Tenten unlocked sank into her sofa, letting all her shopping slide off her arms and onto the floor. She wiped her brow and reached up to undo her twin buns, letting her nut brown hair cascade to her waist. She closed her eyes, her lashes resting on cheeks pink from the cold. She let herself be absorbed into a peaceful torpor, bordering on sleep- and then the phone rang.
She groaned and hoisted herself up onto her feet and reached for the cordless. "Hello, Tenten Xiang speaking."
"Hello? Yes, this is the personal assistant to the chairperson of the Asia Sports Corporation. Or the ASC. I just called to tell you the exiting news personally!" Suddenly Tenten was fully awake, her wide brown eyes alert and her face flushed- not from the cold but from the adrenalin suddenly coursing through her body.
"Please, go on." she breathed, anxious for the news. The cheerful voice continued. "Yes, well. Firstly my name is Shizune. Approximately a month ago you tried out for the Asian Under 18 Tennis team, consisting of 2 squads of 5 under 18 girls?".
"Yeah..." Tenten squeaked. "Congratulations, you've been accepted. However only two countries made the benchmark this year- Japan and India. So instead of the usual diversity of cultures only a squad from India and one from Japan will be doing the world tour this year. This shouldnt really affect you as your squad originally consisted of 5 japanese girls but one of them was found taking steroids. So we had to transfer a girl from the Under 16's team to do the world tour with you. I hope you dont mind?".
"No, of course not." said Tenten into the phone, but in the back of her mind she was rather irritated. An Under 16? There was no way this girl- no child could even score a point against the older, more experienced players. She would be nothing but a liability to the team. Oh, well. Guess I'll just have to train harder to make up for her suckiness. But Ive never even met the girl... Maybe she's good? I mean the ASC would never jeopardise their chances of winning the female tour. They've won 8 years in a row now!
"Hello, Tenten? Are you there?" came Shizunes voice.
"Yeah. Sorry." said Tenten, "Anyway, as I was saying. Theres been a slight problem with the transport this year. Some flight muckup. Ordinarily it wouldnt affect you but the timetables were changed at the last minute. So it was either ditching the entire comp, or changing the schedule. Anyway, I'm really sorry but you'll be doing your tour with the (Male) Asian Under 19 cricket team, instead of the Asian Under 18 male Tennis team like usual. I'm really sorry but thats the only way we could fit it." "Oh, alright. That's ok I guess." murmured Tenten. "Oh goodness, look at the time!" exclaimed Shizune " I'm sorry I've got to run. I just thought you'd like to know personally. You'll get all the details in the mail soon enough! Bye!"
"Bye," said Tenten, hanging up. She was still in a dreamlike daze, unable to believe her fortune. She was on her way, she would do it, she would be one of the greatest tennis players the world had ever seen! Nothing stood in her way now. Nothing.