Pitching to Win (Over the Fence #1)

by Carrie Aarons

  Typical. "You know my name is Minka. Do you know how I know that? It might be the fact that you haven't been able to keep it out of your mouth for the last half hour."

  Her body recoils as if I’ve struck her. Two of her followers gasp in shock. I’ve never, and to my knowledge no person has ever, approached her in such a manner.

  "Excuse me? Who do you think you are?" At this point, her voice begins to reach dog-whistle level decibels, and our classmates begin to stare.

  "I'm the girl you've tormented for the last year and a half. The girl you bullied until she was just a shell of her former self. Well, that stops today. You can't hurt me anymore. I am stronger than any petty high school bullshit you have to throw at me."

  I look up to see the entire lunch room hanging on my every word. No one has ever done anything like this. That was me, trendsetter. Peeking at Kels, she gives me a thumbs up, and then slices her thumb across her neck. "Finish her," she mouths. Lovely.

  "I actually feel sorry for you, Allison. Sorry that you feel so badly about yourself that you need to bloody and bruise others to make yourself feel better. I feel sorry that you feel the need to create drama because you don't have interests and hobbies in your life that you love. But I especially feel sorry for you because you're going to be that girl, the one who peaked in high school. That girl who looks back ten years from now and sees that she wasted her time here with petty shit instead of learning and creating memories with great friends. So yes, I feel damn sorry for you. But do me a favor and leave me alone from now on."

  With that, I spin on my heel and walk calmly back to my table. I don’t need to see her reaction, it was enough just to spit those words in her face.

  "My heart is beating so fast." I whisper to Kels as I take a seat back at our table.

  "Boo, you just became a living legend." she sports a smug smile.

  Looking up, the entire cafeteria seems to be swinging their gazes between Allison and I.

  Glancing at Allison, her entire table is still frozen in place. Then, as if something snaps inside of her, she screeches and leaps up from the table.

  "Ughhhhhh!" She flips her silky blonde hair over her shoulder and runs for the exit of the lunchroom.

  "You are my hero." I turn to see Bethany Coolidge staring at me in awe. Bethany had endured Allison's wrath far longer than I. It was in that moment that I realized my little diatribe might have done more for my peers than I'd anticipated.

  The bell rings. Thank god, I need to get out of here. People had started giving me curious looks like they might come over and talk to me. God, no. I might not want to be a pariah, but I definitely did not want to be the center of attention. I'd accomplished my mission and now it was time to leave.

  "I need to stop by my locker before Physics." I sling my backpack over my shoulder and make my way toward the South hallway that leads down to the student parking lot and athletic fields.

  27

  Owen

  I throw my baseball bag into the corner of our apartment living room that also houses the massive pile of shoes, and throw my hat on one of the hooks above it. The place is a dump ever since we’ve moved back in, not that it was ever really clean. Our apartment was good for one thing. Partying.

  Which was one thing I hadn’t feel like doing any of recently.

  I walk into our spacious kitchen and crack open the fridge. Leftover chicken wrap, I didn't know how old that was. Moldy spaghetti, something else that smelled suspicious. Jesus, I really did live with a bunch of cave men. I spot eggs. I can do something with those.

  Pulling them out, I begin to crack them into the pan. A huge after-practice omelet sounds good.

  I hear the front door slam as I place the carton back into the fridge. Farris walks in, noisily heading for the fridge. He pulls out a beer, cracks it open and takes a huge swig. Its a sight I’m disappointedly all too familiar with these days.

  "Isn't it a little early man?" Glancing at the clock, it was only noon. We'd had a mid-morning Thursday practice, no one on the team had classes today as a scheduling fix. All I wanted was to eat and get back into bed.

  "What're you, my old man? I’ve already been up for like five hours, anything goes. Plus, its only the second week of school. I have to catch up for all that lost time I spent fucking sober, taking Olivia on dates and shit last semester."

  Yeah, he still wasn't over that.

  "Whatever, bro. Its your liver. And education." I flip one side of my omelet. Well, there was still something I knew how to do well.

