It was just wrong. Mitch was supposed to be happy and sassy. Seeing her depressed like this, well it just broke me. I sat down next to her and took her hand. “Hey, look at me. We can fix this.” Mitch rolled her eyes, but I kept going, raising my volume. “We CAN, and I can help.”
“What are you going to do? Take my tests for me?”
“No, but I’m going to tutor you. Now, is there any chance for extra credit, or anything?”
Mitch took a deep breath. “We can turn in a corrected exam for quarter credit. But even if I do I’ll still fail.”
“Doesn’t matter, it’s something. So you wanna hear my plan? Or do you just want to mope around until you flunk out?”
“Alright, professor, what do we do?”
“Well for starters you’re going to put the test away and not think about it for the next two days. Then, we’re going to meet up Sunday and go through your exam so you can get the bonus. Then I’m going to tutor you twice a week.”
“Seriously? Why would you do that?”
“I told you, we’re friends.”
She gave my hand a squeeze. I’d forgotten I was still holding it. “Thanks, Cindy, that, um, it means a lot.”
***
As I lay in bed that night I stared at my hand. When Mitch had let it go I’d felt a definite feeling of loss. It’d been so weird, seeing her vulnerable like that. I needed to help her. The thought that she might leave, that I’d never see her again, it made me feel sick inside. I remembered the way she’d smiled at the end. It’s too bad she insisted on wearing her hair so short and with such masculine clothes. She really could be very pretty, just a little bit of make-up, maybe some lip-gloss. I mean those eyes were incredible, and that smile, damn.
A hand slipped under my top, sliding up and touching the base of my breast. My eyes closed in pleasure, Mitch’s face grinning shyly across the bench we’d shared, her hand warm in mine. She was leaning closer, and so was I.
My eyes snapped open, and I pulled out from under my top. That was weird. Ethan was taking me out after the match, so I tried to focus on that. As I slept, however, it was a pair of perfect blue eyes, rather than Ethan’s soft brown ones, that floated through my dreams.
***
I had a devil of a time concentrating on my lessons on Friday, which was a definite tribute to how nervous I was. I’d always prided myself on my ability to concentrate, especially on subjects I didn’t like. You didn’t become valedictorian by slacking off in class, even at a small school like mine.
But today it seemed impossible, and by the time my calc recitation let out at three I was ready to sprint all the way to the practice facility. I made myself walk back to my dorm, packing up my bag and sitting on the edge of my bed, legs bouncing with nervous energy.
Practice started in the classroom, where the coaches went over timetables and what to expect on match day. I absorbed everything they said with wide-eyed intensity. Mitch had sat down next to me, and even she was totally engrossed in what was going on. Once we made it out onto the courts the assistant coaches split up with the various varsity starters and spoke with them about what they could expect from their matchup on Saturday.
My match wasn’t important enough for that I guess, so I just kept hitting with Mitch. I glanced over to the next court, and was watching Carrie, who was in deep discussion with one of the coaches. I hesitated, ears straining since I could almost hear what they were saying. I admit a bit of jealousy, as I badly wanted to be playing a varsity match.
“Spencer!” I jumped, seeing Coach Holiday, coming up from behind me.
“Ma’am?”
“Just letting you know that we don’t really have anything on your opponent. She’s a freshman, like you. We did the normal searches, but couldn’t get any tape on her. You’re such a solid player, I think that’s an advantage. If she’s been able to find anything on you, I imagine she’s having a very uncomfortable night.” Coach patted me on the shoulder, and I beamed at the compliment.
“Thanks, Coach.”
“You’re gonna do great, keep breathing, keep your feet moving.”
I nodded and bounced a little on my toes.
“Alright, I’m going to go talk to Kirkpatrick. I’d like you to work on that first serve up the T some, alright?”
“You got it, Coach.”
She nodded and moved to the other side of the court while I went back to hit some serves. I kept an eye on Mitch, and she was smiling and nodding along with whatever coach was saying. As soon as it was over, she let out a whoop.
“Alright, let’s go! We are gonna kick some ass tomorrow!”
I smiled wickedly at her. “Why wait ’til tomorrow? Service!”
The mood in the locker room after practice was infectiously enthusiastic, with a bit of singing, a lot of cheering, and an unfortunate amount of dancing. Everybody was super ready for the season to start. The bad thing was that we were under strict orders not to party, no alcohol, but we still managed to have a good time at dinner, Carrie, Mitch, and I.
“So ladies, what are we going to do tonight?” Mitch flopped down on the bench next to us.
We ended up settling for pizza and a movie back at Mitch’s. Her roommate was dating a townie, and basically lived in her boyfriend’s apartment on the weekends. We decided to watch ‘Wimbledon’, the most tennis-y movie we had access to.
