Chapter 6

I walked into the freshman hallway of the school and made my way to my intended target. She was, again, talking to Lexie and facing away from me. She was filling out a set of acid washed jeans rather nicely, a pink sweater over another button down long-sleeve. This time Lexie didn’t raise her eyebrows as I approached.

“Parker,” Lexie announced, suddenly surprising Deedee. “You’ll be a dear be sure to bring your home jersey for Deedee to wear tomorrow morning?

I stared blankly for a moment, not sure what she was talking about.

“Jacob,” she looked down her nose at me, a difficult thing for the shorter girl to accomplish. “You get your new baseball uniforms tonight at practice. Will you be a dear and bring your home jersey for Deedee to wear?”

I wasn’t particularly tired, but I suddenly felt miles behind whatever Lexie was up to.

“Sure,” I stammered. I shook my head to clear it, then took charge, looking to Deedee.

“Good morning,” I practically purred.

“Good morning yourself,” Deedee grinned, giving me an electric smile.

“I think I have a handle on this. Our first game is tomorrow, a road game. You want to wear my home jersey tomorrow?”

“Yes,” both girls said in unison, only Lexie rolled her eyes while saying it.

I took Deedee’s arm, gently guiding her toward my locker, leaving Lexie with a half a comment in her mouth and her eyebrow raised threateningly.

“I’d love to see you in my jersey tomorrow,” I said as we slowly walked away. “Will you be coming to the game?”

“Of course,” she grinned. We’ll take the activity bus and see you there.”

“Looking forward to it,” I grinned as I slipped my backpack into my locker, pulling out my algebra book.

Deedee turned her toe in the floor tiles for a moment and absently twirled a stray strand of her coppery locks. “Jacob,” she asked shyly. “Will you sit with me at lunch today.”

My eyes flashed open. All at once things were a lot more clear, but no less complex. We were definitely drifting into in boyfriend/girlfriend waters now, no question. I was just thrilled to hear her ask me instead of hearing Lexie simply to demand it of me. But what about my crew? I couldn’t simply abandon the guys, and well, the girls.

I leaned in close and touched my fingertip once to tap her left dimple. “How about this? Would tomorrow be OK? I can’t just abandon my crew all at once. There’d be a riot,” I shrugged with a mock eyeroll.

She blushed and giggled, partly at the touch to her dimple.

“Sure,” she beamed. “It’s a date.”

“Guys, I need to tell you all something.”

The lunch table got a little quieter. Big, rectangular pieces of lunchroom pizza suddenly forgotten.

“You got, laid!” Trent Turner teased.

“No, Tree,” Beast shook his head firmly. “He still hasn’t.”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but no, I haven’t.” I chastised.

By now Shelby, Mike, the Wilson twins, Rachael, Chris Anders (a longtime friend, and baseball teammate), and Vernon Donaldson were all staring at me. Shelby’s friends Autumn Kent and Lea Rens had started joining us recently. Autumn Kent was a wisp of a girl, with pouty lips and pretty hazel eyes that complimented her riot of auburn curls, hanging around her shoulders. She was as quiet as she was thin, and I’m not sure I’d ever had a full conversation with her. Lea Rens, on the other hand, was a taller, more boisterous blonde, a basketball and volleyball player. She had a mane of dirty blonde hair perpetually in a ponytail, with blue eyes and darker eyebrows to match her angular face. She was very much a girl-jock.

“I’m going to sit with Deedee at lunch tomorrow. I said quietly.”

“So?” Mikey questioned, rather flatly.

“Everyone expected that,” Tree teased.

I looked around at teasing faces, and hardened my own.

“Guys, I was feeling bad that I’d be abandoning my crew over this. You guys don’t care?”

“We care,” Shelby reassured me. “We just all knew it was coming sooner or later,” she added with a shrug.

“Apparently everyone but you, dude,” Mikey teased. “Oh, and she’s looking over here at you again.”

I turned my head toward her table, just in time for Deedee and Lexie to look up and catch me.

Busted again.

I turned back to Mike and frowned. “Not that anyone will miss me, apparently,” I added bitterly. “But I thought I’d do every other day there and here.”

“That’s fine,” Beast grinned, waving his fork in the air for emphasis. I can read you like an open book from right across the table, or across the cafeteria.”

“Maybe we’ll have to develop some sort of sign language, so I can communicate with you from either location as well,” I grinned, magically pulling an extended middle finger out of my pocket for him.

Everyone was chuckling. “I’ll show you tomorrow. I promise!”

New uniforms were unveiled with much fanfare and handed out at practice. The home whites were gleaming white, brand new. “Wolfpack” was emblazoned across the chest in blue and red, with small numbers on the lower left front. Large numbers in blue with red piping dominated the back. Oh, and for the first time, our last names were on the back as well. They were sweet. The grays even looked pretty good, with the same layout as the home jerseys, just on light gray. New for 1991 was an American flag patch on each sleeve. With the Gulf War winding down, there was a lot of patriotism going around. I just liked the look, and all the colors matched.

I gratefully received my jerseys and held the white one up to see “PARKER” stretched across the back in raised letters. These things were awesome.

Our JV coach gave his own less-than-inspiring speech as it was the night before our first game, a road contest that would take us to County Central, our hated rivals in all sports. Funny how that first game always worked out that way. We had eight games ahead of us, and coach thought we were ready for all of them. As a JV team, we wouldn’t have a postseason, regardless of how well we played, so we better make the most of those eight games.

I was as ready to play ball as I’d ever been.

I marched up to Deedee Tuesday morning with a little gift for her. She was in tight, darker jeans, making her look a little taller, with a medium blue turtleneck hugging her ample chest. I pulled out my jersey, having carefully folded it up in my backpack, and tapped her on the shoulder. She spun on her heel and covered her mouth with both hands in excitement. I held out my white jersey for her. She snatched it from me, excitedly running toward the bathroom to change, before stopping and running back to me to give me a chaste peck the on the cheek.

