In the courts.

Someone was missing.
"Yeah, Jason won't be coming. He had a bike accident yesterday."
Sarah and Jon were already warming up.
"Great!"
Everybody looked at Tom.
"No, I mean not great. Sorry that your brother is hurt. But great now we still have an even number of players."
He wasn't the best with words. He somehow still managed to give a speech in front of the whole school for graduation. He's genuinely a smart-ass. Just not good with people.
"You and Jon take the small court over there", he pointed to the court opposite of where we were standing and then turned to Darleen, Anna and me.
"And we'll take this one."
Sounds like a plan. We all take positions.
"Have you played before?"
The question was directed to Darleen but she didn't seem to notice me.
"Have you played badminton before?"
Darleen turned around.
Funny. She can hear Tom but not me.
"When I was younger me and my sisters played it in the garden."
"So you know the basics. Great. How does Girls vs. guys sound?"
"Sounds great"
Darleen answered before Anna could say anything. I smiled to myself and then to Tom. And then we destroyed the girls. Well, in the game. We scored one point after another. The first match was over pretty soon.
"That was unfair. Why didn't somebody say anything?" Darleen sounded exhausted.
"I told you I was good."
"Oh, I know you ar-", she cut herself off mid sentence, "How about you and me against Anna and Eric?"