"Assemble!" The union of the two captains' voices resounded across the courts of the Youth Tennis Home, followed by the rhythmic thundering of footsteps on the ground. I looked on in amusement as the two schools, Yu Qing and Yu Feng, gathered in their respective rows while facing the two captains. They stood straight with their arms pressed firmly to their sides as military soldiers would do. Keeping in my laughter, I wondered if this was their normal procedure or it all had been planned.

The morning sunshine gleamed brightly on their skin like a fresh new day. The air was cool and breezy, good enough for training outside of the Home. Yu Feng's captain, Xu Zi Ping cleared his throat and began to speak, "Yu Feng and Yu Qing, this is not your first time attending the tennis camp, so I expect you all to know the rules and policies at the Tennis Home," Zi Ping paused for a moment, then turned his head sharply to one of the Yu Feng members. "Wei Ke Fei."

A neutral-faced boy with single eyelids and thin lips looked in Zi Ping's direction, his eyes peering under the bill of his black cap. "Yes, Captain," he responded.

"What is one thing that cannot be performed without instruction for both schools?"

"Having secret competitions," Ke Fei answered swiftly without batting a lid. "Unless the Captains plan to have matches between the two schools."

Xu Zi Ping nodded slightly at Ke Fei's answer and motioned to Si Yang to speak. Si Yang's eyes roamed around his team for a second before calling out, "Tang Jia Le."

"Reporting for duty!" Jia Le announced cheekily, and I had to stifle my laughter.

"When a school loses to the other at any sort of training for the day, what is their punishment?"

Jia Le sighed, "The losing school gets to eat white rice for lunch and dinner on that day."

Si Yang also nodded at his response, whereas I gaped in shock. "White rice?" I gasped, horrified. "Only?"

Qi Ying had a grin on her face as she nodded, giggling, "Yep. It's what the Captains planned to make them work harder."

"That's a wicked plan you guys have," Ai Qi noted, surprised.

"That's cruelty and abuse!" I exclaimed, loud enough for the tennis members to hear. Some of them glanced in our direction, suppressing a grin at my words.

Xu Zi Ping directed his question at another of the team's members. "Shen Wei Ming."

"Yes, Captain," a boy with a bored expression answered.

"What's the result of not completing your training for the day?"

I heard sharp nervous breaths taken in from the boys. Some of them even began to stand even straighter, their eyes expressing-- fear.

Wei Ming hesitated for a moment before answering in a quivering tone, "Y-Yan Zhi Ming's Yan Juice."

I thought I had imagined a sinister glint in Zhi Ming's smile. The majority of the boys were looking down at the floor, afraid to meet their captains' eyes. Only Zhi Ming and Zhuo Zhi were standing confidently, undaunted. 

"Alright," Si Yang said, nodding approvingly at both teams. "You all seem to know the rules well enough, so we expect you to obey them at all times."

"Xiao Ying!" A stern older female voice called out from behind us. The four of us, Ai Qi, Qi Ying, Xing Zi and I spun around to see Coach Qi advancing in our direction, already dressed in her usual gym t-shirt and jogging sweatpants.

"Morning, Coach Qi," Ai Qi, Xing Zi and I greeted politely while Qi Ying just smiled and waved at her aunt.

"Morning, girls," Coach Qi responded lightly. "Are you all ready to start your chores for today?"

"Yep," I grinned, nodding along with the other girls.

"What have you got for us, Coach Qi?" Ai Qi asked.

Coach Qi glanced at her wristwatch, then turned her attention back to us. "Well, we can start with Qi Ying and Xing Zi showing you two around the Tennis Home," Coach Qi looked at the two said girls, who nodded in agreement. She continued, "I'll send Xiao Ying a text about what you girls have to do later. If you need any help, I'll probably be around here coaching the boys. Or you can call me on Xiao Ying's phone."

"Alrighty, thanks, Coach!" I smiled cheerfully, waving goodbye to Coach Qi as she made her way towards the tennis members, waving back.

"Let's go!" Xing Zi said with an excited glint in her eyes. "This place is awesome. I love coming here." Xing Zi then opened the sliding glass doors and gestured us inside.

Xing Zi and Qi Ying gave us a tour around the Tennis Home. There was a modern but spacy kitchen, just slightly dusty but clean. They then brought us to the lounge in the living room, which had a television, coffee table and sofa sets to relax on. The dining area was a long room with a long wooden table set parallel to the wide glass doors, which gave a full view of the tennis courts and the forest beside it.

"The boys eat here," Qi Ying said, gesturing to the table in the dining area. "While we can have our meals in the lounge. The boys may be getting a gorgeous view of the outdoors, but we have the TV." She wiggled her eyebrows and I couldn't help but laugh.

The next place the girls showed us was the separate dorms. One for the Yu Qing members, one for the Yu Feng members and one for us girls to share. There were bare mattresses over the floors of the boys' dorms, with no bedsheets or blankets. I had expected our dorm to look similar to theirs, but to my joy, there were four separate twin-sized beds, two each on either side of the room.

"This is where we gloat at them," Xing Zi grinned. "They get the floor while we get the actual beds."