“Thank you, sexy!”

Her eyes were absolutely electric and her cheeks and chin were a rich red from blushing.

She was gone less than two minutes when she came streaking back out to hug me, then laid a blistering kiss right on my lips. PDA was pretty well frowned upon at our school, but she wasn’t holding back.

She pulled away from my lips. “Mmmmwah!” Then she stepped back.

“How do I look?” she asked coyly. She had left the bright white jersey untucked, with the end of it hanging to her thighs. She’d left the top three buttons open, leaving the tops of her gorgeous tits to be covered only by her blue turtleneck. I eyed her up and down, now imagining her only wearing my jersey.

“Woooow...” I drawled.

“I know! I look incredible. Thanks, sexy!” She tapped me on the chin dimple and gave me a peck on the cheek before turning on her toe and sashaying down the hallway. “PARKER” was emblazoned on her back. She was claiming me by wearing that jersey, I realized, and I didn’t mind at all.

“Hey guys,” I offered with a friendly smile, setting my tray next to Deedee. I had a view of my usual table, and my crew was blowing air kisses my way and laughing like hyenas. I pretended to scratch my ear with my middle finger in their direction. Peals of laughter floated out.

“What’s up, Parker,” Mitch asked from the other side of Lexie. Lexie was buttoned up in Mitch’s jersey. I nodded his way.

This table was not full of people unknown to me, and many were friends already, we just had our own circles. Along with Mitch, David Keller, Wyatt Jones, and Chad Woody were here. All football players like me, with Woody playing baseball as well. Wyatt was our fullback and he also wrestled and ran track.

Along with Lexie and Deedee, Kim Nguyen, Allison Grimes, Mandy Prentice and Morgan Emerson were here. With the exception of Morgan, they were tittering gleefully with Deedee about my arrival.

Kim was the only Asian girl in our class. To be perfectly honest, she was the only non-white person in our class. Our school was painfully white, with a total of two black students and a few families of Vietnamese immigrants. Kim was one of those born of Vietnamese parents. She was smart, popular, tiny and very pretty. She sometimes carried a hint of an accent, but worked hard to cover it.

Allison Grimes was a pretty blonde cheerleader with brown eyes and sandy blonde hair. She had been our waitress at the Corner last weekend. She was currently dating Woody, and her white jersey made that abundantly clear.

Mandy Prentice was a short, cute, busty little raven-haired hottie with deep brown eyes. Rumor had it she was quite the hellcat in bed. No telling if that was really true. She flirted openly with about anyone.

Morgan Emerson was generally less friendly to me over our school careers, and I never knew exactly why. She was tall and thin, with brown hair and brown eyes. She wasn’t classically pretty, but she had fine features and was generally popular. Basketball was her sport of choice, and a good choice considering her height.

“Jake,” Morgan practically spat out. “Not sure exactly what Deandra sees in you, but welcome anyway.”

“Play nice!” Lexie admonished the tall girl.

“Always a pleasure, Morgan,” I grinned, dripping with mock honey. “I’m not sure what she sees in me either, but I’m just lucky, I guess.” I shrugged with a smile. I always liked to kill with kindness if I could.

“Your luck will run out eventually,” she gave me a poisonous smile.

“What is your problem!” Deedee practically screeched at her friend.

Morgan was about to reply when Lexie gave her a glacial look.

“We will get along here. It’s not that hard. Jacob is Deedee’s BOYFRIEND now and you will simply have to accept that,” Lexie hissed between her teeth, then pulled her face into her usually charming smile.

I sucked in my breath at that full statement. Somewhere along the edge of my mind, Lexie and Morgan were locked in a silent bitch fight while I pondered my new existence. Just weeks ago I’d decided baseball was starting and I had to get out of my funk. A few extra minutes in front of the mirror, a little hair gel and a wardrobe change and now I’m here? Is this possible? I didn’t plan any of this, I didn’t expect any of this, yet here I was. And now I suddenly had a girlfriend.

“You OK?” Deedee asked me quietly, covering my hand with her own in concern.

Snapped out of my reverie for the moment, I looked at her and pondered her question.

I turned my hand over beneath hers, lacing our fingers together. “I was OK for quite a while. Now, I’m great.”

We looked into each others eyes and just smiled.

“Get a room!” I heard Mike bellow from my old table. Suddenly the bridge of my nose had an itch only my middle finger could scratch.

After checking and double-checking my equipment bag, I got on the bus, ready to get this season started. Mitch was in a bus seat across from me, gently tossing a baseball back and forth to pass the time, and I guess, practice.

I had a white, long sleeved turtleneck under my gray jersey. It would still be a little chilly this early in May. Mom planned to attend, with Josh along for the ride. Dad was getting into spring planting. It was usually June before he could get to a game.

“You’re going to want to go to the varsity game Friday night, Parker. Our girls already expect it.”

“I suppose I better, then,” I grinned. “Don’t want to piss YOUR girlfriend off.”

“Well, life is a WHOLE lot better when she’s happy. And not just for me,” he accused.

“You’re probably right...”

We already knew, but Mitch got the call to start. I’d be catching, likely the whole game, unless it got out of hand, and now the only mystery was the batting order. Jeff Roberts, a lefty sophomore playing first base would lead off. Brian Thompsen, starting at third, would bat second. Mitch would bat third.

“Cleanup spot, Parker.” Coach yelled. “And see that you do clean up!”

As the road team, we started at bat. Jeff slapped a grounder on his third pitch and was out at first. Brian managed a walk. Mitch knocked a bouncer into center to get Brian to second, while he waited up at first.