Tennis Ace by Matt Christopher Read Free Book Online

it but couldn’t reach it. He lost his footing and fell, then lay motionless for a moment before slowly
     getting up and walking to the net. Steve shook his hand and trudged toward the sidelines, too tired to celebrate his victory.

11
    T he first person to reach Steve was Ginny, who threw her arms around him and hugged him happily. Pat Carbo stuck out his hand
     for a high five. Some adults he didn’t know slapped him on the back and congratulated him. Then his father, mother, and Vince
     appeared. Vince was smiling broadly.
    “You looked good out there!” he said. “I’ll talk to you later.” He turned to Ginny. “I have some phone calls to make, but
     I’ll be back in time to watch your match.” He hurried away.
    Ginny’s smile could have lit up a city.
    Pat leaned toward Steve. “Hey, you want to go celebrate at the mall? I’ll treat you to a game of pinball.”
    Steve smiled happily. “Absolutely! I want to watch Gin’s match and then let’s go.”
    Mr. Greeley put his arm around Steve’s shoulders. “You made me proud out there, son. You really did.”
    Steve was startled and pleased by the praise. “Thanks, Dad.”
    His father nodded and continued. “I just have a few notes for you … there are some things we have to work on before the finals.
     Especially your serve-and-volley game. That hurt you today.”
    At first Steve wasn’t sure he was hearing right. Was his father
criticizing
the match he’d just played? He realized he had heard correctly and his body sagged.
    Mrs. Greeley had heard, too, and said, “
Ted
,” in a warning voice.
    “What?” demanded their father, looking bewildered. “I
said
he did a good job! I just wanted to point out a couple of problems, while they were fresh in my mind, that’s all.”
    “You can talk about that later,” his mother said, frowning at him. “Let Steve enjoy his victory for a little while, all right?”
    “I’m happy he won!” Mr. Greeley looked confused, as though he couldn’t understand what the problem was. “I just wanted —”
    “Dad, can we talk about my mistakes later?” asked Steve. “
Please
?”
    His father shrugged. “Okay, okay. Just as long as we do it. How about after Ginny’s match?”
    Steve nodded. “For a few minutes, all right.”
    Ginny glanced at her watch. “Speaking of my match, I have to get going. Bye, guys.”
    “Good luck, hon,” called Mrs. Greeley as Ginny hurried away.
    “Go get her!” yelled Steve.
    Ginny waved in response as she headed toward the locker room.
    “Who’s she playing?” his father asked.
    Steve was startled that his father had forgotten their breakfast conversation. “She’s playing Maddy Stern. Ginny should romp.”
    “I’m sure she will,” his father said, as they made their way to the court where Ginny’s game would be played.
    Just before Ginny served to begin the match, Vince ran up and joined the Greeleys in the stands. He patted Steve’s shoulder
     as he sat down and thereafter had eyes only for the tennis.
    Sure enough, Ginny easily won the match, six—one,six—three. When she came over to accept the congratulations of her family, she was hardly breathing hard.
    “Way to go, Gin,” said Steve, exchanging low fives with her.
    “Lookin’
tough!
” his mother chimed in.
    “Very impressive, Ginny,” said Vince.
    Ginny turned bright red and stammered out her thanks. “Will you be able to see the finals?” she asked.
    “I’ll be there,” replied Vince. “I look forward to watching both of Ted’s kids. Ted, old buddy, you really turned out a couple
     of winners here.”
    Mr. Greeley grinned broadly.
    Vince shook hands all around. “See you tomorrow,” he said, as he turned and hurried away. Steve thought that Vince must spend
     a lot of his time rushing here and there.
    “Yo, Steve!” Pat Carbo waved to him from the parking lot. “You all set?”
    “Two minutes!” Steve said. He turned to his father. “Dad, I have to go. We’ll talk about my game