After the dorms, Qi Ying and Xing Zi then brought us through the backdoor outside, where there was a barbeque with a table long enough to seat both the tennis teams. There was a forest of thick trees further in, and far enough was a cliff that gave us a mountaintop view of the city. It was beautiful. 

"That's all the interesting stuff," Qi Ying said as we re-entered indoors again. She slipped her hand into her pocket to check on any messages Coach Qi had sent. "Auntie says we should start doing chores as soon as we finish checking out the Home," Qi Ying noted. "We can split ourselves into two teams: one goes to the grocery store that's a couple of kilometres away to get ingredients for lunch, and the other stays here to clean up the place."

We debated for a while before deciding that Qi Ying and Ai Qi would go to the grocery store, while Xing Zi and I stayed behind to do chores. Xing Zi led me back to the boys' dorms to arrange the bedsheets for them, which were already residing in the closet in the girls' dorm. Other than a faint lingering musty smell, the sheets were clean enough to be used. We had to make two trips between the dorms to transport the sheets and blankets from one to the other.

"What's it like being here?" I asked curiously, attempting to stuff a pillow into a pillow sheet. "You know, those few months ago."

Xing Zi sighed, staring at the ceiling for a moment with a blanket held in her hands while reminiscing. "Really fun. Even though Qi Ying and I were just there to do the chores, it was amusing to watch the boys' competitions and practices."

"Do you two never feel, like, uh..." I bit my bottom lip nervously, thrusting a folded blanket outwards to straighten it. "Maids? Their servants?"

"We were kind of given the job, right?" Xing Zi laughed softly, using her foot to shift the mattress. "Most of the time, the boys and Coach Qi are on the court practising. And there's not really much to do around here if we don't contribute a bit of something, huh?"

"That's a point," I grumbled, draping the blanket over one mattress. "As long as those boys are grateful for our work."

"I make sure of that," Xing Zi confirmed. "Once I overheard one of the Yu Feng members, I don't remember who, saying I was responsible for washing their dirty uniforms," Scoffing, Xing Zi dropped a pillow at the head of the mattress. "Well screw him, after practice that day I gave him a lecture and a whacking over the head to know who he was messing with."

I grinned at Xing Zi. "Attagirl. As you should."

Xing Zi returned the victorious smile, then sighed as she smoothened out the creases of a bedsheet. "I really wish I could practise with them, though. It always looks so fun."

"I get how you feel," I said, breath whooshing out of my nostrils. "But, is there no girls' tennis team in Yu Feng either?"

"Nope," Xing Zi shook her head, tucking a sheet under the mattress. "But I'm okay with watching my brother and his team play. I like helping the team out, sometimes."

"You're like the girl everyone wants to be," I laughed, pulling another sheet out of the pile of fabric. "The one special girl who gets to help out the team of hot boys."

Xing Zi winked in my direction. "Perks of being the Captain's sister."

"What's it like, being the Captain's sister?" A breath got caught in my throat as I asked the question I was longing to ask. "Do you get a lot of attention from the rest of the school?"

Xing Zi made a thoughtful noise as she released the mattress from her hands, it landing on the floor with a soft 'thump'. "Yeah. In fact, I've mastered the skill of learning to differentiate fake friends and real friends, with the fake ones using me to get closer to the tennis team," She raised her eyebrows at the thought of it, making a face. "Most of the people I've met were like that. A lot of toxicity. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," She added after a thought.

"Does the whole school know your name?"

She nodded. "As long as they know who Xu Zi Ping is, they know who is Xu Xing Zi as well."

"Pretty stressful to have so much attention on yourself, huh?" I noted, keeping my attention on unfolding the bedsheet before me to prevent making eye contact with Xing Zi.

"You get used to it after a while of having a famous tennis captain as your brother all your life," Xing Zi sighed. "Although, I'll never get used to the number of guys hitting on me because of that."

I giggled. "Do the Yu Feng tennis members ever try making a move on you?"

Xing Zi grinned mischievously. "In the past when Zi Ping wasn't captain, the older ones would. But none of the current members ever tried. Probably because Zi Ping is likely to beat them to a pulp if they did."

I tried to imagine a furiously raging Xu Zi Ping, which was difficult because I always viewed the Yu Feng captain as a strict but sensible person. "Or Qiao Chen, perhaps," I smirked, looking at Xing Zi to see her reaction.

Sure enough, she was trying hard to bite down her smile. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Qiao Chen has a crush on you," I stated bluntly, throwing a pillow in her direction. "And from my observations, I think you like him too."

"He's a sweet guy," Xing Zi defended, her cheeks reddening as she tossed the pillow back at me, making it hit my leg. "A little dumb sometimes, but he's kind."

"Ahah!" I pointed at her triumphantly. "So you do like him."

"Don't speak to anyone about this."

"I won't tell what others already know," I grinned. "But the whole world can see how obvious it is."

☆☆☆

XING ZI AND QIAO CHEN ARE AN ADORABLE COUPLE AND YOU CAN'T CHANGE MY MIND.

P.S., As much as I hate to bring disappointment to you readers, I will, unfortunately, be reducing the number of updates to once every fortnight instead. I won't say too much here, but I'll be explaining my reasons why over my Announcements Board. 

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~ Snowy ♡