Chapter 2

“The fuck was that this morning in the hallway?” Mike boomed, setting his lunch tray down to my right.

“QUIET!” I seethed. “Nothing. I don’t know.”

“THAT was not nothing,” Shelby added quickly from my left.

I dropped my spoon back into my chili and closed my eyes. Oh yes, chili, maybe my favorite school lunch. And it seemed to taste better than usual today. Then again, maybe everything had started to taste better lately.

“Look, I’m as confused as anyone. I’ve known Alexis since what, fifth grade? We’re friendly, but we’ve never been close. Whatever THAT was, it came out of left field.”

“I was talking more about Deedee,” Mike shot back.

“Deedee?”

“Deedee? Deandra? Double-D?” Shelby offered with mock innocence. “There are already rumors that you two are an item.”

“I have no ... I didn’t even talk to her this morning. You two saw it! I don’t know the last time I talked to her at all!”

Now the conversation had the attention of the rest of our table. Marcus and Trent, known as “Beast” and “Tree,” were listening with interest across from me. Beast was a close friend, already a mountain of a strapping young man, closing in on 6 feet tall. He had been held back a grade in elementary school and had turned 16 over the winter. Tree had an inch on Beast, but none of his bulk. Both were fellow farm kids.

“So, you and Double-D, huh?” Beast grinned. Tree stifled a laugh.

“What’s going on there?” Jesse asked from down the table, his twin brother James perking up in interest. Who names their twin sons Jesse and James? Their parents, apparently. The boys were diminutive but muscular wrestlers, with no time for any other sports.

Jesse’s girlfriend Rachael Hudson, tight against his side as usual, was giving me an appraising look. Autumn Kent and Lea Rens, both shy girls sitting next to Rachael, were trading quiet whispers.

“I dunno, I got ambushed by the future Homecoming Queen about helping out her boyfriend in baseball. That’s weird, because we’re not close, but we get along fine. Everything else is as much a mystery to me as it is to all of you.”

“Ahem. Hi guys! Can I borrow Jake for a moment?”

The hairs on the back of my neck popped up at the sound of that voice again. Alexis was back, holding her lunch tray with a clear invitation for me to leave my friends and head to her table.

Smirks formed all around the table before Shelby spoke up. “He’s all yours,” she oozed with fake honey.

I sighed and gripped my tray from both sides and started to rise. “I’ll be right back, guys.”

“Sure you will,” Mike drawled.

With me in tow, Alexis stepped over to a half-empty table where an expectant Deandra Vant Hull perched.

Alexis set her tray down across from Deedee, smoothed her skirt and took a seat, glancing at me to follow suit.

I set my tray next to Alexis and sat sideways on the bench, not fully committing to taking a seat. “Hi, Deedee,” I offered, shortly.

“Hi Jake,” Deedee answered, a broad smile tugging in both of her dimples, her dark blue eyes shining. Deedee had coppery red hair, cropped to just above shoulder-length with some bigger curls in it, the back put up in some kind of clip. Did I mention I had a bit of a thing for redheads? She was rather well built for a freshman, while dressed fairly conservatively, one could not help but notice.

“So” I looked at Alexis, hoping to cut to the chase. Eyes everywhere were on us, including my own table of friends.

“So.” Alexis looked at me pointedly. “We have plans for you this spring and summer. Deandra is my best friend. Brian Thompsen broke up with her last month, and she needs someone to double date with Mitch and me. We’d been waiting for you to get back into the game, and when we saw you this morning, we knew it was time.”

I let that soak in for a moment, looking back and forth between Lexie, who acted as if she’d just read me unquestionable scripture, and Deedee, who looked at me expectantly.

“That, um, that is a lot to think about.”

“Think about?” asked incredulously. “What is there to think about? Do you not like Deandra here? I don’t think she’d want to hear that.”

The color had started to drain a little from Deedee’s face as the mere thought of rejection probably hadn’t entered her mind.

“No, no.” I offered apologetically, my hands up defensively. “I just didn’t wake up this morning knowing I’d suddenly be dating someone. I honestly hadn’t even given much thought to dating in, um, let’s say a while. Or whether I was ready for that yet.”

I looked pointedly back and forth at them, shrugging slightly.

“Well you have time to get used to the idea,” Lexie replied airily. “We aren’t going out until Saturday.”

My jaw dropped a little, and I narrowed my eyes, my posture stiffened up a bit. I found a little courage in my irritation.

