Dare You to Fall for the Catcher

by Lacy Andersen

  The handful of new runners gathered around me, looking eager to learn. I smiled warmly at them, remembering my own excitement as a freshman. It felt like it was ages ago. I’d been so naive. So innocent. So fresh. It was great to think that even if the group of kids around me weren’t exactly track stars now, they could evolve into something great—if they only knew how.

  “Set up the front of your block about a foot from the starting line,” I said, leaning down to scoot a block back with my hand a few inches. “Whichever is your dominant foot, I want that to be in the spot closest to the line. This is your power leg. This is the leg that will propel you forward and give you the best chance to shave off as much time in your race as possible.”

  Fire burned inside me as I explained where to position their other foot. It had only been a few days, but I already desperately missed the feeling of the track beneath my feet. The grit of my shoes digging into the rubber. And the endorphins—there was nothing like them. I’d just lay in the grass after a race and let them wash over me. It was a runner’s high and I already missed it.

  “How far back is too far?” the leggy brunette asked me as she tried to position her own block.

  “I want your front knee at a ninety-degree angle,” I said, adjusting her as best I could while balancing mostly on my good leg. “There, that’s better.”

  My attention was so focused on getting each runner into their stance that I almost didn’t register the sound of my name being called.

  “Hey, Amanda, what happened to the sexy crutches?”

  I groaned and turned to see Jayden leaning on the fence where I’d been observing just minutes ago. He wore a pair of dark gray sweatpants, a tattered old baseball jersey, and a black baseball cap on his head. The left side of his leg was covered completely in brown dust, as if he’d been rolling around the baseball diamond. His eyes twinkled with humor as he adjusted the bill of his hat and spat out a sunflower seed shell.

  “Just doing a demonstration, Jayden.” I hopped a little to make my point. “Don’t need crutches when I’m standing still.”

  “I’d be careful if I were you,” he said, spitting out another shell. “Don’t want to hurt that ankle. I’d hate to have to come to your rescue—again.”

  He laughed as I made a sour face. Nope, wasn’t going down that path again. I ignored his prodding and turned toward my freshmen again, but it seemed that I’d already lost their attention. Half of them stared starry-eyed at Jayden as if he were a real-life celebrity and the other half already had their phones out and were texting.

  There went any of my hope for the future of my generation.

  Why did Jayden have to show up now?

  “Don’t you have anything better to do?” I demanded, swinging back around to glare at him. Maybe the freshmen wouldn’t listen to me, but I knew I had his ears. He was still leaning on the fence, his muscular and tanned forearms clearly on display.

  “Like what?” he asked.

  “Like, I don’t know, baseball practice?”

  “Sure, I do.” He smiled, showing his impossibly straight, white teeth. “Our team manager is out with mono, so I volunteered to go get the water cooler. It’s awfully hot out there. Just thought I’d make a little pit stop by the track to cool down. You guys have all the best shade.”

  “Mono?” I ran a hand over my long ponytail. Ashton was the baseball team manager and sat next to me in Spanish class. The last thing I needed right now was to get sick with something like the flu. “What’s that? How contagious is it?”

  Jayden’s smile grew bigger with disbelief. “Haven’t you heard about the kissing disease? One bad make-out session and you’re flat on your back for three months. Ashton says it was totally worth it, but I have to wonder if it’s the fever talking.”

  “Oh, that.” I laughed nervously.

  Okay, definitely not the flu. I was safe. I hadn’t kissed anyone in...well, in six years. And the last person I’d kissed stood in front of me now, grinning as if he knew exactly what was running through my mind. My stomach fluttered, leaving me to duck my head to hide my heating cheeks.

  “As I was saying,” I spoke loud enough to get even the texters to look up from their phones, “when the gun goes off, your front leg needs to drive you out of the block, not up. Use the power of your dominant leg to propel you forward, but don’t pop up right away. Ease into it, like an airplane. Make sense?”

