Girl at Heart

by Kelly Oram

  When Eric says nothing to Shelly’s not-as-subtle-as-she-thinks comment, she touches his shoulder again. “Well, I can’t wait. And you know what else is going to be so much fun? The girls and I are coming to your game today!”

  Great. Just what I need. Shelly at the game, distracting me.

  She clings onto Eric’s arm again and bats her freaking eyelashes at him. Her voice turns high pitched and whiny as she says, “My king needs a cheering section, after all.”

  I’d gag if not for Eric’s amusing reaction to the baby talk. His cheeks turn rosy, and, with hunched shoulders, he turns his head to hide a grimace. Yeah, their relationship won’t last longer than the dance.

  Jace leans over and says, “My family’s all coming, too, so you’ll get to meet them. And I think Leila convinced most of the cheer squad to come, so you’ll probably have a bigger cheering section than Sullivan.”

  We share a look and smirk at Shelly, who’s clearly annoyed by our comment. She huffs, flicks her hair behind her back, and starts talking to her girlfriends about something not important to me. I gratefully go back to my lunch. When the warning bell rings, Jace, Mark, and I all head to the trash can while Eric tries to get rid of Shelly and crew. I turn to Jace a little bewildered. “What was all that about? What did I ever do to her?”

  Jace smirks. “You’re Eric’s best friend. She’s jealous, but she has to be nice to you in front of Eric or else he’ll dump her.”

  Huh. “Okay. I should have guessed that. Whatever. I don’t care who he takes to prom.”

  That’s a lie, but it’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

  We rock the semifinal, and this time I don’t suck. West Ridge was undefeated, just like us, but they only get two hits off us all night. We beat them 8-0. Eric and I may be having problems off the field, but on it we’re completely in sync. It’s like muscle memory for us, and I think we both like that the drama between us disappears for the night. At least, that’s how it feels to me.

  After the game is over and the team is scattered talking with friends and family in the crowd, I set my stuff down on a bleacher and send off a quick video message to my dad. I wish he could have been here, but he’ll be at the finals on Sunday.

  “Hey, Dad! Semifinals were tonight. WE KILLED IT!” I hold the camera up to the scoreboard. “Beat West Ridge 8-0. Eric pitched a two-hitter, and I picked off one of those base runners. I also got two runs and three RBIs.”

  I turn the camera back on me and give him my brightest smile. “Wish you could have seen it. So excited that you get to come to the finals. Glad you’re coming home tonight, but don’t wake me up when you finally drag yourself through the door in the wee hours of the morning. See you tomorrow. I’ll try on my dress for you.”

  Before I click off, Eric comes up behind me and wraps his arms around me in a big hug. “Hey, Chad!” he says over my shoulder. We’ve sent my dad hundreds of these video clips over the years. It’s second nature to us now, and in this moment it’s like there’s nothing wrong between us. “Charlie was amazing tonight. You’d be so proud. She says you’ll be home for the finals. That’s awesome. Safe flight tonight. See you soon.”

  “Love you, Dad.”

  I hang up the phone and send the video with Eric’s arms still around me. He hasn’t let me go yet, and it’s hurting my heart. We stand there for a long minute, silently, just soaking each other in. “Charlie,” he murmurs, voice rough with emotion. “I can’t stand this.”

  I pinch my eyes shut, staving off tears. “Me either.”

  “Can I come over tonight? I need a few hours, just you and me. We need to work this out, because I can’t—”

  “Sullivan!”

  Eric lets me go, and we both turn to see Coach walking over with Eric’s agent and a man wearing a Houston Astros polo. I elbow Eric. “Houston, huh? I didn’t realize they were courting you, too.”

  “I didn’t know they were,” Eric mumbles.

  “Better get over there, superstar.”

  He grips my hand. “Come with me. I’ll introduce you.”

  I snort. “He knows who I am. Everybody knows who I am. The only people who care are the news cameras. You’re a real prospect. I’m a cute human interest story.”

  Eric clenches his jaw and pinches his eyes shut. “It’s not fair.”

  “Life’s not fair.”

  “I’ll make them take us as a 2-for-1 deal.”

