"Jordan, are you alright?"
"I... I don't... know..."
"How were you able to do that?"
"I just... got a burst of energy, but... I couldn't-"
"Stop..." Jordan slowly opened her eyes and then realized she was having a dream. Her now deep brown eyes slowly looked back and forth, trying to gather detail of her surroundings while lying down. Finally realizing she was not on the courts anymore, she pulled herself up and next realized she was in bed in a somewhat small room.
"Where-" Jordan cut herself off after the memory of what happened during the Welcome Workout surfaced in her mind. "Oh, right. The Academy." She looked at herself to notice that her tennis clothes were not on and was only in her nightgown. 'Did someone dress me?' She thought before getting up and checked her room in more detail.
The things she brought with her were lazily stacked on a nearby table and her suitcase was at the foot of the bed. There was a small black TV on a desk in the left corner of the room and the closet was on the right side. Jordan opened the closet to find her tennis clothes neatly hung up and her shoes on a rack just below where the clothes were.
Then came a knock on the door. "Jordan! Are you in?" The voice sounded familiar to the white haired player, but couldn't place the owner.
"Who is it?" Jordan asked in reply.
"Ace. Your dorm room neighbor." Jordan had to think for a minute. "I was one of the people that brought you in here."
'That's where I remember hearing her voice!' Jordan mentally exclaimed. "I think the door's open."
Ace slowly entered the room and quietly shut the door. She was wearing her usual sleeveless white and red top with a matching plaid skirt and shoes and her light brown hair was styled in her usual pigtail fashion. "You're up pretty early."
Jordan gave a small smile. "I'm usually an early bird, so I wouldn't find it that surprising." As Jordan looked at Ace, she noticed a hint of surprise in Ace's eyes. "What's wrong?"
Ace shook her head slightly. "W-What do you mean?"
"You look awestruck, in a way. Did something happen?"
"Oh. Well, when I watched you play yesterday, your eyes were really shallow, so I thought you were a little more... Oh, how should I put it?"
"Cold?" Jordan rolled her eyes, knowing this isn't the first time this has happened.
"Well, yeah. Now your eyes are so deep and your more laid back than I thought."
Jordan turned and started pulling her clothes out of the closet. "I take the game seriously."
Her calm voice made Ace confused about Jordan's exact meaning in that statement. "One could guess. Anyway, you want to get some breakfast? Being early means you get first dibs on the food in the restaurant."
"I'd love to," Jordan said in a cheery tone. "Just let me get dressed and I'll meet you outside."
"Okay. See you there."
As Ace left, Jordan laid her clothes down real quick and started jumping and silently screaming. She only dreamed of spending time with a champion and now she'll finally get the opportunity to. "This has got to be the best day of my life!"
It didn't take too much longer until Jordan made her way towards the exit. As she opened the first set of doors, she had to shield her eyes from the sunlight coming in from outside since the next set of doors were glass. The windows in her room didn't warn her about the brightness thanks to the trees overlapping her end of the dorm. As she passed the second set of doors, the air was flooded with the morning wind and birds chirping their daily symphony. As Jordan's eyes adjusted, she could see two people in the courtyard. One she knew as Ace, but the other was a boy with dark brown hair and eyes wearing a yellow and blue shirt, blue shorts, and matching shoes. Even though she never met him, Jordan couldn't help but wonder if she saw him somewhere before.
"What took you so long?" the boy asked in a cheerful tone.
Even knowing that he was joking, Jordan felt somewhat insulted. "Well, sorry," she said in a stern voice.
"Clay, go easy on her," Ace ordered. "She's new here, remember?"
"I was just messing around. Can't take a joke, can she? I guess she is just as stiff off the court as she is on it."
Clay's speculation confused Jordan for a minute. "What do you mean?"
"You looked more serious about a match than Tori. I have got to say, that was scary."
Jordan looked at Ace, hoping for an explanation. "He watched your match during the Welcome Workout too. But I have to say, you act much different than what we first thought."
"Yeah. I don't know why I act like that," Jordan openly wondered. "I guess I'm like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when it comes to tennis."
Clay laughed. "I'll say. Scared me witless." Just then, there was a loud rumble. "What was that?"
Ace and Clay looked at Jordan and noticed red on her cheeks. "Uh..." As she spoke, her blush became more distinct. "Not to rush, but can we get to the restaurant?"
Ace's memories of her first day rushed into her mind and a gigantic smile appeared on her face. "Of course. Sorry to keep you waiting." She then turned to her doubles partner and the smile vanished in an instant. "Could you do me a favor and escort Jordan to the restaurant?"
"What?" Clay exclaimed while keeping his voice to a minimum. "Why should I do that?"
The champ rolled her eyes. "I'm going to head over towards the Junior courts and talk to Mark about something. Until then, take good care of Jordan for me, alright?"
Before Clay could come back with anything, Ace already started running down the pathway and left the Senior with the new student. He gave a hard sigh before setting his sights back on Jordan who wasn't where she stood before. Now she was near the newly planted rosebushes, inhaling the sweet fragrance each flower emitted. 'There's no way this girl won the match like this,' he thought. 'Maybe Jordan wasn't joking about what she said, cause this one looks way too soft to be a competitive tennis player.'
"So, are you ready?" Jordan's question snapped Clay out of his thoughts.
"Oh... uh, yeah. Let's get some grub."
Ace took a sharp left as she almost ran passed the pathway to the Junior courts. In the distance, she could hear the steady beat of a rally in a tennis match, telling her either people were practicing or playing a ranking match. More memories flooded her mind about her time in the Junior courts so much to where she didn't notice how close she was to the coach.
"Ace!" The yell made the champ snap back to her senses and made an abrupt stop. Ace was less than a step away from Coach Mark, making her swallow hard and jump back to create comfortable distance.
