Kalina let out a gasp as she came to a stop, her legs shaking and arms trembling. She let her arms drop, as she looked up to the sky, sweat was dripping down her face, some of the drops landed on her dried lips, giving away a salty taste against her tongue.
She stared at the sky, unable to hear anything but a small, irritating humming noise. After a few seconds, her ears finally let the noise through, and she was able to hear the shouts and yells of joy and disappointment around her.
".... Kalina Agvin is the Youth National Champion for Girls Tennis for a third year in a row! Talk about astonishing!"
Kalina looked to her left, where she saw a reporter talking rapidly, informing all watcher about the game.
Kalina finally looked to the opposite side of the court, where her opponent Gwinda Selverses was looking down at the floor in disappointment, as, for a third year in a row she took home second place. Kalina watched carefully as she saw Gwinda's face darken in rage before she lifted her right with which she was holding the tennis racket and slammed it down against the floor.
Everyone quieted down when the heard the racket connect against the ground, and then break in two.
Gwinda turned to look at Kalina, her light green eyes darkening as she stomped her way across the court, almost tripping when she jumped over the net. Her light red hair was in disheveled ponytail, and her face sweaty.
"You Kalina, you knew this was my last chance to win and you did not care. This was my LAST chance, you still had one more year!" She screamed, pointing at Kalina as she reached her.
Kalina let a small frown form in her as she looked at Gwinda, ignoring the people that surrounded them as they stared at the two of them.
"Look Gwinda, this is not a sport where people will go easy on you, I am sorry to hear that this is your last time playing in the tournament, but I am not to blame for your loss or lack of skills." Kalina answered in a monotonous voice, her green eyes blank.
Gwinda gritted her teeth, and shook her head in anger, "Kalina you truly are horrible, never caring about other people's feelings." She hissed before turning on her heel and heading towards the exit. Kalina simply kept her blank stare before looking at the bleachers, noticing that everyone had quieted down and had been staring at her.
After a few seconds the tension began to disappear as people began to congratulate her as she made her way towards her coach.
She pulled of her cap once she reached the bench where her coach was and put it next to her, still huffing as she tried to catch her breath. Kalina felt a hand on her shoulder, "Good job Kalina, you have amazed all of us once more."
She looked up to see her coach's face, Mrs. Laxesus.
"Yeah, it seems so." She answered quietly, giving her a small smile.
Mrs. Laxesus smiled widely, showing off her straight white teeth, "Oh Kalina, humble as ever. C'mon, cheer up, it's not every day you see someone win the Nationals three times in a row."
Kalina nodded her head a little, and stood up, "Well, what can I say, I had a great coach." She answered honestly.
Mrs. Laxesus smiled, and threw an arm around Kalina's shoulder, "Do you need me to take you home, or did your parents come this time?" She asked.
Kalina gave her coach a quick glance, before shaking her head, "I could use a ride, you know my parents never come to the games."
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Kalina got out of the car, giving Mrs. Laxesus a quick thanks before closing the door.
"Don't forget that on the ceremony is Friday!" shouted Mrs. Laxesus before driving off, not waiting for a response. Kalina stood outside her house for a few seconds before letting out a huff as she prepared herself mentally.
She walked up the steps slowly before retrieving a small silver key and inserting it into the doorknob. The moment she opened the door, she heard feet running towards her direction.
Her older brother appeared as he exited one of the rooms and ran to her quickly, stopping in front of her.
"So, so, so? Did you win? By how much? Was Gwinda sad? Can I have your leftover chocolate bar I know you hid in your bag?" Kalina let out a sigh as she stared at her brother, who was not only older than her for a year, but who was also several inches taller than her.
"Hal, when someone get home, they normally do-"
"Kalina sweetie, how did your game go? Was Melissa there? Did they tell you what would happen next? Was the it easy?" Kalina looked behind Hal's shoulder, and saw that her mother and father had also come to bombard her with questions. She let out a sigh of irritation before looking at all of them.
"Can I please finish closing the blessed door before you begin interrogating me, I am still sweaty and tired from the game."
Her father, who was a man in his early fifties with greying brown hair and chocolate-brown eyes walked to her and pulled her full inside before closing the door behind her, giving her a warm smile.
"Go on up dear, take shower to take of the sweat, and them come down to eat so that you can tell us about your game." He said softly, a warm smile directed towards her.
Kalina let out a sigh of relief and returned her father's smile, thankful at his intervention. She pushed her duffel bag to her brother's chest, "It's on the smallest bag inside, don't make a mess." She hissed, before heading upstairs to her room.
Kalina walked towards the dining room, where she knew her family was already seated down, just waiting for her. She sat down slowly, putting a strand of her short black hair behind her ear, smiling at delicious smell of pizza.
"So, tell us everything!" Her mom squealed, her brown eyes shining in excitement, ready to hear about her daughter's game.
Kalina smiled at her mom's enthusiasm, "So, as you know, I played against Gwinda Selverses, who might happen a tad bit of anger problems, because she broke her racket. I won, for quite a larger gap than last time, let me tell you. She freaked out because this was the last year she had to compete, so she began to tell me a bunch of stuff, but other than that, it was meh."
She said quickly, her eyes drawn towards the cheesy pizza in front of her.
"Anyway," she said, taking her eyes off the pizza, "if you are going to interrogate me every time I come back from a game, why don't you simply go watch them or see them on T.V?"
Her mom let out a sigh of exasperation as she ruffled her black air, leaving it messy, "Sweetie, you know that every time we go you get nervous, and we do not like to watch your games on T.V because we would rather hear it from you." She replied.
Kalina shook her head, and looked at her dad and Hal, who had begun to stuff themselves with the pizza.
"Hey, what do you think you are doing, that's my pizza!" She said, her voice high.
Hal let out a snort before taking another big bite of his pizza, "We are helping you eat it so that you don't gain weight." He answered, their father nodding in agreement.
"Daaad!" she complained loudly as she reached out for a pizza slice, as she watched her dad, and brother gobble down the precious food that she held so dear to her heart.
Her mom laughed as she too reached out for a slice and bit down on it, "Kalina, as your family, we are making sure that you don't eat too much pizza so that you won't get clogged veins." Her mother answered cheerfully, laughing at Kalina's playful glare.
Kalina took another bite of her pizza, a wide smile on her face.
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