CHAPTER 16
As the tennis ball machine threw balls in the air, an energetic Yuri had been running all over the place, hitting every tennis ball that comes her way. Droplets of sweat covered Yuri’s forehead when she decided to take a water break
Yuri was sitting at the benches, slightly panting as she drank her water bottle. A shadow then appeared next to her, successfully gaining her attention, she looked back and saw a girl with long hair, dressed in volleyball jersey shorts and a white t-shirt. It was Gretchen, a classmate from one of Yuri’s classes and the team captain of the school’s volleyball team
“Hey you” Gretchen greeted as she approached Yuri
“Hey Gretch” Yuri smirked
“That’s was one heck of a practice you did there” Gretchen commented as she noticed the balls scattered at the tennis court
“I didn’t know you were watching me practice”
“It’s kind of hard not to, I was walking by and I saw you running all over the place!” Gretchen chuckled, “I did enjoy watching you”
Yuri just smiled at Gretchen’s remark
Gretchen then sat next to Yuri, “something wrong?”
“Nah, something just happened earlier, it really pissed me off though”
“Hmm...Wanna talk about it?”
Yuri shook her head, “it’s no big deal, I’m basically over it anyway” she said then looked at Gretchen, “Hey. Are you gonna watch my tennis match later?”
“Of course, wouldn’t miss it” Gretchen smiled, “and you’ll watch our game tomorrow too right?”
“Yeah definitely” Yuri smiled
And Gretchen looked on further as Yuri smiled
“What?” Yuri asked when she noticed Gretchen staring ”is there something on my face?”
“You’re even prettier when you smile. No wonder there’s a lot of people who have a crush on you”
Yuri scoffed and slightly shooked her head in disagreement while Gretchen smiled at what to her is a cute gesture
“Oh just so you know, if you lose, I’m required to hit the shit out of Felix for not being a good team captain” Gretchen jokingly stated, “it’s like a rule for all team captains here, so don’t ask why”
Yuri chuckled, “But what if I win?”
“If you win then you are required to go hang out with me for some milk tea afterwards, my treat”
Yuri stared at the girl next to her, thankful that she was able to lift her mood and distract her from the earlier events, “alright” she said, “let’s go out later”
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During classes, Tasha can’t help wonder and worry as well about Yuri. Is Yuri still mad at her? Why would she be mad at her anyway? Brenda was the one who did all the talking earlier and did Brenda already apologized? All these questions kept running in Tasha’s mind that she did not understood any of the lessons in her classes
Meanwhile, Brenda was making a script in her head as she looked around for Yuri. Its around lunchtime so she was sure Yuri wouldn’t be in any class.
“Ugh! Where could that stupid girl be!”
As she turned the corner, Brenda heard a conversation that instantly caught her interest
“Really? You guys are going out later after the match?” a girl asked
“Yes, I still can’t believe it” a familiar female voice answered
Brenda subtly peeked and saw Gretchen talking to some of her friends
“So is this a date?” a friend asked
“I dunno, maybe, maybe not, I’m just happy Yuri agreed”
“You should totally ask her out. You’ve been crushing on her since you first met, this is your chance! Maybe Yuri’s already interested, she wouldn’t have said yes if she wasn’t, right?”
“You think so?” Gretchen asked, “I really do like her”
“Go for it girl! She already agreed to this one, what have you got to lose?”
“Alright! I’ll do it!” Gretchen happily agreed
After eavesdropping, Brenda walked the other way, pulled out her cell phone and called Tasha
“Hey Brenda! Have you apologized to Yuri, please say yes” Tasha said
“No, not yet, I’m still looking for her” Brenda replied as she continued to walk around in search of Yuri, “by the way Tasha, you’ve got a little situation here”
“Situation? What is it?” Tasha questioned
“Yuri’s going on a date with Gretchen after the match”
“What!?!”
Brenda slightly pulled away the phone from her ear due to Tasha’s loud scream, “uh yeah, I heard Gretchen talk about it with her friends, they also said that Yuri might already be interested in Gretchen”
“That can’t happen!, she’s supposed fall in love with me, not her!”
“Okay, calm your tits Cupid” said Brenda, “I said they’re going on a date, not eloping”
“Still, that bitch is one step ahead of me” Tasha sighed, “just hurry and apologized to Yuri already so I can make my move”
“Fine, still can’t find that girl!”
“Keep looking! I’ll talk to you later” Tasha’s last words before hanging up the phone
Brenda rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. Right on cue, Yuri passed nearby with earphones on and her tennis racket poking out of her gym bag
Brenda noticed and instantly went after Yuri, calling out her name to get her attention and failing due to the loud music coming out of Yuri’s earphones
When Brenda got near enough, she pulled Yuri’s hand which surprised Yuri
Seeing that it was Brenda who stopped her, Yuri pulled off her earphones and glared as she asked the girl in front of her, “what do you want now?”
Brenda took a deep breath and put on her fake genuine-acting face, ”I’ve been looking for you since forever” she said,
Yuri looked on, signaling Brenda to continue
“I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier at the convenience store” Brenda said “I’m not a morning person and I haven’t drank coffee yet so I was a bit out of myself this morning so sorry”
“Did Tasha put you up to this?” Yuri frankly questioned
“What? No! I mean, she kinda did” Brenda purposely confessed
“So, if Tasha didn’t coax you to apologize, then you wouldn’t have done this?”
