“Wha’d’ya say we get some badminton practice in, Miss Xiaoli?” he asked, his half-smile spreading a little.
“Alright!”
“C’mon, we’re down here.” He led me down a path through the forest.

“Man, you have a mean forehand!” Cricket told me, nearly laughing. I grinned at his praise.
“And I must say you have some intense skill yourself,” I commended. Cricket & I were smacking the living daylights out of the shuttlecock; we tumbled, we dove, Cricket even pulled off a back handspring here and there.
He sat on a nearby treestump, I on a tree limb.
“I’d say you have a good chance tomorrow,” he said pensively. “Only reason I say it like that is because I have no idea how well the Ninja plays.”
“We gonna have a crowd of a thousand again?” I asked, cracking a smirk.
He laughed. “Nah, just some of Tony’s family.”
“I have the feeling he has a big family?”
“Well,” he hesitated. “Yeah. Yeah, he does.” I rolled my eyes, smiling.
“You never cease to amaze me, Cricket.”
He grinned. “Why thank you, m’lady.”