"New Office episode on Thursday," Grace commented, as we ate our lunch at the usual table in the cafeteria.

"Finally," I replied, biting into my chicken sandwich.

I was glad I was not forced to buy the cafeteria food that Carly was now picking at. She glanced up at me, grimacing at the chicken. Her and the twins were vegetarians, and while Grace and Melanie had gotten used to my meat eating, Carly still gagged at the sight of it. I chuckled and took another bite.

"Can I have some of your chips?" she asked, pulling them out of my paper bag. She did not wait for me to nod, instead opening them and digging in.

"Yeah, okay Carly, sure, you can have some chips," I said sarcastically, as she finished the bag within a minute. She grinned and stood up.

"I have to go type up my Biology paper in the library. Who wants to come with?" We shook our heads, smirking. "Fine then. Hayley, I'll meet you by my locker after final bell so we can get ready for the game together." I nodded and she walked away.

We had another big softball game that afternoon against the top team in the league, though Coach Emi was confident that we would win after we had killed Dover last week. She relied on my shoulders far too much.

"So Max got a new girl," Grace said after a few minutes of silent chewing. She always enjoyed telling me about Max's pathetic love life. Sometimes it could be entertaining and other times, like now, it just sounded normal.

"Surprise, surprise," I said, smiling. "Who is she this time?" I glanced around the lunchroom, trying to spot him sitting with her but he was sitting with a couple guys.

"Shannon Tudor," Grace answered, and I saw her immediately, her orange vintage sweater standing out in the dull colored lunchroom. "I don't know what they were doing last night," Grace continued, "but he doesn't have his van for a week." She sighed sarcastically and we both shook our heads, as if to clear nasty thoughts.

"Damn," I replied, "that means we need to find another ride home after practices."

"Oh, don't worry about that. Mom realizes that she took away our ride so she agreed to pick us up." Her grin was slightly wicked as we stood up.

"Bueno," I said, crumpling up the remains of my lunch. Grace raised an eyebrow. "Spanish test next hour," I said in answer, laughing.

We left the cafeteria, Max smirking at me from his table in the opposite corner.


"Okay, ladies, gather round," Coach Emi called to us from home plate.

We jogged in from the outfield and gathered in a circle, arms around each other. The other team was expected to arrive in just a few minutes.

"Ladies, ladies," Emi said to hush us. "Today's a big day. We are going to beat this team, all right? I want you all to forget about their ranking and concentrate on our game. Because we aren't playing Southfield's game today. Today is all ours. Would you let somebody come into your home and take your television?" We all shook our heads, tightening our arms around each other. "Exactly. So don't let them come to our house and take our win. We play as a team and work as a team, because we are a team.

"The entire time you are out in the field today you think about what you will do when that ball comes to you. Keep yourselves focused, no floaters.

"Play for your school, play for your team, but at the same time, play for yourselves. You are great players and you can beat Southfield if you put your mind to it. Don't freak yourselves out. Intimidate them, show them that we can put up a fair fight. Got it? You can't play this game with one person. We are a team. And as a team, we will crush Southfield. Understood?" We whooped and hollered in agreement.

"Alright! Tigers on three! ONE, TWO, THREE-"

"TIGERS!"


Top of the seventh. If I could hold off these three batters, we will have beat the best team in the league, placing us at the top. Having already taken care of the first two batters, I gave the last one a once over. She was large and had proven to be a good hitter throughout the game, hitting a triple just in the last inning, though she had been stranded on base.

As she took her place in the batter's box, I looked to Coach Emi for a hint on what in the world to pitch this girl to keep her away from the ball. Emi was staring at Melanie so I looked back at my catcher. She smiled at me and proceeded to give me the sign. A twirl of the pinky, wiggle of the index finger, followed by four fingers pointing down: curveball to the inside low corner. Brilliant, I thought as I wound up.

The ball smacked into the mitt before the girl could blink.

"'Ike!" The umpire called.

I allowed myself a brief smile before turning away from home plate to wink at Coach. She gave me a subtle thumbs-up before I turned around to take the next sign.

This time it was the hang loose gesture with two fingers pointing down. Fastball to the high inside of the plate. Catcher knows best, I thought, and smiled as the girl swung and missed.

Last pitch. It just had to be a strike and we would win. As I turned back around and got my footing on the mound, I glanced up at the stands. And almost fell backwards. Max was standing next to them, in the back corner. He never came to our games. Crap, I thought, taking a breath.

