Chapter 2- Welcome Workout Aftermath
Clay knocked on the door to his partner's room, but nobody answered. He sighed. "She's got to be in a coma or something." The door was unlocked, so Clay welcomed himself in. Flicking on the lights, Clay found Ace lying on her bed where he had left her after her "display" at the Welcome Workout.
Obviously, when one of the janitors had brought Ace's suitcase to her room, the clasp had snapped off because her belongings were scattered everywhere. Clay blinked. Even if he got her up now, Ace would never clean up in time to get to the junior's courts.
With a mental sigh, Clay told himself, "Well, I guess I can clean up for her just this once." Feeling very much uncomfortable, Clay hung up one of the wayward tennis shirts, a few pairs of socks journeyed to their drawer, and a long novel with a teal bookmark sticking out of it found its way to the cherry wood desk.
And then Clay came to a mirror. It had been wrapped up in an old rag. It was a shade of light pink, and it was polished to an unnatural sparkle. To Clay, it seemed strange that a tomboy like Ace would have such a girly mirror, but when he turned it over, the answer to his question seemed obvious. When Clay turned it over gently, he found that a few words had been engraved on the back of it. "To my dear Ace, with love from Grandpa." It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the mirror was precious to Ace. Clay set it lightly on the desk next to the novel, where Ace was sure to spot it. Glancing at his wrist watch, Clay knew he had to hurry. There was barely five minutes before practice began.
"Ace," He mumbled, shaking her shoulder. "C'mon, get up." Clay sighed as he watched Ace roll over. Well, at least she wasn't dead.
"Get up." I heard a voice mutter, and I rolled over. "Now, Ace, or we'll be late for sure!" The voice cried exasperatedly. I bolted up, blinking incomprehensibly. Who was this kid? It took a moment for the memories to flood back in.
"Ace, do you remember who I am?" Clay asked nervously, taking note of my stony silence.
"Yes, Clay."
"And do you remember where you are?" He asked gingerly, seeming relieved since I knew who he was.
"Yes Clay. This is the Royal Tennis Academy." I looked around the large room. I knew nothing but my general location. "Hey, is this my room?"
Clay nodded. "Yup. I brought you here yesterday after the Welcome Workout, um, incident." Clay seemed uncomfortable. I looked down at the bed sheets, embarrassed. "I-I though you had heat stroke and died, or something." He mumbled. The color rose to his cheeks. What should I say? My heart felt like it was going to beat right out of my chest, and my palms were clammy. I must still be dizzy from yesterday.
Clay swallowed. "Do you want to play singles or doubles today?" He sounded as choked up as he did when Mia confessed yesterday.
"I need to change. I'll be out in a second." I told Clay as an answer, sounding squeaky. He nodded, and retreated to the door without being told.
But just as he was about to shut the thick door behind him, I called out to him. "Clay, wait."
He looked up questioningly. "Is something wrong?"
"No, but I just want to say…Thanks." I felt my cheeks burning. I figured I looked like ten kinds of an idiot.
Clay smiled, much to my relief. "You're welcome." With that, he shut the door quietly behind him.
Truth be told, I didn't want to spend my first day on campus alone. But I was nervous around Clay now. I shook my head vigorously. I was just disoriented from passing out during the Welcome Workout, I told myself fiercely. That was all.
I came out of my room a moment later. Clay seemed to have relaxed, and I was glad. "Do you wanna play singles or doubles today, Ace?"
"Doubles," I responded, shaking away any doubts. I swallowed. I hoped I could prove to everyone that my fainting yesterday had just been a fluke. I had trained real hard to get here.
I heard my stomach growl as Clay and I came outside the lodge. Clay grinned. "I'd figure you were hungry. Why don't you lead the way to the restaurant? You need to learn your way around since you were still unconscious before." I frowned.
The only way to go was straight, and I went that way. After a single curve in the road, a large brown building sat just ahead. "That's the restaurant. I was just messing with you, Ace. You can't go wrong so long as you're on this path." He stamped the ground to enforce this.
Inside the building, a woman stood there, shaking her head sadly. Clay jumped. "Where is everybody?"
"Some masked goons just took on Alex, and everyone rushed off to see the match." The woman told us, and Clay's eyes widened.
"Awesome. Hey, Ace, I gotta see this. Catch up with me after you grab a bite to eat." Clay called, after running outside with a bagel in his left hand. The woman sighed.
"You must be Clay's partner, the Welcome Workout Ace." Was that a good name to have? "Clay's really well known around here, you know. His older brother Greg came here a few years back and he made it to the big leagues. You can't even imagine how many people are jealous of you." She told me.
"Hey, Ace, go catch up with Clay. And take a bagel. That's one match you won't want to miss." She told me, handing me a bagel, while ushering me out. "They're on the center court, where varsity practices." She called after a moment's thought, and I hurried off towards the center court. I figured it would be in the center, and I was right.
But it seemed I had missed the match. Some people were filing out of the stadium, mumbling. "I can't believe Alex lost. He is so supposed to be our best player." A senior girl said to her friend, who nodded.
"Wow, that was an awesome match!" Clay yelled, and he saw me. "Hey, did you…" He stopped. "Aw, you missed the match didn't you?" I nodded. "Too bad, but hey, we have to get to the bottom of these masked people. Who are they?" Clay wondered aloud.
"If you're looking for the masked players, they just want into the administration building with the headmaster and Alex." A varsity boy told us, and Clay led the way to the administration building.
The administration building was a large building with multiple floors. Inside, it was deathly quiet. "May I help you?" A secretary dressed in a pink dress asked sweetly.
"We want to see the masked players." Clay managed to find his voice before I did. She nodded.
"The headmaster and Alex just went to see them off." She pointed on of her long fingernails to the opposite door. Clay and I hurried off.
Alex and the headmaster were standing by the gates, as Alex just locked them.
"Alex, who were they?" I called. He turned to see who was calling him, and he saw me.
"Well, if it isn't Welcome Workout Ace." He grinned. He turned to the headmaster. "I'm glad they came to see me, even after all of this time."
"I don't get it." Clay stated plainly.
"Who are they?" I repeated. Alex smiled mysteriously.
"I can't say. But that want to help us win the Island Open coming up in a few weeks. You need to be at varsity level to get into it, though." Alex told us.
"But who were they?" Clay inquired.
"If they wanted people to know who they were, would they have worn those masks?" The headmaster replied.
"There could have been uproar." Ales agreed. Clay frowned.
"But…"
"No buts, Clay, I can't reveal anything." The headmaster said firmly. "Now hurry to practice. It's bound to start soon."
With a defeated sigh, I led the way to the junior's courts. Who were those masked people? Only time could tell.
Besides, I had better things to worry about at the moment.
A/N: How is it so far? I hope everybody likes it. Please R&R! KLS