  “No, you won’t. You’ll go over there and accept their invitation to a private tryout like you have with Los Angeles, Washington, Cincinnati, Denver, Chicago, and Pittsburgh, and you’ll make me proud wherever you land in this summer’s draft.”

  Eric makes a pained face. “Charlie.”

  “Go.” I shove him lightly. “We can talk after.”

  Eric sighs, defeated, and pulls me into a quick hug before he goes to meet the three men waiting for him.

  I plop down on the bottom bleacher to wait. I’m not alone two seconds before Leila and Jace sit down on either side of me. “What’s that about?” Leila asks, watching Eric shake hands with the scout.

  “Houston. Just one of the dozen teams trying to recruit Eric.”

  Leila shakes her head. “I mean, why does it look like it’s killing him to have to talk to them?”

  I sigh. “He feels guilty that he’s about to leave me behind. Growing up, I accepted my fate, but he always believed we’d ride this train together. Reality has been as hard on him as it has been on me.”

  Wordlessly, the twins each grab one of my hands and hold them tightly. The action makes me smile because of the similarity in them and also because they both care about me. It feels good to have their support.

  “I saw that hug,” Jace says after a moment of silence. “Looked pretty intense. You guys work things out?”

  I shake my head, still watching Eric with the scout. He always looks so serious. This experience, with all the pressure and expectation, has really made him have to be more mature than the average eighteen-year-old, but he’s always been a somber, old soul. “He wants to talk. He said he hates that things are weird between us.”

  Jace squeezes my hand. “That’ll be good. You’ll be happier when you guys aren’t fighting anymore.”

  “I hope so.”

  Leila lets go of my hand and slaps the top of my thigh. “All right, enough moping.” She stands and pulls both Jace and me to our feet. “Come on. Time to meet the fam.”

  She grabs me by the wrist and drags me across the bleachers toward a good-looking couple and three girls ranging from eleven to sixteen. Jace gets dragged along behind me because he’s got a death grip on my hand and refuses to let go.

  Leila pushes me in front of her parents and chirps, “Mom, Dad, meet Charlie!”

  Mr. and Mrs. King both smile. Mr. King shakes my hand, and Mrs. King pulls me in for a hug. “So you’re the girl who has completely enamored my two oldest children,” Mrs. King says with a chuckle. “All we’ve heard from either of them lately is Charlie this, and Charlie that.”

  “Mom,” Jace grumbles. He’s got his face turned away as if to hide a blush, but he hasn’t let go of my hand.

  “You played a great game tonight,” Mr. King says.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Got anything in the works for college?”

  My smile becomes strained, but I plow through the moment with it still on my face. “Nothing yet, but my fingers are crossed. Coach mentioned a couple of schools that might be willing to give me a shot.”

  Mrs. King’s smile turns sympathetic, and Mr. King shakes his head. “The way you play, they’d be idiots not to consider you.”

  “I agree.”

  My comment gets the laugh I hoped it would. “Well, it’s lovely to meet you, Charlie,” Mrs. King says. “These are our other girls. Tacie is a sophomore, Bethany is in 8th grade, and Kendra is in 5th.”

  Tacie gives me a shy smile. Bethany looks me over like she’s unimpressed, then says, “Can we go home now?”

&
nbsp; Kendra folds her arms and eyes me with suspicion. “Are you Jace’s girlfriend?”

  Tacie blushes, Bethany rolls her eyes, Leila snorts a laugh, and Jace chuckles. “Ken, don’t be rude.”

  Kendra is not deterred. “Well, are you?”

  Jace’s parents grin, but both look at Jace and me as if politely waiting for our answer. When I look to Jace for help, he just grins at me. Jerk. I force a smile at the inquisitive 11-year-old. “No. I’m not his girlfriend.”

  “Then why is he holding your hand?”

  “Um…” My face is so hot I’m going to start sweating. I tug on Jace’s hand, but he doesn’t let go of me. “Wishful thinking on his part?”

  Kendra frowns, but everyone else laughs. Even the hard-to-impress Bethany smirks.

  Mr. King claps his hands and rubs them together. “Well, you guys ready to go?”

