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CHAPTER11
Choking up on the handle,Lauren twisted her hands around the new grip on the old metal bat. With the midmorning sun hidden behind a wide swath of patchy clouds, she had a good view of the field, but she couldn’t focus.
Instead of watching the pitcher, Lauren’s attention drifted to the stands. In her text that morning, Jenny said she couldn’t make it thanks to a writing deadline she’d put off, but Lauren searched among the dozen attendees anyway. Maybe she’d changed her mind. Maybe she’d lied just to surprise her. Maybe she’d understand how important the silly game was to her family.
“Strike one!” The neutral party serving as the umpire called, jerking Lauren out of her head.
Shaking off her disappointment like a sudsy dog escaping the tub, Lauren adjusted her stance and zeroed in on Sylvie’s uncle’s hands. Maybe Jenny would make it before the game was over.
After three balls, another strike, and way too many foul balls, Lauren’s palms were feening for a good hit. Her only job was to hit a quick grounder and get on base, but she was having a hard time getting into a rhythm.
With sweat beading down her hair line, Lauren took a few practice swings and stepped back into the batter’s box. Kicking at the orange clay, she dug into her spot. Determined, she went at the next pitch like it owed her money.
The ball cracked against her bat, the ring echoing in her ear as she tore off toward first base. With her dad’s yells floating just above the roar of cheers coming from the Machado’s dugout, Lauren didn’t slow as she rounded first base and continued for second.
Sylvie stood in the lane as she yelled at the third baseman scrambling to get her the ball. Dipping her shoulder, Lauren didn’t deviate a step, even though she could’ve sidestepped Sylvie and been safe. She was blocking her path. She was the one in the wrong.
Years of progress and growth evaporated as Lauren refused to let Sylvie control her. Refused to let her win.
Lauren’s inner sixteen-year-old took over. Suppressing her need for self-preservation, she barreled straight into Sylvie.
With a grunt, Sylvie absorbed the impact of Lauren slamming into her. Like a violent ballet, they danced. Suspended in the air, Lauren floated with Sylvie beneath her for a split second before they crashed into the orange dirt.
In a tangle of arms and legs, Sylvie and Lauren struggled against each other. Tearing at her shirt, Sylvie struggled against Lauren.
“Get off of me!” Sylvie shrieked.
Lauren was already scrambling toward second base. On her hands and knees, she didn’t waste any time standing. Stretching her body, she touched the white bag with her fingertips before anybody could tag her out.
“Have you lost your mind!” Sylvie screamed as she got to her feet, her white uniform as dirty and disheveled as Lauren’s red one.
Blood rushed through Lauren’s body with unprecedented vigor. She was fully awake for the first time in years. Every synapse fired. Every muscle twitched as her body vibrated.
“You can’t stand in the base lane, Sylvia!” She went to great pains to elongate the A at the end. Sylvi-uhhh had the flair she was after.
With rage Lauren hadn’t seen since high school, Sylvie charged toward her. In the momentary stream of sunlight igniting her honey eyes, it was like she’d caught fire from the inside out. She stopped short of bumping her chest against Lauren’s even though Lauren knew she wanted to.
“You’re a psycho!” Sylvie bellowed, her balled up fists at her sides like it was taking all her self-control to leave them there.
Lauren watched Sylvie’s pulse pounding in her neck. With all the years that had passed, she was still that teenage firecracker. Always ready to combust in the kind of colorful display that was impossible to look away from.
“Okay, okay.” Lauren’s dad rushed onto the field from the dugout as Sylvie’s family joined him. Did they really think they were going to beat each other up? “Come on, girls.”
“Girls?” Lauren and Sylvie replied in unison, turning their ire toward a single source.
“Ladies,” Sylvie’s father corrected. “Let’s not get kicked out of the park again this year, okay? No fighting.”
“Fine, just eject her from the game.” Sylvie crossed her arms over her chest.
Lauren cackled sarcastically. “If anyone should be booted it’s you. You obstructed my path when you didn’t have the ball. I had every right to run through you, cheater.”
The name-calling wasn’t her proudest moment, but they hadn’t gone after each other directly in years. She was rusty and her adrenaline was obscuring her thoughts. Trucking Sylvie hadn’t been a conscious decision. The electrical impulses moving her muscles had acted on memory. On the rivalry embedded in her DNA.
A drop of shame rippled the waters of Lauren’s heady excitement. They weren’t kids anymore. She couldn’t indulge her base impulses.
“Can we just get on with the game?” Sylvie snapped, unable to defend herself from the accusation.
“If you can stop crying and play, yeah,” Lauren replied, tapping her foot on second base.
