Page 28 of The Third Baseman

What a fucking epic day.

Named Captain.

Decent run.

Great weights session.

Perfect practice.

English was cancelled.

Got a B in my biology exam.

It couldn’t have been better if I’d written it.

The only thing that had been niggling in the back of my head was that girl, the one with the green eyes. The one who’d left without saying goodbye. The one that had me wishing I’d listened better to what Emerson had been saying when she was talking about her, because then I’d have remembered her name.

I turned on the radio as I pulled out of the parking lot and down the street that ringed the school campus. I was wracking my brain so hard I almost missed seeing her walking through the pedestrian entrance to the school gate, heading for the bus stop.

But there she was… three times in one day.

Oh man, whatever had I done to deserve this?

I slowed my car until it was inching alongside her, and rolled down the window. Though as her nose was back in a book and her earbuds were firmly plugged in, she didn’t notice.

“Hey!” I called, but jeez, that book must be really interesting because her eyes never veered from it. I wonder if she walked into stuff a lot. She hadn’t even noticed the car beside her. Any longer and this would get creepy.

“Hey! Stars and Stripes!” I called again. “Want a ride?”

I was about to honk the horn when she stopped in her tracks and turned slowly to face me. Removing one of her ear buds, she tilted her head with a slight frown which crinkled her nose, not dissimilar to when my dog was a puppy – except she was almost cuter.

She looked behind her then back at me. “Are you talking to me?”

“Don’t see anyone else around.”

“What did you call me?”

I propped my elbow on the open window frame and pointed to her with a grin. “Stars and Stripes, like your shirt.”

I thought she might crack a smile, but she didn’t. Instead, she continued staring at me with a slightly confused expression. Maybe she hit her head when she fell, though I hadn’t noticed.

“Do you remember me from earlier? The devastatingly handsome guy who helped you pick up your books? I notice you have a backpack now which could have helped you earlier,” I winked.

The book she was holding closed with a soft thud. “Yes, I remember you. Thank you. But what are you doing?”

There was the million-dollar question. WhatwasI doing?

“Apparently I live next door to you, so I guess it’s your lucky day,” I replied before I could think any more into this. I mean, it was just a ride.

“Oh yeah?” she popped her hip slightly and her head tilted. “How so?”

“Hop in. I’m giving you a ride.”

“Why?”

“Told you, it’s your lucky day,” I grinned again, while also wondering why she wasn’t already in the passenger seat next to me. “It’s a service I offer to new girls. I’m Jupiter.”

Her green eyes narrowed. “I know who you are, everyone knows who you are. And I’m not new.”

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