12

Leanna desperately wanted to make things right with Jenny before tryouts. She needed to make sure that Jenny wasn’t serious about not being friends anymore, but Jenny didn’t give her much of a chance. She wouldn’t take Leanna’s calls or reply to her texts, and whenever Leanna tried to stop by Jenny’s house, she had conveniently just stepped out and her mother didn’t know when she’d be back. For the next two miserable days, Leanna felt like she deserved it. She knew that she had been insensitive, and that her friend’s feelings were really hurt. After all, if the roles were reversed, she would have felt crappy herself.

Still, tryouts were coming up fast. And as her mother had gotten into the habit of pointing out, she wouldn’t get another chance at making the team until next year if she didn’t play her best on the big day. Although the additional pressure didn’t help her mood much, Leanna knew that her mother was right. She had already gotten one do-over, which was more than most people ever got. She couldn’t count on getting another one.

Even though she knew she had to, it was tough to keep practicing through the weekend. Her mother wanted to help however she could, so they spent all of Saturday and Sunday at the school courts drilling and playing practice sets. It didn’t help her feel any better about Jenny, but Leanna did notice that her game improved when she was playing against her mother, who was still a pretty exceptional player despite not playing as much as she used to.

By Sunday night, Leanna was physically and emotionally exhausted. She still hadn’t been able to reach Jenny, and the matches she played with her mother were grueling. So when her mother encouraged her to take the night off to rest up for the big day, Leanna was far too tired to disagree.

“I know it’s been hard with you and Jenny fighting and everything,” her mother said over dinner, shoveling a second helping of pasta onto Leanna’s plate. “But tomorrow you should just focus on playing hard and having fun. You’ve been great out there this weekend, even though you’ve been a little distracted. If you can keep your head in the game through tryouts, I know you’re going to make JV.”

Leanna sighed, mindlessly twirling some noodles around her fork. “We’re not fighting, Mom, we fought. Now she won’t even talk to me. I don’t think we’re friends anymore.”

“Oh honey, that’s nonsense,” her mother said with a smile. “You two have been inseparable since elementary school. I know this fight seems like a huge deal to you right now, but as soon as the season is over Jenny will forget all about it, if not much sooner.”

Leanna didn’t want to wait until the season was over to make things right. She wanted to do it right now. She would have said that, but she knew her mother wouldn’t understand. From her perspective, this was all just part of the plan she had laid out in her head. The plan where Leanna gets on JV as a freshman and is quickly recognized as a star. She’d make varsity, then get scouted by some top tier university, where her career would flourish while she got a free education and the ride of a lifetime.

“Well, I hope you’re right, Mom,” Leanna sighed, dropping her fork on the half-empty plate.

“I am right, honey,” her mother said, giving her a reassuring smile. “Trust me—everything is going to be just fine. Everybody goes through this kind of thing at your age.”

If only you knew, Leanna thought. High school drama and fights between best friends was one thing. But the pressure to make the right choices after she got a magical do-over? That was something completely different.