  It had been almost two weeks since Minka left me, literally, in her dust. I had no fucking clue what I'd done. I had gone by her house. Called her. Texted her. I almost decided to wait outside her house for her to go for a run, but then thought she might flip and call her fucking Police Chief father on me.

  After that, I'd resigned myself. I didn't need to chase after a dramatic chick. I didn't put up with crazy.

  But that didn't mean I didn't love crazy. Because I did. I loved Minka. I love her. For the past two weeks, it felt like I'd been in an autopsy. My chest was cracked open from the inside, and my heart was a dead husk just taking up space in there.

  I'd almost told her too, when I'd taken her to the fair, up on that Ferris Wheel. But I thought it was too soon. With her past and all, I thought it might freak her out.

  And then she had freaked out. She'd gone fucking nuclear as I was trying to show her off, introduce her to my buddy Gregory.

  "You still being a little bitch about your breakup, buddy? Get over it, we all screw and get screwed by these chicks."

  "Don't talk about her like that." I immediately snap at Farris.

  "I don't understand why you're still defending her." He plops onto the couch as I make my way over to the table. Our apartment is open concept, everything just flows right into everything else. Farris had picked it because you could play beer pong in the dining room while watching TV.

  "I don't understand fucking anything about this. I don't know what happened. One minute I was making out with her on top of the Ferris Wheel, the next I'm trying to introduce her to Gregory......"

  "Gregory Stamkos? Fuck, that dude is the worst."

  "Huh?" I'd never realized Farris even knew who he was.

  "I mean, I have been known to be a classless asshole sometimes, and I love one night stands, but the girls always know what they're signing up for."

  "Wait, what are you talking about? Backup." My fork has now dropped carelessly onto the plate, my appetite all but vanished. What was he talking about?

  "Dude, you never heard the story about what that asshat and his friends did our senior year?" Miles finishes his beer and crushes the can, tossing it into the growing pile next to the pile of shoes. We had to make a chore list or something.

  "No?" My stomach starts to turn as if it subconsciously knows whatever he tells me next is not going to be good.

  "Jesus, you really didn't do anything that year but bang Allison, did you? The whole school, shit the whole town heard about this. Well, him and some of those dickhead juniors made a bet at the beginning of the year. They all picked out one sophomore girl, and whoever could get their sophomore to sleep with them first won the bet." Nausea begins to roll up into my throat at this point. "Well, Gregory, he led this girl on so bad. He took her on dates around town, held her hand at school, brought her to parties. Meanwhile, like the entire school knew exactly what was going on. So after winter formal, he brings her to one of Hinkley's parties, and convinces her to lose her virginity to him in one of the upstairs bedrooms. He wins the bet. The next day he dumps her in front of the whole school by pinning the underwear she'd worn, special for him, to her locker. Fucking prick. I shoulda knocked his teeth in then."

  My stomach is at the bottom of my feet. I can feel myself drenched in a cold sweat, but I’m locked in this position. I can’t move. I can barely breathe. I feel like I might blow chunks any second now, but the unshed tears in my eyes are causing me to blink so rapidly that I c
an’t think much about anything else.

  He fucking used her.

  He took her most cherished gift, stole it, and then threw her away like a filthy groupie.

  Her threw away my beautiful, passionate, smart, breathtaking girl.

  Gregory ruined Minka.

  I don’t even realize I’ve picked up the plate until it smashes into the wall next to the front door.

  “WHAT THE FUCK?” Miles scrambles up off the couch like someone just came into our apartment spraying bullets. Looking around with panicked eyes, he zeroes in on me. “Axel, what the fuck are you doing?”

  I don’t think I’ll be able to speak past the bile rising in my throat and sheer fury in my veins, but I manage to. “It was her.”

  “What was her….ohhhhhh. Fuck. Oh, shit. Jesus. Minka. That sophomore was Minka.” He runs his hands through his hair as if he’s just playing this new scenario out in his head. “Dude, I swear I didn’t know it was her.”

