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

her friend’s face, it was clear that keeping up wasn’t easy, but Jenny was able to hold her own surprisingly well. Leanna was already starting to feel a little better. Maybe it wasn’t selfish to pressure her into trying out after all. Maybe it was just the push Jenny needed, Leanna thought.

“See, you’re getting it now, Jen! We’re just going to have to keep working over the next few days.”

Jenny was out of breath but managed a nod in reply before rushing back across the court to return Leanna’s perfectly placed shot. She made it to the next ball, but her technique had given out and she lost her grip on her racquet, sending the ball sailing straight into the net.

“Wow, Leanna, you’re really good,” Jenny panted as she retrieved the ball. “I mean, I knew you were good, but I’m actually starting to feel bad for all those kids we beat to a pulp over the years.”

Leanna laughed. “Well, it takes two to strike up a solid rally—you weren’t so bad out there yourself.” They smiled at one another, but Jenny’s grin quickly faded into another look of concern.

“What about the rest of them, though?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“The other girls. They all take private lessons and play indoors all winter and get new racquets every year. I haven’t even gotten mine restrung yet,” Jenny said, plucking nervously at the strings of her own racquet.

Leanna remembered what her mom had told her last night and said, “You can’t worry about that. It doesn’t take fancy tennis lessons and indoor court memberships and brand new racquets to get tennis skills. You just have to commit to the game.” She sounded so much like her mom it surprised her, and for a brief moment she wished Jenny had been there at dinner last night so she could appreciate it.

“That sounds like a line from a sports movie,” Jenny laughed.

“Well, there’s a reason why they always have the same theme, right?” Leanna winked at her.

Just then, they heard the familiar skid of bike tires from the edge of the fence and looked over to see the Gartner twins pulling up. Jenny nervously spun her racquet in her hand, but Leanna saw an opportunity. Teddy is good, but he isn’t nearly as good as Kelsey. And even when he wins big, he’s nice enough not to rub it in, Leanna thought. If Jenny can manage to even keep up with him enough for a set to be close, it will be huge for her confidence.

“Hey,” Leanna called out to the twins, “you two back for a rematch? The game is singles this time. I’ll take on Kelsey.”

The twins grinned at each other as they locked up their bikes. “You’re on,” Kelsey replied. “It can’t hurt for you to get used to some humiliation before tryouts roll around, Leanna.”

“You’re right, I should get used to not laughing when you whiff the ball so I don’t fall over and embarrass myself,” Leanna teased.

As usual, Teddy either failed to pick up on the harsh edge of his sister’s taunts or just chose to ignore them. “Sounds good to me! Let’s get to it, Jen!”

Jenny squared her shoulders and did her best to look determined, but a trace of fear still managed to sneak its way onto her game face. “All righty, Teddy. I think I might surprise you this time.”

And Jenny did surprise him. Just not in the way that she hoped.

 

5

Rather than the confidence booster Leanna had hoped it would be, Jenny’s singles match with Teddy turned out to be a disaster. If she was being honest with herself, Leanna knew that she hadn’t exactly done a whole lot to help things along.

She had managed to stay supportive of her friend during the first game—the first half of it anyway—but then she’d quickly got sucked into what was probably the most competitive match she’d ever played. She and Kelsey had gone point for point until Leanna had been able to secure the win. But based on what Teddy had told her, his game with Jenny hadn’t gone nearly as well. Jenny managed to hold her own for the first game but lost her fighting spirit by the second. After that, she didn’t win a single point. To make matters worse, Jenny had left the park without saying goodbye. Leanna had been so wrapped up in her game, she failed to notice.

Later on she had texted Jenny, who made up some excuse about having to get home in time for dinner. But Leanna could tell Jenny was upset based on her short, infrequent replies. So at school the next day, she had promised Jenny that they would hang out and do a non-tennis related activity that weekend to take her mind off of the match with Teddy. Jenny had agreed, although she had seemed a little reluctant. Leanna was starting to think encouraging Jenny to go to the tryouts had been a bad idea.

***

Now, it was Friday night and Leanna was waiting outside the mall, where they’d agreed to meet for some food court pizza and an early show at the Cineplex. Jenny was almost a half hour late, and she hadn’t answered any of Leanna’s texts.

Leanna let out a long sigh and checked her phone again, but nothing had changed since she’d last looked at it—not even the time.

She was about to try calling Jenny when she heard, “Hey, Lee!” Leanna quickly pocketed her phone and tried to look as if she hadn’t been anxiously waiting.

“Hey, Jen, glad you could make it! Did you get lost and accidently wind up at Tetterman’s?” Leanna said, regretting the joke as soon as she made it. But Jenny just smiled like nothing was wrong and gave her a hug.

