She opened her locker and grabbed her English book.  Then slammed her locker shut.  When she was done Sun linked arms with her.  She sent Moon off and the two of them started around the corner.  Sun opened the door for Lin and walked in.

“Hey Lin,” Ken said walking over.

“Coming to chuck a book at me this time?” Lin asked noticing his English book at hand.

“Ha ha very funny.  As tempting as it may seem I just don’t think the tennis team could live without you.  Who’s your friend?” he asked taking notice to Sun.

“This is my eldest sister, Sun,” Lin explained.

“Nice to meet you Sun.  That’s a very traditional name.  Did your parents disagree or something because Lin is pretty modern?”

“Uh…yeah.  My mom was expecting twins, but instead she got triplets.  So my dad got a choice.  He decided to name the youngest after his best friend,” Sun explained in a semi-innocent voice that Lin thought was even more mysterious.

“Oh, wow.  Do you play sports too?” ken said trying to start a conversation.

“Yeah, only because I have to though,” Sun said, “I like learning foreign languages better.”

Lin finally got it.  She felt so slow because she just figured it out.  Sun was trying to Ken to fall in love with her.  Lin knew Sun hate language classes.  Lin couldn’t believe it.  She knew Sun was jealous of her beauty, but she didn’t know she would go to such a distance to show her who was better.  Lin had never gotten what she wanted.  Every time when she asked Min when they were little Sun would get the exact same thing, and Lin wouldn’t.  Min got Lin the things she didn’t want.  The first bell rang.

“Oh, Lin, I’ve got to go.  See you during lunch,” Sun said slowly excusing herself.

“Wow, your sister is so…so…quiet,” Ken, commented as she left.

“Class take your seats.  Today we will be learning how to use the comma, semicolon, and parentheses,” Mr. Wu told the class.

Ken chose a seat next to Lin, but she ignored every one of his notes.  The rest of the day went by.  During lunch Ken came by to sit with her, but Sun started to talk to him instead.  He was trying too polite to tell her to shut up.  The rest of the day went by quickly until tennis practice.

 

 

“Okay every!  I want you to find a rally partner and start scrimmaging,” Coach Tran shouted.

“Hey, Lin, will you be my partner?” Ken asked.

“Sorry…I was going to scrimmage with Cameron,” Lin replied.

If Sun saw her hanging out with Ken Min would punish her, because Sun liked him.  When they were little, and Lin touched one of Sun and Moon’s toys she would get grounded for a month.  Lin saw Sun smiling on the benches next to Moon.  She threw the ball up too high.  She jumped up and swung.  A perfect kick serve, one of her many specialties.  

“Lin! Good serve!  Let Cameron serve fist though so he can at least have chance to win,” Coach Tran commented.

Cameron took the ball.  He served the ball over.  A basic heat serve, and Lin saw it coming.  She backhanded the ball back over.  The rallied for a while, until Cameron volleyed the ball over.  Lin took the chance and jumped off the ground.  She pulled her hand back and smashed the ball.  Her favorite, a jump smash.  She watched as the ball just slid across the court to Cameron’s feet.

“Wow! That was awesome, Lin,” everyone began to shout, “ How did you do it?”

“Uh…a little specialty I picked up when I couldn’t keep my feet off the ground,” Lin replied sheepishly.

Lin earned her respect with that shot.  She could see Ken ignoring his partner’s comments on her ability.  She could also tell Ken was wondering why she was avoiding him.

“Good job everybody.  Now I want you to try doubles with the court next to you.  Courts one and two combine, three and four, five and six, and seven and eight.  Got it?” Coach Tran ordered.

Lin and Cameron were on court eight so they combined with Ken and Justin.  Ken took front left and Lin caught the ball Coach Tran threw to her.  She threw the ball up, pulled her arm back, jumped off the ground, and swung.  A perfect twist serve.  Justin dove for the ball and missed.  Cameron just happened not to be paying attention and swung lazily, returning it to Ken’s side of the court.  Ken returned it.  Ken and Lin worked well together for the rest of the match.

 

 

“Lin, you and Ken will be our number one doubles team this year.  At this rate we’re going to sweep at Nationals,” Coach Tran said.

Number one doubles was exactly what she wanted, but now she was scared.  Scared that Sun would do something drastic. 

“ Hey we should practice together more often.  I’d like to see all of your techniques,” Ken said interrupting her thoughts.

“Um…I really don’t have time to fit in extra practices,” she said putting on her baby blue Addidas jacket. 

“Of course she could make time,” Sun said cutting in, “I’m sure if all of us try asking Mom she’ll say yes.”

“Really?  That’s great,” Ken said putting away his racquet.

“Perfect,” Sun said smiling.

As they were walking to the parking lot Lin stopped.

“Mom is never going to relieve me of any duties just to play tennis!” she said knowing it was true.

“She will if I ask her to,” Sun said smiling again.

“Yeah, what’s in it for you?”

“I want to be a nice sister isn’t that a good enough reason for you?”
            “Yeah right don’t try to kid me.”

“Fine.  You’re right.  All I want you to do is allow me to watch your practices.  And you’ve got to promise not to talk to Ken at all during school.”

“I knew it you just want to spend more time with him,” she said accusingly, “ What happens if I say no?”

“I’ll just tell Mom we don’t have to wait for your practices to end,” she said smiling devilishly.

“Fine you’ve got yourself a deal,” Lin said after she figured out she was cornered.

Lin wished she had never met Ken in the first place.  That he never hit her with the door, and his dad had never got a promotion.  The drive home was quiet.  When she got home she did everything as normal.  That is until dinner, when Sun decided to bring up the subject of Ken.

