Same notes as before. Warning: this chapter contains a bit more swearing than I usually put in, but nothing you've never heard before, I'm sure.

Kasey knew she had seen Kelly sitting with the team after intermission, but he didn't come to see her when the performance was over. To distract herself, she called her father on her way to the parking lot.

"Hi, baby," Mr. Gooding answered. "Sorry I couldn't be there. Did it go ok?"

"Yeah, it went fine," Kasey told him. "We can watch the recording when you get back. How was the race?"

"'Rish placed! That eight to one shot Masterful actually won by almost six lengths, but 'Rish nosed out the third place at the last second. It was quite a race for him."

"That's great," Kasey said, smiling when she thought about the big colt even though she wished her father could have stayed home.

"Did the boys make it to the show?"

"Yeah… they brought me flowers."

"Aww," her father drawled. "That's sweet."

"Dad."

She heard someone else speaking in the background before he spoke again. "I need to get going, Kas, but I'll be home tomorrow night, ok? We'll catch up then."

"OK. Bye."

As she closed her phone, a young man stepped up next to her.

"Hi—you're Kasey Gooding, right? Odette?"

"Yes," she said, giving him a small smile. "Did you enjoy the performance?"

"Did I!" the boy replied enthusiastically. "You were great."

"Thanks. What was your name?"

"Bobby. Bobby Meyers."

Kasey took a better look at him. "You look familiar. Do you play ball?"

"Yeah. I'm the Yankees' new pitcher."

"Oh, right. I saw you at your last game with the Bears."

"You're a fan, then?"

"Definitely. I go to all their games."

Bobby's smile faltered. "The Bears?"

"Yes. They're my team."

"Oh, we have to do something about that," he said teasingly.

"Tanner, what's your problem?" Engelberg demanded when the smaller boy missed a groundball.

Tanner scowled at him. "Aw, where the heck's Kasey? She hasn't been to a practice in two weeks."

"She's probably busy with her dancing," Feldman suggested.

"But she just finished that big ballet thing—you'd think she could take it easy now."

Kelly wanted to cuss Tanner out, but he didn't want to draw attention to himself just now, so he was glad when Engelberg antagonized him instead.

"If ya care so much, why don'tcha get your head back in the game and call her later?"

"Hey," the coach called, "are you boys here to practice baseball, or discuss Kasey Gooding's social calendar? Let's wake up!"

The Bears didn't see Kasey again until they went to watch their competition. It was Yankees vs Dodgers, another local team. The Bears were sitting together sizing the other teams up.

"When I'm too old for this team, I'm goin' pro, man," Ahmad said.

"Me too," said Engelberg, chomping a hotdog.

"At what, eating contests?" Tanner demanded.

"You really think you'll play pro baseball?" Lupis asked in awe.

Ahmad nodded. "Sure. Ain't gonna sit around here for the rest of my life…"

"Hey, fellas… is that Kasey?" Carmen asked, pointing rudely.

Kelly pushed Carmen's arm down. "Cut it out."

"It is! She's right there! And she's in the Yanks' dugout!"

"Nuh-uh!" Tanner exclaimed, looking up suddenly. "Oh my unprintable word, you're right!"

Stein gave Tanner a weird look. "It's not like we're running a newspaper here, Tanner."

"If I don't specify, it lets your imagination run wild," Tanner explained. "But forget that—what the heck's she doing over there? Doesn't she know that's the enemy?"

"Shut up," Kelly snapped. "She can sit wherever the hell she wants."

The other Bears kept their comments about Kasey quiet after that… until after the game, when Kasey left with Bobby Meyers.

"She was with him," Tanner pointed out. "Not even like just being polite either."

"What do you know about being polite, Tanner?" Ogilvie inquired.

"So she has no team loyalty," Kelly said carelessly. "She's a Yankees chick now, so let's forget about her."

Tanner wouldn't be silenced. "Forget her, nothin'. Just cuz she's mad at you don't mean she's gotta take it out on the team, and I think someone oughtta tell her that."

"Tanner, you open your damn mouth one more time, I'm gonna feed you your hat, got it?"

"Kelly? I haven't heard from you in ages. What's up?"

Amanda's voice calmed him a bit. "Not much," he lied. "The team's kinda crippled without you, though."

"That's crap, Kelly. I heard your new pitcher stole the show in Houston."

"Well… I didn't say he's bad or anything. You were just better."

"OK, now I know you want something."

Kelly laughed. "I just called to talk, I swear. Though I admit I wouldn't mind having you back on the team."

"Not a chance, kid. They tell me I'm going places in this modeling gig."

"Think you'll get back into dancing?"

"Nah… it was a lot of fun while it lasted, but I can't do both. That would take way too much time and be really stressful, you know? Hey, are you actually interested, or just making conversation?"

"I don't know. It's just… my old man was in town and we went to see the ballet at the town center."

"Oh! Was it good? Gee, if I'd known you were going, I'd have gone to see it, too."

"It was kind of… last minute. I guess it was good. I'm not much of a judge. Listen… even if you're not into ball much these days, maybe we could hang out sometime. I don't like trying to catch up on the phone."

"Sure," Amanda said, sounding a little surprised. "When's your next practice? I'll catch the end of it and we can grab lunch at the corner."

"Tomorrow—ten o'clock."

"OK, I'll see you tomorrow, then."

Kelly was surprised at how easily she'd been talked into coming. And even though he knew his crush on Amanda was well over, he was also pleasantly surprised to sense the first really good feeling he'd had since his fight with Kasey. Seeing Amanda again would do him good, he was sure.

To be continued... dun dun DUN! lol