4

“She really said that you should practice with someone else?” Jenny asked, bouncing a ball nervously against the court with the side of her racquet. “I mean, that’s kind of harsh, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, it is,” Leanna said quietly, seeing the pain in her friend’s eyes. She wished she hadn’t brought it up, but Leanna also knew Jenny never would have stopped asking her what was wrong if she didn’t tell her the truth. “I don’t care what she says, though. I’m going to try and help you get on JV even if it means that neither of us do.”

Jenny sliced toward the ground with her racquet, brushing against the side of the ball and sending it spinning up into her waiting hand. She’d been practicing that trick for a while and had never quite been able to get it right, but today she hardly even cracked a smile when she managed to pull it off.

“Well, I don’t want to be holding you back, Leanna,” Jenny said. “I know you’ve always really wanted to be on the real team, and honestly I mostly just play tennis because it’s something fun I can do with you. We both know you’re the one with the talent for it. Besides, I wasn’t so sure about trying out for the team anyway, remember?”

Leanna grinned at her friend in a way that she hoped looked reassuring instead of forced and said, “You’re starting to sound like my mom. C’mon, Jen, you’re a star when you want to be—you just have to stay focused and keep your head in the game. I know you’re going to do great at tryouts.”

Jenny beamed back and nodded eagerly, and Leanna couldn’t help but feel bad. She really did believe that her friend would be able to get better, probably even good enough to make JV—if they had until next year to prepare. Less than a week really wasn’t enough time to get Jenny into competitive shape. She made far too many small, technical errors to be consistent, and at the very least, JV players needed to be able to keep a competitive rally going. Still, she really did want Jenny to be there with her at the tryouts. They’d gone through every other major milestone together and a big part of her wasn’t ready to let that go yet.

“Well, let’s get to it then!” Jenny called, jogging to her usual side of the court. Her side just happened to be a little easier to defend because the sun was always at her back in the afternoons when they usually played.

Leanna forced another grin and reminded herself to stay supportive as she called across the net, “Sounds good, Jen, but let’s switch it up this time. They’re not going to go easy on us at tryouts, and I’m sure at least half the time the sun is going to be in your eyes. You may as well start getting used to it now.”

Jenny fiddled with her racquet, and Leanna caught a flash of concern on her friend’s face, but it was gone a moment later.

“Fair enough,” she said, and the two switched sides and struck up a relaxed volley. After a few strokes, Leanna increased the intensity and started focusing more on her placement, sending Jenny jogging back and forth between the alleys just to keep the ball in play. From the redness in her friend’s face, it was clear that keeping up wasn’t easy, but Jenny was able to hold her own surprisingly well. Leanna was already starting to feel a little better. Maybe it wasn’t selfish to pressure her into trying out after all. Maybe it was just the push Jenny needed, Leanna thought.

“See, you’re getting it now, Jen! We’re just going to have to keep working over the next few days.”

Jenny was out of breath but managed a nod in reply before rushing back across the court to return Leanna’s perfectly placed shot. She made it to the next ball, but her technique had given out and she lost her grip on her racquet, sending the ball sailing straight into the net.

“Wow, Leanna, you’re really good,” Jenny panted as she retrieved the ball. “I mean, I knew you were good, but I’m actually starting to feel bad for all those kids we beat to a pulp over the years.”

Leanna laughed. “Well, it takes two to strike up a solid rally—you weren’t so bad out there yourself.” They smiled at one another, but Jenny’s grin quickly faded into another look of concern.

“What about the rest of them, though?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“The other girls. They all take private lessons and play indoors all winter and get new racquets every year. I haven’t even gotten mine restrung yet,” Jenny said, plucking nervously at the strings of her own racquet.

Leanna remembered what her mom had told her last night and said, “You can’t worry about that. It doesn’t take fancy tennis lessons and indoor court memberships and brand new racquets to get tennis skills. You just have to commit to the game.” She sounded so much like her mom it surprised her, and for a brief moment she wished Jenny had been there at dinner last night so she could appreciate it.

“That sounds like a line from a sports movie,” Jenny laughed.

“Well, there’s a reason why they always have the same theme, right?” Leanna winked at her.

Just then, they heard the familiar skid of bike tires from the edge of the fence and looked over to see the Gartner twins pulling up. Jenny nervously spun her racquet in her hand, but Leanna saw an opportunity. Teddy is good, but he isn’t nearly as good as Kelsey. And even when he wins big, he’s nice enough not to rub it in, Leanna thought. If Jenny can manage to even keep up with him enough for a set to be close, it will be huge for her confidence.

“Hey,” Leanna called out to the twins, “you two back for a rematch? The game is singles this time. I’ll take on Kelsey.”

The twins grinned at each other as they locked up their bikes. “You’re on,” Kelsey replied. “It can’t hurt for you to get used to some humiliation before tryouts roll around, Leanna.”

“You’re right, I should get used to not laughing when you whiff the ball so I don’t fall over and embarrass myself,” Leanna teased.

As usual, Teddy either failed to pick up on the harsh edge of his sister’s taunts or just chose to ignore them. “Sounds good to me! Let’s get to it, Jen!”

Jenny squared her shoulders and did her best to look determined, but a trace of fear still managed to sneak its way onto her game face. “All righty, Teddy. I think I might surprise you this time.”

And Jenny did surprise him. Just not in the way that she hoped.