Snapshots

Baseball

*text messages*

Lucas: 'you're coming today, right?'
Maya: 'of course huckleberry, I'm always there'
Lucas: 'well Riley and Farkle are going to be there today...'
Maya: 'oh okay. I'll find a way to make it without any suspicion.'
Lucas: 'good, because there's no way they need to find out, and I really need you there'
Maya: 'I know you're nervous about this one Friar, but that curveball has nothing on you. you're the best one on the team! your coach told me so last week'
Lucas: 'still'
Maya: 'you got this. I have full faith in you'
Lucas: 'xxoo'
Maya: 'alright cowboy I'll see you in Matthews' class in 5 xxo'
Lucas: 'it's a date, short stack ;)'

    "Who were you talking to Lucas?" Farkle asks me as I slip my phone back in my pocket.
    "Just my momma. She can't make it to the game," I say back, even though we both know I'm way to happy to have just been talking to my mom.
    "Aw I'm sorry. But hey me and Riley are gonna be there, and I think Riley is trying to get Maya to come too," he says back.
    No one knows about me and Maya. We've hid it pretty well for the past 6 months. We both keep deciding that it would just be too weird. Our friends would treat us differently and hanging out will never be same. But wow do I love that girl. I know she hates baseball, but I also knew she'd be there. "I know, it's going to be awesome! I think y'all will like it," I say as we both grab our stuff and walk towards Mr. Matthews' class.
~
Lucas: 'it's a date, short stack ;)'

    Lucas is cute. And also the only one who can call me that ever. No one knows about me and Lucas. Riley's oblivious and Lucas is really good at lying to Farkle. Only our moms know. "Who you talking to?" Riley asks as she closes her locker door.
    "My mom. She said she had to stay late tonight. Looks like I'll be home alone," I say.
    "You can come to Lucas' baseball game with me and Farkle. Then we're going out for pizza after," she offers. Bingo. But I can't seem too happy about the offer.
    "I don't know Riles, you know sports aren't my thing. And neither is Ranger Rick." At least one of those things was painfully true. Except I know a freaking boatload about baseball. He better love me for sitting through all those games.
    "Come on! It'll be fun. You don't even have to think it's a sport or that it involves Lucas. Just think of it as hanging out with me outside on some bleachers," she says grabbing my hand and pleading.
    "Alright fine," I say rolling my eyes dramatically. "But only because you asked so nicely."
    She smiles and claps a little, clearly happy. I roll my eyes again and follow her into Matthews' class. Lucas is already in his seat and clearly looking for me. I give him a quick, slight nod and he smiles and looks down, happy and embarrassed. The bell rings and Matthews walks in. "So today, we're talking about the Congress of Vienna. People all over the world were happy that the French Revolution was over, but now they had to work out a plan to fix Europe. Everybody had their own idea of how it should be, but nobody was going to listen to the other. We are trying it today. I want you all to partner up," he says.
    "Peaches," Riley says.
    "Hi sweetie," I say back with a smile.
    "No girls. Try to pair with someone you usually wouldn't. We're trying something new, might as well take it all the way," he says and Riley frowns.
    "Peaches," Lucas says to me and I turn around.
    "Hi sweetie," I say giggling, unable to take the smile off my face.
    "Partners?" he asks.
    "Partners," I say in response.
    "Riley?" Farkle asks with hope.
    "Yes Farkle? Do you want to be my partner?" she says.
    "Yes please," he says in response. I laugh and grab my pencil.
    "Okay kids, so you and your teammate have to reconstruct a new map of Europe. You have five minutes, and then we'll share."
    Lucas turns to me and says, "alright let's just draw a line here and here and here." I watch him draw lines and he shows me a finished map of Europe almost exactly like the one today, except France has a bit more land.
    "Why is France bigger?" I ask with curiosity.
    "Because those people just went through trial and suffering. They had very little food and land. I'm giving them a lot of farm land for them to develop," he says looking down at his map and his textbook.
    "Aw you're sweet," I say. He looks at me and blushes a light pink. As I said, he's sweet. "Okay, so today," I say seeing as we've finished and still have three minutes to go. "I'm coming but Riley doesn't think I'll be interested. She thinks I'm just there for the pizza." He laughs and I continue. "You are going to kick butt and I'm going to watch, but I can't stay in or right by your little dugout like I usually do, okay cowboy?"
    "Okay. But it's going to be boring now," he says as he smiles at me and grabs the paper.
    "Mr. Friar, Miss Hart, would you like to go first?" Matthews asks.
    "Sure sir," Lucas says, always the gentleman. I actually really like this class. All my friends, my boyfriend, Matthews. It's a good life. And I really love history, but Matthews won't hear that until I die.
    "We decided to give everybody the space they have now. It works for us, why not for them? Except for France. We made France bigger because they need the extra land to farm and grow. They just went through a famine, and every little bit helps," I say and Lucas smiles at me.
    "Good job Maya. Lucas, anything else?"
    "No sir, she pretty much said it all."
    We go to sit back down, but Farkle and Riley are getting up and I trip over Farkle's foot. Lucas puts his hands on my shoulders to steady me, and I smile at him but don't say anything. He sits down and smiles back.
    "We decided that everyone would benefit from having France be smaller, because they started it," Farkle said.
    "We turned most of France into a new country," Riley continued. "We figured it'd be better to have less of the unrest."
    "Interesting take, guys," Mr. Matthews says. "Have a seat." It was like this until the end of the class. Then Matthews said we had to pick a plan to go by. We all voted form our own. "See guys, sometimes, it's hard to make a decision. It's hard to agree. But eventually someone will win."
~
Lucas: 'any way you could find a way to sneak off for two minutes?'