We Come Alive 5

Train Of Thoughts

Wednesday afternoon, while every other baseball player was in the school still, getting checked by the nurse for an updated physical, Clover and Baylor were in the dugout together. Ricky and Danny were the only ones with the rest of the players since Hurst had to leave work early to drive Barrett back down to San Antonio.

Baylor tossed the baseball up and down while he laid back on the bench. Clover was slouching on the top of the bench, which was a solid platform for their bags and for them to sit.

"Your boyfriend sent off an application to the University of Miami for me." Baylor said aloud.

Clover smiled to herself. "Oh yeah? Sounds like what Mateo did for him. What? You mad or something?"

Baylor shook his head as he continued to throw the ball up in the air only to catch it before it hit his chest. "Happy as hell. I can finally get out of here. Get away from my family. Get away from Oscar." He caught the ball mid-air and looked at her. "You're happy here. Got everything you've ever wanted."

Clover looked down at him. Her eyes were still and her body emotionless. "I fought for everything I've wanted." She revealed. "Still am." She admitted, shrugging and looking forward.

"Like what?"

The African American girl reached into her bag beside her and pulled out a brown ball. She held in her hand, wrapping her fingers around it the way she would almost every night of her life. "Without this, I'm nobody. With this, I'm...me. That's the issue."

"Didn't you want it?" Baylor yawned, sitting up and covering his mouth. When he finished yawning, he moved his hand and looked at her. "I thought being the next big thing was your dream."

Clover shook her head, looking down at the ball. "It was someone else's dream. It wasn't my dream until...maybe a year and a half ago. I just did it for fun, for memories. I just wanted to impress someone, make someone love me. I was in high school when I realize how much fun it really was and what I could probably do with it. Probably around eleven was when I started to like it. Lately, I've been trying to separate who I am with the ball and who I am without it. It's harder now since that's all anyone knows me as."

Baylor nodded his head, understanding what she meant. When they made eye contact, he smiled at her. "I know who you are without it. And you're a pretty good person, if I'm honest."

Clover smiled back at him, tossing the ball over her shoulder and into the bag. "What about you?"

"Complete opposite." He snickered. "With a bat in my hand, I'm a nobody. Without it, I'm a gangster, a murderer, a felon. Me. I'm hoping someone sees me as the next big thing. I wasn't allowed to have dreams for a...long time. It was just strapped guns, running from cops, and fighting. I got tired of it pretty quickly. That's their life, not mine. I only did it so I could survive. Then I figured I was pretty good a baseball and picked it up. It was the only thing they let me have back in Boston. Then I moved here and I figured it was the last chance I had. I'm only getting a piece of paper and a handshake, after that I gotta figure it out myself."

He looked back at her since he looked forward and stared into space while talking. He gave her a crooked smile. "Maybe when you're in the NFL and I'm in the MLB, we can reconnect and watch each other's games? Two nobodies."

Clover nodded her head. "That'd actually be pretty cool."

~**~

Meanwhile inside, Stephen was walking down one of the hallways near the gym to go out the back door to head to the baseball field, but stopped when he saw Macy and one of her friends in the hallway giggling.

When Macy noticed him, she smiled widely knowing Stephen didn't notice Jessica behind him walking to the gym for competitive cheerleading practice.

"Hey, cutie." Macy smiled. "Where you going?"

"Practice." He grumbled, trying to walk around her but she got in his way. "What do you want?" He groaned.

Macy looked back at her friend then back at Stephen. "Me and you at prom. Prom king and queen. How 'bout it? Or do you have a date? What? Jessie didn't want to have you around ruining her spot light?"

Stephen just sighed and rubbed the side of his face with his hand. He didn't have a chance to respond when he saw Jessica's copper colored hair fly between them before he heard her yelling at Macy.

"I'm so sick and tired of you always having something to say about me and Stephen's relationship. Don't have anything better to do with your time than to run your mouth and suck off football players?!"

Stephen's jaw dropped hearing her words, but he soon had to catch Jessica when Macy shoved her back into him. He didn't have time to hold onto her to keep her from escalating the situation when Jessica just launched at Macy. Stephen quickly tried to break up the two from throwing slaps and pulling each other's hair.

Stephen looked beside him and saw Diego and Jacob pulling Macy back, while some of the other baseball players going to practice made the two let go of each other. Stephen picked up Jessica and threw her over his shoulder, walking back a few feet to get her away from the scene.

Stephen set her down, pinning her between his body and the wall so she couldn't move, and checked her for injuries.

"Look at me." He whispered, grabbing her chin to look at her face. "You okay?" He questioned, padding down her hair.

Jessica combed her fingers through her hair, watching sadly as a few strands came out. "Yeah. I'm okay." She nodded.

Stephen grabbed her shaking hands and held them in his larger ones to calm her down. He looked over his shoulder at the other baseball players making almost a boarder around them so Macy couldn't come attacking Jessica when she was off guard.

"That little girl ain't even on my level!" Macy screamed to her friend so they could all hear. "I don't even care about her! She could never be as good as me!"

Stephen scoffed. "You're doing all this for a plastic crown? You know that Clover's running too and she's gonna win with a landslide like she always does."

"She's running?" Diego asked confused, looking at his friends around him.

Stephen smirked to them and even to Jessica, who's hands he was still holding. "She is now."

~**~

Late that evening, Kiara was sitting at the kitchen bar that separated it from the living room while finishing up some notes from work. Manny had gone to sleep over an hour ago after trying to put Esmeralda down for forty-five minutes.

Kiara's head shot up when she heard the front door unlock, open, close, and be locked back. She looked at Mateo cautiously since today he had the second and final meeting with the school board. Afterwards he was going to the athletic building to talk with his co-workers on what would be next for them either way.

"Where have you been all day?" Kiara let out a worried sigh, getting up from her seat and taking his briefcase from him. "You left here at 10 in the morning. It's almost midnight."

Mateo gently kissed the top of her head. "I got out the meeting at three. I spent the rest of the time talking with the guys. A lot of talking."

Kiara looked up at him hopefully. "What happened? Please tell me they didn't make a dumb decision."

Mateo sighed heavily. "The dumbest one of their lives." He told her. "They gave me almost double what I originally wanted in every sport except football. And I got a pretty good raise."

Kiara jumped into his arms squealing. Mateo caught her and held her up for a few seconds as they celebrate in the middle of the living room. When Mateo set her down, Kiara kissed him passionately.

"I knew you could do it. I told you!" She encouraged. "I knew it! No one else could do what you can do, I swear."

Mateo smiled softly. "I couldn't do it without you."

Kiara flipped her hair over her shoulder and started to walk off. "I know." She teased, rushing off when he went to grab at her. "I still want my new car."

Mateo scoffed and rolled his eyes as he followed her to their bedroom. "You'll be lucky if we get you a toy car." He joked, watching her flip him off.