Skip for height

Tori

I left Jade's house on Sunday morning. There was no acknowledgment of What we had done. I was fully insecure and wondered what this would do for my training. I have to admit, I love Tennis, but I love it because of her.

I was in a happy haze, and I really didn't want to drill. Monday I woke up late and didn't get to court til almost eleven. Jade was there. But she was working. She's drilling with the boot.

She is hitting balls against the ball machine. Standing in one spot and working on her backhand. She was gorgeous hitting the ball furiously. I placed my bag down and sat on the side bench as she the balls. I waited for the machine to run out before I walked up to her.

She didn't look over at me. But I knew she knew I was there. When the last ball flew, she dropped the racket and leaned forward. I placed a hand on her lower back in an attempt to re-establish our connection.

She shrugged my hand away. Then looked at it then back at my face. She was furious. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"If you were going to waste my time, Why did you ask me to coach you." She said. "If you don't want to be a professional, Why are you even here?"

I paused. Then I blinked. "I'm a little late. My court time isn't for another ten minutes."

"You and I have a standing time for a workout. Your time with Sikowitz is one thing." She waddled over to her bag and put her racket back. "My time… I was supposed to be in the circuit right now. Instead, I am here waiting in the sun for you like an idiot."

"Babe.." I tried to soothe her.

"Babe?" Jade said incredulously. "I am not your little groupie. "I'm Jade Fucking West."

"Wait… Jade… I'm sorry… Please give me one more chance, I promise I'll do better."

Jade shook her head and picked up her Crutches. She walked off and Beck found her. He took her bag and wrapped an arm around her. They talked as they walked away, and I stood there watching dejected. Now I knew If I wanted to keep her with me, I had to take this career path seriously. School was going to start soon. And I wouldn't have as much time with her. I sighed and turned back to the bench. I grabbed my equipment and started the drills she had gone through with me as I waited for Sikowwitz to meet up with me.

I was dancing through my dot drills when Sikowitz finally showed. "Ah, the dedication is outstanding." He said. If he only knew. "Where is your coach?" He asked.

"I pissed her off and she left with her boyfriend," I answered reaching for my water bottle.

"Fantastic." He said. "What are you working on?"

"Agility and speed?" I said.

He nodded. " another thing you could try is skipping for height."

"Okay… what's that?" She asked

"Okay," he said and he started to explain. "The objective of this agility drill is to help you increase their hip extension. It also helps to strengthen flexion and to develop ankle stiffness. It will help you gain speed and to help you win tennis matches." He said.

I nodded and put my racket down. "Okay. Let's do this."

"It's very simple. You are going to skip and move forward." He said demonstrating the skip, making sure his body was straight. The opposite arm shoots forward."maintain proper body posture, spine straight, body steady. Alternate arms with the skip too. The left leg is up, the right hand is up, and vice versa."

I imitated the motion. It felt weird and mechanical. I didn't see how this was helping.

"Make sure your knee of the leg that is up is fully extended ankle is fully flexed. Also, the ankle of the raised leg should level off with the knee of the leg on the ground." I paused to watch him. It was awkward, I hated this for sure. "That's it, when the raised leg is fully up, your foot on the ground should be on plantar flexion movement or the front portion of your foot, and the shin is angled at 90 degrees."

I stopped and looked at him. I didn't want to be doing this with him. But I understood that the only reason I can follow this drill is that he can do it with me. Jade hadn't shown it to me, because she couldn't show me. But I hated every minute of this. I just wanted to play. "But where is the height part of this drill?"

"Well, When your foot lands on the ground, explode up gently." He demonstrated. "But don't stomp on the ground it messes with your knees."

I started doing what he said. I got distracted in the progress. And I found out why Tennis chose me again. It's like I go in this zone. My body mechanically does what I have to do.

When I was done. We began to play a match together. He was good, but it wasn't as fun as playing with Others my age. I made him run and a little later my favorite boot-clad spectator sat on the bench. I smiled and got hit by a flying tennis ball.