  Leila shakes her head. “I’m riding with Rachel.”

  Jace nods. “Let me grab my stuff.”

  I’ve already gathered mine—and I’m going home on the bus since I don’t have a parent to take me home—so after saying good-bye to the Kings, I sit down on the bleachers and wait for Coach to be ready.

  I pull out my phone and find a good playlist. As I start to put in my earbuds, a shadow falls over me, accompanied by a very snarky, “Hey!”

  Shelly and her two girlfriends from lunch are standing in front of me, giving off more attitude than Jace’s tweenage sister. I raise an eyebrow at them, refusing to let them rattle me like they did at lunch. “Problem?”

  Shelly gives me a death glare. “Keep your hands off of Eric, you freak.”

  My mouth falls open. “Excuse me?”

  She folds her arms and cocks her head slightly to one side as she glowers at me. It might be intimidating, except her two friends do the exact same thing a split second after her, and the result is just comical. I’ve suddenly been thrust into a high school movie and am facing the mean girl squad.

  “I saw you with Eric. Keep your hands off him. He’s mine.”

  A laugh escapes me. “He’s yours? Really? Does he know that?”

  Shelly’s cheeks turn red from rage. “So we’re not official yet, but if you would just stay away from him, then we would be. He doesn’t like you. He’s had his whole life to pick you, but he’s never wanted you, has he?”

  Don’t react. Don’t react. Don’t react. I know this is her pathetic attempt to scare me away from Eric because she feels threatened by me, but that doesn’t make what she’s saying any less true. Eric’s never wanted me.

  “You’ve kept him from dating for too long, but I’m going to change that. Stay away from him, or I’m warning you, I’ll—”

  “You’ll what?” I stand up and move a little too close to her. “Call me names? Turn the school against me?” She backs up a step, and I smirk. “School’s almost over. Big deal. I’ve never cared what people think about me, and I definitely don’t care what you think about me. Eric is my best friend. That’s never going to change. Sorry. Guess you’ll have to learn to share.”

  Jace and Leila show up with matching concerned faces. “Everything okay?” Jace asks, slipping his hand into mine. Leila faces off against the mean girl trio with a look that’s a lot more mama bear than nasty. All of her friends from the cheer squad mirror her pose, and it looks like there’s about to be a huge girl fight. It means a lot to me that Leila’s friends would automatically take my side even though they hardly know me.

  “It’s fine,” I tell them with a roll of my eyes. “Nothing that matters.”

  I turn to leave, but Shelly calls out to my back, making me freeze in place. “You may not care what I think, but you care what Eric thinks. He doesn’t know you’re in love with him, does he?”

  I barely flinch, but it’s enough that Shelly notices, and she cackles. “I wonder how he’d feel if he knew his best friend—who he thinks of like a sister—is in love with him. That would probably make things a little awkward between you, don’t you think? Maybe even ruin your relationship with him? Should we find out?”

  “What’s your problem?” Jace growls.

  When he starts to say something else, I place my hand on his arm, stopping him. I don’t need him to fight my battles for me. I whirl around to glare at her with my heart in my throat. Things are bad enough between Eric and me right now. If he knew the truth, it might just ruin our friendship forever. I swallow back my panic and try to sound calm when I say, “Eric and I are just friends.”

  “Please.” Shelly scoffs. “Eric might be oblivious, but it’s so obvious you’re in love with him. It’s pathetic, really. You pining over him. He doesn’t like you. He doesn’t even see you as a girl.”

  “You want to know what’s pathetic?” I snap. “You. And this desperate attempt to get rid of me. You’re so insecure, so threatened by me that you have to try and bully me into dropping my best friend even though you know we’re not together. And the funny part is, it doesn’t matter how hard you try, you’ll never succeed. And even if you did, Eric will never care about you. You mean nothing to him.”

  Shelly flinches as though I’ve just slapped her. I should stop right here, but I’m so angry. Her words hit too close to home. “Eric’s first love will always be baseball. He doesn’t date because he doesn’t have the time for it. He’s too busy training. And next month he’s going to be drafted into the MLB. He’s going to leave, and he’s not going to look back. You’re wasting your time. You will never be more to him than a date to a dance and a post on his Instagram.”

