The Lie by S. Syed, G. Klein (reading well TXT) 📕

“So, the big day is coming up,” Leanna’s mother said, shoveling a healthy portion of green beans onto her plate. “Are you starting to get nervous?”

Leanna pushed her food around her plate with her fork and stared at the wall of the dining room for a moment before shrugging her shoulders and grunting in response. She’d been feeling on edge ever since the match with the Gartner twins earlier that day. Leanna was glad that Jenny had decided to go through with tryouts too, but now she was feeling the pressure not just to get her own performance up, but to try and push Jenny as well. It didn’t help that they only had one week. Her mother didn’t help either.

“It’s all right sweetie, I got butterflies before my first tryouts too. But I pushed through my nerves and made varsity,” her mother said.

“Yeah, Mom, I know. Believe it or not you’ve actually told me this story before. Last week. Twice,” Leanna responded with a sigh. “It’s not as inspirational as you think.”

Leanna had grown up on stories of her mother’s high school and college successes on the tennis court. After topping the roster for all four years she was on the high school team, Leanna’s mother had received a scholarship to a top university to play on their team. She had even briefly considered going pro, but then she got pregnant with Leanna in her junior year. Her mom may have given up on her own dreams of tennis stardom when Leanna was born, but that didn’t stop her from giving up on her daughter’s chances to make it to the big leagues—or at the very least a top tier college.

“Well, I’m just trying to be supportive, Lee. I know it can feel like a lot of pressure.”

Leanna just nodded and kept playing with her food.

“You’ll feel more confident when you get a better read on the competition,” her mom continued. “You and Jenny have been hitting balls down at Tetterman’s at every opportunity since you were little girls. You obviously have commitment to the game, and that’s all you need to win.”

Leanna set her fork down. “That’s the thing, Mom, it’s not just about me. Jenny is going to try out too.”

“Oh?” her mother said, chewing thoughtfully before continuing, “Well, what does that have to do with you, sweetie?”

“It has to do with me because I’m going to feel horrible if Jenny winds up on C-squad and I make JV,” Leanna said, glaring at her plate.

Her mother let out an easy laugh and said, “Well, you don’t have any control over that. I’m sure Jenny understands.”

“But I told her I’d help her work on her strokes,” Leanna said, resuming playing with her food.

It was her mother’s turn to sigh now. “Well, honey, I’m sure you’ll do what you can, but at the end of the day you have to focus on yourself. When they’re watching you at tryouts they’re not going to be looking to see how well you coached your friend, they’re going to be looking at what you have to offer the team.”

“I know, Mom. I get it,” Leanna said.

Her mother paused for a moment and began eating again. “I’m just trying to be realistic, and you should be too. I love that you love tennis, but I also love that you’re good at it. I just want you to keep in mind the doors it can open for you, like it did for me—”

“Mom, really, this is not helping.” Leanna was getting frustrated. Tennis had always been important to her mom, but ever since her dad left in middle school, their budget had been tight. Now that Leanna was in high school, her mom was already thinking about college, and she saw tennis as the only sure-fire way to make sure they could afford it. It was nice that her mom cared so much, but sometimes Leanna wished she would just let her focus on the problems she was having now instead of the ones she’d be having in three years.

“All I’m saying is that if it’s going to be distracting, maybe you should find somebody else to practice with, at least until tryouts are over.”

Leanna pushed her chair back across the kitchen floor with a loud scrape and stood up. “Are you even listening to what I’m telling you? I’m not just going to ditch my best friend so that I can get onto the stupid tennis team! You’re impossible sometimes, you know that?” she shouted.

Her mother’s mouth dropped open in surprise, but Leanna stormed off to her bedroom before she had the chance to respond.

“She really said that you should practice with someone else?” Jenny asked, bouncing a ball nervously against the court with the side of her racquet. “I mean, that’s kind of harsh, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, it is,” Leanna said quietly, seeing the pain in her friend’s eyes. She wished she hadn’t brought it up, but Leanna also knew Jenny never would have stopped asking her what was wrong if she didn’t tell her the truth. “I don’t care what she says, though. I’m going to try and help you get on JV even if it means that neither of us do.”

