"1 more minute before the test begins..." Mr Choi, our math teacher announces. I take a deep breath, mentally counting down the seconds before the test would start.

It was going to be a long day. Trust me, I wasn't exaggerating. Math test early in the morning, regular lessons as usual till late afternoon, following which I had 2 tennis matches to play, all of which with my "conjoined twin" in tow, rather inevitably. A international junior tennis tournament had begun only yesterday, I had a singles match against a Spaniard in the first round, following which I would play a doubles match with Tiffany. I almost never played doubles but Tiffany talked me into it. Well, being chronically unable to say no to Tiffany certainly made her task much easier...
"Your time starts now!"

I instantly begin scanning through the questions. . Math had never been my strong suit, but I knew a difficult paper when I saw one. And this, was horrifyingly challenging. I stole a quick glance at Tiffany, wondering how she was doing. Her eyebrows were furrowed, her focus seemingly at its peak as she continued scribbling on the test paper. She looked cute...

Focus on the test you idiot!

Try as I might, I barely managed to finish half the paper. After Mr Choi had collected all our test papers, I turned to Tiffany glumly and asked, "How was it?"

Tiffany offered me a half-hearted smile and shook her head. "It'll be a miracle if I pass!"

"I feel you, it was so hard!"

Tiffany pouted and started twirling her hair around her fingers, "You know, if school doesn't work out for me by this year, I might  just attempt turning pro as early as possible."

"For real?" I asked, rather surprised. Of course I had always harboured thoughts of turning professional, but I had always seen school as an option to fall back on if tennis didn't work out and never really thought of leaving school to focus solely on tennis.

"I mean, look, if I can't even obtain decent grades while working hard, what's the point of trying for academics when it could affect the development of my tennis prowess? Tennis is my passion, my gifts lie in tennis, and breakthroughs at early ages are commonplace in women's tennis! Think Martina Hingis, Serena Williams..."

Hmmm...I had never really looked at it from that angle before, that academics could affect my tennis. But she had a point. Besides, having failed 4 subjects last year, my grades weren't exactly too promising...

My gaze is fixated on my opponent's service motion. The ball leaves her racket with a loud 'pop' sound...I immediately split-step, ready to return her booming serve...only for the ball to end up in the net. My opponent tosses her racket to the side of the court in disgust at having double-faulted on match point, then gives me a curt handshake. Satisfied with my comfortable 6-4, 6-1 victory, I head to the court Tiffany is playing at to watch her in action.

Her Chilean opponent was much bigger and stronger than her but anyone with a perceptive tennis brain would be able to see that Tiffany, while unable to unleash the missiles her opponent could, was outmanoeuvring her opponent in most rallies with clever use of angles and superb finesse. Oh and of course, her superb court coverage. In some ways, this match reminded me of the match I played against Tiffany a while ago. Less than 15 minutes after I started watching her, Tiffany had closed the match out with a scoreline of 6-1, 7-5.

With the scheduling more hectic than usual due to a couple of rain delays earlier on in the day, Tiffany had barely had time to take a sip of water before our doubles match was due to start. We had a daunting assignment against the top seeds, two Romanian players already well known for their exploits in lower-tier professional events. 

Doubles specialists have always emphasised the importance of chemistry in a doubles pairing and apparently more often than not the presence or lack thereof of chemistry between two can be sensed after just one match played together.

It was probably fitting that I was oozing with confidence when taking to the court with Tiffany by my side. She was a player no one would want to see on the opposite side of the net and in many ways she was the perfect doubles player-what she lacked in power she made up for with outstanding finesse and touch, she was such a good communicator, always encouraging me after I had made a mistake, and she had such a brilliant tennis brain, constantly developing the right strategy to be used in different points. We completely blew our more well-known opponents away, winning 6-1, 6-3. 

After I had claimed the match with a routine overhead smash, Tiffany ran up to me and hugged me tightly. 

"We need to try this professionally too!" She beamed and fist-bumped me.

We would eventually, and absolutely no one could have fathomed what would come after...