I smirked at Mitch. “It’s got straight romance in it. You gonna be OK?”
“Hell yeah, Kirsten Dunst. That girl is Dee-licious. And a shower scene.” Carrie and I both laughed. Carrie climbed into Mitch’s desk chair and began to divvy up the pizza while Mitch started up the movie. I crawled onto the foot of Mitch’s bed, which made me feel a little odd, especially when she bounced over next to me.
We ate and watched, and I was very aware of Michelle’s presence next to me. I mean, it wasn’t anything she did, she laughed at the movie and made snarky comments about the unimpressive realism of the tennis scenes. She never tried to touch me, and the closest thing to flirting I noticed was when she asked me if I wanted another soda. Maybe she sat a little closer to me, and maybe she looked over when I spoke, and maybe I did blush some when she glanced at me.
The movie finished a little after ten, and Carrie and I were walking together back to our dorm.
“You and Mitch seem to finally be getting along.”
“Yeah, playing together’s helped. I guess she’s not as bad as I thought.” I hesitated. “I’m gonna start tutoring her in Math.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, she flunked an exam. That’s why she was in such a temper the other day.”
“You nervous about spending that much time alone with a lesbian?”
I was lucky it was dark, and she couldn’t see my cheeks redden. “No. Why would I? She knows I’m straight.”
“Ha, like that’s ever stopped her.”
“She wouldn’t do that.”
Carrie just kept walking. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Besides, it’s not like she’d get anywhere.”
That made my breath catch in my throat. Carrie was right. She wouldn’t get anywhere. But she wasn’t going to try. I wasn’t sure how that made me feel.
***
I woke up the next day focused, ready. It was match day. I got to the locker rooms thirty minutes before we’d been told to, jumping onto one of the stationary bikes to warm up. Mitch was there less than five minutes later.
“You ready, partner?”
I looked at her, her gorgeous blue eyes filled with icy fire. “Absolutely. Let’s do it.” Time seemed to accelerate. Minutes later I was getting dressed, looking at myself in the mirror for the first time in a Georgia uniform, a white tank with a big Georgia ‘G’ on the front and a red skirt. Mitch was wearing the T-shirt and shorts, not surprising.
Then we headed out onto the court. It was the first time I’d been on the stadium courts. We were out on the smaller set of three, but still. It helped that there was virtually no one in the stands. Of course, that no one included Ethan.
“Where’s Mr. GQ?”
I spun around. “Mitch, please.”
“Yeah, sorry Cindy. C’mon.”
We went out onto the court and started to warm up. A few minutes later the other team’s girls came out. Mitch’s face immediately intensified into something very different.
“The sheep are here. Time to get out the sheers.” She spun her racket in her hand, and despite my disappointment I couldn’t help but giggle. We made our way onto the court and started to warm up with the other team. I did keep glancing up into the stands as we continued, and it was obvious in the way I was playing.
“Cindy, I’m not usually the one who has to tell you to focus.”
“Right, Mitch, sorry.”
She jogged over. “Hey. We got a job to do. He’ll either show or he won’t. You can’t control it now. You and me now, alright?”
“Yeah, okay. Right, I’m okay.” I nodded vigorously, trying to convince myself mostly. I tried to focus and went back to what I was doing. Eventually we flipped for serve and started the match. Luckily the first service game was Mitch’s, so I didn’t have to perform like that right off the bat. Instead I got to react to the return, which came right back to me and I was able to put away an easy volley. That helped, a lot.
I jogged back to Mitch, who gave me five and whispered into my ear. “This time into the body. Soften ’em up some.”
I arched my eyebrow, which made Mitch give me a wicked grin. “I know. Strategy from me. You’re a bad influence on me, Spencer.”
I chuckled under my breath as I jogged back to the net. Mitch was as good as her word, curving one into the other returner. She tried to get out of the way, but the serve just ate her up. She tried to get the shot up the alley, but she didn’t have anything on it, so I had another very satisfying chance to smack away a winner.
After that I was in the groove. Mitch and I dominated our match, winning the set 6-1. I didn’t think about Ethan once throughout. I did notice that he still wasn’t there until we were preparing for our singles match. Mitch caught me looking up into the stands.
“Hey, head still in the game, Spencer?”
“Yeah, I just,…” I huffed into the air. “Why wouldn’t he be here?”
“Hey, how long have you been dreaming about this?” She waved her hand around at the stands and the courts. I shrugged my shoulders. “Seriously, how long have you been wanting to wear this uniform, to play for this school?”
“Since I was eight. The first time my aunt and uncle took me to see a match here. I’ve always wanted to play on these courts.”