  The clueless expressions I saw blinking back at me had me chewing on the inside of my cheek in frustration. Obviously, these freshies needed a little more hands-on demonstration. It didn’t matter if Jayden was hovering, bent on distracting them from my session, I had to show them the right way if our team stood any chance. Hobbling over to the block, I lowered myself down into it, careful not to put too much weight on my bad ankle.

  “See what I mean?” Sweat formed on my forehead and my muscles trembled from the effort to keep my body upright. “Keep low, and eventually, down the lane, you’ll return to your full height. Like an airplane, taking off.”

  Recognition flashed in their eyes and they nodded as if they finally understood. Relief filled me. Maybe the incoming class wasn’t as hopeless as I’d thought. With any luck, there’d be a runner or two within them to help carry the team.

  But just as I was about ready to celebrate this new victory, the straining muscles in my leg gave out. The weight of my body came crashing down on my hurt ankle, causing me to cry out in pain. I collapsed onto the track and clutched at my foot, cursing the moment I’d decided to take compassion on the little freshmen.

  “Mandy!” In a flash, Jayden hopped the fence and was at my side, kneeling on the track in his baseball cleats. Gone was the teasing grin. A serious expression formed on his face, his blue eyes scanning my ankle as if to assess the damage. “Does it hurt?” he asked, his gaze flicking to mine.

  I nodded and blinked back angry tears. Of course it hurt. I was gritting my teeth, holding a long moaning howl of pain captive in the back of my throat. Every nerve in my body screamed at me for not sitting this one out.

  “Stupid, stupid, stupid,” I muttered. “That was so stupid.”

  Jayden put an arm around my shoulder. “Come on, I’ll help you up.”

  “No, don’t touch me!”

  I recoiled away from him, blinking away more tears. I’d brought this on myself. I didn’t need his help getting up. I didn’t need anyone’s help. I just needed to get myself back to my spot on the bench and observe the rest of practice, like I’d been ordered to. No more stupid risks.

  “Okay, fine.” He held his hands in front of his chest. “I’m not touching you.”

  I gulped down the thickness in my throat. “Thank you.”

  After waiting for a few seconds to catch my breath, I was ready to try again. My leg throbbed as soon as I tried to push myself up. With a muted cry, I fell back on my rear, bruising both my pride and my tailbone.

  “Seriously, Mandy, I know you hate me, but this is ridiculous.” A hardened frown pulled on Jayden’s mouth as he glared at me. “At least let me give you a hand.”

  Shock pushed the pain out of my head for a tiny millisecond. Hate was such a strong word. Sure, I’d gladly describe Jayden as a thorn in my side, but I don’t think I ever said that I hated him. Did he hate me? Was that why he liked to torture me on a daily basis?

  Or was it something else?

  Now was not the time to think about it.

  “Okay, fine.” I grabbed onto his forearm, all too aware of his hardened muscles that flexed beneath my fingers. When had he become so strong? “Once I’m standing, I’ll be good. I can use my crutches.”

  He cupped my elbow with his free hand and stood up, pulling me with him. It was a surprisingly pain-free experience, allowing me to keep my weight only on my good ankle. As soon as I was steady, one of the freshman runners brought me my crutches. I took them with a sigh of relief, glad to be done with that experience.

  The throbbing in my ankle was already dying down.
Hopefully, I hadn’t done any more damage.

  “Thank you for your help,” I said, looking up at Jayden.

  He was still holding my arm, as if he were afraid I’d lose my balance again. His blue eyes under that baseball cap gazed into mine so intently that my breath caught in my lungs. I was suddenly and deeply aware of all the places where we had skin-to-skin contact. In particular, the area where his fingertips brushed lightly on the soft, tender skin on the inside of my elbow. It was causing mini shockwaves to course over my skin.

  And worse—I didn’t hate it.

  “I have your hoodie in my locker,” I blurted out.

  The infamous hoodie had made a journey from my house this morning all the way to my locker but had remained there all day. So close to its owner, yet so far away. It wasn’t like Jayden had been asking about it, but for some reason now seemed a good time to bring it up.

