“Why does it have to be today of all days!?” Sarah protested.
“Because we are sick of you skipping, you need to start pulling your weight or officially drop out of the agreement. Which is it going to be?” Lena explained as Andras watched from within Bianca. The demon felt pretty embarrassed by the situation, he didn’t want to be inside of someone who didn’t want him there but he knew he had to support them.
Sarah’s frown only deepened, “Come on, surely you can take him for another day Bianca. I’ve got a tennis match in an hour, does he even know how to play?” She retorted.
“No she won’t Sarah, you agreed to a day you couldn’t say no and we are holding you to that.” Lena said firmly as she crossed her arms, “I really don’t know why you insist on remaining a part of the deal but still rarely do what you agreed to.”
Sarah and Lena both locked eyes, staring each other down as their expressions did the ‘talking’ for them. The tension was palpable as their gazes battled for supremacy but before long, Sarah flinched first.
“UGH! Fine. I’ll take him but if I lose this match, you’re never going to hear the end of it.” Their friend finally relented before turning to him with a huff.
She clearly wasn’t in the mood for the demon’s hesitation as she quickly grabbed Bianca’s hands and placed them on her shoulder, “Come on Andras, if I’m going to have to teach you how to play before this match we’ll need all the time we can get.” She demanded.
“Go on, don’t make her wait. Good luck dude, you’re going to need it.” Bianca said as she felt him starting to collect himself. Exiting was the easy part but as soon as his spiritual form pushed past Sarah’s lips he felt the regular resistance despite her insisting on being quick.
Not wanting to antagonize the girl any further he ‘swam’ as hard as he could against the current to spread throughout her body and take control. Even with Sarah also doing her best to relax the takeover was only slightly easier but it wasn’t long before her vision became his as well.
The first thing he saw was Bianca eyeing him with a sly smile, “Have fun you two!” She said with a giggle as she swiftly departed the room, not wanting to annoy Sarah any further.
“Come on dude, time to get moving. I don’t have long to run you through the basics so we have to get down there.” She urged him.
“Ok I’ve gotta get down there, see ya later Lena!” He called out to her as he walked out the door.
“See ya.” She replied simply.
——————————————————————————————————————————-
Andras groaned audibly as he performed his thirtieth consecutive lunge at Sarah’s behest “So remind me, do you actually know the rules of this game?” She asked condescendingly.
“Yes, I’ve been living among the five of you for a good while now, I think I deserve a little more credit than that.” He replied as he started another set of the grueling exercise.
“Oh come on, I need to ask if I’m going to teach you. Ok stop there for now, we’re nice and warm so now we can start actually practicing with the racket. Go turn on that machine.” She instructed him.
After flicking the switch on the machine, it whirred to life as it prepared to start firing off one of the many optic yellow balls. Quickly making his way down to the other side of the court, he twisted the racket in his grip as he prepared for the first volley. With a ZUUP the first one shot out from the barrel but even with his demonic reflexes, the lack of practiced coordination caused him to hit nothing but air.
Sarah didn’t have time to admonish him as another four balls followed the first in quick succession. The second was another big miss as it zoomed under where he had swung his racket but he just managed to connect with the third as it made contact with the edge of it which filled him with a burst of satisfaction. So much so that he failed to realize another two were on their way and was promptly hit by both, one in the leg and the other in the arm.
“Hey don’t get cocky! You’re in my body remember? Don’t go damaging it!” She scolds him.
“Sorry! I got carried away. I’ll stay focused.” He assured her right before the second volley began.
Over the course of about half an hour, Andras was able to make use of his demonic abilities to rapidly improve. What started with him barely being able to make contact with the ball, quickly evolved into him being able to consistently meet the ball on its trajectory but being able to aim it within the confines of the opposing square was harder than it looked.
Having to pause a few times to collect all the balls didn’t help with what little time they had didn’t help his improvement but by the time Sarah’s phone alarm went off Andras was starting to get the hang of placing the ball where he wanted it to go, nevertheless Sarah wasn’t thrilled with his skill level by the time of the game.
After placing all the balls back in the basket, Andras hurried out of the training room and towards the main court. Luckily for the pair, not many people had shown up to watch the game but Sarah was still concerned about being embarrassed by this performance.
A long haired brunette made her way on the court opposite him, “That’s Cassandra, if we beat her I can qualify for the inter-school tournament, don’t screw this up ok?” She explained but the demon didn’t reply to her plea, instead choosing to acknowledge her with a mental nod as he focused on visualizing the moves she had taught him
The whistle blew signaling the start of the match. It was Cassandra’s serve and it wasn’t long before she unleashed a powerful hit, heading straight for his corner. Without his extra gifts he doubted he would have made it as he just barely managed to send it back to his opponent evidently in the wrong way because she simply hit it back to the opposite corner, losing him the first point.
“COME ON YOU NEED TO BE QUICKER THAN THAT!” Sarah shouted across their link, making the demon cringe.
