Chapter 6 – Tennis, Anyone?

Later that day, Natasha was in gym class, making her way towards the tennis court. As a car passed by, she heard the sounds of The Pixies making its way to her ears and turned towards the car. It was a beat up, rusty 70’s Road Runner with chipping yellow paint and immediately, Tasha knew who it was. She smiled and waved towards April who was skipping the last few periods of the day to spend the rest of the day painting in her room. She waved back as Tasha before she turned the corner past the school causing her friend to chuckle and shake her head. There was no reason for her to skip those last three periods of school but April did it just because she could. It was one of the reasons Tasha was best friends with her – April took risks.

“Was that April?” Kirk asked as he came up behind her in gym shorts and a Blue Lake Comets basketball shirt.

“Yeah,” Natasha replied with a smirk as he walked her to the tennis court. “Who else?”

He looked it over, noticing her sweat pants and oversized shirt of Jim Morrison. Gym class was the only time that students at Blue Lake High were allowed to wear whatever they wanted for gym class and Tasha took full rights of that privilege. “You know, I am so amazed that you can look so good in a pair of gym clothes,” Kirk replied, putting his arms around her waist and snuggling into her neck.

“Quit,” she replied, removing his arms from her. “You don’t want to smell these clothes. I haven’t washed them all year.”

“Not a problem,” he said, eyeing a puddle before them. “How would you like a mud bath?” Kirk asked with a devious look in his eye.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Tasha replied, taking off at a dead run for the tennis court that she could use as a fortress. Kirk took off after her, unable to catch her before she had made it to the empty court and closed the wire door behind her.

Kirk looked at her through the wire fence with a pout as she laughed deviously at him. “I win again, funny bunny,” Natasha said teasingly.

He looked towards the other students who were slowly making their way towards the court with Ms. Spencer and Mr. Landon, the gym teachers for the girls and boys physical education. “Spencer is going to be pleased that you volunteered to be quarterback for tag football today.

Tasha gasped and feigned her anger at him. “Evil.”

Kirk smiled. “That’s what they tell me,” he said as she let him into the tennis court.

She took a seat on a bench next to the court to wait for the rest of her class to arrive. “So tonight?” Kirk asked as he took a seat next to her.

“Can’t go.”

“What? Why?” he asked in surprise.

“I can’t go out anymore,” Tasha replied softly.

“Is this because of your father?”

She shook her head. “No. Well, maybe.”

“He doesn’t want you going out with me anymore?” Kirk asked his voice full of pain.

She was silent for moment. “It’s hard to explain. It’s a family thing,” Natasha said.

“What kind of family thing?”

“Um. Well, my dad thinks I need to work out more so...I’m working with a trainer.”

Kirk was silent. “Really? That’s the family thing? Your father thinks you’re getting fat so he gets you a personal trainer?”

She nodded. “Pretty much.”

“Let me talk to him, please. How can he think you’re fat?” he asked, agitated.

She shook her head swiftly. “It’s not that. He doesn’t think I’m getting fat. Daddy just thinks I need to work out more.”

Kirk pursed his lips and nodded. “Sure. So who’s this trainer? Anyone I know.”

Natasha watched as the students made their way into the tennis court. “Actually, he’s that guy who lives in my house,” she replied, standing up to greet the Ms. Spencer as she entered with a handful of tennis rackets.

“Miss Blackwell,” the gym teacher said. “You made quite an effort to get away from Mr. Fellini. I think I’m going to team you up to play in a match against him today.”

“That’s fine with me,” she said, teasingly gave him a competitive look which he completely ignored, still worried about what was going on with her.

“Good,” Ms. Spencer replied cheerfully. “Because Sabrina is going to be your partner.”

She pursed her lips, looking over at her sister in bright running shorts and her hair up in a perky ponytail. “Fine.”

“Kirk, your partner is going to be Lana, she just moved her from Kilmet,” the red headed gym teacher said as she handed out the tennis rackets.

Ms. Spencer looked young enough to be a student herself but her sense of style left something to be desired. Unlike her students who were hip to the newest fashions, Ms. Spencer wore brightly colored sweatpants and plain t-shirts on cooler days while on warm spring days, she wore something that looked like a tennis outfit

“Heather, George, Rob and Rachel, you’ll be playing on the other court. The rest of you can play tag football with me,” Mr. Landon said, randomly picking out for individuals.

The rest of the class moaned. Tag football was one of the games nobody liked to play in their high school.

“Aw, c’mon,” Mr. Landon told them cheerfully as the high schoolers started matriculating out onto the field. “Flag football is fun!”

Natasha watched them go, knowing that if she wasn’t chosen to play tennis, she would have been one of those poor souls left to play flag football. Mr. Landon was nice enough but the idea of playing sports just didn’t enthuse some individuals. He was a coach for the basketball teacher, taking over from a teacher who had retired to the satisfaction of many students. Mr. Landon was the complete opposite and usually had the most cheerful outlook on everything. He was quite a good looking man with a well-built figure that he had began working on in his years in high school. He almost looked like a movie star with his brown wavy hair, warm green eyes and a smile that made most people wonder why he had never been married. It was a long story that Richard Landon hardly ever told anyone. Ms. Spencer knew all about his personal life and when someone asked if he would ever get married; she always sighed and shook her head. No one to get the story from them and while some thought that the two gym teachers would get married, everyone knew that wouldn’t happen. Spencer would always say that Richard enjoyed his bachelor life and no one would be able to change his mind otherwise. Whatever it was that hindered Richard Landon from having a relationship, he seemed to put on a cheerful exterior about it. Natasha could hardly think of a time when she hadn’t seen him happy, laughing or telling someone a joke. It was something deep down inside that made him the way he was and for that, most kids were just satisfied that he seemed happy.

As Natasha walked onto the tennis court, she felt something surge in her. Her adrenalin was pumping but she had never felt anything towards sports before that moment in time. Lana served the ball to her and she hit it back swiftly and confidently. Toby returned it to Sabrina and it was hit back to him and then to Natasha again. She returned it just as before, thinking that the hit she had made before hand was just a lucky shot but her second hit was just as good as her last, catching Lana off guard as it hit just on the inside line of the court.

She stared at it rolling off the court as her sister came up behind her. “Good hits, Tash. You’ve never been good at tennis. What’s come over you all of a sudden?” Sabrina asked softly.

Natasha felt her veins pumping fast. “I don’t know,” she replied. “Maybe I was just lucky.”

“Yeah, but you usually hit the net every time you hit it.”

Ms. Spencer looked up from a chart she was making for the tennis tournament they would play that day. “Natasha, good job. See if you can keep that up!” she shouted from across the court. Tasha nodded at her before looking back to the ball.

The game of tennis lasted a good amount of time with the Blackwell’s winning by a margin of two points. The winners from the other group who was playing tennis moved over to play against them, while the loser when over to flag football and relieve four grateful students of their flags.

Before the next match was over, the teachers had brought the students inside with Sabrina and Natasha winning their second match by seven points. Ms. Spencer had created a playing chart to make all the students play at least one game of tennis and to keep the winners playing against another team until they were left with only the top two teams. Mr. Landon then suggested that the winner play them and so, the next week of gym class was planned out for the 7th period physical fitness students.

Natasha didn’t care about the matches that Ms. Spencer had set up; she had won a game of tennis. Even when she played the worse students in her class, Tasha would always loose the game. Now, it was different. Now, she was a winner. She wanted to tell Toby about it. How training had given her confidence in herself. She knew it was only walking on a balance beam that she was doing but still, she knew that it must have been that which made her win. She never thought that it could possibly be something else.