TELL

His Head Was The Ball

Zay and Farkle were waiting for Maya at her locker. They didn't expect her to talk to them, but they wanted to walk to the subway station with her.

They didn't see Maya yet, but they saw Riley walking up to them so they gave her a polite wave and friendly smile.

"Hey Riley, what's up?" Zay said.

Riley had a frown on her face. She sighed and shook her head. "I can't find Lucas. I looked everywhere."

Zay hummed in thought. "Did You try outside on the baseball field?"

Riley shook her head. "N-No, I didn't."

Zay gave her a reassuring smile. "That's probably where he is, I'll go look for him." He left Riley with Farkle and ran off to go find Lucas.

He rushed through the halls until he got down the steps to the back door. The door that led outside to the baseball field and the football field.

They were on opposite sides of the building, one to the left and one to the right, but if you were on the football field you could get hit by a baseball and if you were on the baseball field you could hear the football team practicing. It was a little weird to have them so close, but neither team seemed to mind. The football team practiced after school Monday through Wednesday and the baseball team got the rest of the time, plus anytime both fields were empty since they didn't need a full team to practice hitting the balls or pitching them.

Zay heard the crack of a wooden bat and jogged towards the baseball diamond. As he got closer he could tell the boy swinging the bat was his best friend, Lucas Friar. "Hey! Lucas!"

Another crack was heard and another ball flew into the fencing around the diamond. No one was pitching, it was a machine on the mound, the coach's machine to help the team hit more.

Crack

"Lucas? Riley's looking for ya."

Crack

Zay sighed. "Are you ignoring me?"

Crack

"You are. Are you ignoring Riley?"

Crack

"Lucas, I know you're mad. We all are, but Maya needs us. We have to stay strong for her. I know what this is about, you blame yourself. You think if you chose Maya instead of Riley then she would have been with you, not him." Zay stated. "But you don't know that. He could have hurt her anyway." He flinched when Lucas threw the bat at the fencing in front of his face. "I choose to believe you knew I was safe behind the gate." Zay said.

Lucas panted, wiped the sweat off his face with a towel, then took a sip from his water bottle. "Maya should have been with me. She'd be safe. None of this would have happened to her."

Zay shook his head. "You don't know that. It's not like Josh was never gonna get a moment alone with her if you chose her instead of Riley." He sighed.

Lucas swallowed hard. "It doesn't matter." He threw his water bottle towards the pitcher's mound. "How am I supposed to feel?! I feel like I abandoned her! Like I'm the reason she got hurt!" He shouted out.

"You're not! Josh is!" Zay yelled back.

Lucas huffed. "But I should have protected her. I should have-" He wiped at his eyes and Zay could tell it wasn't sweat. "I should have chose her." He sucked in a breath and smashed his fist into the fencing ignoring the pain. "I can't tell Riley that, so yeah, I'm ignoring her."

Zay blew out a breath. "I knew you loved Maya. Deny it all you want, but I knew." He gave his best friend a sympathetic smile. "But you can't avoid Riley. She's your girlfriend and if you have feelings for Maya, if you regret your choice you have to man up and tell her." Zay snapped at him.

"How can I tell her that I wish I didn't choose her? How can I say to her that I feel like choosing her was a mistake? How can I break Riley's heart?"

Zay frowned. "It may be hard, but you have to, avoiding your girlfriend is not the answer. If you don't want to be her boyfriend you have to tell her."

Lucas gulped. "Fine. I'll tell her." He took a deep breath. "How's Maya?"

Zay frowned. "Still not talking." He left out a small chuckle. "Let me guess, his head was the ball." He laughed.

Lucas made a fist. "It was, if you could take a baseball bat to him I would."

Zay smiled a little. "Make sure it's a metal one and not that wooden thing."

Lucas scoffed and chuckled. "Yeah, course, a metal one with barbwire wrapped around it." He laughed.