We Come Alive 5

Spring Break

Sunday morning all of the baseball players, coach, and assistant coach arrived to the school and started their warmup for their home baseball game. By the time the game started, the home bleachers were full of the players' family and friends cheering them on to a victory. Ricky walked up behind Hurst in the dugout as they watched their players on the field.

In the middle of the 3rd inning, Ethan was squatting down at third base as he watched Clover watch the catcher's signals for what she should do. Once she nodded her head down once she threw the ball.

Ethan slightly jumped hearing how hard the ball whipped through the wind and into the catcher's mitt. They all heard yells coming from the coaches, the teams, and the crowds either telling the batter what to do, or telling Clover what to do.

Clover looked over her shoulder at Jose who winked at her. She laughed to herself and turned back around, throwing the ball right to the batter's bat. The hard clink from the ball and bat colliding echoed the field. Clover watched the ball fly over her head and right into Jose's mitt. They all listened to the umpire call an out.

Clover looked around and saw the runner stare her down. She didn't react to him, turning her back to him and facing the outfield. She noticed Baylor giving the boy a death glare which sent the batter back to the dugout quicker. When Baylor and Clover made eye contact, she smiled softly at him. All he did was smirk, not one to break out in a big smile around a lot of people.

~~

In the 8th inning, Ethan was carrying his bat over his shoulder as he walked up to bat. He did his usual taunting act of hitting the bat against his shoes, than the plate, than his shoes again before pointing at the pitcher and holding it above his head.

The pitcher threw a fast ball towards Ethan which he easily hit into the outfield. He took off running as fast as his legs could take him as he dropped the bat within seconds. The Hispanic boy made it onto first base before taking off towards second. He slid onto second seeing the second basemen trying to catch the ball to get him out.

Once the umpire said that Ethan was safe, he looked into the bleachers and smiled widely. His girlfriend Christin was in the stands cheering him on with his younger sister Arianna. Both of them stood up and clapped their hands when they saw he noticed them. He just waved, having to get focused on the game again.

~**~

After winning their game, Danny was in the locker room doing his usual post-game checkups on some of the athletes who were worried they got injured during the game in the infirmary. He was currently checking the right outfielder for a torn muscle when he noticed a figure sitting in his office.

Danny looked closely and recognized the person as Clover sitting at his desk on her phone. He didn't say a word to try and get her attention, deciding to finish his work before speaking to her.

Once Danny was sure the outfielder didn't have a torn muscle, he cleared him and let him leave. The young man strolled into his office with his hands in his shorts pockets.

"What're you doing?"

"Hiding away." Clover mumbled, not looking up from her phone.

Danny leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms. "Why?"

Clover shook her head, making it clear to Danny that she wasn't in the mood to talk. Danny sighed, checking the clock that was on the wall for the time.

"Spring break starts tomorrow. What're you doing?" He wondered, looking back at her. "Come on, talk to me."

Clover didn't respond for a few moments, but did look up from her phone and make eye contact with him. "Lake house." She answered, giving him a half smile. "Me and the boys, except for Ethan, Manny and some of the boys' girlfriends are going up to Jacob's dad's lake house. Gonna be up there for a few days. What about you?"

"Visiting some family in north Texas." He shrugged one shoulder. "Haven't seen them in a while so it'll be good to pop in and say hi for a while. But we're growing more concerned about you." Danny revealed. "Mateo told me what happened at the fundraiser."

"Yeah." Clover smirked. "Me and Manny won the bid. We stayed tied together for three hours. Jose and Ethan gave up after a while. I guess they can't be together for too long."

Danny cocked his head to the side, making her smile fade. "It's nice that you and Manny won, but I'm talking about your panic attack. You were hyperventilating and nearly passed out."

Clover didn't bother to respond when Danny turned around when he felt a presence beside him. He looked to see Diego coming in with his baseball jersey unbuttoned and his bare torso on display.

"There you are." Diego breathed, his breathing erratic. "We're going to the basketball game that's gonna start soon. You coming along?"

Clover nodded her head, locking her phone and putting it into Danny's desk drawer since she didn't have any pockets in her baseball uniform paired with black slides.

Diego smirked and walked off, yelling that they'd save her a seat in the bleachers. Danny watched Clover slowly stand up and walked even slower around the far part of his desk.

"He's my ride." She whispered. "I have to go. Rain check this conversation?"

"Only this once. I just want to know why you've been so...empty lately." Danny nearly begged, his concern evident.

Clover walked towards him. "I...I don't know. Sorry." She whispered.

Danny grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving. "You know where to find me if you're in trouble, you know that right? I know Mateo and Sam and Victor are harder to talk to, and you barely know Hurst. And Ricky? I know he's one of the last people you want to go to sometimes. I just don't want you going down a wrong path. Believe it or not, I actually care about y'all."

"You get paid to care about us." Clover reminded him.

Danny let her go. "But when I wasn't being paid for those three weeks, I was still here everyday defending you and your boys. Put my job on the line for you. I'll do it again if I need to."

Clover looked up at Danny and gave him a gentle smile. "Thank you." She breathed.

Danny just smiled back and let her leave. Clover walked out of the athletic building and made the walk to the school. She walked straight to the gym when she could hear the start of the basketball game. She took her seat in between Ricky and Ethan and pretended to be interested in everything around her, but she couldn't help but feel detached. She even ignored Danny when he walked into the gym and took his seat beside the Jaguar coaches on the sidelines.

Ricky glanced beside him to Clover and noticed her just sitting there. She was a shell of a body. She was there physically, but not mentally. He leaned towards her and wrapped his arm around her waist, planting his hand on her hip so he could pull her closer.

"You okay?" He asked into her ear.

Clover nodded, crossing her legs and pushing a lose strand of hair behind her ear. Ricky looked at her facial expression but she didn't look back.

"Wanna go talk outside?" Ricky wondered. "Talk it out."

Clover turned her face to him when the cheerleaders and mascot came out and made the volume in the gym double. "Nothing to talk about. I'm just in a mood."

Ricky let her go when she got up and sat higher in the bleachers with Baylor who was leaned back laughing with his friends watching the beginning of the game.

Stephen sighed heavily as he listened to Diego whistle and cheer on Mila who was standing court-side with the rest of the cheerleaders doing their routine. Stephen ignored Diego while his eyes landed on a ginger haired, freckled girl standing a few yards away waving to the crowd; a huge smile on her face.

Jessica turned to look throughout the crowd, but her smile faltered when she saw Stephen staring blankly at her. Stephen quickly looked away when he noticed she caught him. When he looked back up, she was high fiving people in the front row and smiled at her friends.

Stephen could tell it was a facade, but there was nothing he could do. Jessica sat down with the rest of the cheerleaders behind their home basket. She knew he was still watching her, but she didn't turn to look at him. They just let their unsaid words be left in the air.