“I guess.” I did like me. But there were so many options out there. “Unless I can be Cher? Can I be Cher?” I crossed my fingers and held them up so he could see them.
“Don’t want to date Cher,” he replied. Aww. Sweet.
Also, that wasn’t a no, so maybe I could be Cher… then again, one of the only things I had going for me that Cher didn’t have was that Luke Chambers wanted to date me, so I wasn’t giving that up.
“Nicholas Cage?” I offered instead. He was another guy.
“Even worse.” His disgusted face was so cute.
If the opportunity presented itself to be Nick Cage, I would totally do that just to freak Luke out, but otherwise I would be me. That sounded just fine actually. I had great people in my life, great things to look forward to, and a really great boyfriend.
This was going to be an incredible year.
2. Foul Ball
Baseball!
Luke
Ryan didn’t have a lot of friends or fun in high school before junior year, and he wanted to make the most of his senior year now while he did have those things. It was a new start, a different chapter in his life. I wanted to be around for his adventures when I could be to support him and spend time with him… and to make sure no one suffered serious bodily harm, but I didn’t want the same things as him for my senior year.
I wanted senior year to be, I don’t know, shoes or a purse or something.
God, note to self,neversay that out loud to anyone.
Though really, yeah. This year should be shoes or a purse or a belt. A complement to the rest. All the good parts of my high school experience.
Okay, there was one new thing I wanted. To win the championships. What could be better than captaining a championship team my senior year, having a boyfriend to cheer me on from the stands, and then spending time with him?Answer, of course, was nothing.
I was living my best life. Last year was full of ups and downs. Falling in love with Ryan Miller? Super, super awesome. Coming out and stuff? Good but also awful. And it was over now. It was smooth sailing from here on out. A victory lap after a mostly awesome high school experience.
Nothing intense or major was happening with baseball as we were in the off season, but I still wanted to be prepared, get a head start. I went to talk to Coach after our first week of school.
He wasn’t in his classroom, so I went by the weight room. There was an office next door the coaches shared that was also sort of a storage closet but had a desk and a computer along with excess sporting equipment. Coach liked to go there when he wanted to smoke a cigarette without setting a terrible example for students.
Voices drifted towards me as I walked near the weight room.
“Might not be the best time—”
“When else are we gonna talk about it?”
“We need to plan if we’re going to pull this off—"
I got closer to the weight room and saw some of the guys from the baseball team were already in there. Like Zach Ahmad and Joey Wilson. Those guys were some of my best friends. They were both terrible people in different ways, but they weremyterrible people.
I wasn’t even annoyed that Zach seemed to be there voluntarily even though I usually had to drag him to work out. Getting Joey to lift weights wasn’t a chore; the trick was getting him tostop. Yes, the catcher needed to be sturdy and strong as people came sliding into him at home, but he also had to run when hitting, so there was a limit.
There were a couple other guys with them, a senior, a sophomore, and a junior. It didn’t look like any of them were actually exercising yet. Still, good effort. Being in the weight room was at least a step in the right direction.
The guys didn’t notice me yet and I was about to step into the room and encourage them to actually do some weightlifting instead of just standing around by the machines. All part of a captain’s job.
Then Zach said, “Hmm, I never thought of it like that.”
I paused, not announcing myself. Those words? Instant red flag. Ahmad didn’t know everything but good luck getting him to admit that.
“I get it,” said Sam Michaels, the senior. He played right field and would be a starter this year. His toenails looked like candy corn, but I didn’t want to get into that right now.
Mom used to say that Zach’s problem was that his confidence was warranted and he knew it while Sam’s problem was that his hotshot attitude wasn’t deserved and he had no idea. He had a weird smile on his face, like he was trying to be charming.
