I Don't Run Bases

Chapter 3

Batting the smiles off of the boys' faces in p.e. had brightened my day so much, i didn't even mind that much when Chase caught up with me again in the hallway.

"Hey sweet-cheeks." He says, doing that eyebrow thing again.

"Can't you switch it up a bit? It's getting boring only having one name." I return, guiltily feeding his irrational admiration of me. His eyes light up, taking it as flirting. Oppsies.

"Sure, baby-cakes." He says, winking as he turns into a classroom. Oi-Vey. As i turn into my own classroom, Pre Calc, i see that the luck from pe still dwells with me. Ethan sees me but is trapped in the corner of the room by his arrogant jock friends and the prissy cheerleaders. Lana is even here already.

"Lana, i didn't know that you knew the class opened before the bell rings." I say teasingly as i sit down next to her.

"ha. ha. very funny. I had to ask Mrs. Matthews for help before class." She counters. I hear my name come from the jock corner as she adds, "Your preformance in pe has you praised all over school."

I glance back at the corner, Ethan is staring holes in me as usual. I roll my eyes as he almost attempts to break the barracade of people infront of him. Just as i was watching his plan to come talk to me begin to unfold in his head the class was called to order.

"Class. Turn to page 93 in your text book." Mrs. Matthews's voice rings high and clear through the large class room full of chattering students who quickly find their seats and flip to the mentioned page.

When I open my email after having done the homework already, i see a new message from Ethan. I grudgingly open it.

Alexa,

You and I both know how sorry I am. It's been two years, can't you just let it go? I want you back. Come back to me Lex. Please. Meet me under our tree at 7pm tonight. I know you still remember so don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. Give me one more chance Lex. Come alone. I'll see ya tonight.       -E

I turn slightly in my seat to look back at his brown eyes, the holes in my side ebbing as he pleaded with me across the room. I quickly turn back around and shake my hair into my face so no one could see my conflicted emotions that tended to creep onto my face as a blush.

Ethan didn't bother me at all the rest of the day, just his normal staring and pleading with his chocolate brown eyes. I told Lana about the email at lunch.

"Well you're not gonna go are you?" She says, slamming her milk down onto her tray, nearly splashing her mystery meat, not that she's going to eat it anyways.

"But, if I can manage to convince him not to stare at me so much then that'd be the time to do so, ya know?" I say, poking my own meat.

"If you go alone then he'll think you're giving into his chaaaarms." Lana emphasized the last word, dramatically dragging it out and batting her eyelashes for effect.

"If he knows me well enough then he'll know that I'm not there to give him another chance. A second one is enough." I daringly take a bite of the mystery blob on my tray, chewing and deciding it was horse meat before managing to swallow it and continue to push it around some more.

"People are blinded by love, Alexa. Expecially your love. Have you seen that freshman baseball team?!"

"Well..."

"Well nothing. I'll only let you go on one condition."

"and that condition would beeee?" I now deject my meal completely, raising an eyebrow at my best friend and the brain child of a plan that would be born in a moment.

"I hide in a tree nearby, just in case."

"That's actually not that bad an ide-"

"We'll need to make up a code language of some kind. Like, bird calls or key words. Then we can communicate..." I slowly tune her ridiculous part of the plan out. Maybe this will work.

I'm sitting in the large oak tree that is exactly in the middle of Ethan's house and my own, two blocks away from each and in the middle of the park. I can barely see Lana in a tree next to mine. She decided that camoflage was nessesary for some unknown reason. Some people say she's weird, but i don't care. She's my best friend. I see Ethan's muscular form make it's way across the park, looking out of place next to the playground equipment. Before i know it, he is below the tree, looking up at me.

"That was your favorite spot in the whole park to sit. You refused to sit down anywhere else." He says, beginning to climb up with me. Lana makes a strange bird call from the tree, Ethan doesn't notice. As he sits on a branch i move so i'm on the other side of the thick trunk; he can't see my face at all. When i don't say anything he sighs and continues.

"Lex, please give me another chance. I- I made a mistake. It was an accident." He pleads. I can practically see him in my mind's eye. His tan skin warm from a day in the sun, his hair messy from the wind and his eyes, like melted chocolate. No, no. i refuse to think like that.

"Sure, it was just an accident! It's not an accident to abandon someone Ethan!" I yell at him, my hands going to my face immediatly to hold my head. Lana frantically bird calls from a nearby tree and before i know it he's come up next to me, his face inches away from mine. I remember... no. no. no.

"Well, I didn't mean to, okay?" Ethan says softly, almost a whisper.

"Yes, you did. You didn't care anymore. You don't care anymore." I say, pulling my knees to my chest and leaning against the trunk of the tree. Lana's bird calls escalate again and i look up to Ethan's face centimeters from my own. I don't have time to think before he leans in and kisses me. Its warm and comforting and before i know it i'm kissing him back. His strong yet gentle hands cup my face. I faintly hear Lana's calls in the distance but i don't care. This moment is captured in time, it's like he never left. It's like everything is back to how it was, perfect. Then I fall. I'm falling. Hitting every tree branch i possibly can before thudding to the ground. I roll over from landing on my arms and see terror cross on Ethan's far away face and I hear Lana screaming and running towards me. My arms both sting and shake. I manage to put my hand to my other arm and pull it towards my face with something warm on it. Blood. I hear sirens and see lights flashing.

"Stay with me Alexa!" Lana yells from my side, brushing my hair away from my face. Ethan stands frozen under the tree.

"Stay with us dear." A paramedic says.

"I'm her best friend!" Lana screams. They won't let her in the ambulance.

"Alexa!"

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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA cliff hangerrr!