Before Andras knew it, Cassandra was sending yet another ball his way but this time he was ready as he flicked it back to her with little effort. They only rallied a few more times before Andras failed to connect with a well placed shot. Eliciting a smile from Cassandra which Andras could feel made Sarah’s blood boil.
“WHY CAN’T YOU JUST HIT IT!?” She demanded.
“BECAUSE YOU WON’T LET ME!” He finally snapped back to both of their surprise. “We don’t talk about it but I know you know how much more difficult everything is while I’m with you. You resist me at every step except when I leave you so your hatred of me is what is screwing us here.” He lectured her as Cassandra prepared to serve.
“I… I don’t hate you.” She said softy as Cassandra threw the ball into the air.
“Well whatever your problem is, I suggest you sort it out or we will lose this match.” He explained, AND QUICKLY.” He added as he sluggishly returned Cassandra’s serve.
As he made a mad dash to meet the ball once again he knew it was going to be just out of reach. Even Cassandra seemed to realize as he noticed her relax out of the corner of his eye. Nonetheless he still went for the ball, diving for it to try and stretch the distance he could cover in that time.
Right before he made what he thought would be a useless jump, what felt like a huge weight lifted off his borrowed body. Before he could process what had happened, he had lunged for the ball and somehow slammed it back into Cassandra’s square, winning his first point.
Cassandra was visibly shocked that her opponent had managed to make what she was sure was an impossible shot but Andras was too busy ‘relishing’ how light Sarah’s body felt in comparison to just moments before as he flexed her fingers.
“Andras! Mind on the game!” Sarah reminded him.
Snapping back to reality, he returned his gaze to his opponent, a confident smile on his face.
The game did not last long after that, even though Sarah’s body was still a fair bit ‘heavier’ than the others, moving around as her now was so much easier and he took full advantage of that.
Going from struggling with basic volleying to effortlessly batting every shot that came his way, Cassandra became increasingly erratic as her confidence that she had built during the first few rounds was shaved away bit by bit.
By the time the last few rounds came around, she had gone full tilt and was playing with every bit of aggression she could muster, only serving to dull her skills further. With the tempo completely in Andras’ favor, what little crowd had showed up, clapped as the final round ended with ‘Sarah’s’ victory.
“Fuck yeah! I knew we could do it.” Sarah cheered with the demon.
Andras relished in his victory but more importantly, the way Sarah’s body now felt. “So much better.” He said to no one in particular but before Sarah could tell him to not get too carried away, the pair were interrupted by their opponent, “HEY! That was not cool.” She said, approaching them with her racket firmly gripped in her hand.
“W-what?” Andras asked quizzically.
“You know what! What’s the deal with toying with me at the start like that? Did you just want to show off? Or are you that much of a bitch that you wanted to build me up before crushing me?” She accused the pair, free hand now on her hips.
“Oh I didn’t think about that huh.” Sarah said sheepishly.
“O-oh I’m sorry! I promise I was just warming up, I rolled out of bed a little late today so I didn’t get a chance to practice beforehand. I’m sorry if that seemed mean, it was a good match though!” Andras said as sincerely as he could manage but the only response Cassandra initially gave was to raise her eyebrow as she examined him.
“Yeah whatever.” She said, seemingly unconvinced as she swiftly turned around and trudged away, thanks to Andras’ enhanced hearing he managed to catch the girl muttering ‘Bitch’ under her breath as she retreated. The pair didn’t much care as they did feel a little bad for how they unintentionally tormented the girl.
After a few moments Andras began to collect Sarah’s things from the side bench before she spoke up, “Thank… thank you Andras, I suppose you aren’t completely useless.” She confesses.
“Are you ok? Because that almost sounded like a complement.” He teased as he lifted her racked bag over his shoulder and headed for the door.
“Yeah yeah don’t get full of yourself, I’m not about to swoon for you like the others.” She said in a slightly stern tone, letting him know that this was only the first step but he was fine with that. As long as they were making progress, he could live with that.
As he approached the door to exit the wired fence of the court, a familiar looking girl waved to him, seemingly wanting to chat as she closed the distance between them. The girl had long brown hair that neatly flowed behind her and wore a long pair of tan plaid pants with a loose, professional, white top that showed off her shoulders and not much else.
“Who is this again? That’s Elizabeth but make sure to call her Liz.” Sarah quickly explained before the two got within talking distance.
“Hey Sarah! That was a great match, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you move so quickly before!” She remarked politely, clasping her hands together.
Andras rubbed the back of his head shyly, “Oh yeah… I’ve been practicing quite a bit and it seemed to pay off.” He said non committedly.
“I can tell!” She replied cheerily, “Anyway I was about to grab an early lunch, do you want to join me? It’d be nice to catch up, I can tell you all about this new light refracting project I’ve been working on in the lab.” She suggested with a smile.
“Sarah?” He asked cautiously.
“Sure, just make sure to pay attention, she knows me pretty well.” She answered the demon.
“Of course! I was just about to do the same, what were you thinking of getting?” He asked the cheery girl as they exited the court together,
