The Birthday Party of No Return! Read Free Page A

blue eyes sparkled in the sun. “It increases the sweet spot by eighty percent.”
    â€œThe sweet spot?”
    I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to psych me out. He was trying to show me what a loser I was — before we even started to play.
    â€œIt cuts handle vibration by fifty percent,” he added.
    â€œCool,” I said. “Good luck with it, dude. I can still beat you.” I twirled my racket in my hand.
    He laughed and walked away. It wasn’t a nice laugh.
    Shara Johnston isn’t a very good tennis player. She has no backhand at all. But Laura had a lot of trouble beating her.
    Laura slumped off the court, drenched in sweat. She shook her head. “That was close. What a struggle,” she said to me.
    Cory popped up next to us. “You played really well — for a girl,” he told Laura. He laughed.
    â€œShut up!” she said. She gave him a playful shove in the chest.
    â€œNow watch Lee and me play,” Cory told her. “Maybe you’ll pick up some pointers.” He turned and jogged onto the court, waving his fancy new racket in front of him.
    â€œYou mean like bad examples?” Laura called after him.
    â€œLee, get moving!” Ms. Andersen shouted. “Get this match going. Good luck!”
    I’ll need it , I thought. If Cory has eighty percent more of a sweet spot, I’ll need good luck.
    And as soon as I stepped onto the court, I knew I was in trouble.

My sore eye started to itch and throb. It still hadn’t recovered from the bug that had to be tweezed from it. Tears rolled down my cheek.
    It was hard to see clearly. Clouds floated over the sun. Long shadows spread over us.
    I squinted hard with my one good eye. Cory has an awesome serve. My legs suddenly felt as if they weighed a hundred pounds each.
    But I gritted my teeth and forced myself to move.
    We play four-game sets. Two out of three sets wins the match.
    I won the first set 4–2.
    We changed court side. A lot of kids had gathered along the wire fence to watch us play. Laura flashed Cory a thumbs-up.
    Why is she on his side? I wondered. Just because he saved her life the other day? Just because he’s blond and blue-eyed and lucky all the time, and everyone in school thinks he’s awesome?
    Yeah. Maybe.
    I forced myself to stop thinking about it. I tried to force all thoughts from my mind.
    Tennis. Tennis. Tennis.
    I repeated the word in my mind like a chant. It helped me concentrate.
    I wiped the bad eye with the back of my hand. We started to play again. Even with only one good eye, I felt okay. I felt like I could finish him off.
    That’s when the sun came out. The clouds floated away. The sky brightened. The sun shone brightly again.
    â€œHey!” I shielded my eyes with one hand.
    The sun was shining right in my eyes. One eye was totally blurred. The other eye was blinded by the sun. I couldn’t see a thing.
    Cory’s serve bounced beside me and flew by.
    I could see only a yellow-white glare. It was like someone kept flashing a camera right in my face.
    I tried to shield my eyes and play at the same time. But that was impossible.
    Cory sent another serve past me.
    Not fair! I exclaimed to myself. With the sun right in my eyes, he’s going to KILL me.
    What am I going to do?

He killed me. Now we were even. We took a short break.
    Ms. Andersen stepped up to the net. “Okay, guys,” she called. “I don’t want to make you tense or anything. But it’s game-breaker time. This win counts big-time toward the scholarship. Good luck.”
    She didn’t want to make us tense? Then why did she say that?
    And did she have to keep saying “Good luck, good luck” all the time?
    Cory and I touched rackets as we changed court side. I kept blinking, trying to force the white spots from my eyes. I mopped my runny eye with my T-shirt sleeve.
    That sun was brutal. Sweat poured down my face. My hair was matted to my