Two Love

Chapter 6

It was the day of the badminton tournament, and the team were going in a minivan. Euan and Gregor were sitting next to each other, leaving Marty on his own. Parisa approached where he was seated and asked diffidently, "Can I sit here?"

"Of course!" he said.

"Thanks!" They sat in silence for a few seconds. Marty hadn't anticipated spending a 4-hour minivan journey with a girl he barely knew. It was time to get to know her...

"So, what subjects are you gonna study at A-level?"

"I'm hoping to do English Literature, PE and Philosophy. Wild mix, I know. But I only really require PE for my career aspiration."

"Which is...?" prompted Marty.

"To be the best Olympic badminton player that the world's ever seen," said Parisa with shining eyes.

Marty laughed. "What?" she said.

"If you wanna be the best, you've got me to beat!" Parisa rolled her eyes. Marty seemed to think he was some sort of prodigy just because he'd managed to get promoted to county level after just six years of playing badminton.

"You know, there's gonna be scouts at this tournament. If you wanna be a professional, this is a pretty good event to kickstart your career."

"That's exactly my intention, hence my staying back after sessions to talk to Nick."

Nick was their badminton coach. Back in his golden years, he'd been an excellent Olympic badminton player, representing the UK in four Olympic games. He'd even won a bronze medal in his third Olympic games. Clearly, he had a myriad of wisdom about anything badminton-related.

"That's a very wise idea. Whenever I talk to Nick, it's about the parties I've hosted. That reminds me, I forgot to ask - did you enjoy the superheroes and princesses party?"

"It was okay. I didn't really know anyone except you and Hassan, but I liked the music. What kind of music do you like?"

"A mixture, really. At the parties, I play a lot of The 1975, Bruno Mars and Avicii. But I'm actually more of a Beatles fan."

"So you're an old man. That explains the glasses," said Parisa teasingly; Marty touched the rim of his glasses self-consciously. In reality, the reason for his glasses was a family history of poor eyesight. Everyone in his family wore glasses from the age of 4: cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, Mum and his father. Only Riley had bucked this trend by opting to wear contact lenses instead.

"Well, what do you listen to?"

Parisa fiddled with her hijab. "I don't listen to music a lot. I prefer reading. But I like Whitney Houston and Elton John."

Marty grinned. "Now who's old?"

"Shut up!" said Parisa with a giggle.

*

When the minivan reached Redbridge badminton centre, miles of carpark stretching beyond what the eye could see and hundreds of young people dressed in athletic attire, all the players filed out the minivan. Most of the competitors were 16- to 17-year-old guys with impressive arm muscles. There were a fair number of girls too - about 25% of the total competitors, Marty guessed - but not a single one with a hijab except the girl standing next to him.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Not really," Parisa admitted.

Marty put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you've got this. You're doing great in our practice sessions, and you've gleaned lots of wisdom from Nick. You're gonna smash it."