The Junior Tournament

Two Saturdays in. There was one week remaining until my birthday, and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to last it out. Nor did I think I’d last my mixed one-on-one match in the junior tournament Jenny had been thoughtful enough to enter me into.

My opponent was a girl with ginger hair from a middle-school on the other side of town. I didn’t want this little redhead to see how frightened of losing to her I was, so fitfully I decided not to pick at my underpants before we began, even though they’d started to ride-up so bad it was driving me crazy. I just got into start-position, not even daring to try and say anything cheeky to her. If I lost, I knew I'd never live it down!

We started to play and she immediately got the upper hand. Still, I was mad to get that ball, and from what I'd seen so far of how girls from her school played, it was already going to be hard enough! I kicked the rubber soles of my sneakers squeaking from the court again to clumsily try and catch up.

She saw me, smirked, and of course drew to a stop even though she was standing nowhere in particular on the court. Shyly I stopped too, close enough to smell her but too far off to reach the ball where she was bouncing it. I was frightened she'd bolt the minute I made an awkward grab. It was nearly unbearable to have to stay still like this though. I couldn't catch my breath, and for some reason the itch from my underwear ride-up had chosen this moment to start driving me crazy.

Her smell was amazing, like hot chilli and tomato jam. Like I needed to be more flustered! It was tantalizing to not quite be able to reach the ball, but more so to only get peripheral sniffs of her when I longed to stuff my nostrils up.

It was no good. Jenny was watching and I couldn't let her see me too frightened to act. The thought of her was maddening my mind, it just wouldn't go away. A girl who was already as good at this as Jenny was would only ever look down on someone who couldn't handle one-on-one at this level.

Clumsily I tried to tackle the redhead, but as soon as I moved, she moved too and in a swirl of her plaid mini-gym skirt was out of my reach.

Her panties took me totally by surprise. It went to show I was a lot older than the other contestants here, because I'd been expecting white on a girl her age! Black ones that left a bit of her butt-cheeks poking out were the last thing I thought I'd glimpse. Oh no, this was certain to cause the problem I’d been struggling with all week! I couldn't risk trying another tackle because if Jenny saw that happen to me in the middle of the court, my life would officially be over.

Timidly I held back, so that the red-headed girl in black underwear proceeded to score. She flashed me a cheeky grin, and wow, she really was younger than me. Sexy in her mini-skirt and knee-socks, but so young I was too embarrassed to even look at the audience in case I caught Jenny’s eye.

The next couple of rounds went the same way. As soon as the little redhead saw I'd missed my first few shots, and that I kept fumbling the ball and getting flustered for reasons I was well able to figure out, she started being unbearable.

"Wow, do all boys from your school smell as bad as you at this?" was the first innocent question she asked me.

I flushed crimson, knowing full well why I was playing badly today and whose fault it was. When the red-headed girl got the ball at the start of the next round I was mad at her, but even more so at Morgan.

I hurried after the former. Just when I was breathless seconds away from catching up and snatching the ball back - ooh! The itch was back with a vengeance, and it was so bad and so deep that I had to stop right away and shove both hands behind me to scratch my hardest through my shorts to try and get at the bunched-up underwear beneath. It was so satisfying to sort it out, but I really wished it could have chosen its moments a little better because of course the redhead got away, and what made it worse was that she scored!

She turned to me. "Sorry you're not doing well, because you smell," she sang. Then she made the absolute rudest gesture I knew, which I never imagined I'd ever see from a girl.

I'd blushed before, but this was worse, because this time I really had lost to a little girl and I was helpless to do anything about it. It didn't make me feel any better at all that everyone in the audience was cheering and whistling her. Uhh, why couldn't I get the hang of it today?

Only I already knew the answer to that. It was thanks to Morgan, making me wait.

We got back into the starting position. Close to the red-haired girl I was doubly indignant about that horrid hand-signal she’d given me in front of everyone. She however just smirked back up at me, almost driving me crazy. I was determined to win this round, and then make a gesture every bit as rude right back at her, even if she was a girl. It wasn’t like I even had any business losing to her like I was doing, I reminded myself hotly!

We sprang two-footed together, my touselly head and her sleek red one pointing at the ceiling. I was taller than her though, so I had the advantage here. I caught the ball and landed, but even as the soles of my shoes dropped back to the court I knew it was no use. Something Jenny had predicted, and I’d dreaded, had been going on since I saw my opponent’s underwear and by now I was the one who had something everybody in the crowd could see. Why did this have to keep happening, I thought to myself in distraction? I knew I was doing what Morgan wanted, but why couldn’t I control it like Jenny wanted? You just couldn’t win with the girls I knew!

There was nothing else for it though. Pulling a furious face I passed the ball extremely roughly to the little red-headed girl, hardly able to believe I had to give it up no sooner than I'd finally got my hands on it, and stalked off the court. I couldn’t play like this. The embarrassment of everyone seeing it through my PE shorts would have been just too much. And anyway, it had got so bad I’d never have been able to run!

Afterwards, Jenny was the first to come over. Unlike Morgan however, who always behaved in exactly the way you’d expect of a girl, Jenny was one surprise after another. She didn’t tease me about losing, and she wasn’t even mad at me.

"You know, just because you're older it doesn't mean you've got to be better than us at this," she said. "You're good at some things and girls are good at other things. That's just the way it works."