Wildflower - JJ Maybank

001.

Tennis Temper
001.

The tan girl tucked a piece of wavy brown hair that had slipped from her loose bun. She had been taking out all of her anger on the small yellow ball. And accidentally her dad.

The man stopped running and panted. "God Rory, you're really hitting well today ay?" She smiled and chuckled softly at his comment. Returning to her game, she bounced the ball twice before tossing it into the air and smacking it down just barley making it over the net. Tennis ball fuzz flying into the air as she released the anger she had bottle up from the past week.

She was pissed, that she had to move, leave her friends behind, her school, her whole life had been in New Mexico. She had only been to Kildare one other time, she lived there for a year when she was 5. It was right after her mom had left her dad, the worst point of both of their lives.

She shuddered at the memory.

"Fuck." The older man grumbled as he struggled to return his daughters serve.

With a grin she skipped up to the net separating the two. "If I counted correctly that's game." She cocked her head giving her father a doey eyed expression.

"Way to go champ." He chuckled before fluffing her hair as she swatted his hand away.

The older man felt the vibration of his phone and reached to his back pocket. A frown spread across his face as he stared at the small black device his hand cradled. A small sigh left his mouth. "Sorry Rory gotta go," he flashed her his phone screen "work."

She sighed, fiddling with her racket string as a frown tugged at the corners of her lips.

"Okay," she mumbled "I'll go to the beach or something." She turned to leave but her dad wrapped his fingers around her wrist. "No need." She cocked her head to the side at his comment, eyebrows raising in suspicion.

"I'll send Cameron's boy down, he just started lessons." Rory opened her mouth to voice her opinion but her father cut her off. "Please, for me. Even if you just play one match and then head down to the beach."

She fiddled with the pink knotted bracelet on her wrist as she contemplated. "Fine." She huffed. She knew he would be disappointed if she didn't even try to compromise with him.

Her dad pulled her forward with one arm, wrapping her in a tight hug. "Love you!" He called out before jogging towards the exit. "Love you" she mumbled, raising her empty hand as a short wave.

The truth was, the brunette would have loved to work on unpacking her books so she could work on reading It Ends With Us, a book she had wanted to start for months now, or head down to the beach and bask in the sun for hours. She let out a groan, trudging toward the bench, she instead had to play tennis with a random boy who her dad barley knew.

Even though her dad wasn't the most familiar with the boy he had still told her a few key details, His name was Rafe, he was 18, and blonde. When the 15 year old had asked why he wasn't in college, her dad simply shrugged muttering something about a family business.

She pulled out her phone from her bag and tapped on the Piano Tiles 3 icon and crouched over her phone, squinting in the sun to tap the tiles on time and biting her lip as she furrowed her brows together in a line.