I got back in my zone, and I felt more than saw Jade scrutinizing my form and footwork. And now everything felt right. I was here because of her, but what she wanted from me is that I find this place. The space where it was just me, and Tennis.

Jade

Beck broke up with me. Like, his girlfriend was having a really hard time with the two of us parading around as a couple. So we called it quits. Well, he was caught with her over the weekend while I was making out with Tori.

So we sat down and discussed that we would just stop doing this. And that we would be good friends. And I breathed in relief. I went over to Cat's school was about to start and Turtle and I were getting ready to leave for New York for the US Open. "Hey!" Cat said and let me in her house. "Sooo?"

I looked at her. "What?"

"Why are you here?" She asked. "I thought you would be on the court drooling over your boo."

I frowned. "I came for my next lesson on being normal."

"That's Tori's job." She said heading toward the kitchen, "I have been trying to teach you how to be normal since kindergarten and it has not worked."

I followed her and sat at their kitchen island as she pulled out a couple of waters. She put one in front of me and then sat next to me. "Okay, so I'm mad at her."

"Why?" I told her about how not serious Tori was about tennis and how she was wasting my time. She listened to my complaint and I talked until I was no longer angry. "She is so sweet." was all she said.

"Did you not hear what I said?" I asked.

"Yes, I did," she said and shook her head. "It's just that from my perspective, she found what you liked and developed an interest in it so that she could have something to talk to you about." Cat shrugged. "You are more important than Tennis to her. But how do you know she doesn't like it at all?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Have you ever really watched her play? Like when she gets in that zone… She loves Tennis."

I was taken aback. I had never noticed. I was just watching her feet when she played. "Broke up with Beck," I said.

She squealed. "So you are free!"

"I don't know Cat. I don't want to drag her through a media circus if I do go pro."

"Girl calm down. It's not like you are ever going to be as popular Serena. You look like every other pro. It's never going to be like that." The implication that Serena and Venus were only as famous as they were because they were black was bold. These women were also top-ranked athletes too. I sat back and was just silent. "Girl go check that girl out."

I smirked and got up again taking the bottle of water she gave me. "Fine."

When I got back to the court she was playing with Sikowitz and her footwork was so much better already. My eyes trailed up, and her eyes met mine. She got distracted by me as I sat on the bench but Sikowitz fixed that. And soon her attention was just on that ball. Tori loved the sport. The cat was right, and maybe I was mad at something else. Maybe I missed her that morning and wanted the time for just us two. And she blew me off.

Tori beat Sikowitz and she smiled triumphantly. She dropped onto the bench and reached for her water. She guzzled the water and sighed. "I'm sorry." She stated. "I didn't mean to waste your time."

I was quiet because I felt understood by her. "Your footwork is so much better."

She smiled at me and my heart just melted. "Do you really think so?"

I nodded. "So I guess I wasn't wasting my time." She took my hand and I squeezed her back. "I think we need to go out tonight. I need to celebrate."

"What are we celebrating?"

"I'm single… well, for now," I said. She smiled again. "Beck broke up with me because his girlfriend was getting jealous."

"So I get to be your girlfriend." I nodded. "This is so cool"

"I'm looking forward to having a real relationship," I said. "It's a teenage right of passage right?"

"It sure is." She said linking pinkies with me. "We are going to have so much fun."

I smiled back and bumped my shoulder. I want to kiss her now, but I'm still not comfortable with public displays and I appreciated her not being extra affectionate. So I stood. "Alright. I need to go home. I have a date to get ready for."

She bounced to her feet. She was so bubbly, and I felt a little pervy when I watched her perfect booty bounce up. She wrapped her long thin arms around me. And I placed my hands on her hips. "I see you at seven?" she asked.

"I'm picking you up this time. I am not riding in the back of a bike with a boot." I stated.

She giggled. "Okay, I'll text you the address." She said and kissed my cheek.

I smiled and hobbled out of the court. I was excited for the rest of my life.