Debate

"Why of all things? Ping pong?" I muttered to myself as I got into bed.

My hands had finally stopped shaking from my encounter with Luca's inferno. But the memory of him still stayed fresh in my mind even after I had eaten dinner and finished my homework. My ear still felt ticklish as if he were still whispering words to me there.

And every time I thought about his words, my stomach churned.

Was it a threat? Or just a warning? I mean, it wasn't like I was trying to even get that point. I just wanted to hit the dumb ball in the right direction. Surely he knew it was an accident. Why did he have to take it so seriously?

I sighed and tucked myself into bed. I wanted to talk to Anna about this, but she wasn't home yet, which was a little odd for her.

Although, even if she was home I couldn't tell her about what actually happened.... If she knew Luca Zhang was in the ping pong club, even if I told her not to tell, it would only be a matter of time before the entire school knew. And if the entire school knew that Luca was on the ping pong team, then probably at least half of the school would join the club just to get closer to him.

I guess I can see why Luca would want to keep it a secret. He probably wouldn't be able to practice and enjoy the simplicity of ping pong and the club if it was like that. He would also probably track down whoever ruined his ping pong team and shred them to bits. And he could get away with it too. His parents had enough money that they could probably erase anything.

I shivered at the thought.

No, I definitely could not let Anna know about this.

Nearly as soon as I thought this, Anna walked into our dorm room smiling ear-to-ear.

"You'll never guess what happened to me!" She threw her backpack on the ground then jumped on top of my bed and nearly body-slammed me.

~And you'll never guess what happened to me…~

I wanted to say that, but knew I could not.

"Do you know Victor Manzana?" she said meeting my eyes and still holding a toothy grin.

"Victor Manzana?" I repeated the name.

"He's the leader of the debate club!" She acted as if this should make it obvious.

"Riiiight, and I know everyone on the debate club." I answered sarcastically.

Anna's smile turned into something like annoyance, "You know me."

I blinked, and tried to imagine Anna holding a civil debate but couldn't seem to imagine her debating about anything other than whether Luca Zhang's ass or abs was more attractive. "You're on the debate team?" I asked, and she nodded, "Since when?"

"Since yesterday."

I sat up further in my bed, "You didn't tell me this."

"Well, you didn't ask." she shrugged.

"I had no idea you were interested in debate."

"Well," Anna bit her lip coyly, "It's not really the debate I'm interested in..."

"Dear god." I shook my head with my realization. "You joined it because of that boy, didn't you? What did you say his name was? Vixon?"

"Victor!" she smacked my shoulder. "And if you saw him, you would understand exactly why I did it!"

"So he's hot?" I knew Anna's taste in men almost better than she did.

"He's almost Luca hot!" She jumped off my bed as if full of energy. "And he asked me to get coffee with him tomorrow!"

My eyebrows raised in surprise, "He did?"

"Well" she rolled her eyes, "He said he wanted to talk to me about debate strategies, but I have a good feeling about it." She popped off the bed and began examining herself in the mirror that hung on our closet door.

I rubbed my sleepy eyes and laughed at her. "Well, I hope it goes well." I acted like I was getting comfortable in bed again and hoped Anna might pick up on the cue that I was about to sleep.

But she didn't "How was ping pong?"

I sighed remembering the day. "You were right." I finally answered, "they do take it really seriously."

"I'm always right about these things." Anna crossed her arms. "So are you gonna stay in the club?"

I shrugged beneath my blankets as if I had a choice, as if I hadn't signed an agreement to stay on the team for at least a year and keep their heavily guarded secret. "I guess so. I think I might have a secret talent for the sport."

"Oh yeah?" Anna began pulling out her earrings and taking down her hair.

"I actually made a point against the best player today." I smiled for the first time at the memory, "And I think I've already made an enemy out of him."

"Is he someone I know?" she asked and peaked at me over her shoulder, "Or is he someone good looking?"

~Of course she would ask that~

"I don't think you know him." I lied, "But I guess he's good looking for a ping pong player." that wasn't necessarily a lie. "Speaking of good-looking men," I attempted to change the subject, "Do you know if Luca is in any clubs?"

Anna turned toward me in a flurry of excitement with this question. "Why do you want to know that?" she asked and I suddenly regretted asking, "Are you finally showing interest in him since you ran into his chest and now have a class with him?"

"I'm just curious!" I laughed at her ridiculousness.

She folded her arms like she was not convinced of my answer. "I don't think so." she finally replied, "If he was, I assume every girl in the school would have joined the club too."

I nodded my head. She was right, and it was exactly why I had to keep my new secret.

However, I couldn't help but wonder what my relationship would be like with him now. Now that we were members of the same club, and now that he was going to personally coach me daily…

Would we become friends?

Or would the tension be like it was today?