The Lie, S. Syed, G. Klein [ebook reader online TXT] 📗

Since the summer between second and third grade, Leanna and Jenny’s friendship lived and breathed on the tennis court. From the time the nets went up in spring to the first snow of the season, the two spent almost every afternoon hitting balls or relaxing on the courtside benches, chatting idly and waiting for the arrival of their next challengers.

Although they had both started playing at the same time, over the years Leanna grew into the much stronger player of the two. Still, this lopsided partnership hadn’t affected their friendship. Besides, as soon as their gap in skill became too wide to ignore, the two simply adjusted their routine—Leanna covered the whole back of the court and Jenny covered the net.

By the time they were in seventh grade, the two got a reputation as the team to beat in the unofficial Tetterman’s Pond doubles league. By eighth grade, resentful whispers had started to spread among the competition that Leanna was carrying the team. But Leanna ignored them. Jenny might not have been as fast on the court or as mean with her backhand, which was her weakest stroke, but Leanna loved playing with her best friend.

They were now almost two months into their second semester as high school freshmen, and spring had arrived early. On their way home from school the night before, Jenny and Leanna had swung by Tetterman’s and saw that the nets had been set up early as well.

The next morning, Leanna had woken up feeling the familiar, electric thrill of the first day of the tennis season. As always, Leanna and Jenny headed straight to Tetterman’s as soon as school let out, but this year Leanna was even more excited than usual. Playing at Tetterman’s was great and all, but now that they were in high school, they could finally try out for the Kramer High girls’ team. Any girl with a racquet could join the C-squad, but Leanna was determined to make the JV team. She had thought of little else all semester.

Jenny was a little bit less excited to be entering the big leagues. While they both loved the game equally, Jenny was worried that the gap between their skills would be even more obvious if they weren’t on an actual team together—especially if she wound up on C-squad and Leanna made it onto JV, which seemed likely.

The air at the park was still thick with wetness from the recent snowmelt. Leanna and Jenny volleyed at the net, trying to get in a quick warm-up before any challengers turned up. It didn’t take long for another pair of Tetterman’s Pond regulars to arrive—the Gartner Twins, Kelsey and Teddy. The two looked almost identical, with athletic builds and long legs.

“Well, Ted, looks like we’re not the only ones excited for the season to start this year,” Kelsey said loudly, glancing in Leanna and Jenny’s direction.

Unlike Kelsey, Teddy seemed to be genuinely happy to see them. “So we aren’t! Great to see you both! Anyone up for a friendly match?” he beamed. Despite looking mostly alike, the twins couldn’t be more different when it came to their attitudes. While Kelsey was cold and competitive, Teddy seemed to come down to the courts for the sole purpose of having a good time.

Jenny kept her concentration locked on the rally, but without missing a stroke Leanna called out to her across the net, “What was our record last year, Jen? Fifteen and four?”

Their pace was easy, but trying to talk and play at the same time made Jenny stumble. Almost interrupting their rally, she called back across the net, “Yep, fifteen four.”

“And which team was it that managed to score some of those wins against the famous Leanna?” Kelsey called out as she approached their court. “Sorry, I mean Jenny and Leanna—sometimes it’s easy to forget it’s not a one-woman operation, even when you’re both on the same side of the court.”

Leanna shrugged off Kelsey’s taunts, returning the next ball with an easy confidence, but Jenny whiffed on her next stroke, sending the ball straight into the net.

“If you were as good at playing tennis as you are at talking, maybe one of these years you’ll need more than one hand to count your wins,” Leanna shot back, strolling toward the edge of the court to meet their rivals with Jenny following slowly. “And to answer your question, Teddy, we would love to play a set or two.”

“Perfect!” Teddy replied eagerly, sliding his racquet out of its bag and rolling his shoulders.

“Well, let’s get on with it then,” Kelsey snapped, trying to smile confidently.

Kelsey’s confidence was short lived. After easily breaking Kelsey’s serve in the first game, Leanna and Jenny carried the set 6–3. Jenny managed to find her groove and contribute to the victory, holding her own at the net and returning a few vicious shots Kelsey launched straight down the line. As the group met at the net for a post-game handshake, Kelsey muttered something under her breath.

“Sorry what was that?” Leanna asked.

Kelsey glared at the ground while she wiped the sweat from her brow. “I said, why don’t we switch up the teams for once and see how things go?” Kelsey sneered.

Teddy and Jenny both said, “No,” at the same time, looking at each other in surprise.

“Come on,” Kelsey whined. “We always do the same match up and I’m getting sick of it. We don’t even have to do a full set—we can just play a couple of games.”

