Simone threw the tennis ball in the air and served it with a very hard whack. Anticipating her opponent’s return move, she got into position, clutching her racket intently. But the ball didn’t return. Simone was ready to shout “15-love!”, but before she could say anything, she heard her opponent cry “Fault!”

Simone was surprised. In all her years of playing tennis, she had occasionally heard people calling a fault after missing her serve. Sometimes, she had done it herself when she was the receiver. But for the first time, Simone had herself call a fault for her own serve.

Simone played tennis as a hobby, and she had won a few local trophies and ribbons. But as good as she was, she was also fiercely competitive, short-tempered and quick to shift responsibility if she perceived there was anything to blame for her failures other than herself. She also had a bad habit of boasting when she won anything and sulking when she lost. When she was involved in a game of doubles, it wasn’t just her opponents that suffered her wrath; even her revolving door of partners were subject to her abuse and arrogance.   After a fainting spell that cost her a game, she was diagnosed with late-onset postnatal mitosis and had been given orders to relax herself on the tennis court. But she ignored her doctor’s orders, and eventually ended up with identical quadruplet sisters, forcing her to take a leave of absence from physical activity for some time, if only to get acclimated to her new predicament. But she was determined to get back in the game as soon as she could, and once she felt up to it, she brought along her clones to her first match in a long time. What better opponents and partners could she have had than herself?

Alpha Simone was visibly confused by one of her duplicates calling out her serve as a fault. The ball didn’t appear to be outside of the service box from her point of view, and she tried to clear up matters.

“You absolutely sure?”, she asked.

Beta Simone pointed her racket at the ball. From her point of view, the ball was out of bounds, and she had every right to call it.

“I’m positive.”

“Funny, I could’ve sworn it wasn’t,” said Alpha Simone.

Beta Simone’s patience was starting to wear thin.

“I’m telling you, your ball is out of bounds!”

Alpha Simone turned to her partner for a second opinion.

“Hey, did my serve look like a fault to you?”

Gamma Simone shook her head.

“Nope. No fault as far as I can see.”

Beta Simone was annoyed. As far as she could see, Alpha Simone had made a fault, but both Alpha and Gamma Simone were completely oblivious, willingly or not. Beta Simone’s partner Delta Simone was annoyed for different reasons - she just wanted to get the game over and done with.

“Oh, so we're the dirty cheaters, are we?”, snapped Beta Simone.

Alpha Simone glared at her opponents.

“Well yeah, only because we're in the lead.”

Delta Simone rolled her eyes in response to the accusation. “Huh! View must be great from your glass house,” she scoffed.

Gamma Simone approached the net and leaned on it as if it were a balcony. “You both suck anyway. Losers”, she taunted.

Beta Simone was pissed. All those trophies and ribbons, and someone had the audacity to call her a loser? Forgetting that the person who insulted her was literally her equal, she stormed up to Gamma Simone and raised her racket as if it were a weapon.

“What?” snarled Beta Simone. “What the fuck did you say to me?”

“I said you suck, loser!”, said Gamma Simone, her tone becoming that of a petulant smart-aleck child.

Beta Simone had had enough, and stormed off.

“Me, a loser? Pfeh!”, she muttered.

As Gamma Simone stuck her tongue out, Delta Simone crouched down on her racket and sulked. Alpha Simone threw up her hands, dropping her racket in the process, and sighed at the scene that just went on. Not even Simone could stand to be around herself on the tennis court.