"What has you so distracted?" Mark asked with a small smirk. The red-head coach was even Ace's Junior coach last year. However, the sense of equality never left his light brown eyes.
"Oh, sorry, Coach. I was reminiscing, in a way." Ace's embarrassment kept her form looking at Mark.
Mark laughed. "Being on top makes you want to look back on how you got there, huh?" Ace shrugged along with an innocent smile. "Well, not to be a downer, but your record is being broken."
"Record?"
"It's more of an unwritten record. Let me put it this way: Someone is rising in the ranks much faster than you."
Ace put one hand over her mouth while cradling her elbow in her other had, a pose that let others know she was in thought. After a few seconds, she knew who Mark was talking about. "Nick?"
The coach nodded. "He just blew past Sophia recently, and right after she beat Mason in a ranking match too."
"Sophia beat Mason in a ranking match?"
"She finally found her endurance. However, it didn't help with Nick. Not one ball went past him with that ability he has."
Ace looked around the courts and found Sophia sitting on a bench with a somber look on her face. "I assume Sophia didn't take the loss well?"
"Accused him of cheating, really. It's been ruled that Juniors cannot have power shots until they rise to the senior ranks. I agree, because you need to rely on basic tennis more than power shots."
"But the fact that Nick can move so fast at certain times makes them think he has a power shot of some sort. Therefore they nearly hate him for it." Ace wasn't really surprised. Everyone was upset with Clay just for being a Senior and playing with her to rise in the doubles rankings.
"Long story short."
"Right." Ace looked around once more and found Sasha playing a practice match with her partner. "Sasha's next, it seems."
"She's not planning on losing her number one rank to 'a cheater,' she says."
Ace rolled her eyes at the naïve statement. "Where's Nick now?"
"At the training center. Just the fact that he'll train with that power amazes me."
"Okay. I'll see if I can't catch him." The champ turned around and started running. "Thanks for the info!"
Clay slowly chewed his cereal while watching Jordan from across their table. The white haired player had a mini-buffet out before her and it was only the half of it. The other half was already devoured. A few other students was watching from a distance, but quickly turned away as Clay started to feel them staring and looked.
"Are you usually this hungry?" Clay asked before taking another spoonful of cereal.
Jordan stopped for a moment to wipe her mouth with a napkin and then answered, "No, not really. However, my usual meals are still considerably large. I may not look it, but I have a big appetite."
Clay raised an eyebrow in interest. "So your pretty active throughout the day?"
"Mostly." Jordan started eating again, but after a few minutes, she noticed Clay staring at her hair. "Pigments."
The word confused Clay. "Huh?"
"You want to know why my hair is colorless, right?"
"Well, I- uh-"
Jordan laughed. "It's okay. You're not the first one."
"Okay. So... How did it happen?"
"No clue." Her reply made Clay slap his forehead in frustration. "All I know is that something happened to me while I was little that destroyed the pigments in my hair. You know about pigments, right?"
"I'm not taking Biology until next school year."
"Okay then. To put it simply, pigments are the things in your body that gives it color."
Clay tried to get this straight. "So the fact you don't have pigments in your hair makes it white?"
"That's basically what I already said," Jordan said in a monotonous voice.
"I know. I was just repeating so the explanation can sink in my mind more easily."
"A new student giving you lessons, Clay?" Clay knew that voice all too well, so he didn't look at the speaker. However, Jordan turned to see a boy with light blue hair and dark eyes behind a pair of glasses. His skin was a little pale and his attire consisted entirely of two colors: white and blue. "I would have expected it the other way around since you're the doubles champ."
"I thought you said you'd be busy today, Elroy?" Clay asked the kid with glasses. "Found time in your busy schedule?"
"Actually, I have," Elroy responded with pride. "I came over to meet with Miss Jordan here." As his gaze landed on Jordan, she felt a little uncomfortable.
"Me?" She sheepishly asked.
"Well, is there any other girl Jordans in this school?" Even though his tone sounded to be joking, Jordan couldn't help but wonder his intentions. "Do you mind if I sit with you two?"
Jordan glanced at Clay who gave a light shrug. "I suppose not."
Elroy gave a light nod and rounded the table to take a seat next to Clay. Clay, however, didn't exactly seem too thrilled about it. "Are you still sore over my words last year?" Elroy asked.
"You still believe it, don't you?" Clay retorted.
"You know it's only natural for someone to say a first-timer's victory is a fluke."
"Even when it came to Ace alone, you still said it even though she dominated you twice!" Clay's raised voice turned a few heads. "Learn some humility!"
"It's been a year, Clay," Elroy replied calmly. "Even though I'm still sore about it, I mellowed out enough to know my place." Clay relaxed a little after that statement. "Therefore, I speak for us all when I say that you need to prove us wrong and win the title again. However," he shifted his gaze at Jordan once more, "you may have some serious competition this year in the Academy."
Jordan shifted her eyes back and forth between both boys a few times before finally saying, "You mean my ability?"
"I think he means our abilities." Jordan jumped once again and turned to see a blue haired boy and Ace behind her. "Hi there," the boy greeted with a large smile on his face. "Remember me?"
The white haired player thought for a second until her match with him came to the forefront of her mind. "Oh! Yes, I remember. It's Nick, right?" Nick nodded. "Would you like to sit down with us?"
"I would love to! But Ace pulled me out of the Training Center when I started to head back to the Junior courts for a ranking match. She insisted I meet my doubles partner before I did anything else."
Jordan felt a little disappointed at being turned down, but the doubles partner part caught her interest. "Partner? Well, who is it?" Nick and Ace exchanged glances before each gave a light chuckle. "What?"
"It's you," Ace answered, making Jordan glare in disbelief with eyes people only saw on the court.