Leanna looked at Jenny and sighed, then asked, “What do you think, Jen?” Leanna wasn’t the biggest fan of the idea, but she realized that if she wanted to make the JV team, she’d have to get used to playing with different partners. “Do you want to just do best out of three?”

Jenny forced a smile. “Sure, Leanna. No harm in trying something new.”

 Leanna was surprised by how much fun it was to play with a stronger partner—she’d been playing with only Jenny for as long as she could remember. Teddy was no star player, but she found that even though she didn’t have the history with him that she had with Jenny, she was able to focus more on her own game and less on being ready to cover for her partner’s errors. After easily beating Kelsey and Jenny in the first game, Leanna and Teddy managed to hold their own against Kelsey’s serve in the second, setting up a break point showdown.

Kelsey missed her first serve, so Leanna stepped closer to the net as Kelsey hit a soft second serve. Perfect, Leanna thought. I can set Jenny up with an easy shot—maybe it will give her some confidence. As the ball sailed lazily through the sky and over Jenny’s head, she fell back and set up for the shot. Jenny’s form was so convincing, and Leanna grinned, anticipating a perfect overhead smash straight at Teddy’s feet. It was set to be one of Jenny’s shining moments of the match, and Leanna was excited to see her friend make the perfect shot.

But she didn’t. At the last moment, her eyes dropped and her shoulders followed, sending her racquet slicing the air just below the ball, which bounced off the court behind her. Kelsey made a dash to try and recover it at the last second, but it was too late.

Leanna’s heart sank as Teddy let out a triumphant whoop from the net before calling out, “Whoa, I thought you really had me there, Jen!”

“Come on, Jenny, seriously?” Kelsey groaned. “She practically handed it to you.”

Jenny glared back at Kelsey, but didn’t say a word.

“Hey, it’s all right, Jen—sometimes the easy shots are the easiest to miss. Don’t let it ruin your day. We both played well today,” Leanna said as she approached the net.

“One of you did,” Kelsey muttered as she shook Leanna’s hand. “Come on, Ted. Let’s get out of here,” she said before heading toward the bike racks.

After the twins left, Jenny and Leanna sat down on the courtside benches. Jenny let out a long sigh but didn’t say a word. She didn’t have to. Leanna already understood how her friend was feeling.

“Seriously, Jen, it’ll be fine. This is the first time we’ve played since last year,” Leanna said, placing an arm on Jenny’s shoulders.

“Yeah, Leanna, but I didn’t see you missing any shots out there,” Jenny said. “Besides, it’s more than just missing that lob—I didn’t miss it because I’m rusty, I missed it because right before I swung I realized you set it up on purpose. You don’t always need to be babysitting me on the court, Leanna. I’m never gonna get any better if you’re just handing me easy shots.”

Leanna felt her cheeks turning bright red.

“I didn’t, Jen, really,” she said, but she didn’t really sound like she meant it.

“It’s okay, Leanna. I get what you were trying to do,” Jenny said, letting out another long sigh.

Leanna placed a reassuring hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Did you really mean it? About trying to get better? Does that mean that you’re going to try out for the team with me?”

Jenny picked at the strings of her racquet. “I don’t know, Leanna. I really like playing tennis with you, but it’s just a game for me. The team seems like it’s going to be really competitive, and I don’t know if that’s what I want.”

“Aw come on, Jen, it wouldn’t be the same without you. And how am I going to do well at the tryouts if you’re not there? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but every time I’m playing my best you’re on the court with me.” Leanna gave Jenny’s shoulder a squeeze. “That has to count for something, right?”

Jenny gave her a small smile. “That’s because I’m always on the court when you’re playing, period. But I know how important this is to you, Leanna,” she said, her smile disappearing. “I don’t want you to feel like I’m holding you back.”

Jenny wasn’t entirely wrong—it had occurred to Leanna that trying out for the team together would be a risk. Still, as confident as she was in her skills, she was still nervous for the tryouts, and it really would help to have her best friend by her side.

“No, what would really throw a wrench in things would be showing up to tryouts and having the closest person to a friend there be Kelsey Gartner,” Leanna said, grinning.

“I just don’t want to embarrass myself,” Jenny said, “but if you really need me there—”

“I really do,” Leanna said. “What was our record again?”

“Fifteen and four,” Jenny replied, sliding her racquet into its bag.

“And that wasn’t all me, you know,” Leanna said, and she meant it. Still, if she were being honest, it wasn’t exactly a 50-50 split either. More like 75-25, and they both knew it. Of course, she would never say anything like that aloud to anyone. Especially Jenny.

“Fine, Lee, I’ll try out for the team with you,” Jenny said, smiling again.

“You won’t regret this, Jen.” Leanna beamed.