Page 23 of The Third Baseman

“Finally!” I cheered, once again omitting the curse words as my sister ambled – fucking ambled – out of the house like she had all the time in the world. My teeth gritted as I spied her surfboard, but didn’t put up an argument like I would have done if she’d arrived fifteen minutes earlier when I was first outside and ready to leave.

I waited until it joined Mallory’s surfboard in the trunk, then turned the key. The engine roared to life, ready to inch its way down the driveway the second Emerson opened the passenger door.

“Jeez, impatient much? Let me actually get in before you take off, please! I don’t understand why we have to leave so early. Piper didn’t make us leave for another half hour, and we were still early to class,” Emerson mumbled through the slice of toast still wedged between her front teeth, while trying to pull her seat belt on.

Turning left out of the drive, we surged forward along the winding roads leading out of our neighborhood, and towards Santa Monica. Hopefully traffic would be light, and I’d be able to make up some time.

“Piper didn’t have pre-school commitments; I do. I have squad training, followed by practice, and this morning I have a meeting with Coach, and I’m meeting Jenson for a run. So, yes, we need to leave early, and yes, I’d appreciate you moving your ass quicker.”

She huffed a response I didn’t catch and began fiddling with the buttons on the music system. I braced myself for another protest once I’d rejected whatever pop crap she’d chosen.

“Oh yes, Taylor Swift! I love this song,” Mallory piped up, her head sticking through the space between us.

“Absolutely not, turn this shit off! It’s bad enough you’re making me late.” I slapped my hand on another button and the music changed to a much more acceptable Jay-Z. I then pushed Emerson’s feet away from where they were currently resting, and rubbed off the mark her sneakers had left. “No feet on the dash, you know the rules!”

I didn’t miss the wide eyes Mallory gave to neither one of us in particular.

“I want to live in New York one day,” Emerson sighed, pulling down the passenger visor to look in the mirror as she brushed her hair, no doubt getting her long auburn strands everywhere. She was worse than a shedding dog.

“Fuck no. New York is far too cold.” I shivered at the thought. “And can you stop doing that in my car?”

She flicked the visor back up. “I wouldn’t have to if you’d let us leave at a more reasonable time.”

“Jupiter, what if you get drafted to the Yankees?” asked Mallory, far too innocently to fool anyone.

I narrowed my eyes at her through the rear-view mirror.

Emerson turned around in her seat. “Please don’t set him off. I’m not listening to The Dodgers for Life statement this early in the morning.”

Mallory snorted, and turned to look out of the window, making me flinch when she banged on it. “Hey, stop! Jupiter stop the truck! Em, look, it’s that girl…”

“What? No chance.”

“Yeah, it’s that girl. She was in our math class last year, but then moved to the advanced group...”

“Jupe, slow down.” Emerson pointed ahead to a figure on the sidewalk about fifty yards up and closing. “That’s the girl that moved in next door. Her name’s Marnie, I think. Slow down, we can give her a ride.”

“No can do, I’m already late! Bad enough I have to drop you two off.”

“It’s not like you go out of your way to take us to our side of the campus, we still have to walk there!” Emerson hissed and ducked down in her seat. “You’re such an ass.”

My eyes flicked over to where she was now almost horizontal. “What are you doing?!”

“I don’t want her to see me passing by and not offering a ride, then realizing I’m related to an ass. It’s so embarrassing.”

I glanced in the side mirror; I wasn’t sure if the girl from next door had even noticed we’d passed given the way her head was down in a book. Though even from that angle, and the increasing distance, I could still tell she was cute, glasses perched on her head above a high ponytail swishing softly as she walked.

Maybe I should give her a ride…

I cleared my head quickly. Nope. No distractions going into the final season. The only thing I was committing to was playing ball and graduating.

“I’m sure you’ll get over it by tomorrow morning, when you need to get to school again,” I snapped back.

“Ugh! I can’t wait until my birthday and I get my car.”

“Unfortunately for all of us, that’s not for a while,” Mallory piped up unhelpfully.

Emerson then decided she no longer wanted to acknowledge me, and instead unbuckled and climbed into the backseat like I was now their fucking chauffeur. But at least with them gossiping together it allowed me to zone out and concentrate on what I had to accomplish during the remainder of the school year, starting with my nine a.m. meeting with Coach Barr. I was pretty sure he was going to name me Captain of the Baseball Squad this year.

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