  It might have had something to do with that feeling in the pit of my stomach, like I’d been dropped in the middle of a dream where I was giving a presentation in class and I’d realized I’d forgotten to put on pants.

  That terrifying kind of feeling.

  He blinked, confusion momentarily reflecting in his eyes. “Oh. Okay.”

  “I just thought you’d like to know.” I used my crutches to back away from him, causing his hand to drop from my arm and my skin to go back to normal. “I didn’t mean to keep it for so long. I just kept forgetting.”

  “That’s good, I guess.” He grimaced and coughed slightly. “It is my favorite hoodie.”

  “Right. So that’s why you should have it back.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay.” Crud. I was spiraling fast in this moment of extreme awkwardness.

  The only thing to do now was cut and run. With a last, painful smile in his direction, I made a turn to leave. That’s when my stomach dropped into the bottom of my sneakers.

  “Coach Padilla.” My voice came out in a squeak.

  Coach stood a few yards away, her clipboard resting on her hip, her scowl pinpointed on me. I gave her an innocent expression, hoping against hope that she hadn’t seen anything worth noting in the last few minutes.

  “I see you disobeyed my order to stay off the track,” she said in a growling voice, slaughtering all of my lingering hopes. “And you hurt yourself again, Hale. What’s it going to take to get you to take this seriously?”

  I squirmed under her glare, caught between the desire to defend myself and hide my reddening face. “I’m sorry, Coach. I’m heading back to the bench, right now. I swear.”

  “Good. Stay there for the rest of practice.”

  She lifted her chin and stared down her nose at me for what seemed like a full minute, making me feel as if I were five inches tall. I really hoped no one else was watching. Withering under Coach’s stare was the equivalent of being put in stocks in the town center and having tomatoes thrown at your face.

  Finally, she blinked and turned halfway toward the hurdlers practicing on the other side of the track. “I’d like you to come to my office before class tomorrow morning, Hale. It seems we have some issues to discuss.”

  My stomach went sour as I watched her march away. I’d never been someone who got in trouble. Not even a detention. I got my first speeding warning last year in my mom’s van and I couldn’t sleep for a week after that. The looming threat of a meeting with Coach was going to wreck my night.

  “Yeah, good luck with that,” Jayden said from behind me. “She looked like she was going to bite your head off.”

  Great. Just great. How many times was Jayden going to be around to witness my humiliation? He was like a bad penny I couldn’t shake. I seriously needed to give him back his hoodie. Or burn it. Whatever would erase this mess that had become my life.

  “Yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said, waving my hand dismissively before grabbing the crutches and pushing myself forward.

  I couldn’t even look at him. There was no way I could take one more second of that superior, teasing grin he always wore.

  This was serious. This was my future on the line.

  And Coach Padilla held it all in her callused hands.

  Chapter Six

  I might as well have been wearing a cowbell. The sound of my foot in its new bulky black walking boot clunking down the hallways of the school caught everybody’s stare. At least the crutches were gone. No more chafed armpits for me. Now, all I had to do was face Coach Padilla and hopefully the rest of my day would get a little better.

  “Do you have to walk so close to me?” Charlotte yanked my backpack higher on her shoulder and scowled at my new boot, as if it had personally offended her. “I can’t believe you’re wearing that.”

  “It’s the next step to freedom, little sis,” I said with a smile. Her hatred for my boot had no effect on me. “Doc says a couple more weeks and I’ll be back on the track. Then, you won’t have to haul my books around for me. Doesn’t that sound great?”

  She rolled her eyes and was about to reply when her face went white. I followed the direction of her stare. Three sophomore girls walked down the hall toward us. I didn’t know their names, but I was pretty sure at least two of them were on the cheerleading squad and the other played volleyball. They glanced at my thick boot and then laughed behind their hands, shooting me superior looks as they neared.

  Every part of me instantly disliked them.

