The Tiebreaker

Jay really hated his math class. It wasn’t like he was bad at math; in fact, he was top of the class. It was just a boring subject. What was the point of learning how to calculate the angle between two vectors using some dot product if he was just going to go pro in tennis? No tennis player needed vectors.

Of course, he never mentioned it to the overachiever next to him. Lydia seemed to enjoy math, in some ridiculous manner. There she was, being all neighborly and kind, helping out the new Slovakian kid in the corner. Both of them were the top of the class. Both of them rarely studied. However, the key difference was that Lydia cared and Jay didn’t, yet he somehow managed to beat her on every quiz and test.

He tugged at the navy blue tie at his neck. Only a few more minutes until classes were over. His bag was already packed; he was ready for the class to finish fifteen minutes ago when he finished the review packet for homework. Looking over at Lydia, he smirked. She wasn’t even halfway done because of the constant requests for help. She definitely would’ve finished by now.

“Jay, can you help me explain this one?” she called over from another junior’s desk. “Emily still doesn’t get it. Maybe you can explain it differently?”

With a groan, he hoisted himself up out of his seat and casually made his way over to the other side of the room. He leaned over behind Emily’s seat, placing his hand on her shoulder gently as he began explaining. The whole time, he felt confident that he would be able to once more outdo Lydia while getting another girl for himself. However, he could feel Lydia’s skeptical stare as he finished the problem for her. After a “thank you” was exchanged, the two headed back for their desks. Lydia began putting her notebook away. “It wasn’t necessary to do the work for her,” she told him curtly, “and it definitely wasn’t necessary to hover over her like that. It was way too obvious what you were trying to do.”

He leaned back, as if to stretch, and put his hands behind his head in satisfaction. “What? It wasn’t like I did anything wrong.”

“Uh huh, because leading a girl on and then breaking her heart isn’t wrong at all,” she shot back.

The tone of her voice shocked him. Lydia was definitely not type of person to snap at people. “Woah, since when did helping a girl with her homework constitute as leading her on?”

“Not that, stupid. The leaning over her part. You were practically cuddling and hugging her from behind.” Lydia pulled out her ponytail, brushing out the tangles in her hair. “Despite popular belief, not all the girls here are head-over-heels for you, Jay. Don’t let your head blow up.”

The bell rang, acting as a cue for the shuffle for papers and bags as the two of them headed out the doors. In the hallway, Lydia picked up the pace to catch up to some of her other friends. Jay followed suit, intent on continuing the conversation. “Oh really, name one girl who I can’t charm.”

“Me,” she replied. With a smirk, she stopped to face him, “and obviously Anna and Olivia. Anna’s your sister and Olivia's dating Steven, so that don’t really count. So the easiest answer would be me.” Looking at the clock, she muttered something under her breath. “Look, I gotta run back to the dorms before tryouts start. Can you tell Coach I might run a bit late?” She began heading out the door in a fast walk. “Thanks a bunch and see ya there!”

Jay nodded and waved her off. “Yeah, I guess I will.” It wasn’t much of a surprise she answered with herself. That was nice though. It gave Jay a challenge to work on. While he had no motivation in math, Jay always had a source of drive when it came to girls.

Steven was one of the first people to reach the courts. Dressed in the uniform from last year, he dropped his bag by one of the benches and sat down. Aside from him, there were a couple freshman girls and a sophomore guy who didn’t make it last year. On the courts, the coaches for the varsity and junior varsity teams were discussing something important. Probably team captains and practice schedules. No doubt he and Jay were going to be captains. Maybe Lydia had a chance at captain this year.

“Hey, you got here early?” a voice asked from behind him.

Olivia sat down next to him, setting her things on the ground beside her. He planted a kiss on her lips, surprised to see her there. “Yeah, I had Biology right before this and Huntington let the athletes out early today. How was your day?”

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Just fine. It’s just so annoying to have all the other girls asking if we did anything exciting over the summer, if you catch my drift.” She pulled out a notebook and began working on her history homework. “So, when do the tryouts start?”

Steven took another look around, seeing more and more people gathering by the courts. Although fall was the season for football and tennis didn’t compete until spring, the school’s tennis program was all year long, so tryouts were always held in the beginning of the year. “I guess in a couple minutes. Jay and Anna are already here. Don’t see Lydia around.” A look of concern crossed his face; Lydia was never late for tennis. If anything, she would’ve been on the courts earlier than Steven was.

“Don’t worry,” Olivia assured him, “I saw her go to the dorms really quickly. I’m sure she just went to get changed and grab her stuff.” She looked up from her work. “You should probably get up. Looks like it’s gonna start soon.” She leaned over to kiss him again. As he headed over to the gate to the courts, she shot him a smile and a thumbs up. “Good luck!”

He waved his thanks as he joined the mass of players entering the courts. Anna and Jay caught up to him, eager with excitement. “Did you hear?” Anna whispered excitedly. “There’s supposed to be a new freshman who’s really good. National rankings and everything!”

