You Have To Choose

chapter 22

As I ran towards the Sandlot, I heard Ally and Yeah-yeah running close behind me. I'd never been that fast of a runner, so Yeah-yeah passed me, and Ally and I ended up arriving at the same time.

"Dang.....it," I muttered, between breaths.

Yeah-yeah laughed, and glanced at me, a smile on his face and the light back in his eyes.

I smiled back, feeling comfortable standing here with him, like this was just how it was supposed to be.

I snapped myself out of these thoughts as the three of us climbed up to the treehouse, where the other boys were waiting.

"Finally!" Squints said, annoyed.

I rolled my eyes and sat down, where everyone was in a circle.

Benny and Yeah-yeah were on the opposite side of the circle as me, as everyone talked.

If you asked me what they were talking about, I wouldn't be able to tell you. I was staring at these two boys in front of me, wondering how I liked both of them the same.

Besides baseball, they didn't really have anything in common, they were polar opposites.

I watched intently, as Benny smiled at everyone, true joy. But when I looked at Yeah-yeah, it wasn't like that.

He had this far off look, and when he smiled, the happiness never quite reached his big blue eyes.

He looked like his mind was anywhere except on the things everyone was saying, but he played along, put on a mask.

I knew how that felt, trying not to show anyone that you were hurting inside, it's happened to all of us, but this seemed different.

But really, I guess it didn't seem like hurt as much as it did worry.

I was forced to quit thinking about this, when I heard Squints speak.

"Who wants to play truth or dare?" He asked, glancing at all of us.

Everyone agreed, and I just sat still, being quite indifferent about whether or not we played the game.

We began the game, and at first, everything was going quite wonderfully, but like all simple things, it changed.

"Adeline," Squints said, catching my attention, "truth or dare?"

"Truth," I shrugged, oblivious to the horror that was to happen next.

Squints mouth formed into a large smirk, and I instantly braced myself for what was to come.

"Do you like anyone?" He asked.

Four words. How can four words stress me out so much.

"No," I said, but I suppose I only have talent for lying to my parents, because I felt my cheeks heat up and was unable to make contact with Squints. My eyes attempted to drift towards Yeah-yeah and Benny, but I wouldn't let them. That would be incredibly obvious.

"Liar," Squints said with a laugh, "come on, just tell us."

I tapped my hand on my leg, suddenly feeling as if I was a performer, under the lights on a stage in front of millions of people. And right there, in the front row, were all of my best friends.

"Uh..." was all I could muster up, racking my brain for a solution to this situation.

Suddenly, like a superhero, my savior came to help, "Come on, if she doesn't want to answer, she doesn't have to," Ally said, glaring at Squints.

"Aw, come on," Squints whined.

"Squints, just ask somebody else something," Ally said, and I breathed a sigh of relief as Squints reluctantly agreed and the attention moved away from me.

As we all fell asleep that night, I glanced over at Yeah-yeah. He had that same worried look on his face, as he stared up at the ceiling.

My eyelids began to feel heavy and I drifted off to sleep, Yeah-yeah still awake when I dozed off.