Chapter 6: One-Love
Time: four o'clock sharp. Kenny stood in front of Emily's hotel breathing in, breathing out. Kenny hauled a myriad of things, stuffed into the large duffle bag threatening to tip him over. He stuffed in his essentials (or what he considered essentials): band-aids, cleansing alcohol, first-aid tapes, sunscreen, towels and a tennis racket. Everything was set! Glancing down at his watch, the sound of the glass revolving doors caught his attention; Emily skipped out brightly with a smile on her face.
Eh, something was different.
The orange-haired girl touched her face, "Something on my face?"
Kenny blushed. "Um… er…" Dizzi, we have a problem!
Emily giggled. "It's strange not seeing me with glasses, right?"
Kenny nodded. He was in awe at her in general; she wore a white polo shirt and matching skirt! It was weird to think she emitted a soft, white glow… almost angelic-like. Kenny failed to notice his cheeks were burning red until Emily snapped him out of his thoughts. Ahem. Shaking his head, they walked side by side without much conversation.
They reached the tennis courts twenty minutes later and to Kenny's luck, they were empty! Great! Nobody to witness his humiliation! Or so he thought. Camouflaged in the bushes were Hilary and Tyson, spying on their little friend. With binoculars in each hand, they were curious to what the two were up to. Tyson thought it was a waste of time spying on the Chief since he had blading practice. Of course he didn't—well, couldn't win an argument with Hilary so here he was after being dragged.
Emily placed down her duffle bag and began stretched. The last thing she wanted was pulling a hamstring. Eyeing her carefully, Kenny did the same. Of course, he always stretched before any type of sport he played. Okay, let's rephrase that: he only stretched for any sport he was willing to play.
"So, do you know how to play tennis?" Emily asked stretching her arms.
Kenny shook his head. "I only know how to play badminton."
"Well, it's not that different from badminton," She reassured him with a smile. "Don't worry Kenny; I'll go easy on you."
Emily lied. On the court, Kenny hid behind his tennis racquet as Emily slammed the tennis ball at him. On one occasion Kenny screeched, barely dodging the ball. Peering over his shoulder, he saw the ball lodged into the fence. Eep! She couldn't help but burst into a fit of giggles, hugging her midsection. Embarrassed, Kenny tried to 'man up' and (epically) failed when he tried to serve. He threw the ball and missed hitting it. Instead, the green ball landed on his nose!
This is soooo not good! Kenny thought to himself feeling the frustration boil from within. I can do this!
Trying again, he threw the ball high and wham! He smacked it only to have it bounce off the net… Maybe this wasn't his sport; he was just too short. Both abruptly stopped hearing a grumbling coming from behind the bushes on the opposite side of the fence. The bushes shook, the leaves rustled followed by rumbling noises! Kenny gripped onto his racquet tightly, knuckles turning white inching toward the fence, eyeing the bushes curiously. The only creature he thought of was a bear, a large, ferocious looking beast the size of a large pick-up truck. A bear? In Tokyo? In autumn? Shaking his head, he wasn't scared of bears (well, not yet)! He turned around whispering to Emily to stay put, he'll go investigate. Opening the gate, slowly without a sound, Kenny swallowed hard inching toward the bush with the tennis racquet over his head, shivering like an autumn leaf.
Kenny heard the sounds of breathing. Yes, whatever in there was alive. If it was a bear he already thought of an elaborate plan: RUN!
"Kenny!" Emily walked to the fence whispering, "Please be careful!"
He nodded. He was going to count to three and whack whatever was in the bushes!
One… Two…THREE!And… "HAIYAHHHHHHHHH!"
Kenny's racquet slammed into the bushes several times, smacking whatever was in there to kingdom come! Leaves exploded into the air followed by strange sounds. Kenny continued smacking the bushes screaming out his war cries! A sudden groan echoed; bears don't groan, do they? A hand shot out of the bushes and Kenny, releasing a high pitched shriek, stomped onto it. It never dawned on him it was a human hand.
"OWWW!"
Kenny jumped back. Emily was now by his side with not one but two tennis racquets in hand! The moment another hand stuck out, she slammed both racquets into bushes swiping the netted weapon left and right! It was until another screech was heard Emily abruptly stopped, catching her breath waiting for the culprits to emerge. She already processed the screeched sounded human. Attached to the arm was the reigning world beyblading champion, Tyson dressed in camouflage followed by Hilary whose hands covered her head. Both looked like hell covered in foliage and green face paint. Emily's brows furrowed, tapping her foot.
