Who Says Girls and Baseball Don't Mix?

Chapter Eleven: Step Up To The Plate... With Fall Ball

River's POV

I am putting away my Calculus book when Jack, Lucas, and Riley all run up to me. They stop by my locker and I sigh, placing my hand against the locker next to mine, exasperated. "Let me guess. Are you here to ask about Jaxon again? He does still have his phone, guys. He's not in quarantine." Jaxon got a bad concussion at the second home game of the season two weeks ago, right when Gordon got let go to play again. He has had to stay home for the past week. I look at the guys as they rolls their eyes and shake their heads. I grin and say, "What?"

"That's not why we're here, Riv," Riley says. "We just came to tell you that tryouts are starting." They all smile at each other. 

I stare at them. It is too early after school for this. "What?" I ask, slightly exasperated. "Tryouts for baseball don't start until after basketball season." 

"Not real baseball," Jack says, rolling his eyes at my exasperated look. "This is fall ball. We play during the fall too, you know."

I raise an eyebrow. We never had fall softball up in New York. Baseball either. This is a brand new concept to me. I shut my locker, lock it, and hoist my bag up onto my shoulder. "Okay, tell me more."

They grin at each other and begin to explain to me what fall baseball is. Apparently, they meet every Wednesday after school to practice for a couple hours and they only have games on Saturdays. As we walk toward the parking lot and toward our cars, my smile gets bigger and bigger. They walk me to my car and Riley asks, "So, what do you think?" They all look at me hopefully and I sigh.

"Sure I'll come to tryouts. I'll drag Bay along to. I can't promise you that we'll be fully ready though. Neither of us have played in the fall before."

"Don't worry," Lucas says breezily. "It's the same as regular, just a lot colder." He grins at me before walking to his car. Jack follows closely behind him. Riley lingers a bit longer look at me as I put my stuff into the back of Bay's convertible. He looks troubled and I begin to shove my stuff farther into the back.

"You alright Riley?" I ask him, not looking up. I hear him take a deep breath and he walks closer to me, placing his hand on my brother's car. He seems unusually quiet at the moment and that's when I look up at him. His eyes are worrisome and his mouth is pressed into a tight line. I stand up straight, now getting slightly scared. "Riley?"

"Will you do me a favor?" he asks quietly.

I nod. "Sure. Anything." I go back to fixing my things in the back seat.

"Will you talk to Gordon for me?" I freeze, my hand a few inches away from the zipper of my bag. I lean back on my toes and look over at him, trying to keep my voice calm and quiet. Gordon and I haven't talked since Dina's, which was three weeks ago. It's noticeable that we try to avoid each other as much as possible, but it's hard, considering he lived right next door. I saw the same thing in his eyes that I know were in mine that night and I figured the best thing for both of us is if we stay away from each other. He is dating Destiny after all and I'm dating Jaxon.

"Why?" I ask, keeping my voice low and quiet. If Riley notices my nervousness, he does not say anything to it. I pull at the edges of my jacket. I didn't want to see Gordon, especially dressed as I am. I'm wearing a tank top with a cropped jean jacket and short white shorts. I look like the cliche version of a preppy girl. 

"Just... talk to him please," he says. "He's doing a couple laps at the track. We don't have practice until seven today. But he wants to get warmed up early since he missed two weeks already." I am about to respond when he gets a call on his cell phone. He holds up a hand to me, talking into his phone. I sigh and walk toward the football field.