ~Kaitlin Jackson
Chapter 49
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When I went to tennis practice, the first person to greet me was Nick, well not exactly 'greet', his expression made me shiver, his frosted eyes were sending me mixed signals, the only evitable emotion I could make out was anger.
"You're late!" He yelled, my focus went down to my shoes suddenly at this moment they became so interesting. I feel bad, when he's mad at me, the sudden pressure to make him happy or at least not angry was growing by the second.
"Wait Nick, Jackson never finished her performance test, so I can't let her play tennis on the courts. She has to collect balls." Sam said walking over to us.
"But we only have one week!" Nick said to him. I crossed my arms and tapped my foot, while looking at Sam, is he being serious right now?
"The rules are the rules. Jackson why are you standing there doing nothing? Please collect the balls!" Sam yelled.
"No!" I answered back. Sam made his way over to me, and pulled my arm. He was leading me out the court, probably to lecture me on "court etiquette," and how the coach is always the boss.
"You're not taking her anywhere," Nick said pulling my hand which surprisingly made Sam's hand get off of my arm.
"She's going to pick up the balls then, right?!" Sam asked looking at me, I sighed and gave up.
"Yes." I said slowly walking towards the ocean of tennis balls. I turned around to look at Nick. "I'm sorry." I said to him.
***
"Seven, Eight, Nine." I said while picking up the balls, usually when I hit nine, 2 or 3 fall back onto the floor. When I was going to pick the 10th ball. Some one hit the ball basket toppling it over. The balls made their way to me, making me lose my balance and topple over. Nick was standing by the basket.
"What are you doing?!" I said to him, rubbing my bottom.
"Don't close your eyes, don't look at the ground when you pick up the balls, you have to keep your eyes open. Move your body towards the direction the ball is coming from. Understood?" He said to me. I had my mouth open, I could feel the dryness. I nodded my head.
"Yes," I said. "Open my eyes, look at the balls." I said to myself.
***
After the tennis club hours ended, I started to walk off the court, rubbing my bottom from its wielded encounter with the floor. I picked up my bag and made my way to the locker room, before I could enter my collar was pulled.
"You'll start your training now." Nick said to me. I sighed.
"But I'm exhausted, like you said I opened my eyes and looked at the balls, I got hit by them plenty of times." I said looking at him.
"But you don't have a choice, since we can't practice during club hours. Keep in mind we have to practice in the morning too." He said walking back to the courts.
***
It was really dark, there were some lights on, but I couldn't really tell, my focus was not on the lights at all. Nick was currently making me run suicide laps, we had previously finished some swing training. He said I need more muscles in my thighs, so that flexing them during a game would make me feel as light as a piece of bread. Not his words exactly, but it's what I understood.
***
When I got home, I saw many bruises on my thighs and shins. I sighed and walked over to my room. I placed my bag down, and stripped out of my clothes so that I could relieve my body of the aches.
***
When I was dressed in long pajama pants and a t shirt I laid down and closed my eyes.
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I saw Nick dressed very elegantly, he had a black suit on, fitting his perfect frame. He was staring at me with sincerity and a smile which was enhanced by his eyes which were roaming my body, I looked down. I saw white. My dress was white, my shoes were white, as white as a lily, and as pure as a virgin. I was holding flowers, they were purple and white. I never liked the color, but it didn't matter. I looked to my left. My father was there, he was holding a plate of lasagna....wait lasagna? I flinched.
====
"Ta-da!" Keith yelled. "Good Morning." I rubbed my eyes. I took in my surroundings, I was in a classroom. I stretched. "I've heard already, the fact that you've been training in the mornings and at night. At times like these you have to eat." He said opening the container that was filled with lasagna, it was my favorite. Veggie lasagna. He handed me a fork.
"Thank you," I said taking a bite, "ha, it tastes good." I said smiling. That damn dream couldn't last longer? Are you kidding me.
"Doesn't it?" He said to me, he sat down in front of me and simply stared. Usually having someone stare at me while I eat would make me self-conscious, but his presence soothes me. "Hey, the reason you are trying to be good at tennis is because you want to get closer to Nick? You. . . You can't forget about that guy, can you?"
"He. He told me not to get in his way. Keith you told me once that in order to become a new person, I have to be independent and not bother Nick. I'll be bluffing, if I say I can forget about him right now. Well who knows right?" I said to him, I have a feeling it would start to get awkward soon.
"You're on a journey to get over Nick, it might not be as fast as you think, Kaitlin. You might take years to get over him, but you have my support" Keith said to me.
"Keith." I smiled, he was really comforting me.
"On the other hand, I'm not giving you up. You know, I'm persistent." I giggled, he always knew what to say. "Prepare yourself." He said ruffling my hair.
"Thank you Keith." I said to him.
"Eat." He said nodding towards the food. I did in fact continue to eat.
***
"Okay, here we go." Nick said. He was tossing a tennis ball, towards my right, I would then have to take 3 quick steps to swing my racket.
"Yes." I said stepping.
"keep your eyes on the ball." He would say.
"Yes. " I replied.
"That's good. Once more." He said, when I was going to swing my arm, the lights went out... "Lights out," He said. I smiled and raised my arms over my head, I was exhausted, "Well, we have no choice, let's practice more on your form.'' He said, my smile was smacked right off my face.
***
Once we found light again, just barely outside the courts, he told me to swing, but every time I did he would stop me half way with his racket.
"Imagine, that this is a ball. And press forward." He said. "That's good, keep that image in your head."
***
As the week went by slowly, the aching left. My bruises didn't hurt. We practiced for 6 hours each day, 3 in the morning and 3 at night. I finally got used to it. I have always underrated tennis. I feel more tired now than when I play soccer. Nick was a good coach, he was always on time, and he was always helping me, by correcting me.
***
In Jade's POV
"Mrs. Louis?" I said calling out to a lady dressed, like Sherlock Holmes. I recognized her from inside. She had a huge camera hanging from her neck.
"Ma'am!!" Sasha said running to her.
"Oh My! Jade, Sasha. I haven't seen you two in a while." he said with a toothy smile.
"Why are you dressed like that?" Sasha said pointing to her coat, and shoes.
"That's because I don't want Nick to find out I'm here, so I have to disguise myself." She said.
"I think you are attracting more attention. We recognized you right away." I said to her.
"Kaitlin and you are the same in that sense." Sasha said.
"Kaitlin, I haven't seen her for a while, so I missed her so much," She said.
"We thought that Kaitlin and Nick might get along well, I mean they even... They even kissed," I said. Sasha immediately elbowed my rib cage.
"Hey! Shhhhhh." She whispered to me.
"You mean, KISS?" She said signaling to her mouth.
"Yes. Kiss," we ended up saying.
"They've really kissed?! Really?" We nodded, at her. She started walking away.
"Wait, Mrs. Louis! Didn't you come here to see Kaitlin?" I said walking up to her.
"She's at the tennis courts." Sasha said, we were so shocked by Mrs. Louis's change in expression.
"Never mind that, I don't need to see her at school. Because, I've decided to bring Kaitlin back to my house. " She said.
"What? But she's trying so hard to forget Nick." Sasha said.
"There's no reason for her to forget Nick. Because they've kissed already, I don't care what Nick says. I'll definitely bring Kaitlin back!" She said skipping away from us.
Author's Note
Yass. Jades POV. Happy Reading ^.^