Hilary and Tyson sat side by side with guilt knitted onto their faces in front of Emily and Kenny who had racquets in hand just in case they may be useful for interrogation purposes.
"Were you two spying on us?" Kenny questioned frantically feeling slightly betrayed by his best buddies. Did they not believe he could handle himself on a date? He was a teenager for crying out loud! He admitted he was inexperienced but that's why you learn on the job!
"Of course not!" Hilary shot out a reply. Well, it was a lie but she'll play along. "Tyson and I were on our way to play paintball when this thing here decided to have a stomach ache and collapse in the bushes here."
Technically that was true, about the stomach ache part.
"Is that the truth?" Emily's arms crossed staring at Hilary. Hilary may be a good liar but Emily could read right through the girl.
Hilary nodded. "Yes."
"So what's with the binoculars around your necks?" Kenny pointed to the object in question. Tyson was about to answer until he got jabbed in the ribs by Hilary.
"Scouting," Hilary answered. "Some people from the other teams wanted a head start so we had to be careful and vigilant. So since Tyson's stomach decided to die on us, there we were in the bushes hiding."
Riiiiiiiiiiiight. Somehow, Kenny and Emily did not believe them but what evidence was there to deny their claims? Nothing unless…
"I have an idea," Emily piped up tapping the racquet over her shoulder. "I challenge you two to play tennis against both of us."
"Yeah!" Wait. Kenny thought about it looking up at the fiery orange head, "What?"
"If we win, you tell us why you two were hidden in the bushes. If you win, I'll forget all of this happened."
"LET'S DO IT!" Tyson exploded. He always wanted a good match. The problem was this match was a tennis match and not a blading match!
Hilary face-palmed. She never played tennis and she couldn't count on Tyson to save them! The duo agreed following Kenny and Emily back into the court. Tension ran high between the two teams; Hilary knew her team would be easily crushed by Emily's team, well, by Emily.
The match went by very well; Kenny and Emily lead by one-love! Technically it was a no brainer with Emily dishing out her moves onto the unsuspecting victims. Hilary suffered a bruised thigh and Tyson did not fair any better. Because Kenny felt a bit betrayed, he managed to slam the tennis ball right into Tyson's crown jewels. Of course Kenny didn't aim there on purpose but due to his height, the 'crown jewels' were easy targets. The world champ writhed on the ground in pain, repetitively repeating: Owww… my beyblades…
The match ended before the second set began; Hilary and Tyson lay in the ground exhausted and Emily was ready to begin the interrogation. Feeling the duo fully deserving their punishment, Kenny convinced Emily to not question them. Being beaten in tennis was one thing but being physically assaulted by multiple shots was another! He rationalized both teens learned their lesson and hopefully, in the future, would not nose around anymore! Emily sighed; she agreed. She didn't like seeing her friends writhing in pain although they (some-what) deserved it. She knew they were spying on them, why, she couldn't figure it out just yet. Just for today she'll let them off the hook but if she caught them spying on them again in the future, he wouldn't be so nice.
It was now six o'clock; Kenny walked Emily back to her hotel. Standing in front of the large, white building Emily turned around with a smile.
"I had lots of fun today!" Emily laughed, recalling the easiest tennis match in history, "We beat them pretty good, right?"
"Agreed!" Kenny brightly replied recalling Tyson's damaged 'crown jewels'. "Well, next time they won't bother us any more, don't you think?"
"Uh huh," Emily stuffed her hand in her bag pulling out a piece of paper and a pen. Scribbling something down she said, "Here's my phone number. Call me when you want to get together. See ya!"
Giving Kenny the yellow piece of paper, she said her goodbyes and left, walking through the glass revolving doors then out of sight. Kenny felt his cheeks burn. He got her number! Yes! He wasn't as hopeless as he had initially thought! It was an interesting day, Kenny thought picking up his duffle bag heading home. Who would have thought his friends would spy on them? Honestly, he couldn't blame them for caring but he wanted to make note he was a grown boy, capable of his own decisions. Glancing at the piece of paper, he read out her number followed by several strange symbols catching his attention: XOXOXO.
XOXOXO? What is this? Some type of cryptic message? Kenny scratched his head stuffing the paper into his pocket before gazing into the night's sky. "So, does that mean she likes me?"
A/N: Not the best chapter since I'm half awake typing it. Oh yes, before I forget, there's a poll I created. Remember last chapter when Kenny and company go karaoking? Just curious, do you all want a small story from that? I have a vague storyline in my head! If you want to read Kai singing karaoke, go to my profile page and vote on the polls! Thanks again for reading!