Melanie gave me the last sign. Fastball straight down the middle. The batter would not be expecting it. I nodded very slightly before winding up. But my jumbled nerves caused me to lose the grip and the ball flew up in the air. Mel had to jump to catch it. As she threw it back to me, she raised her eyebrows, asking if I was okay. I just shook my head and prepared to throw a strike to finish it out.

Again, Mel gave me the fastball straight down the middle. This time was successful.

"Striiiike!" the ump shouted. "And I believe that's game!"

My team cheered, racing to the mound and dog-piling me. We did not even bother to shake hands with Southfield like we would with any other team.

"Way to go Mel and Hayley!" I heard Coach Emi shout from where I was pressed into the dirt, and I realized she had joined the dog pile along with half the people in the stands. Their cheers were deafening. At last, Mel's voice broke through.

"All right, all right, everybody up, we're crushing the star."

I choked out a laugh as I stood, handfuls of dirt falling off of my uniform. The fans hugged me before Coach Emi finally pushed her way through to ruffle Mel's hair and mine.

"You guys are just unbelievable. Go home and rest, see you at practice Monday."

And she left, going off to talk with some parents. I grinned at Mel and gave her a hug before she ran off to her own parents. As the rest of my team scattered, I headed over to the bleachers, where Max was sitting, his head resting against the bench behind him. As I reached him, he sat up and smiled.

"Good game," he said, patting the empty seat next to him. I grinned and sat down.

"Why'd you come?" I asked him, after a few minutes of silence. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him glance over at me, but I kept staring straight ahead, at the mound that I had stood on just moments before.

"Heard it was a big game. Knew you'd be pitching." He stood up when he was finished, turning around to look at me. I stood up too.

"What about Shannon?" I asked him, winking.

"Eh, one time deal. I'd rather see you beat the top team in the league."

"Well, thanks. A lot. But I have to admit, it shocked me when I saw you sitting up here."

He chuckled and ruffled my hair, like he would a little sister. "See ya later, Hayley," he said, before heading off to the parking lot, where one of his band mates must have been picking him up. I waved though his back was turned to me, before heading over to my second family.

"Great game, Hayley!" Mr. Spickler said, giving me a high five.

"Thanks!" I replied, as Mrs. Spickler hugged me.

Melanie stood beside me grinning, dirt streaked across her face. Instinctively, I reached my hand up to my own face before realizing it did not matter.

"Couldn't your parents make it?" Mrs. Spickler asked, glancing around the diamond area. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes still sparkled with excitement.

"No," I said, shrugging, "they were out of town for business, but they called me before it started to wish me luck."

"Well that's good," Mr. Spickler said, his eyes crinkling as he smiled. "Grace was absolutely devastated when she found out she couldn't come because of soccer finals," he added, eyes twinkling.

"Oh, yeah right, Dad," Melanie said, laughing. "Like she'd ever come to one of our softball games!"

"Well hey, Max came!" he pointed out, and though no one looked at me accusingly, I felt my face heat up. "Anything's possible now!"

While everyone laughed, I just smiled and turned to watch his faraway figure disappear between some cars.


I swore under my breath as the softball bounced off the net and flew over my head into the road at the end of the driveway. With a sigh I jogged after it, chucking it at the bounce-back from where it had rolled to a stop in the neighbor's lawn. Miraculously, it hit the net and rolled slowly back to me as I walked back across the street. Picking it up, I took my position again and continued to pitch; ten curveballs, five changeups, eight fastballs, inside, out, repeat.

As a curveball bounced back in a beeline directly at me I managed to snag it before turning to wave at the beat up van that had just pulled in. Max stopped just a few feet away from me.

"Hey," he said, climbing out and leaving the door hang open behind him.

"Hang on a second," I told him, running to get the newspaper out of the garage.

Melanie and I had been in the newspaper the previous day for the softball game against Southfield. Patrick and I had searched in four different stores before we found the right issue and had picked up two copies. Max had been sent to pick it up today as he had been out already. When I handed it to him he began to flip through it aimlessly.

"So what's so important about this newspaper?" he asked, allowing me to find the page for him.

"Mel and I are in it," I replied, pointing to the small section that announced the accomplishment.

He smirked and shook his head, heading back over to the van. As he opened the door, chucking the newspaper onto the dashboard, he turned back around.

"Hey, I'm on my way to 7Eleven. Did you want to get a slurpee or something?" he asked, his face never changing, though I was sure mine did.

"Sure," I said, composing myself.