Jenny sliced toward the ground with her racquet, brushing against the side of the ball and sending it spinning up into her waiting hand. She’d been practicing that trick for a while and had never quite been able to get it right, but today she hardly even cracked a smile when she managed to pull it off.

“Well, I don’t want to be holding you back, Leanna,” Jenny said. “I know you’ve always really wanted to be on the real team, and honestly I mostly just play tennis because it’s something fun I can do with you. We both know you’re the one with the talent for it. Besides, I wasn’t so sure about trying out for the team anyway, remember?”

Leanna grinned at her friend in a way that she hoped looked reassuring instead of forced and said, “You’re starting to sound like my mom. C’mon, Jen, you’re a star when you want to be—you just have to stay focused and keep your head in the game. I know you’re going to do great at tryouts.”

Jenny beamed back and nodded eagerly, and Leanna couldn’t help but feel bad. She really did believe that her friend would be able to get better, probably even good enough to make JV—if they had until next year to prepare. Less than a week really wasn’t enough time to get Jenny into competitive shape. She made far too many small, technical errors to be consistent, and at the very least, JV players needed to be able to keep a competitive rally going. Still, she really did want Jenny to be there with her at the tryouts. They’d gone through every other major milestone together and a big part of her wasn’t ready to let that go yet.

“Well, let’s get to it then!” Jenny called, jogging to her usual side of the court. Her side just happened to be a little easier to defend because the sun was always at her back in the afternoons when they 4

“She really said that you should practice with someone else?” Jenny asked, bouncing a ball nervously against the court with the side of her racquet. “I mean, that’s kind of harsh, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, it is,” Leanna said quietly, seeing the pain in her friend’s eyes. She wished she hadn’t brought it up, but Leanna also knew Jenny never would have stopped asking her what was wrong if she didn’t tell her the truth. “I don’t care what she says, though. I’m going to try and help you get on JV even if it means that neither of us do.”

Jenny sliced toward the ground with her racquet, brushing against the side of the ball and sending it spinning up into her waiting hand. She’d been practicing that trick for a while and had never quite been able to get it right, but today she hardly even cracked a smile when she managed to pull it off.

“Well, I don’t want to be holding you back, Leanna,” Jenny said. “I know you’ve always really wanted to be on the real team, and honestly I mostly just play tennis because it’s something fun I can do with you. We both know you’re the one with the talent for it. Besides, I wasn’t so sure about trying out for the team anyway, remember?”

Leanna grinned at her friend in a way that she hoped looked reassuring instead of forced and said, “You’re starting to sound like my mom. C’mon, Jen, you’re a star when you want to be—you just have to stay focused and keep your head in the game. I know you’re going to do great at tryouts.”

Jenny beamed back and nodded eagerly, and Leanna couldn’t help but feel bad. She really did believe that her friend would be able to get better, probably even good enough to make JV—if they had until next year to prepare. Less than a week really wasn’t enough time to get Jenny into competitive shape. She made far too many small, technical errors to be consistent, and at the very least, JV players needed to be able to keep a competitive rally going. Still, she really did want Jenny to be there with her at the tryouts. They’d gone through every other major milestone together and a big part of her wasn’t ready to let that go yet.

“Well, let’s get to it then!” Jenny called, jogging to her usual side of the court. Her side just happened to be a little easier to defend because the sun was always at her back in the afternoons when they usually played.

Leanna forced another grin and reminded herself to stay supportive as she called across the net, “Sounds good, Jen, but let’s switch it up this time. They’re not going to go easy on us at tryouts, and I’m sure at least half the time the sun is going to be in your eyes. You may as well start getting used to it now.”

Jenny fiddled with her racquet, and Leanna caught a flash of concern on her friend’s face, but it was gone a moment later.

“Fair enough,” she said, and the two switched sides and struck up a relaxed volley. After a few strokes, Leanna increased the intensity and started focusing more on her placement, sending Jenny jogging back and forth between the alleys just to keep the ball in play. From the redness in