Chapter 11- Flight

"Ace," Clay cried, obviously seeing my flight. "Ace, wait!" Why was he calling me back? He hadn't recoiled when Paula kissed him, or asked her what her problem was. The opposite of not liking tends to be liking. So I guess Clay liked Paula after all. I had lost. In fact, I would bet you any amount of money that I had never stood even the slightest chance of having Clay see me as someone other than a friend.

"Don't worry about her, dear. She isn't worth anything." Paula giggled, her voice syrupy sweet. I detested the sound of it. I hated Paula as a whole.

"Shut up, Paula!" Clay snapped, but I was already out the door. Why should I care about what either of them had to say? It hurt to even think that. Paula, I'd never care about what she had to say, but Clay, I still liked him. He was still standing up for me even though he liked Paula. Is it horrible of me to feel that way?

How long had it been since Paula had fallen for Clay? Not very long. Obviously Paula wasn't one to keep a secret.

Was it possible that she had seen me as competition? That was a pleasant thought. What would I say next time I saw him? How would I act? Would I tell him my feelings? Or keep away from that topic?

"Ace!" Clay's voice sounded from behind me. In my blind confusion, I had been making my way to the Lodge, and Clay came skidding up behind me, sprinting at full force. I wasn't going anywhere, so why was he rushing? "Ace, I…"

I wondered if he could tell I had been crying. I was sure my face was blotchy, and that my eyes were red. "What do you want me for?" I mumbled in an emotionless tone, trying to keep my eyes averted.

"Ace, whatever you saw…" Clay began, but I interrupted.

"I saw the whole thing, Clay. Paula told you she liked you, and she kissed you, which you did not complain about. Don't treat me like I don't know the truth." I said bluntly, not caring that I probably sounded like a witch.

"You know I get nervous about that whole thing! I couldn't even think of what to say to Paula, forget what to do. I didn't ask to be kissed. Don't tell me you already forgot the Mia incident." Clay yelled. "Did I say after she kissed me, 'I love you too' or kiss her back? No, I didn't."

What could I say? My heart was screaming for me just to say it, to tell him that I, Ace, his partner had fallen in love with him, to just get it over with. But my mind was saying no.

I could see Paula making her way over to us, looking triumphant. Would she notice I had been crying? Knowing her perfect-ness, she'd probably know what I was coming so close to saying too.

"Here comes you darling Paula. You shouldn't keep her waiting, Clay." I heard myself reply coolly. "After your date, you should consider worrying about the Island Open, remember? Just this morning you were saying that we could be the youngest if we put our hearts into it."

"Ace, you're missing my point. I still care about making the Island Open." Clay complained, but whatever his point was, I never got to hear. Paula came up silently behind him and rested her hand on his shoulder.

"Clay, dear, let's leave this loser behind." Paula giggled, and I turned to leave. I was leaving them, if anything. "Why don't we start up our own partnership, Clay?"

I felt my step freeze in midair. What would Clay tell her? "Paula," Clay began. "If I've said this once, I've said it a thousand times. I am never going to trade my partnership with Ace, regardless of anything else."

I recognized it as what he had said to Emi in the restaurant. Was he repeating it for lack of something better to say, or because he thought it made his point?

Taking a deep breath, I kept walking towards the Lodge, without looking back. Was Clay looking, or was he already going off with Paula? I opened the glass door to the Lodge, and only then did I chance a peek back. Clay was looking off in my direction, but Paula pulled his arm, leading him away. With one sad look back, Clay allowed himself to be dragged away.

Numb with confusion, I made my way back to my room before the numbness wore away and I started to cry.

What did all of this mean? Was it possible that Clay didn't like Paula? She did influence Clay's judgment more than a friend would. But what was the point that I was missing? It was all too much to have to comprehend.

If Clay still cared about our Island Open plans, then why didn't he suggest going for Rank four in Seniors? Why, instead, go out with Paula to some discreet location?

I felt like an idiot. Not only had I believed that I could confess before Paula, I had failed at doing so and lost to her. She hadn't been rejected. Even with the entire Mia scene, Clay had been able to summon his courage to tell her he didn't like her.

"I really don't like either of those girls. They're horrible. I would never even consider dating someone who didn't like tennis as much as I did." That was what Clay had told me about Mia and Jen. Was I as horrible to him as Mia and Jen were? Finally, a question I knew the answer to: Yes. Maybe Clay hadn't told me to buzz off yet, but he was just being polite. Right now, he could be organizing a partnership with Paula.

The worst part was that Paula fit Clay's sole dating requirement. She had to like tennis as much as Clay did, to come to the Academy, and to capture his heart. After all, it was more than I could do. I rubbed my eyes, drying them with a Kleenex.

What should I do? I had to be better at Paula at everything, which would be impossible. I couldn't compete with her. Maybe I just needed to like tennis more. That seemed as impossible as my first suggestion.

"They give you a test and they partner you up with someone who skills are similar to yours." Since Clay and I were partners, that meant that our skill levels were similar. Maybe, if we could beat Paula and take her Rank from her, Clay would forget about her.

It was the only positive thing that had happened to me in a while. Beating Paula may simply be a matter of beating her at tennis. However slim the chance was, I had to take it. It was better than sitting in my room, bawling my eyes out.

Getting up, I made my way over to the dresser. The only thing sitting on was a pink mirror. Normally, I disapproved all of that girly junk, but this mirror was the single exception.

The Christmas before he died, my grandpa had given it to me, having the maker inscribe, "To my dear Ace, with love from Grandpa," on the shiny silver backside. That had been five years ago, when I was nine.

Grandpa had been one of the first ones to use Ace instead of Marie all of the time, instead of just at school or at the courts. My parents had frowned down on it, but Grandpa had thought it was wonderful that I had a dream and a nickname to go with it.

I knew that the first day at the Royal Tennis Academy, Clay had cleaned up all of my stuff for me, without asking any questions. He hadn't asked about my Grandpa, or why I had the mirror, just like I hadn't looked in that wallet, whatever could have been in it. I couldn't remember if I had actually thanked Clay for that.

My mistake had been taking everything Clay did for me for granted. Running ahead to grab us lunch, or cleaning my stuff up while I lay unconscious from the Welcome Workout catastrophe, Clay had done it all without asking. We had been on the same side then.

Now, it felt like there was a wall separating us, placing us on different sides. I had never stopped practicing early, in fact, Clay and I had always been the last to stop. Was it weird to be thinking this, even though I had just seen him twenty minutes ago?

We would see each other all day, every day, and now, going back to the Lodge three hours early, I didn't know what to do with myself. I had never thought when I applied for the Academy that I would ever be bidding my time with tennis all around me. How wrong I had been.

But I wasn't going to apologize to Clay. Sure, I had been mean, but he told me he didn't like Paula, yet went with her. So in effect, lying. It was going to kill me, and I knew it. But I had to take a stand. I was the strong Ace that could get along by herself.

What if Clay didn't apologize soon? If I had to, I'd play singles. Being the youngest singles championship title holder was appealing enough for me.

If Clay really meant everything he said, he would either apologize or I would find him in the morning, waiting outside my room to go play tennis, which was the whole reason the two of us were here.

I could do this, with ease.

So why did I already feel like I was slowly dieing?

A/N: Keep fighting, Ace… Anyways, please R&R! I would REALLY appreciate it! And you would appreciate it too because the more reviews the sooner chapters come. KLS