I threw my mitt against the garage door and headed over to the passenger side. Just before I opened the door and climbed in I took a deep breath, not really sure why. Max was busy clearing junk away from Stevie and our two seats. Scratching behind Stevie's ears with one hand as he looked up at me with big eyes, I buckled myself in with the other as Max screeched out of the driveway, surely leaving skid marks.

"Journey or MGMT?" he asked me, shouting over the noise from the wind that rushed by his open window.

Shoving Stevie out of the way, he picked up the two CDs off the floor, grabbing them out of a pile of others. Taking them from him, I considered each one before popping my favorite in. Within seconds Don't Stop Believin' came blaring through the speakers. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Max eye me for a minute and I turned to look at him.

"What?" I said, shouting to be heard.

"Good choice," he replied, turning the volume down a little and closing his window.

As the song changed, I felt my mind wandering off as the trees flashed by outside the dirty windshield. I took a deep breath in, forgetting briefly until the air hit my nostrils. Max's red dragon of a van always had a distinct smell though I had yet to figure out exactly what it was. Grace had always said it was a mix of all the drugs Max dealt, though I knew all he did was smoke them.

"So," I began, unsure of how to ask.

Max just looked at me, never one to waste his breath.

"What exactly is that smell?" I asked, gesturing around to the van as he changed the CD.

One could only take so much of Journey. He waited until Electric Feel came through the speakers before answering, a slight smirk on his face.

"Food, burps, dirty clothes, and failed air fresheners," he said bluntly. Laughing, I shook my head. "Maybe a little alcohol…" he added as an afterthought.

"Max."

"What?" he asked, throwing a glance at me.

"Oh, come on," I replied, giving him a look.

"Sorry, Mom, I'll never do it again."

I smacked his arm. Before my mind even caught up, my mouth was open and I was speaking the thoughts that had constantly run through my mind since I had gotten to know Max.

"Why do you do that?" I asked him. I did not wait for an answer. "Don't you see how you're throwing your life away?"

"What the hell, Hayley? Did my mother pay you to do this?" he said, pulling into the gas station down the road from the 7Eleven.

"Oh please. I mean really, Max. Do you realize how…" I paused, as my mind caught up, before realizing it was too late to turn back. "Do you realize how fucking amazing you could be? You don't have to live down to what everyone has always expected of you. I know how great you can be, Max, I know."

He shot me a look as he pulled up to the pump but I did not stop.

"When I look at you, all I see is this life in your eyes, this life that's banging on the bars, shouting to be freed. There's a person inside here-" I poked his chest. Hard. "-that has the potential to do something amazing, something that no one ever expected of him. Where's that Max? The Max that talks to me like a person, that wants to be in the Army, that would call someone that drinks and drives a 'fucking idiot'," I said, attempting to imitate his voice.

He opened his door, getting out and slamming it shut, before he filled the van with gas. I crawled across the gap onto his seat, opening the door and hanging my legs out so I could see him. At first, he ignored me, concentrating on the numbers. After a minute, however, he turned to look at me, his face completely changed.

"Why?" I asked softly, searching his eyes.

"It's what they expect," was all he said, looking away.

And then the pump clicked and Max was shooing me back to my own side of the car, getting in and slamming the door.


I had just gotten home from picking up Kevin, who had had his car taken away for a month because his parents found the One Way sign, when a Jeep pulled into the driveway. As Kevin continued on into the house, I stopped in the garage and peered through the rain and windshield into the car. I did not recognize the driver, a guy around my age, but then I saw Hayley climbing out of the passenger seat. As she turned around to say something through the open window, laughing, I felt a weird stab go through my body. Was I actually feeling jealous of this guy? I thought as I eyed him again. But I banished the idea as the car pulled away and Hayley headed towards me.

"Who was that?" I could not help asking.

She looked at me strangely before smiling. "Patrick," she said and my insides seemed to tighten.

"Who's Patrick?" I asked, wondering what the hell was wrong with me.

She led me into the house, not answering at first. It was as if she knew what was going on inside my head and was torturing me for it.

"My brother," she said at last, laughing.

Relief flowed through my body instantly and without my control. As Hayley plopped onto the couch with Grace and Mom, I headed upstairs to my room. Kevin was already sitting in my desk chair when I fell face first onto my bed. After a minute I looked up to find him watching me. When he saw my face his expression became wary.

"Dude…what's going on?" he asked me, his eyes narrowed in worry.

"Kev, man," I said, running a hand over my face. "I have no idea."


Well. That chapter was a little bit more personal for me, something I had to write and it fit into this story, so I hope it came out decent.

Let me know! -Zoomie