Disclaimer: I don't own the book series, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor does. And if I did, I wouldn't be writing this right now lol.

Hope you enjoy it anyway!


All the bases were filled, it was the last inning and Eddie Malloy was up at bat. The Elkins pitcher, man, she's heard a lot of things about him. She heard he's the toughest to beat.

"C'mon, Eddie! You got this!" Her entire team shouted, and surprisingly, even Jake did.

She let go of all her fears, and focused her eyes on him. She watched him wind up, and then he let the ball fly.

"Keep your eye on the ball," She silently told herself that, to stop the nervousness that began to wash over her.

She had her bat ready to go and as soon as it got closer and closer, she let it rip, sending the ball, as it went soaring through the air.

It went straight over the fence, causing Eddie to jump up and down as she ran down all of the bases before coming back to first base.

Jake came running up to her, as he lifted her onto his shoulders. "Eddie! Eddie!" Everyone shouted as we walked off the field.

Jake sat her down and they started to walk back home. "Y'know, it sucks that my brothers nor your sisters could make it to our game." He said, as they walked out of the school parking lot.

"Yeag, but they were all busy." She said. "But now, we've gotta figure out how to get home."

"We could try walking through the woods, y'know." He offered.

"Yeah, I guess so," Eddie said. "Lead the way."

Eddie started walking beside him. "There. I think I think these are the woods we'd go into to get home." He said, as they walked closer to the woods.

"Ok then. Let's go." She said.

They walked along a overgrown, but still very walkable path. There were so many pretty flowers blooming all over the ground. It was such a pretty sight to see.

Out of nowhere, Eddie and Jake heard a branch snap and something growled at them. They stopped walking. "Did you hear that?" Eddie whispered, as the hair on the back of her neck stood up.

"Yeah," He whispered back. "What do you think it is?"

"I don't know." Eddie said, as the growling got louder and closer. Suddenly, Eddie reached out, latching on to his arm. "I think it's a cougar! Run!"

They both broke out into a full sprint, hearing what ever was behind them, come chasing after them. In order to lose it, they went off the path they had originally been on, until they absolutely had NO IDEA where they were at. But, hey, at least they lost it.

"Whoa." Eddie sayd, as they walked upon a grassy area. Moss covered the trees and the flowers that were everywhere, swayed in the breeze.

"Where are we?" Jake asked.

"Um, I'm not sure. But let's just keep on walking to see if we can find out way out of here." Eddie said, as she started walking again.

"Okay." Jake said, as they began to go deeper and deeper into the woods. "Good game today, Eddie. You played really good."

Huh, a compliment from Jake Hatford? I must be only dreaming! Eddie thought in her head as she chuckled.

"You too, Hatford. You too." She said, grinning at him. "Oh, and also, a compliment? Since when does Joseph Hatford give out compliments? Especially to the girl he hates."

"What?" He said, looking confused. "I don't hate you. Why do you think I hate you?"

"I mean, have you forgotten how you and your brothers tried to run us out of here? You didn't exactly like us when you first met us."

He shook his head. "We didn't hate you. We just were mostly upset with the fact that the Bensons had moved all the way to Georgia and instead of guys moving across the river from us, we got girls." He said.

"I get it," Eddie said. "But just imagine bring the new kids in town and the kids who lived across from you, had it out for y'all. That's how it was for us at first. But then it became fun."

"Well, I actually never thought about it like that before. All we honestly ever had on our minds was trying to get y'all to leave." He admitted. "But, honestly, it became fun for us too. I don't think my brothers and I have ever had this much fun. Not even when the Bensons where still here."

"So, now that we're all kinda friends, would y'all still try and run us out of here?" Eddie asked as she grinned at him.

He grinned back at her, as he punched her lightly on her shoulder. "You know it." He said.

Finally, they reached some kind of wooden bridge that was over a pond. Jake turned to her. "You wanna go over it and see if we can find our way home from there?"

She nodded. "Yeah." She said as they started to cross over it. As they walked over it, Eddie started to grin as she got a good idea.

All of the sudden, she reached out and shoved Jake into the pond. She burst out laughing, at the sight of him plunging head first into the water.

He burst from the water, with an angry look on her face. "Malloy, I'm gonna get you for that!" He exclaimed, as his face turned red.

Eddie laughed harder and harder as she leaned down, with her hands resting on her knees. "Oh, man oh man! That was hilarious!" She weezed.

"If thought that was hilarious," Jake growled. "Then you're gonna think this is hysterical!"

As he said that, he reached out and grabbed her ankle, pulling her into the pond with him. "AHHHHHHH!" She screamed as she hit the ice cold water. When she surfaced, she punched him on his shoulder. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

"HEY! You did it to me first!" He yelled. "I was just getting my revenge."

"Of course. Revenge is all you guys care about, isn't it?" She sighed as she pulled herself out of the pond and to the top of the wooden bridge.

He pulled himself out of the water too. Their baseball uniforms were completely soaked. It was sticking to their skin. "Hey, you have no room to talk, y'know," He said. "It's not like you guys haven't done your fair share of pranks and revenge pranks."

"You might have a point there." Eddie laughed. "Hey, I would say I'm sorry for pushing you into the pond, but if I did, I would be lying."

Jake laughed out loud. "Hey, are you ready to trying find our way back?" He asked.

Eddie grinned. "Um, not quite yet." She said. "There's, uh, kinda something I've been wanting to do." With that, she leaned in towards him.

As she got closer and closer, Jake seemed like he was stuck in a trance. Then, their lips met and Eddie began to kiss him, and it took a second for it to register in Jake's mind what was happening, when he started running his hands through her hair.

When they pulled apart, they stared at each other in shock, grinning. "Well..." Eddie said, smiling awkwardly.

"Well..." Jake said with a similar smile on his face. "Um, did you know that was going to happen?" Jake asked her.

"Well, not exactly." She said. "But I'm glad it did. I do really like you, y'know."

"Yeah, I do too." He said then he smiled at her. "Well, you ready to find our way home now?"

"Yeah. Let's go." Eddie said, as she grabbed Jake's hand.

They walked all the way through the woods, until they finally got back to where they needed to be.

Whenever they got back to the edge of the swinging footbridge, Eddie started to walk across it, but Jake grabbed her arm, pulling her back to him.

When they were face to face, he learned in and kissed her again. They pulling back from the kiss, grinning.

"Well, I'll see you later, Eddie." Jake said.

"Me too." She said.

"Y'know, I wouldn't mind getting lost with you again." He grinned at her, which caused her to turn red. Very red.

"i feel the same," She said, ss she turned away to walk over yhe swinging footbridge. "Bye, Jake."

"Bye, Eddie," He responded, before turning around to go to his house.