  That I believe. “I know. I would castrate you for not telling me if you knew it was her.”

  Fuck. What the fuck do I do now? Then it dawns on me. I didn’t believe her.

  “I didn’t…..I didn’t believe her.” My voice feels like shards of glass coming out of my windpipe.

  I grab the closest thing, my glass of OJ, and throw it at the wall. A bright yellowish-orange stain coats the white paint, glass pieces clattering to the floor.

  “Ok! Enough throwing.” Farris moves over to me cautiously, as if I might pull a ninja move on him at any moment.

  He maneuvers my body down onto the couch. I think I must still be in shock, because I can’t seem to move myself.

  “Now, start from the beginning.” Miles stares at me like I have three heads.

  “At the fair. Gregory showed up. I wanted to introduce her as my girlfriend. Show how proud I was. When she saw him, she freaked out. She froze, and then broke into a run towards the parking lot.” My voice sounded hoarse as I recounted that night. Fuck, I was such an idiot. “She’d told me this story when we I took her to the beach. About how sophomore year she’d been led on by this guy, and he’d humiliated her in front of the whole school. She didn’t go into all of the specifics. And apparently I had my fucking head up my ass that year that I didn’t put two and two together. When I caught up with her in the parking lot, she told me the guy was Greg.”

  I had to pause. My omelet was coming back up. I thought I’d lose it all over the coffee table.

  “And….I. Fuck. I told her it couldn’t have been him. I told her she’d made a mistake.”

  I ball my hands into fists. I want to punch myself in the fucking balls right now.

  “You should have seen her goddamn face.” She’d looked at me like I’d ripped the stars from the skies. I’d put that look there. I could kill myself.

  She’d told me to protect her heart. That she couldn’t take it if something like that happened again. And I’d ripped the organ from her chest and all but stomped on it. I was a fucking dick.

  “I have to go.” All of a sudden I can’t move my feet fast enough. Keys, I needed my keys. And my license. And a fucking miracle.

  “Woah, woah, woah. You can't leave now. What’re you gonna say to her, man? I am just considering your balls here.”

  That one made me stop in my tracks. “Just how often do you consider my balls?”

  “Fuck off, bro. I meant cause she will definitely kick them once she sees you. Plus, she’s in school right now. How are you going to talk your way in there?”

  I wasn’t worried about that. I had those secretaries wrapped around my finger since day one of freshman year. It was Minka I was worried about.

  “I’m not sure how I’ll get her to talk to me, but I have an hour and fifteen minutes to think up a plan.”

  Farris started to put on his shoes.

  “Why’re you getting dressed?”

  “Dude, if you’re going to get your ass beat by a girl, I have to be there to see it.”

  28

  Minka

  Right as I turn the corner, I feel the air shift.

  "Yo Axel! What's up man, what're you doing here?" I hear a hulking football bro from my grade shout from further down the hallway.

  I stop in my tracks. Standing twenty feet away is Owen. Tall, lean, outfitted in his baseball uniform. His sexiness makes my knees go weak. Seriously, I have to brace the wall.

  Kels stops, noticing I’m not next to her, turning back to see me no longer moving.

  "Minka, what are you...." Following my line of sight, she gives a low noise of understanding. "What the hell is dickhead doing here? I'm going to go kick him in the family jewels."

  I feel the adrenaline rush through my body the moment he locks his eyes on mine. It hits me like a tidal wave. Two weeks since I’ve seen him and he can still turn my stomach into knots and make me instantly lust for him.

  He starts to run from me, all eyes in the hallway moving back and forth between us. Three dings sound over the school speakers, signaling that there is only a minute left before the next period starts.

  “We have to go.” I turn on my heel, speed-walking back the way we’d come. My classroom was the other way, but at this point I’d scale Everest to get away from Owen.

  Too bad he was an almost-professional athlete.

  As soon as Kels and I hit the tile in the lunchroom, he’s grabbing my elbow.

  “Minka, wait. Please….please listen to me. Give me a minute.”