“Mama, I think Lin should stay after school longer for practices,” Sun said sweetly.

“Why?” Min replied sourly.

“Because she’s on the boys’ team this year, and she’s on the number one doubles team.”

“Who’s her partner?”
            “You wouldn’t know him.  He’s new and his name is Ken.”

“Then no.  Lin won’t have a boyfriend before you, Sun.”

“That’s the point!  Mama, if I pretend to be a following and obedient sister he’ll fall for me instead of Lin.”

“If you think so.  Hm…okay…I guess it’s all right,” Min said, “Lin Lee if you spoil your sister’s plan you will be grounded for the rest of the school year.  Got it?”

 

 

Doomed!  How would Lin survive with this?  She hated Sun.  Sun got whatever she wanted because she was the oldest.  She just had to get by, day by day.

“The day went so fast.  She totally ignored Ken.  His notes, his urges, and all of his friends.  She ate lunch with some other girls from her cheerleading squad, and they practiced during lunch.  The last half of the day went quickly.  Soccer practice with Coach Hanamoto was easy, but Lin wasn’t interested.  Ken had come to watch her play.  She didn’t even try.  Nothing motivated her.  She didn’t block a single shot, and she didn’t score either.  All her passes were intercepted too.

After practice she went back to the girls’ locker room.  She took off her shin guards, cleats, and goalie gloves.  She put on her tennis shoes, put away her soccer ball, grabbed her locker, and locked her locker.  She walked out, and Ken saw her coming.  She decided to sprint.  She pretended not to seen him, but he caught up to her.

“Hey!  Why didn’t you wait for me?” he asked catching his breath.

“I didn’t see you sorry.  Probably zoned out, bad practice,” she replied lamely.

“You weren’t that bad,” Ken said grabbing her falling bag.

“Compared how I normally play I was too bad, but you wouldn’t know that.  Why were you even watching me anyway?” she asked grabbing her bag back and flinging it over her shoulder.

“Well our practice wasn’t for another hour so…um…I had an hour to spare…so I um…”

“You decided to watch my soccer practice?” she said accusingly.

“Yeah, there wasn’t much else to do anyways.”

“Well don’t do it ever again! Got it?”

“Yeah, but I don’t get what’s so bad with me hanging out with you.”

“You know, just don’t talk to me unless it has something to do with practice unless it’s a strategy for tennis practice,” she said getting aggravated.

“Why?  The other day you were talking to me like I was your friend, but lately you’ve been completely ignoring me.  Is something wrong?” he asked concerned.

“It’s complicated okay?  You wouldn’t understand,” she said her eyes welling up, “ If I had a choice I would talk to you.”

When they got to the court she pulled two sleeves of tennis balls and her racquet from her bag.  She stood on the right side of the court, and Ken stood on the other.  She tossed the ball up, brought her arm back, and swung.  It darted toward Ken’s face.  Ken was too fast.  He raised his racquet to his face and returned the ball.  It bounced over the net, and Lin dove for it.  Ken returned it easily.  She brought her arm back, and swung flat handed.  A perfect drop shot, because it skid to the service line no problem and back to the net.  Lin won every set, game, and match not letting Ken score even one point.

 

 

Practice was always like this.  Ken tried to talk to her, and she ignored him.  Sun appeared at all of their practices.  She sat patiently pretending to do her homework.  Every day was the same until Ken decided to change things around.

“I’ve asked Alex and Cameron to practice with us.  So you um…well we…get a little experience playing together.”

“We don’t need experience,” she said not knowing what Sun would do when she saw her on the same court as Ken.

Ken stopped and faced her, “ Tell me why you’ve been ignoring me.  Why you don’t want to practice with me,” he said anger flushed his face.

“I…I…wish I could really I do.  We just can’t be together very often,” she said pushing him aside.

“Hey guys I’ve been looking everywhere for you guys.  I thought you might have left me,” Sun said walking up, “There are two other guys on the court so I thought you might have switched practice times with them without telling me.”

“Sun, we would never do that.  Lin was just late, because she’s been having an attitude problem,” Ken explained.

The tree of them walked to the tennis courts.  Alex and Cameron were all ready there.  They were rallying between themselves.

“The champions have arrived,” Cameron shouted as they walked together through the gate.

“Yeah, and our ticket to Nationals,” Alex commented.

“Hope you guys are ready to play,” Lin said putting down her bag.

She took out her racquet, two sleeves of ball.  Then she bent down to tie her shoes.  She unzipped her jacket, folded it, and adjusted her skirt.

“Okay you guys, you can have the first serve.  Otherwise it will be a quick set,” Lin said running onto the court and tossing them a ball. 

Cameron caught the ball and threw it to Alex.  Alex threw the ball up, pulled his arm back, and jumped off the court.  An ordinary jump serve, and Lin ran to the ball and returned it with ease.   They continued to rally together.  Lin and Ken won both sets. 

“Hey, Lin, I felt a little tension on the field today.  What’s going on between you and Ken?” Sun asked Sun smiling as Lin zipped up her racquet.

“Nothing, and it’s a court not a field,” Lin replied walking away.

“What would you do if I asked him out to Winter Formal?” Sun asked menacingly.

“Go right ahead.  It doesn’t matter to me,” Lin said sitting on the wall bordering the parking lot and the school.

“Admit it!  You are jealous because you can’t talk to him, but I can.”

“Whatever,” Lin replied putting in her earphones and turning on her iPod.