Jay scoffed at the mere thought a nationally ranked freshman. “Yeah right,” he said, “it’s probably some rumor that some kids made up to scare the other freshmen from trying out.”

Anna shook her head. “He’s in my Spanish class. He’s really nice and looks pretty decent. Tiny, though.” She paused for a bit, looking around for him. “Bet he’s a speed demon on the courts though.”

“Even so, I doubt they’ll put a freshman on the varsity team,” Jay pointed out. “Do you know when the last time the varsity team had freshmen on it?” After Anna shook her head, he gave her the answer. “The last freshman on the varsity team was Steven here. Before him, it was back in…. the 90’s or something.”

Before Anna could make a counter-argument or Steven could correct Jay (he could name several freshmen who made it on the team), the coaches hushed the crowd down. Despite the amount of time that had passed, Lydia was still nowhere in sight. He became even more worried as the players were put into groups and started warming up.

He and Jay followed the other veteran varsity players to the last court. A man in his early forties motioned for them to sit down against the fence as he ran roll call. He was rather intimidating and formidable with his robust figure and unshaven face. “Mahan and Dam, you’re captains for the guys this year. Congrats on that.” He motioned for Jay and Steven to stand up next to him. “Miller and Dam, you two are captains for the girls.” A tall, thin girl stood up from the crowd, but Lydia was nowhere to be seen. “Steven, where’s Lydia?” the man asked, not even looking up from his clipboard.

“She had to go back to her dorm to get her things, Coach Malone,” Jay answered. “She should be here soon.”

Malone grunted, not making it clear if that was good or bad. “Five laps around the fence and then I’ll tell you your matches for the day.” As everyone got up, he called out to Steven. “If you see Lydia, tell her that she has an extra two laps.”

The twelve or so people in the group headed for the gates as Lydia came jogging towards the courts in her white polo and dark blue . “Lyddie!” Jay called out, waving his hands in the air in his typical goofy manner. “You have to run seven laps! Have fun running while we play!”

“Shut up, Jay,” she muttered, catching her breath. “I got a phone call from the office and I’ve got a note.”

The group began their run as Lydia talked to the coach. Accepting her note, he cut her punishment and she joined the others in the run on the next lap. While they ran, they watched the underclassmen play. As they ran, Steven told Lydia about the rumored freshman. The two of them tried to look for him as they ran, finally seeing him on the third court.

He was indeed short as Anna said. However, it was incredible the way he played. His serve, instead of shooting past the opponent as lightning speed, would bounce incredibly high and send the opponent into a defensive position. His speed on the court was remarkably fast and his shots were deadly accurate. “Damn,” Lydia muttered as they finished up the last lap, “he is so making varsity.”

Steven nodded in agreement. “He’ll probably even make the top six. Looks like we’ve got competition, huh, Jay?”

Jay shrugged it off. “Whatever. I’m pretty sure we’re both better than him.” The three of them and the rest of the group headed over to the coach. Within moments, they found themselves in match play, knowing it was all to look good. This wasn’t a fight to get on the team; they all were automatically back on. This was a fight for the top spot.

The next morning, all the athletes rushed over to the activities office. Rosters for all fall sports and all the big sports in the later seasons were posted on the bulletin outside. By the time Steven got there, he found Lydia, Anna, and Jay talking excitedly apart from the group. “So, what’s the roster say?” he asked, curious to see what the excitement was all about.

“I made it to the varsity team!” Anna squealed. “I get to hang out with all of you guys!”

Jay patted her on the back, one of the few brotherly gestures he ever made. “I’m proud of ya, sis. You definitely earned it.” He turned his attention back to the senior to tell even more exciting news. “On the other hand, I made first seed and you’re second seed.”

“Great, great,” Steven said, pumping for more exciting information. “Anything else?”

“I made second seed for this year?” Lydia meekly mentioned. “Somehow I beat out Cassidy yesterday and now I’m second behind Rachel Miller.”

A grin came over Steven’s face. “That’s Lyddie Dam for ya,” he said, hugging her intensely. “You’re definitely going to move up to that number one spot by the spring season. I bet that.”

Anna’s eyes widened as if she forgot something important. “Oh my god, I forgot to tell you! That freshman kid made it too! His name is Mark Ammon.”

Lydia smirked, watching the boys’ reactions to the news. Steven seemed rather apathetic, like always. Jay, on the other hand, seemed a bit more worried. “Relax, you guys. He’s not even seeded yet. Let’s get to class.”

The four of them headed off to their classes: Steven meeting up with Olivia and Walker, Lydia and Jay off to a Chemistry class, and Anna meeting up with some of the other sophomores in her class. No one noticed the short, brown-haired boy who had been several yards away on the bench, listening to their conversation. And no one definitely saw the smirk he was wearing.