  “Hastings!” I flinch at the sound of Eric’s angry voice. I was so mad I didn’t notice him walk up. Mark, Diego, and Kevin come running over at his shout. “What’s the matter with you?”

  All desire to defend myself dies when I see the look of utter disappointment on Eric’s face. He walks over to Shelly, still frowning at me, and wraps his arm around her. My heart breaks a little when he automatically takes her side. Yeah, he heard me say something mean, but he should know me well enough to know that if I did, she deserved it. He’s not asking me what she did and if I’m okay, though. He’s comforting her. A girl he hardly knows. And she’s eating it up. The drama queen buries her face in his chest and starts sniffling. Faker.

  “What happened?” Diego asks.

  “I bet I can guess,” Mark grumbles, glaring at Shelly. He moves to stand beside Jace, and suddenly it’s all of us against Eric, Shelly, and her two awful friends. Kevin and Diego are stranded in middle ground, both looking thoroughly torn with indecision over which friend they should support right now.

  Eric wraps Shelly up in a hug and frowns at me over the top of her head. “Are you going to apologize? Why were you being so mean?”

  I swallow hard and curse my voice when it comes out shaky. “Was I being mean? Or was I defending myself?”

  Eric’s frown deepens. “Does it matter?”

  It should. I get what he’s saying, that I shouldn’t be rude to people, and yeah, I was a little cruel, but he’s still not asking me what she said or did. I just admitted I was defending myself against her, and he’s not jumping to my defense like a best friend should. He’s not even trying to figure out what she said. He’s choosing her over me.

  “I guess not,” I mutter, feeling dead inside.

  Ugh. Horrid Shelly is going to get her way after all. “Look, whatever. It doesn’t matter. She was mean. I was mean. It’s over. But tomorrow’s prom, and I’m not spending it with her.”

  Eric’s eyes widen. “What?”

  I sigh. “I don’t want to ruin your prom, or mine, so I think it’s better if Jace and I go with Leila and her group instead.”

  “Of course,” Leila says. She smiles, but her voice is laced with sadness. “We’d love to have you.”

  “Oh! Us too!” Mark looks at Rachel, and when she nods, he says, “We’ll go with you, too. Rachel would rather go with all her friends anyway.” He shrugs at Eric, Kevin, and Diego. “Sorry. Looks like you guys are on your own.”r />
  “Hastings, you don’t have to bail on us,” Kevin says. “It won’t be the same without you.”

  Bless his heart. I give him a smile, and I want to say yes, but one look at Shelly still tucked delicately against Eric’s chest has me shaking my head. “Sorry, Kev. I have to. But you guys go and have fun. It’s fine. You weren’t originally planning on me being there anyway.”

  “Charlie.” Eric’s intense stare is burning a hole in me.

  I give him a small smile. “Have fun tomorrow. I’m sure we’ll see you there.”

  I turn to leave, and suddenly Leila is there with all her friends, enveloping me in an honest-to-goodness group hug. It’s my first one. It makes me laugh even though my heart is breaking again. “You know what you need?” Leila asks.

  All the girls chime “Sleepover!” together.

  They pull back, and Leila gives me a pleading look. She turns around and searches the bleachers for her family. They’re waiting near the exit, watching us with concerned faces. “Mom!” Leila shouts. “Is it okay if the girls stay over tonight? Charlie’s never had a sleepover!”

  Mrs. King gives Leila a thumbs up, and Leila grins at me. “You’re going to love this. It’s literally one of the best things about being a girl.”

  “Hey, guys have sleepovers, too,” Jace says, a hint of a pout in his voice.

  Leila scoffs. “You have guys sleep over. You don’t have sleepovers. There’s a difference.”

  Jace rolls his eyes, but his smile suggests he agrees with his sister and he’s just being difficult. When the girls all skip off, I turn to Jace. “I hope you don’t mind going to prom with your sister. Sorry. I should have asked you first.”

  He slips my duffle onto my shoulder for me and offers me his hand. “It’s no problem. I totally get it. I don’t want to go with Shelly, either.”

  I take his offered hand and smile. “Thanks.”