Beautiful Brute (Court University 3)

“Oh my fucking God. I am so sorry,” she said, cringing as she made it over. “Are you okay? I told them not to let me play.”

“Them” being two other girls, the rest of the group I noticed when I came in, who were currently rushing over to me as well. The redhead made it first, freckled and classic-looking with her high-waisted skirt and perfect skin. She seriously looked like some on-screen goddess, then the other girl, little and with hair so blond it looked white. I honestly questioned if she was some kind of anime character or something out of Final Fantasy. She had the big eyes and everything, ultra cute and chibi-like.

Between the three, they were definitely a sight to be had and were all definitely freaking out that I just got sideswiped by a tennis ball. Well, almost sideswiped. I was fine, though, and actually started to laugh at them freaking out and fawning over me.

“Oh my gosh, girl. Are you okay?” Redhead, not freaking out as much. But still freaking out. “We can call someone.”

“Yeah, do you need water? An ambulance?” The dark-haired princess this time, the one who had nearly hit me. She bit her lip, then wrestled to get her phone. She had it propped right in the front of her skirt. “I’ll get an ambulance.”

“December, I don’t think it’s that serious.” Redhead screen goddess started to laugh now, waving her down. She looked at me, appearing a little older than the others. She didn’t necessarily look older, but the way she carried herself was definitely different. Her smile was warm. “You don’t need one, right? Maybe just some water?”

“I can get that!” The little one, blond girl and so chipper. She rushed off to the court coolers while the others hovered over me. I didn’t actually need water, was fine, but I took it when she came back. After all, she made the effort.

“Thanks,” I said, recapping it. “I’m fine, though. I swear.”

“How could you be? Christ, I nearly knocked your fucking nose off.” The dark-haired girl tapped her head. “Okay, I’m so not playing anymore. I almost killed someone.”

“No, it’s cool.” I chuckled, but she frowned.

“Are you sure? I’ve like never done this before. Billie tried to teach me, but I suck.”

“You don’t suck,” the redhead, Billie I guess, said. She grinned. “You’re just inexperienced. I wish I didn’t know as much as I did about tennis. I grew up around country clubs.”

The dark-haired girl bit her lip. I recalled Billie calling her December. December tugged at her ponytail. “Well, I’m a hopeless case. You and Greer go.”

“Oh, I haven’t played either.” The blond, Greer, chuckled. “You don’t play I’ll really look bad.”

“Gee thanks,” December said, but did laugh, which was good. She’d literally been freaking out up to this point, and I really was okay. She faced me. “You’re good, though?”

“I’m good.”

“Good.” Elation took on a new form with her smile, the girl truly gorgeous. All of them were. Honestly, I got up this morning, put on some workout pants and a sports bra to come play, but these three looked literally Instagram-ready. Even the chibi blond looked cute in her silver workout outfit. We’d essentially worn the same thing today, but she appeared ready for an aerobics video.

After assuring them I was good, again, I let them go, but December refused to play again.

“I don’t want to hit anyone. Anyway, we have an uneven number of players,” she said, waving the other girls. “You guys go on ahead.”

“Oh my God, you won’t hit anybody. You just need to work on your swing,” Billie assured her. “You’re hitting it now like you’re hitting a baseball. You just need to relax into it.”

December didn’t look convinced. She groaned. “Doesn’t matter. Like I said, we don’t have enough players.”

“Sure, we do.” But then, Billie looked at me. She waved her racket. “Wanna play or are you waiting for someone?”

Since I was, but had been advised to seek others for a match, her request did sound like a good idea. “Actually, I am waiting for someone, but she told me if I could find a group that needed a player to go ahead. She said she’d be a while.”

“Oh, perfect. See, December, now you can play.” Billie nudged her with her racket, but December looked anything but thrilled.

“Joy-gasm,” she stated, more than sarcasm in her voice, but she laughed. She swung her ponytail at me. “You don’t mind playing with the human destructo machine do you?”

I laughed. “Of course not.” But then, I stopped. “But maybe we should be on the same team just in case.”

That actually made them all laugh and surprised me too. This morning had been more than stressful. Hell, this whole weekend so far.

Dark-haired princess put out her hand. “I’m December,” she said, shaking my hand. “And this is Billie and Greer.”

She pointed to the redhead and blond respectively. I shook both. “Cleo. Nice to meet you guys.”

And it was really nice. With Kit being sick, I wasn’t sure how today was going to go at all. I mean, my parents were upstairs going over something that had to do with my nightmare of a stepbrother.