CHAPTER 1
SECRETS ON THE COURT

“Go, go, go, Mira!” Coach Wallace had been watching Mira Ravi during warm-up drills lately. He wanted to make sure she didn’t cut corners in her laps around the tennis court.

Mira’s shoes were starting to pinch and wear. Last week, she’d tried to get away with running a bit less. But that ended up not being a very smart thing to do. She ended up having to do another lap for that. She was careful not to cut any corners today.

Mira was the first seed on Hilltop Middle School’s all-star tennis team. She knew she needed to set an example for everyone else. A lot depended on her. There were plenty of people who would have loved to be in her shoes.

If they had a clue about her life, though, they wouldn’t wish that.

This was also why she didn’t want to be noticed any more than she had to be. The idea of any extra attention sent chills down her back.

Mira glanced over at her best friend Addie, who was whipping along next to her doing laps. Addie played doubles for the team, and Mira played singles. Mira didn’t know what she’d do without Addie. Addie was probably the kindest, funniest and most loyal person Mira had ever met.

Right then, Addie looked worried too. She always showed whatever she was feeling on her face. She didn’t want others to notice Mira more than they needed to, either.

“Don’t cut corners,” she mouthed to Mira.

“Dynamic stretch!” Coach Wallace called, and the girls hurried to the sides of the court.

The first hour of practice was always warm-up drills and stretching. Addie made faces at Mira as they stretched, and Mira tried not to laugh. After stretches, they did footwork and reaction drills. This helped develop their reflexes. Then they moved on to actually hitting the ball.

Mira grabbed her racket and weighed it in her hand. It was too heavy. It was Addie’s mom’s old racket. She gave Mira all her old equipment she didn’t need anymore. That meant that sometimes it didn’t fit. The grip on this racket was wrong and not fitted for Mira’s hand, of course. She had calluses from it already—even more than usual.

She was saving for a new racket right now. Still, it was a long way to go before she’d have enough money. Good rackets—the kind Mira wanted—could be expensive. And she really, really wanted to get one that was fitted to her hand.

She didn’t mention this to Addie. If she did, Addie would tell her parents, and they did enough for Mira already. Plus, Mira wanted to do this on her own.

She tried to make her racket look light and easy in her hand so that Coach Wallace wouldn’t notice anything was wrong.

Coach had them practice their forehands, and then their inside-out and inside-in backhands. He had them do volley-to-volley drills, work on their overheads, and then had them practice pivots and rotation. Finally, they did live ball match play. That was when they played someone else on the team. Mira loved playing the other girls on the team.

Mira felt the energy surging up into her arms and through her legs. Her focus narrowed completely. Soon she was only aware of the ball and her body. She loved the sharp thwack that the ball made when she hit it and when it bounced across the court.

She got paired with Kendra Malone, who was second seed on their team. Kendra was good, but Mira was feeling extra good today. She got a jolt of satisfaction when her serve skimmed over the net, low and fast.

“Go, Mira!” she heard Addie shout.

She sidestepped to the middle of the court after each shot, bouncing on her toes at the baseline. Ready. Her backhands were straight down the line every time.

She wasn’t even getting winded, but she managed to keep Kendra running, tiring her out. Kendra’s face turned redder and redder. Usually she tried not to make Kendra mad. There were reasons you didn’t want to get her mad. But today Mira couldn’t seem to help it.

Toward the end, Mira showed off a little with a drop shot to catch Kendra off guard. Kendra stumbled to go after it, missing it by a mile.

Mira was still buzzing from practice as she walked back to the locker room. Soon, the adrenaline started to ebb. She realized how badly her shoes were pinching her toes. They were really bugging her. She bit her lip. Shoes were expensive. They were the one thing she couldn’t really buy used.

She’d have to mow so many lawns that just the idea made her tired. Maybe if she mowed during the day all weekend, she’d still have time to get in the studying she needed to do at night. Keeping her grades up was necessary if she wanted to stay on the tennis team. She needed an A average.

Mira made sure to shower in the locker room. At least she knew she’d get a hot shower there. When she was done, she pulled her school uniform back on.

She always changed back into her uniform rather than street clothes, even though the other girls usually put on comfy loungewear after practice. Mira didn’t want the others to see her street clothes and start wondering.

“Whose parents are driving on Thursday?” Kendra asked loudly. She was pulling on a pair of yoga pants. They probably cost more than all of Mira’s clothes from the last three years put together. Kendra was one of the girls who lived in a mansion in Bloomfield Hills. Her family had a housekeeper, a groundskeeper, a cook, and a nanny. Every time Kendra traveled, it was to some exotic place like Capri or Mallorca.

Before Mira started going to Hilltop Middle School, she didn’t even know girls like Kendra were real. But they were everywhere here.

“Mine can’t,” Sienna Rigmond said, pulling on her street shoes. “Mom has a meeting and Dad’s traveling.”

“Mine drove last time,” said Makenzie Clare. “And they’re both out of town.”

“Why don’t your parents ever drive, Mira?” asked Sienna. “It’s supposed to be rotating. They’ve never even driven once.”

Mira took a deep breath. “Sorry, they can’t right now … my mom just had surgery.”

Sienna narrowed her eyes. “Two weeks ago you said they couldn’t drive because they were on some big trip. What’s the deal?”

“What’s your mom having surgery for?” asked Kendra.

“I’ll see if my parents can drive,” Addie jumped in. “I know one of them probably can. And I think Brittany said her dad can drive too.” Mira looked at her gratefully. They always needed at least two big vans or SUVs to fit the team members and equipment.

The conversation eased away from who would be driving. Mira let out her breath and bent to pull on her shoes.

That was a close one.

They all filed out of the locker room. Once everyone else had left, Addie gave Mira a look that said: It’s OK, you got through that.

“I’ll text you tonight,” Addie said.

They went out to the front of the school to wait with the other girls. As usual, Mira pretended someone was coming for her. But no one was.

Once everyone had been picked up, Mira grabbed her bag and walked quickly away from the school. She walked four blocks to the bus stop on the corner. She always came to this stop because she knew none of her teammates were likely to drive past here.

She put down her heavy equipment and sat down to wait for the bus that would take her all the way home.