“Do I have anything to say about these plans of yours? How about Deedee here? Does she have anything to say about it?” I offered, looking plaintively at Deedee, actually speaking directly to her for the first time.

Deedee shrank back slightly, looking down from my gaze and replied, “I guess if you don’t like me...”

“Whoa, whoa,” I stopped her. Now addressing only Deedee as if Alexis weren’t there. “I ... You’re gorgeous, we all know that, and we’ve always gotten along very well. This is just, way sudden for me and I am not saying I don’t like you. At all. I just didn’t know you thought of me in that way.”

Deedee seemed to perk back up. Alexis took me in coldly.

“Don’t play coy, Jacob. You know you’re handsome and this unfortunate thing you went through couldn’t last forever. Girls have been talking about you again. You’ve already been a part of a power couple. It’s time for you to get back on the market,” she paused with a predatory gleam in her green eyes. “By getting right back off the market.”

Deedee smiled more broadly at that, looking at me hopefully again.

“Look, Jacob, you’re going to have the best summer ever. We guarantee it,” Lexie added.

“Wait,” I said as I gathered myself up. “I already have big plans for this summer. In fact, my family and I are discussing how we’re going to plan it all out tonight. I don’t know how dating fits into any of that.”

Almost pleadingly, I looked at both of them. “Gimme a few days to sort it out and let me give you an answer?”

Lexie gave me a full evaluation once more, clearly not expecting this resistance, or perhaps even rebellion, from the likes of me. She pursed her lips together.

“It’s a bowling date, Jacob,” she added with an air of finality. “My mom will be picking all of us up and dropping all of us off. Let us know by Friday, at the very latest.”

“Uh, OK,” I replied.

“You can go now,” Lexie dismissed me in a sweeping motion with her fingers wiggling down from her hand. She was clearly looking to get an answer long before Friday.

I stood up, almost too quickly, then remembered my manners. “Deedee,” I nodded with a small smile to her. “Alexis,” I offered, coldly.

I took myself and my tray the short distance back to our table, sat down, and held up one hand to forestall all questions. Three different open mouths snapped shut.

I grabbed my spoon once again, about to finish my chili when the warning bell signaled the end of lunch period.

“Fuck!” I grumbled, under my breath, looking at my less-than half eaten tray.

“You gonna eat that cinnamon roll?” Beast asked hopefully.

“Yes!” I growled, slapping his meaty paw away from my tray. I shoveled one last bite of chili into my mouth, deciding quickly that chili was much better when it was hot. I brought my tray to the disposal area, wrapped my cinnamon roll in a napkin and headed for the exit.

THWACK!

This felt familiar. This felt right. The pop of leather ball smashing leather glove. Mitch and I were standing 60 feet apart and already developing the old, almost mechanical, rhythm of simple catch. The whole baseball team had assembled after school ended, seniors all the way down to us freshmen. Our Varsity coach had given a less-than stirring speech about how disappointing it had been to lose in regionals last year, and how we’d take our place at state this year. Then the coaches split us off into Varsity and JV teams, shooing us freshmen and most of the sophomores out to the smaller gym.

The only thing that didn’t feel quite right was how short and tight last year’s baseball pants had gotten on me. I wondered if mom had shrunk them in the wash.

“You wearing a cup today, Parker?”

“Of course, coach,” I laughed.

“Good,” our JV coach smiled, sharply swinging the handle of a bat at my crotch, but pulling up short of the threatened targets. I knew better than to flinch. “You’ll need to catch for half the pitchers today, and you gotta protect those family jewels.”

Coach had me set up in the corner of the gym with pitchers lined up behind a fake mound that had been pulled into the room. Mitch set up on the plastic green turf and hurled an easy fastball right into where I’d set up. The familiar pop into my mitt felt great. The gym floor was not quite the small gravel of an infield, but it sure felt nice to practice away from the still-chilly spring air.

Mitch fired nine more great pitches before stepping off. I was just gloving these pitches and dropping the balls into a big pickle bucket. My right arm would likely fall off if I tossed back every practice pitch. It dawned on me between pitchers that baseball was the only thing on my mind. Not Alexis or Deedee, not Christmas, just baseball. There was something to be said for America’s Pastime.

Brian Thompsen toed the rubber next. He wound up and unloaded one a yard in front the plate. It skipped up and I snared it just over my mask. I tilted my head and dropped the ball into the bucket. He wound up again and fired it way to my left. I leaned over quickly and snatched it, popped up and flipped up my mask.