Page 23 of From the Courtroom to the Court
"I'm fine," she confirms when the other three players run over. "Come on, let's go, we're cooling down."
Emily does several small jumps bringing one knee to her chest and then the other.
"Wake up, we're losing," Emma grumbles, unable to stand Mia's amused face.
"Stop being so competitive," Mia replies, positioning herself while waiting for Leah's serve. "We're having fun."
Emma huffs, knowing the match is mere entertainment and her cousin's smile is worth every second she's there, but she can't help contradicting the girl beside her; her crooked smile and mocking expression make her sick.
"Then have fun winning," Emma spits.
Mia ignores her and returns Leah's serve. She softly sets it up for Emily and the lawyer, concentrated with furrowed brow, takes two steps and touches it with her racket. The ball goes to the other side of the court and Emily shouts happily while raising both arms in celebration, at which point Mia reaches the ball again and they score a point because Emily was distracted.
Leah laughs, amused, she can't believe it. She approaches the lawyer; as her coach, she must correct her.
"Emily, when you return the ball, you have to pay attention to the next play."
"Did you see that, Leah? I passed it to Mia," Emily says, happy.
"Yes, I saw, but if you don't stay in position, what happened now occurs: the opponents scored a point."
Emily listens with a unique expression of attention while nodding her head.
"Okay," the lawyer answers, "let's go for it."
The match continues in the same vein. Soft balls and measured movements except from Emily, who jumps like a cricket, throws herself on the court trying to save a ball that's too low, and hits such powerful shots that more than once she sends the ball out of the court. In a movement that's meant to be a play, Emily crosses in front of Leah and she almost crashes into her. The tennis player has good reflexes, so she manages to move aside and then prevent another fall by the lawyer.
"Are you okay?" both are pressed together, sweaty and breathing fast, and Emily thinks it's an incredible moment.
"Perfectly," the attorney answers with a wide, beautiful smile.
Leah nods, nervous, and returns to her position. The duo continues having fun, as does Mia, but Emma is frustrated. She doesn't know why that permanent smile on her partner's face and the way she ignores her bothers her so much, so she starts behaving like a spoiled brat who just wants attention, though she reminds herself she's not trying to do that, much less to make that girl notice her.
"Let's go!" Emma shouts raising a fist; it's the second time she returns one of Leah's plays and scores a point by sending it past Emily's side.
Mia huffs.
"Relax, we're not at the Australian Open."
"This is knowing how to play," Emma responds without looking at her. "The other day you got lucky."
Mia ignores her again and waits a few seconds when Leah calls time to talk with Emily.
"I'm sorry, the ball comes too fast," the lawyer apologizes.
Leah knows it; her cousin is slipping them all past her, that's why she scores the points, and it bothers her that she's using her like that.
"Do you want to win?" Leah asks her without answering that apology because it seems absurd; Emily doesn't have to justify herself.
The lawyer's eyes light up and she smiles.
"Yes, I want to win."
"Then let's win," the tennis player states.
The beatdown is almost hard to watch. Leah has made serves that turned the ball into a missile, has run across the entire court returning balls, both those that come to her side and those that Emily watches pass by her side without being able to do anything, showing her power and humiliating their opponents. She knows it's cheating, but hearing Emily laugh and seeing that excited face makes the tennis player want to cheat many times. What Leah doesn't expect is that, after the last point—the one that proclaims them winners—Emily celebrates in that way.
"Take that!" the lawyer shouts and runs across her side of the court to end up climbing onto Leah Walker's body, giving her a fleeting kiss on the lips and jumping away from her to continue celebrating the victory.
