Game On (25 page)

When Maya turned her attention back to the club, she was surprised to see the bouncer holding the velvet rope open for her. “Good evening, Ms. Hart. Welcome to 360.”

Maya looked down at the rope then up at the bouncer. “Excuse me?”

“Ms. Ledecq is already inside,” he said. “She made sure you were on the list.”

“Th-thank you.” Maya stepped across the invisible line separating her from the riffraff waiting on the sidewalk. It wasn't the first time she had gotten past a velvet rope, but on the previous occasion she'd had Nicole King by her side.

“Impressive, Maya,” Diego said as he followed. “You do know how to show off for the new guy.”

They waited in the doorway beneath the neon 360 sign for Travis to catch up. “I figured there was a chance Renee put us on the list,” Maya said. “But I didn't have to tell him who I was. He
recognized
me.”

Diego smiled. “Of course he did, Maya. You're news. I was reading blogs about you all the way in Rio after that tournament.”

“But … I didn't even win.” The fact that Maya had made news wasn't news to her. She'd seen the articles herself. She just didn't think anyone else had seen them.

“Why are you hanging out in the doorway?” Travis asked when he finally caught up to them.

“Maya wanted to make sure you could get in,” Diego joked. “Since we're clearly not celebrities like her.”

“Speak for yourself.” Travis took Maya's arm. “I'm the son of Nails Reed, football hero. That makes me famous by association … able to get into clubs across this nation … so long as the owners remember my dad.”

Maya laughed along with Diego even though she thought she'd heard an unusual touch of bitterness beneath Travis's joke. She expected that type of attitude from a different Reed brother, not Travis. Brushing it aside as a figment of her imagination, Maya walked through the doorway and into an entirely different world.

The club was thumping. Music pounded out of the speakers and lights danced along to the pulsing beat. Bodies filled every inch of the floor. Most were moving to the rhythm, but a few were completely out of step and didn't seem to care at all.

Maya felt like she had
arrived
, entering on the arm of a hot guy. Sure, they were only friends, but the girls shooting her jealous looks as they watched the entrance for potential dates didn't know that.

The good feeling lasted for about half a second—until she saw that other brother heading their way. This city might be a lot bigger than her hometown of Syracuse, but it could just as well be a tiny village for the amount of times she ran into Jake Reed.

“What's the matter?” Travis asked as she pulled away from
him. He held on tighter, unaware that his brother was coming toward them. “It's okay. Friends can hang on to each other's arms. It doesn't mean anything.”

“No,” Maya said. “It's—”

“I thought you two had some official hosting duties tonight. Did Dad give you a ‘get out of fancy reception free' card or something?” Jake may have been speaking to both of them, but his eyes never once looked to Maya. If only the same could be said for other eyes in the club.

The death glares Maya now got from the girls scoping the entrance almost made her laugh out loud. They must have made for an interesting sight. If only those girls knew the truth. Maya was standing with three of the hottest guys in the club, but it was the last place she wanted to be.

Tennis has given me an extraordinary window onto the world. I've seen victory and defeat, drama and comedy, both on and off the court. I've traveled the world and learned about its cultures, and I've met the most spectacular variety of people. These are all the elements of good storytelling—and with that I'm embarking on a new career in fiction, with the help of a lot of very talented and special people. Thank you to all of you.

Seth Sabal

MONICA SELES was awarded a full scholarship to a sports academy at the age of thirteen and attended a couple of sports academies during her career. She won the French Open at the age of sixteen and went on to become the number-one-ranked woman in tennis, winning a total of nine Grand Slam titles before retiring from the game in 2004. Monica was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009. She is now an ambassador for the Intergovernmental Institution for the use of Micro-algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition (IIMSAM) and a board member of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, using the power of sport as a tool for change. Her memoir,
Getting a Grip: On My Mind, My Body, My Self
, was a national bestseller.

JAMES LAROSA loves drama, but he was too much of a goody-goody growing up to actually cause any. So he became a television writer, concocting scandalous tales for CBS, NBC, ABC Family, and MTV, among others. He also dug up dirt in sports, interviewing top athletes for
USA Today, Tennis
magazine, and Tennis Channel.

Copyright © 2013 by Monica Seles

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

First published in the United States of America in June 2013
by Bloomsbury Children's Books
www.bloomsbury.com

This electronic edition published in June 2013

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Bloomsbury Children's Books, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Seles, Monica.
Game on / by Monica Seles. — First U.S. edition.
pages      cm. — (The Academy ; 1)
Summary: Sixteen-year-old tennis star Maya's dreams come true when she earns a scholarship to
the Academy, a sports training facility/boarding school for teenaged athletes, but can she survive
the constant drama of her talented classmates?
[1. Athletes—Fiction. 2. Tennis—Fiction. 3. Dating (Social customs)—Fiction. 4. Interpersonal
relations—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.S456918Gam 2013              [Fic]—dc23               2012038359

Book design by Nicole Gastonguay

eISBN: 978-1-6196-3005-5