“Not exactly” Brenda started to move around, thinking of a proper explanation that would make Tasha look good
After thinking, Brenda turned to Yuri, “Look, I admit I felt a little uncomfortable with what I said to you earlier and I also admit that I didn’t plan on apologizing but then Tasha did her whole speech about wanting to be friends with you and what I did being wrong as hell and it got me thinking and I started feeling guilty so now I’m here apologizing to you because I clearly see the error of my ways, again I’m sorry Yuri”
Yuri crossed her arms and her eyes squinted with suspicion as she stared at Brenda
“C’mon, don’t tell me I have to kneel, ‘cause I won’t do that” Brenda reacted
“Okay” Yuri simply stated
“Okay what?”
“Okay, we’re cool. Whatever happened earlier, Done.”
“Really?” Brenda reacted with disbelief
Yuri nodded, “I gotta go, the tournament is starting, gonna watch my teammates play” then casually walked away
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“Really? That’s all she said?” Tasha asked as she and Brenda walked through the busy school corridors
Brenda nodded, “I don’t even know if she meant it or not”
“I guess I’ll find out later when I talk to her before her tennis match”
“If she talks to you” Brenda added
“I can feel the support Brenda” Tasha replied sarcastically
The two finally reached their classroom. Just one last class for the day before they head out to watch Yuri play
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2:55 pm. Tasha’s class is still going on. Apparently the professor decided to extend the literature class for another 30 minutes so she’s stuck there until 3:30 pm
“Itching to get out of here?” Brenda teased
“What do you think?!” Tasha replied with annoyance, “Ugh! This class is taking forever!”
Brenda watched with skepticism as her friend slump her head on the desk, showing impatience at the lengthy discussion of their teacher. The one thing she doesn’t fully understand is why Tasha would go through all this trouble, just to get the girl she clearly dislikes to fall for her
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Tasha turned, her disheveled hair covering her face
Brenda just shrugged and look away leaving Tasha confused at her actions
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The match is about to start in 2 minutes. Yuri is at her court, doing stretches to condition her body for her first match. At the right front row of the audience benches, Summer, Kristen, Toby and Amber are sitting together, waving, cheering and doing sign languages in the spirit of support.
Yuri laughed at her friends’ antics and waved back, at the same thing, scanning the whole audience looking for a familiar face but failed to find her
“Yuri!”
Yuri turned to her left and saw Gretchen as she sat with her friends, “Good luck!” she smiled brightly
Yuri smiled back and mouthed the words “Thank you”
With a toss of a coin, Yuri won and decided to serve. Tightly gripping the ball, Yuri took a deep breath. She tossed the ball up in the air and with a powerful swing, sent the ball to the opponent’s court, successfully starting off the tennis match.
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3:20 pm. Tasha was still in class, now anxious as ever to get out of there. Since the game started, Amber had been texting Tasha updates of the game. Her most recent text, “Yuri’s a point away from taking the first set!”
“Damn it! It’s a three set game and I already missed the first set!” Tasha said under her breath
Then suddenly, the professor closed his book, signaling the end of his class. Seeing this, Tasha instantly stood and was the first one out of the door. Without saying a word to Brenda, Tasha dashed towards the tennis court
Meanwhile, Yuri just won the first set and was already playing her second and trying her best to make this her last set.
The score was already 15-15, when Tasha showed up, panting as she watched Yuri receive the opponent’s serve
Tasha watched on as Yuri moved along her court, never failing to receive the ball. Tasha was filled with astonishment as Yuri sent the ball back fiercely, making the score 30-15
“Wow…she’s really good” Tasha spoke under her breath
Another play went and Tasha’s admiration continue for Yuri as the score became 40-15
Yuri dribbled the ball as she prepared to serve. Her gaze wandered a bit and found Tasha standing by the benches, looking intently and nervously
Their eyes met for an intense split second, the ball flew up in the air and with a few swings of the rackets from both players, the audience cheered and applauded with joy. Yuri just won her first tennis tournament
Yuri approached her opponent and shook her hand for a great game before turning to her friends who are running towards her. Summer, Kristen and Toby excitingly hugged Yuri as they smiled and laugh. Amber also gave Yuri a hug and a congratulatory handshake. Yuri’s teammates also approached and congratulated her
Tasha stood watching, unsure whether she should approach Yuri or not. With a deep sigh, Tasha walked towards Yuri but before she could talk to her. Gretchen swooped in and instantly took Yuri’s attention
”Congratulations!” Gretchen greeted happily while Yuri smiled brightly
“Hey Yuri, since you won, we should celebrate! Let’s go out and grab some drinks!” Toby interjected as the other excitedly agreed
“I would love to! In fact, the drinks are on me but” Yuri answered as she turned to Gretchen, “I already made plans with Gretchen earlier, so how about we go out a bit later?”
“Already made a date huh? That’s so unlike you!” Summer joked, then turned to Gretchen, ”You can have her this afternoon but we get her later this evening”
Gretchen chuckled, “I’ll give her back safe and sound” then turned to Yuri, “Now, how about getting those milk teas that I promised”
Yuri smiled and nodded, “See you later guys” she waved goodbye to friends
Gretchen and Yuri then bumped into Tasha who saw and heard the whole conversation
“Congratulations” Tasha spoke
“Thanks!” Yuri smiled then Gretchen held her hand and pulled her away
Tasha watched as she saw Yuri happily walk away with another girl, uncertain of the emotion she is feeling at the moment