“Sorry, I got wrapped up talking to my mom,” she said.

“About what?” Leanna asked.

Jenny brushed a loose strand of hair out of her eyes and said, “Just tennis stuff, nothing big.”

Leanna really wanted to ask her friend what she meant by that, but she bit her tongue, remembering how she’d promised Jenny a tennis-free evening.

Instead, she just said, “Let’s eat!” and they made their way to the mall’s food court.

Leanna was anxious to start the evening off on the right note, but it didn’t take long for things to start getting tense. As soon as they sat down at one of the food court’s tiny plastic tables, Jenny jerked her chin at Leanna’s tray and said, “Going for the salad I see. That’s a new one.”

Leanna smiled nervously and did her best not to look at the greasy cup of breadsticks on her friend’s tray across the table. “Well, I’m trying to eat a little healthier. Think of it as spring cleaning.”

Although Leanna didn’t go into more detail, she didn’t have to. Obviously she can tell my newfound taste for leafy greens is related to next week’s tryouts, Leanna thought.

Jenny tried to force a smile, but just wound up looking angry. “You know what, that’s a good idea,” she said, standing and picking up her tray. “I think I’ll go trade up myself.”

While Jenny was making her exchange with the cashier, Leanna tried to think of a way to change the subject. When Jenny returned to the table, she said quickly, “So what movie did you want to see? Teen Witch 3: Witches in the City just came out.” It was the latest installment of a long-running series of movies about magically gifted high school girls, and the two had been fans of it practically since they’d first met.

“I dunno, I was thinking maybe we could try and sneak in to College Party,” Jenny said, pushing her salad to the side of her tray and picking up a slice of pizza.

“Isn’t that rated R?” Leanna asked.

“Well, yeah, that’s why we’d sneak in. It’s not like they’re going to ID us once we’re actually in the theater,” Jenny responded before taking a large bite of pizza.

Leanna stirred a cup of dressing into her salad and frowned. It wasn’t so much that she was afraid of getting in trouble for sneaking into a movie that was bothering her—she actually thought it was pretty dumb you had to be 17 to see an R-rated movie anyway. Instead it was that sneaking into a raunchy, fraternity-focused comedy was pretty out of character for Jenny.

“It just doesn’t seem like your kind of movie,” Leanna said, trying to be casual.

Jenny glared at Leanna. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, it’s just not what we usually do,” Leanna said, trying not to get sucked into an argument.

“Well, we’re big high school kids now, trying to get onto JV with Kelsey and all that. I’m sure she’d want to see College Party,” Jenny said.

Leanna forced herself not to roll her eyes. “So this is about tennis still then,” she said, cutting to the chase.

“Yeah, Leanna, it is,” Jenny snapped. Suddenly she deflated and looked down at her food in embarrassment. “It’s so easy for you, you know? You can just hop on the court with someone like Kelsey and all of a sudden you’re practically a pro. It’s not like that for me,” Jenny said softly. “I know I’m just going to embarrass myself at the tryouts and then get stuck on the C-squad. I’m thinking of not even going.”

It was the perfect way out for Leanna, but at the same time it was the last thing that she wanted to hear because it meant she had to make a choice. She could either continue encouraging Jenny and risk her friend being crushed if tryouts didn’t go well, or she could let Jenny talk herself out of trying out for the team at all. But Leanna really didn’t want to go to the tryouts by herself.

Leanna didn’t doubt that she had the skills, but as tryouts approached, she was starting to realize how much pressure she was feeling. There was pressure from her mom, not only about following in her footsteps to tennis greatness, but also about being able to afford college. There was pressure to out-perform Kelsey—it was one thing to be the reigning champ at Tetterman’s, but it would be even more satisfying to get a better spot on the team than her rival. There was even some pressure not to let Jenny down.

Leanna would have liked to think that she was pushing Jenny to try out in order get her friend out of her comfort zone, but deep inside she knew that she was afraid to show up at tryouts by herself. She only had one shot to impress the coaches, and having Jenny there for support would make her feel more confident. Anything I can do to make things easier is a chance I’m going to have to take, Leanna thought. Even if that means Jenny winds up bombing her own tryout.

Knowing what she needed to do, Leanna took a deep breath and said, “Oh, stop it, Jenny, everybody has bad days. I’m sure you’ll do great, and I’ll be there with you, so even if it doesn’t go well, you’re not going to be alone. I promise.”

“Really?” Jenny asked.

“Really,” Leanna responded, cracking a smile and picking up her slice of pizza. “Now let’s eat. And we can see whatever you