Yesterday I played a match. A tennis match. The girl I played was so sweet and kind.

I stepped forward as he called my name. “Keegan McCain!” He shouted over the dozens of tennis players there. “3 sets. Ad scoring. 3rd set tie break. I walked to the court next to my opponent, the wind blowing into our faces. She was much shorter than me by about 2 feet. I spun the racket and she choose return. So it was my serve-into the wind. The biggest advantage I could get, so I walked up to the line. Threw the ball up into the air and with all my strength used my win-or-go-down-fighting serve.

That’s when the point started. She returned the ball easily and I slammed the shot at her backhand. She looked worried and hit it back with the same look on her face. I hit straight at her and she ducked, scared to return the shot I had chosen. I didn’t move. Instead I focused on my thoughts. “Why is she playing worse than she did in the first round?”I thought to myself. “What’s going on?” I immediately thought. Then I looked at her. She looked tired and nervous. Her hair was blowing in all different directions and her eyes had bags under them. Like she didn’t sleep at all.

After the match I had won 6-2 6-1. She was shuffling from all the running and dropped her racket bag to organize it. I looked back and saw her organizing so I turned back around and kept walking to the front desk. “You play tomorrow at 9:40 am. Be here at around 8:30.” The umpire said.

This morning I got up at 7. I ate and got going. I went to tennis practice but it started pouring. The rain would stop for about 2 minutes at a time. I didn’t get to play a match so right now I’m in the car driving on my way home to Austin.