Page 8 of From the Courtroom to the Court
The boy laughs, and Mia watches him, enchanted. Her brother's happiness is her own.
"Aaron," says Anne, and Natalie stands up with her wife. "How handsome you look."
Both women also hug him. Without knowing it, he's a very fortunate boy.
"Well, did you bring me what I asked for?" asks Leah, sitting at the table after stopping by the locker room to change.
Aaron smiles and nods. Mia narrows her eyes.
The boy puts his backpack on his knees, opens the dark zipper, and takes out a medium-sized white envelope. He extends his arm and hands it to Leah. The club owner removes the document and, with a concentrated look, reviews it from top to bottom until she tilts her head with a proud smile. She returns the paper to Aaron and stands up to go to the bar. Everyone follows her with their eyes, and when Leah turns around, the boy's eyes open wide.
"Almost all A's," says Leah, pointing with her finger at the envelope containing Aaron's grades. "You've fulfilled your part, and I'll fulfill mine."
Leah holds a tennis racket that she gives to the boy, who looks at it, impressed. It's professional-grade, made of graphite and carbon, with a grip that, by its size, will fit Aaron's hand perfectly, with anti-vibration technology that makes it a jewel.
"You spoil him too much," says Mia with a smile as she watches her brother touch his new gift.
"He deserves it," Leah concludes.
The five of them relax while enjoying the evening. Anne and Natalie show interest in Aaron's stories while Leah asks him several casual questions. They eat, laugh, and spend hours inside the club bar like any other family, a different one, but a family nonetheless.
Mia doesn't say much; she tends to be quieter in these gatherings because she limits herself to listening to what Aaron says. She wants to be a good sister, to be there for him, for when he needs her. Mia's childhood wasn't bad; she can actually categorize it as good. The problem was that her parents were criminals, involved in all kinds of illegal activities: home burglaries, street thefts, scams, and even drug dealing. Mia wasn't fully aware; she was a happy child who went to school and had everything her parents could offer her. She enjoyed family vacations, visited many beautiful places, and received much love. Aaron arrived suddenly, they weren't expecting him, but her mother was very excited. Mia loved him from the moment they met, and her life started to get better until one day they kicked down the door of their house. The police turned everything upside down, took her parents away in handcuffs, and separated her from Aaron. She kicked, bit, and ran very fast when she managed to escape from the officers who explained they would go to different foster homes due to the age difference between them. Mia was sixteen; it wasn't difficult to find her two days later, but that's when her misfortunes began: Mia attacked the police officer who recognized her, and a bad fall caused the officer considerable harm. That was enough for the judge, along with being the daughter of criminals, to send her straight to a juvenile detention center. Her life hasn't been easy, of course not, and yet she doesn't give up. She works harder than anyone, especially because her goal is to gain custody of Aaron, which they've been denying her for years, forcing her brother to live in foster homes. Mia Clark achieves what she sets out to do, even if it resists her, and she's going to ensure Aaron grows up by her side.
Chapter 5
"You didn't have to come," Emily tells her cousin Emma as they walk toward court number five, which she was told via message is assigned for her training session that afternoon, "but I'm glad you did," she adds, squeezing her against herself. "Afterward we can go to dinner."
"I had to come. Someone needs to make sure you don't smack yourself in the face with a racket again," Emma jokes with a laugh.
She's still crying from laughter when she remembers the moment her cousin walked into her office the next day with a purple line crossing her face from her nose to her right eye to tell her what had happened the previous afternoon during her first disastrous training session. Emma laughed non-stop for ten minutes, and so did Emily.
"Don't make me laugh," Emily complains, "it pulls and makes my eye water," she says, touching her face.
She's wearing a bit of makeup, but even so, that darkened line on her right side is still visible.
"Look, here comes my instructor. Her name is Leah," Emily says when she sees the tennis player approaching the court from the other side, fluffing her shirt to let some air through.
"Damn, no wonder you signed up at this club. She's hot," Emma whistles under her breath.
"I didn't do it for that, dummy," Emily says, bumping her with her shoulder. "I didn't even know who would be training me, but yeah, she's hot and nice. I really liked her," she adds just before they both reach Leah.
"How are you, Emily?" the coach greets with a smile, narrowing her eyes as she observes her face.
"Very good, you can barely notice it," Emily says, touching her nose. "This is my cousin, Emma. She came because she doesn't trust me, in case she needs to take me to the hospital," she jokes, and Leah lets out a spontaneous little laugh before extending a hand toward Emma to greet her.
"I hope that won't be necessary," Leah says.
"Don't be so confident, my cousin's clumsiness knows no bounds," Emma replies, returning Leah's greeting. "Anyway, I'll wait for you over there," she adds, pointing to a wooden bench.
Leah turns to Emily and finds her opening her bag to take out her racket, as if her cousin's comment was the most natural thing.
"Well, I'm ready. Where do we start?" she asks excitedly.
"Okay, first..." Leah says, but stops and looks down. "Alright, first you need to tie the laces on your right shoe."
"Oh, wow, how absent-minded of me," Emily blushes and bends down to tie them as tight as she can. "I think they won't come undone now," she says playfully and stands up.
"Perfect," Leah says, twisting her lips in a contorted expression to contain her laughter. "Good, first is the grip," the tennis player continues, holding her racket firmly. "You need to hold it as if you were shaking someone's hand. Firm, but without strangling it. Let's see, try it."