  “Hey, Sarah.” Charlotte tucked her hair behind her ears. I couldn’t help but notice the way she took an extra step away from me. “Hey, girls. How’s it going?”

  “It’s going.” The one I could only assume to be Sarah stood in the middle of the pack. Her wavy shoulder-length blonde hair looked like it had been sprayed with stiff glossy paint. She smiled at my sister in a way that reminded me of a hyena circling its food. “Hey, you coming to my house on Saturday? My parents just got a new hot tub.”

  “Definitely.”

  “Definitely not,” I said at the same time.

  Charlotte’s eyes grew wide as she glanced from Sarah to me, and then back to Sarah.

  “If your babysitter changes her mind, come on over,” Sarah said with a hollow laugh as she shot me a smirk. I fought back the intense desire to see what would happen if I kicked her in the shin with my boot. “See you later.”

  As soon as they were out of earshot, Charlotte turned to me. She jumped into a high-pitched rant about how I was ruining her life forever, but I was having a hard time following it. Instead of interrupting, I patiently crossed my arms over my chest and waited for her to finish.

  “Do you really think I’d let you go to her house after what happened on Monday?” I asked when she finally stopped. A muscle throbbed between my eyebrows and I rubbed it. “Isn’t that the Sarah that let you drink her mom’s Boone’s Farm? Why would you want to be friends with them anyway? They seemed awful.”

  “It was just one drink,” Charlotte hissed. She stomped her foot. “I can’t believe you’d do this to me. Why are you so awful?”

  I searched for the words that would end this little tiff. “...because. Because someone has to keep you from ruining your life.”

  It wasn’t exactly the comeback of the century, but it was just enough to get Charlotte to throw my backpack on the ground and storm off. It didn’t matter any way, my locker was just down the hall. I grabbed it by the strap and dragged it the last few feet.

  Seriously, something evil had taken over my sister’s body. We never used to fight like this. It was like she was hostage to some demon force with an addiction to fake tanner. I didn’t act like that when I was fifteen. I didn’t have the luxury. Mom’s heart condition diagnosis had effectively put a stop to any bad teenage behavior.

  I wasn’t going to risk putting more unnecessary stress on her. Not then, and not now. Charlotte might hate me, but I could deal with that. What I couldn’t deal with was Mom getting sick again. My little sister might have been too young to remember, but I could remember that day my mom collapsed
at the diner after working double shifts all week long. I remembered the thick, nauseating taste of panic in the air. The sound of the EMTs rushing into the kitchen to pick my unresponsive mother off the floor. And the paleness of her face as they wheeled her away, while I wondered if I’d ever see her alive again. I might not be able to control her condition, but I could definitely help to prevent another scene like that.

  I stuffed my books into my locker and hurried toward Coach Padilla’s office near the science lab. There were fifteen minutes left before the first period bell. Hopefully, that left just enough time for Coach to chew me out, but not enough to make her kick me off the team.

  Hopefully.

  “Hey, Coach.” I hobbled through her open door and made my way to one of the seats across from her tiny desk. She looked even more massive than usual sitting behind it, her shoulders scrunched uncomfortably forward as she squinted at a computer screen. “Did you still want to see me?”

  She looked up at me, her lips forming a displeased pucker. “Sit, Hale. We’ve got something to discuss.”

  Part of me had been hoping she was super forgetful, like my great-uncle Don, and she’d wonder why I’d stumbled into her office so early on a Wednesday morning. Then, offer me a fuzzy candy from the depths of her pocket—just like Uncle Don. No luck here.

  “Is this about yesterday? Because I swear I won’t try to help the freshmen anymore.” I held up my hands in surrender. “I shouldn’t have been on that track. I’m sorry.”

  The lines around her mouth grew deeper. “You’re right, you shouldn’t have been on that track. You’re going to get yourself injured even worse.”

  “I know. It was stupid.”

  She nodded. “And irresponsible. And disobedient. The list could go on and on.”

  I winced. Coach Padilla pulled no punches, that was for sure.