The month of January passed in a blur for Lily and her friends. Kathryn seemed to fit right into the group. She had become fast friends with Julia and Deidra, and the rest were close friends, but those three were inseparable. Lily smiled as she thought about it.

One thing that bothered Lily was Renee's absence from her friends. She missed her friend and cousin. Renee was being stubbornly quiet around Lily and the group. She hung out with Thomas Amos and his group of friends.

On February 1st, after class, Lily gathered up her Tennis things and went to the training room. The training room had four rooms. The meeting room which was the central room and had three doors off of it. One was the weight room, the other was the changing rooms, and finally was the indoor Tennis court. Lily went into the girls' changing room, and changed into her gear. Back in the meeting room, Lily sat down on one of the chairs and laid her notebook and pen on the table.

First to come through the door was the team captain. Benjamin was a tall and lean man with baby blue eyes and dark brown hair. Lily blushed.

Benjamin said, "Ah, Ms. Potter. Welcome to the team. The rest will be here shortly. I'm just going to change and get things ready for the first meeting."

Lily nodded. In the next ten minutes, the team arrived. Lily was introduced to the rest of the team. Not only were Sarah, Heather, Stephanie, Jewel, and Thomas, there were three others: Michael Thompson, Samuel Watson, and Vince Hopkins.

Once everyone was changed and settled into the chairs, Benjamin stood up from his seat and said, "Welcome to another tennis season. This meeting is just for the main team. The reserve team is meeting tomorrow to hear what I'm telling you from their captain." Taking a deep breath, he continued, "The season will be held as usual, but for those who don't know. It is played out over March and April, with the finals being at the beginning of May. Our first match is March 1, then we have our last remaining matches on March 22nd and 29th, April 12, 16th, and the 30th. The finals will be played out on May 3rd and 5th." He took a sip of water, and continued, "The way they have set things up this year is this: instead of playing against other houses, they are going to do a random pair structure. The only thing is that you can not play against someone from your own team. You can end up being played against a boy if you're a girl and vice versa. We will not know who we are playing until the day of the match. Also, to keep things short, they not everyone will be playing that day as we are talking about 40 players. Every second match will be doubles in the same format."

Stephanie, Ben's sister, raised her hand. She said, "What about the finals? How will they be played?"

Ben said, "That is still to be determined. As soon as we know something I will pass it on to the rest of you. Also, each player who playes in the single matches will be given points whether you win or loose. If you win, you will get 20 points, and if you lose you get 10. Doubles are the same but instead of the single players being given points, each partnership does."

The team nodded their head. The rest of the practice time was spent going over everyone's weaknesses that Mikayla had noticed during the tryouts. She had passed her notes onto Benjamin when she found out he was her replacement on the team as captain.

After changing into her uniform, Lily stood back and waited for a chance to talk to Ben. The rest of the team were crowded around him talking about the season and what their weaknesses had been observed.

"Thomas, your weaknesses have been the same since you started on the team. I don't see why you can't fix this issue. If you do not fix this by the third week of this month, I may have to switch you out with a member of the reserve team."

Thomas huffed and left the room.

Finally it was Lily's turn. Benjamin smiled to her and said, "Lily, Mikayla had a few amazing to say about you. She said you were a natural behind the racket. She did have a few points that you need to work on, but not many. Over the next week, we will help you with those."

Lily nodded. After taking her things back to her room, Lily met up with her friends in their study room.

Kathryn said, "How did your first tennis practice go?"

Lily said, "We didn't practice. Benjamin just went over what to expect this season and told each member their weaknesses. We start practicing in earnest on Thursday."

Renee watched as her friends were studying together in their room. It hadn't changed since their first year. She wished to join them, but something was holding her back and telling her they weren't worth her time.

Tennis practice was between watching videos of previous matches from previous years, and improving on their own skills. They also used Thursdays for seeing who worked better together for double matches. They would find out during the third week of February.

Valentine's Day came soon enough, though. Everyone was talking about the day. For once, the school wasn't holding a big dance. Deciding to let each couple spend the day to themselves. It also helped the weekend before was their monthly visit to the village, and many couples used that time to spend with each other. Lily watched as her friends got their first boyfriends and girlfriends. Deidra was going with Lucas. Julia was going with a boy named Christopher Benson from fourth year, Brandy had a boyfriend but wouldn't tell anyone what his name was, and finally, Timothy and Qiana were single which relieved Lily.

On Valentine's Day, Lily woke up in her room to a couple of notes. Lily frowned. She opened the first one. It was anonymous and a poem that she was familiar with.

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

Sugar is Sweet

And So are You!

Your Secret Admirer

It was typed, so Lily couldn't figure out who it was by the handwriting. It was a sweet poem. The next note was handwritten and she recognized the writing immediately as coming from Thomas. She didn't even want to read what he wrote, but decided to. Lily quickly read it and was immediately furious. It was a summons to dine with him at dinner. The note wasn't a request but a demand. Lily threw the note away.

That night at dinner, Lily sat with Timothy and Qiana while their other friends sat at tables for two. When she entered the dining hall, Lily had noticed that Thomas was sitting at one of the tables, but he hadn't apparently noticed her.

Qiana said, "Did you get anything today, Lily?"

Lily said, "I apparently have a secret admirer. Sent me the Roses are Red poem."

Qiana said, "Nice. I received some chocolates from my parents."

Lily said, "Nobody special in your life?"

Qiana said, "Not that can send me something. The thing is, my parents follow the old ways of Mexico. Unfortunately, part of those ways are arranged marriages." Lily gasped. Qiana continued, "However, most arranged marriages do have a way for the couple not to get married. They have until the age of 25 to find someone they love. If they don't by then, they must marry each other."

Lily replied, "Well, at least you have an out if you want to."

Qiana shrugged. She had met Juan and felt a pull towards him. He was an attractive boy with his brown hair and hazel eyes.

During the third week of February, a showdown happened between Benjamin and Thomas. Thomas hadn't improved his weaknesses and kept falling back on his habits.

Thomas said, "I don't see the problem. I have won many matches with this form."

Benjamin said, "And have lost just as many. The other teams have picked up on this and are training their own members to look for your weaknesses. I'm sorry, Thomas, but you are being demoted to the reserves."

Thomas huffed and stormed out. Vince spoke up by saying, "Ben, who is going to be his replacement?"

Everyone looked at their captain. Especially Sam as Thomas was his partner in the doubles.

Benjamin said, "Kevin Kline will take his place. He is a fourth-year. I will be informing him and the reserve captain after this meeting."

Lily stepped over to Stephanie, her partner in doubles. Stephanie smiled and said, "Hey partner."

Lily smiled. She said, "How about on Thursdays during practice, we practice our coordination together?"

Stephanie said, "That sounds good since we only have two weeks before our first match."

Back in her dorm, Lily changed into her everyday outfit, grabbed her books, and went in search of her friends. She found them in their study room.

Everyone looked up. Julia said, "How did practice go today?"

Lily smirked and replied, "Thomas has been demoted to reserves."

Everyone was shocked. It was rare for a player to be demoted from the starting team to reserves. They knew that there were conditions that Ben had placed on the team, but didn't think he would follow through with it.

Qiana said, "About time somebody put him in his place. Thomas lately has been walking around like his owned the school."

Everyone nodded.

Timothy said, "Who is your partner?"

Lily said, "I'm paired with Benjamin's sister, Stephanie. We are going to spend our Thursdays working on our coordination."

Julia said, "That sounds about right. I know from what I used to watch on the television, double matches required quite a bit of teamwork between the two that were paired together."

The rest of the month of February passed. The team were excited to have their first match on March 1st.