Chapter 53

Dan rushed through his shower, grabbed his clothes and gear, and rushed out the door. Just as Syn had mentioned, Peter was there. Judging from the messages Dan had missed on his cellphone, Peter had been there about 20 minutes by the time Dan got out of the house. Which explained why the Senior, likely getting bored, had decided to entertain himself.

And by entertainment, Dan meant Peter had been blasting two tennis balls against the side of his house, using a racquet in both hands, to keep perfect rhythm going. He’d even added in some flourishes, switching the racquets between hands, crossing the angles of the balls he was hitting, and such. In short, he’d been having a grand old time showing off.

“Bout time you came out here buddy.” Peter said, not even breaking stride as he sliced at each ball, catching it perfectly on his racquet as his swing stole all of the momentum from the ball. “You’re lucky it’s just the tennis team today practicing. Meaning we can afford to be late.”

“Sorry,” Dan quickly apologized. “I’m a bit sore from yesterday, so was taking a shower to try and ease my muscles.”

Peter nodded as he headed towards his car, motioning for Dan to follow. “I’ve got some Ibuprofen if you want. I use it occasionally when I get sore.” He chuckled, looking at Dan. “I’m glad to hear you’re actually sore. If you weren’t from what I’d seen yesterday, I’d start asking what type of steroids you were on.”

Dan laughed nervously. Would magical game system powers count as steroids? Probably.

“So, what is this practice even about?” Last he’d heard, there wasn’t weekend practice. At least, not this weekend. Later in the season he’d heard they would sometimes hold tournaments to determine the player rankings on the weekend, but those were still a few weeks off.

“I scheduled it to see how the team has been progressing while I’ve been working with you. And, after what you told me yesterday, I may turn it into a little more than just a normal practice.” The tone in Peter’s voice said he was definitely thinking about what the team had done to Dan.

“Oh.” He sat there quietly for a moment. He really didn’t want to cause problems. And he’d gained more than he’d lost by their actions. Still, it would do good for Ben to get taught a lesson. After all, even if he was jealous of Peter and the attention Dan was getting. What he’d done was practically hazing.

“Don’t worry Dan.” Peter said, breaking the long silence. “I won’t do anything too drastic.” His tone, his voice, and his body language said otherwise. “I’ll just remind him whose courts these are.”

“If you say so.” Dan said meekly, knowing he couldn’t change Peter’s mind. “I’m just looking forward to finally playing tennis again.” He’d had a blast playing soccer, but he was still interested in tennis. And watching Peter show off earlier, had brought back that itch. He wanted to be able to do things like that. He wanted to reach that level. He wanted to stand alongside Peter at the top.

“Me too buddy.” Peter said with a smile. “I always get a bit antsy whenever…” he trailed off, stopping himself before he finished his sentence.

“Whenever?” Dan pressed.

“Not important.” Peter said with a wave of his hand. “Just know I’ve been dying to hit up the courts all week, so I may have been a bit selfish in setting up this practice. Because yeah, just like you, I haven’t been playing all week.”

“Coulda fooled me.” Dan smiled. This, this moment, here with Peter, was happiness. The soccer field, the tennis courts, those moments were exhilarating. But moments like this, completely relaxed, stress free, and just spending time with his friend, was a different type of feel. One he knew he would cherish.

“You should see me when I’m feeling in the zone.” Peter said, glancing towards Dan and shifting his aviator sunglasses down just enough to show Dan a wink. “I usually do that with three tennis balls, sometimes even four, at once.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Are you calling me a liar Danny boy?” Peter feigned hurt.

“I’m just saying, that seems impossible.” Dan retorted. What Peter had been doing with two tennis balls seemed impossible. There was no way he could do more. Could he?

“Well, the biggest trick, when you get to this level, is making the impossible seem possible. The only thing that is truly impossible, the only time you lose Danny, is when you let your mind tell you that you can’t do something.” Peter’s voice took on a somber tone. “Remember that whenever you play. Chase every ball. Take every opportunity. Never stop running forward, and you’ll find you’ll accomplish much more than you thought possible.”

Dan was speechless at the change of pace for a moment.

“Uh, thanks.” He said, uncertain of the mood change. “You go away for a week, and come back with sage advice? Anything else for me, oh wise Peter?”

Peter chuckled, though it was half-hearted. “For once, I can’t take credit for that one buddy. It was advice given to me a long time ago. And its advice I’ve continued to live by every day. The only time you are beaten, is when you let the world beat you buddy.”

“Oh. Well, I’ll keep that in mind.” Peter’s response had just rose more questions in Dan’s mind. Was it Peter’s coach that had told him that? Which, the more he thought about it, he realized he didn’t know much about Peter when it came to a lot of things. Especially not with how he got started in tennis, and who had taught the Senior. Whoever it was, they had to be good. After all, Peter was like a tennis god.

“Say, Peter,” Dan asked as the thoughts rushed through his mind.

“What’s up Danny boy?” The Senior responded with an easy-going tone.

“I don’t think you’ve ever told me. But who taught you tennis?”

Peter was silent for a long, long time as they drove. In fact, the silence remained in the car until they got to school, the parking lot closest to the tennis courts empty save for the cars of the other players. On the courts, Dan could see both the boys and girls teams practicing.

“I’ve not told anyone this before, so you have to promise to keep it a secret.” Peter said as they parked. Dan looked at him and nodded.

“I learned how to play tennis from my older brother.” That was it? That didn’t seem like a big, super-secret thing.

“I didn’t know you had a brother.” Dan said as a follow up. It made sense. People had siblings after all.

“Nobody does.” Peter said simply, getting out of the car. “Which is why, it’s a secret.” The way he slammed the door, made it apparent the subject was a sore one. But that, just made even more questions flow through Dan’s mind. There was much more to this, than Peter was letting on. But Dan knew it wasn’t his place to push the Senior. He’d learn more, he figured, over time. For now, it was time to finally get back to tennis.