  Kels looks like she’s about two seconds from punching him in the nose.

  “I need to go to class. Please leave me alone.” I pull out of his grasp, going to turn again. He’s on my movements as if he can read my mind. The minute I turn, he throws himself in front of me.

  Grabbing my hands, he crunches his body down so he can look me in the face. Since I’m avoiding eye contact at all costs, it’s the best he can do.

  “I know that you were telling the truth about Gregory. I’m an unbelievable, unmitigated ass. You must allow me to tell you just how stupid I’ve been. And how much I love you.”

  My ears are ringing. My stomach and heart have joined each other in a pile of goop at my feet. Did he just say I was right? The only people who have ever said out loud, in the open that what I’d said about Gregory was true were Chloe and Kelsey. It felt like a dam of relief and pent up frustration was breaking open in my chest.

  And was he quoting Mr. Darcy? Only Owen. Only he knew the most simple way to blast straight through my walls.

  And had he said he loved me? Two weeks ago I would have been jumping around in giddy middle-school-girl circles hearing him say that. Now it brought confusion, and sadness.

  And worst of all, hope.

  I broke the hypnotizing stare Owen had me in to search for Kels. Maybe she’d give me one of her men suck speeches and I’d be able to walk away. Because right now, I don’t think I could do it on my own.

  Instead, I lifted my head to see almost 200 people at a dead stop, silently watching this go down.

  “Alright people, this isn’t soap opera hour. Get your nosey asses to class. You’re all going to be late!” Kels’ demand sent people scuttling away, remembering they had class in less than 30 seconds. “You stay, I’ll tell Petri you’re going to be late. He won’t mind.”

  So much for her telling me to be strong.

  “I can’t be late for AP bio.” I say to no one in particular, because Kels is already halfway up the stairs to the science wing.

  Owen grabs my hands again, leading me over to a lunch table, pulling me down to sit. Our knees brush together and I shudder. I can’t help my body’s physical reaction to being so close to him.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so goddamn sorry, Minka. I know there is nothing that I can say or do to make up for what I’ve done. But I can’t be away from you. When Miles told me…told me what he’d done to you sophomore year….I swear I almost got in my car to drive to where he was and kill him. I could kill him with my bare hands.” Owen chokes
out the words, as if they are physically hurting him.

  “You didn’t believe me. You chose him.” My voice sounds extremely small inside my ears.

  “And for that I will never forgive myself. And I don’t expect you to either. I chose what was safe. What was familiar. It’s what I’ve been doing my whole life, Minka. Choosing the path that people put me on, the one people expect me to follow. I’m an idiot. I don’t care about that shit anymore. The only thing I care about is you. I want to fit into your world, no matter what that means. We can paint ourselves orange and walk around town in overalls for all I care. But I’d be happy, because I was with you. Without you, I have no world.”

  I let his words soak into my brain, hearing what he was saying but not really being able to process it. I’d missed him. So much that it hurt. And to have him sitting in front of me, saying these things I’d always wanted him to say, I felt the tiny castle walls around my heart crumbling with each word.

  “I love you. I am in love with you. I know I can’t re-do the past, but please. Baby, if you….if you give me one last chance, I promise I will do everything I can to prove that my life means nothing without you in it.”

  I feel a tear drip down my cheek, and when Owen reaches out to brush it away, I audibly sigh into his hand. Just his touch makes my whole world better.

  “I don’t know. You promised not to hurt me, and now…” I can’t keep up with the mixed emotions flying through my head. I want him back more than anything else in the world, but my self-preservation is waging a mean battle.

  “I know…I know. And I’m so sorry. I’ll never be able to say that enough. But just give me a shot. Let me show you what us, together, could be like. Because without you, my life means nothing. I am nothing.”

  I close my eyes, trying to take soothe my shaking hands. “I’ve missed you so much. Sitting here with you, I’ve dreamed about this every night for weeks. Hearing you say you love me, I’ve wanted that for so long. But you lost my trust, Owen…”