The Switch Up

14

November 22, 2016

"I'm just going to make a fool out of myself!" I huff adjusting my white tennis dress I had bought for the occasion. At least if I had to go and play I thought I would at least look cute. The dress is pleated and sleeveless with a Peter Pan collar and my hands smooth over it as I stare in the mirror at myself.

I tie my hair back into a high ponytail and sigh out in an over exaggerated way causing my mother to peek her head into my bathroom. Her thick black hair is loosely curled and her makeup done flawlessly like always, I had become jealous of how pretty my mom was and wondered why I didn't get her good genes.

"What are you moaning about?" My mother asked as I pulled out a few strands of hair from my ponytail. I look at her with a grumpy face in the mirror and go on to respond.

"Momma I'm going to look like a complete i***t out there! You know how un-athletic I am!" I slump folding my arms in my chest and look at her through the mirror.

"I'm sorry I did not bless you with an athletic bone in your body." She said to me looking me up and down before adding, "What I would give to watch you play today!" She cackled leaving me in the bathroom until I followed after her.

"Thanks for being so comforting Momma! Really appreciate it!" I call after her running into Cody who has is eyes glued to his phone. His black hair is sloppy looking and undone as I look at him. He is still wearing his red flannel pajama pants and an oversized black t-shirt he had worn to bed.

He lazily walks past me and into his bedroom where he shuts the door behind him and I continue to walk into our main living space.

"Since when do you dress sporty?" Gabe asks upon my arrival into the living room where I take a seat on the couch next to him. I pull on my white socks and tie my laces on my all white shoes.

"I don't, Talia and Niall wanted to play tennis for our double date so here I am," I say tying bows with my laces just to hear Gabe snort at what I had just told him.

"The amount of money I would pay to watch that!" I nudge him hard in the arm when I hear him poking fun at how un-athletic I am. I already knew this was a problem and didn't need Gabe rubbing it in.

"Shut up you chode!" I roll my eyes and stand up to go back into my bedroom where I left my phone. Harry would be here any minute and I needed to take this time to take a chill pill. All I had to do was act confident and like I knew what I was doing.

I grab my phone and shake out all my nervousness in doing so I look over to see Cody passing by in the hall. He gives me a weirded out expression when we make eye contact. Scratching the back of his head he then cracks a smile and begins to mimic the way I danced around.

"Shake it off! Shake it off! Woo-hoo-ooh!" He sang to me causing me to place my hands on my hips and give him a look.

"I'm nervous!" I defend as he keeps going on his way down the hall shouting out the Taylor Swift lyrics. I catch up to him and rush past him when I hear the horn of Harry's car. "And the haters gonna, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate!" I finished slamming the door and pacing to Harry's car that stuck out like a sore thumb. His car was impeccably clean and way too nice to be parked in this neighborhood. Not that I lived in the ghetto by any means but anyone with a car like that wouldn't be living in this neighborhood.

"You look cute in your little outfit!" Harry complimented scanning me up and down with that dimpled smile I never got tired of seeing.

Good! My outer appearance was going to hopefully distract him from how bad I was about to play in this game. I wonder if Harry wanted an athletic girl he could play sports with, in which case I was the complete opposite.

"Thanks, I would say you look hot in those shorts but I don't wanna feed your ego." I giggle seeing him give me a little grin and roll his eyes.

+

"So who is serving first?" Talia called over the net as she and Niall got in position. I nervously tugged at my dress and messed with my hair knowing that I was about to be a complete embarrassment.

"Mads, why don't you start us off!" Talia made up her mind and tossed me the little green ball I barely caught. I internally sweat and toss the ball over to Harry who of course catches it flawlessly.

"Why don't you serve first?" I suggest passing the ball like it was a hot potato.

"Are you sure?" Harry tilts his head and walks backward to get to his position. I nod with a smile and keep praying in my head that he won't notice how bad at sports I am.

I watch Harry intently serve the ball over to Talia who hits it back over to our side. I pretend to try and go for the ball but ultimately let Harry beat me to it on purpose since I don't even know if I'm holding this racket the right way. The ball goes back and forth fiercely flying through the air at speeds I couldn't even comprehend.

Harry grunts loudly and provokes Niall and Talia to do the same. I hold back my laughs but find it hard since I was busting at the seams.

"Mads!" Harry snaps me out of my daze and in the same second, I slap the ball away with my racket, barely making it over the net. I have a mini celebration in my head when I realize that I had gained a point for Harry and me.

"15- love!" Niall shouts serving the ball over the net harshly making me nervous feeling a swoosh run past me. Harry dashes across the court to return the ball and is successful.

Harry is the one holding this team together because basically, I'm acting. Every time the ball was headed in my direction I would pretend to make an effort to reach it in time. I would let Harry beat me and take the shot which would result in us actually having a shot at winning. If I were to actually play we wouldn't be tied right now.

"40-40, whoever wins this is the game point!" Talia calls with sweat running down her brow. Talia breathed competition and so did Harry from the way I saw him playing with Niall and Talia. Everyone was highly invested into this game but me.

"Give me the best you've got!" Harry's hands were wrapped tightly around the racket and honestly, he was making me internally sweat with how sexy he looked. My eyes are fixated on his sheer bicep that is bulging from being contracted. I get lost in my tangent of thoughts that I don't even realize that the game was in full swing.

"Madeline!" I hear my name but it's almost like an echo and everything around me is going in slow motion. I look over at Harry and then in front of me to see the ball coming right towards my face. I don't have time to even react before the ball forcefully knocks against my nose.

The initial hit is hard knocks me off my balance. I land on my ass and hold my nose that I can feel liquid gush instantly. Damn it that hurt! I try really hard not to cry and stay strong but it's harder said than done.

"Madeline are you okay? Your nose is bleeding!" Harry runs over to me and panics as I lay on the clay tennis court. He is bent over me and fussing over the blood staining my white dress. "She needs a tissue for her nose!" Harry shouts to Talia and Niall.

"Niall go grab some tissue!" Talia commands as I am snapped out of my slow motion state.

"I am so sorry Mads I thought you were going to get it and-" Harry is fussing over me and apologizing but I know it's not his fault I'm here right now. I was distracted and I was the reason I looked stupid here with a broken ass bone and bleeding nose.

"No, it was my fault I wasn't paying attention. Dear lord!" I huff out seeing people from the country club staff come over to assist me causing my cheeks to flush a pink color. Not only did it look like a crime scene over here but all the other players on other courts were all watching this happen.

This was even worse than what I had imagined...

"I'm fine! I'm fine! Just a little bloody nose." I try to convince the staff that is crowding me and shoving tissues and ice packs in my face. Once I stuff my nose full of tissue Harry takes both my hands and pulls me up effortlessly. I look down to see my dress is covered in blood as well as the court where I had been laying down.

"I'm a good person! Why do these things happen to me?!" I scream at the sky walking off with Harry and our group towards the car. It was the literal walk of shame as we passed all the other people in the country club. Their eyes are glued to me and my blood dress, it looks as though I had committed a murder.... the murder of my dignity.

"You are sure you are okay?" Harry asks me once we reach his car.

"I'm more embarrassed than anything else," I admit to him as he holds my hand.

"Don't be embarrassed, no one even cares they just wanted to make sure you weren't seriously hurt." Harry soothes holding my hand causing me to be comforted a little by his gesture.

"The only thing that was seriously hurt was my tennis career." I get him to laugh and chuckle myself. I mean, at least I could say my life was defiantly interesting.

N. So I made a trailer since I'm extra like that