One of the Guys (16 page)

I let out a frustrated breath and
clenched my jaw.

“
Fine, just go. I’ll see you
tomorrow.”

Logan looked at me as if he wanted
to say something, but he just stopped. Instead, he reached out his
hand and touched my arm, dropping his eyes to the floor before
walking out of the building.

No matter what he said, I
knew
there was something
he wasn’t telling me.

I saw my Dad pull up, and I
plastered a fake smile on my face as I got in.

“
Ready for some pretzel practice?”
My Dad asked with a laugh, and I laughed along with him.

He dropped me off at the gymnastics
club, and I went inside to change.

I’d been performing various
exercises and tumbles for about half an hour when I saw a load of
new kids coming in. The coach, Veronica, or ‘Ronnie’ as people
called her, had them all sit down on the large mat in the middle of
the club.

“
You’re looking great, Chase.
You’re still our best girl here.” She said, with a huge
smile.

It was no secret that I was
Ronnie’s favorite. After all, I’d brought the club quite a few
competition wins over the years.

“
Thanks, Ronnie.” I blushed. “New
kids?” I asked, jerking my chin in their direction.

“
Yes. A lot of new sign-ups last
week.” She looked back to the kids and then to me. “I was wondering
if you could possibly go through some warm up drills with them?
I’ve got a lot of paperwork to deal with. Most of them only brought
their medical forms back today.”

I looked down to the stack of
papers in her hand. The medical information, and waivers, should’ve
been handed in during the week prior to the new member starting. A
lot of people had handed them in on their first day, in the past,
but it would take Ronnie a while to get
that
lot on the system before they
even start their first exercises.

“
No problem.” I replied. I would go
through some basic drills that were sure not to cause them any
injuries. Ronnie would need to get the paperwork on the system
before they could do anything else.

“
You’re a lifesaver, Chase. I’ll be
as quick as I can.”

After introducing myself, it wasn’t
long before the kids were following my movements with ease. Nothing
difficult, just warming up with jumps, quick side steps, and
jogging, followed by a series of stretching exercises.

Once I was done with them, I turned
to find Ronnie had been watching me.

“
Wow, Chase, you’re a natural with
the kids. You were so professional anyone would have thought you
were a coach.” Her eyebrows pinched together as if she were
thinking about something. “You know, if you’re interested, you
should join the USAG and take the safety cert exam. Become a coach
yourself. You’d be really good at it. You could be the integration
coach. You know, dealing with the kids that are ready to move onto
the next level of their training.”

I thought about it for a moment,
and I realized that I would actually like that. Working with the
kids had been fun, even if it
had
only been for fifteen minutes.

“
I will, thanks Ronnie.” I smiled,
and I went off to continue with my own exercises.

After another half hour, I was
ready to go. Stretching out my tired muscles, I saw some of the new
kids looking in my direction. I smiled and gave them a friendly
wink as I picked up my bag to leave. I felt happier knowing that I
could actually be
teaching
those kids in the near future. Well, at least
until I went to college.

Chapter
8

I hadn’t received
any texts from Logan, the previous night, and I knew it was because
of our little ‘discussion’ after school. I wasn’t about to text him
either because I was still mad at him. That went out the window
when I saw him waiting at the entrance to school when my Dad
dropped me at the front.

He smiled as he watched me get out
of the car, with my black cargo pants and baggy navy-blue T-shirt.
The weather was getting a lot warmer, and I didn’t need a
jacket.

Hunching my shoulders to hide the
bad-girls, I smiled back and walked towards him.

“
Hi.” He said, looking sheepish.
His eyes glanced down before meeting mine, as if he had trouble
looking at me.

“
Good morning.” I replied. “How was
your practice at the cages?”

“
It was good. I hit an eighty-two.”
He said, awkwardly.

“
What?” I asked. I had no idea what
he was talking about.

“
Miles per hour.”

“
Oh.” I realized, then, what he
meant. “That’s great, I think.”

“
It is.” He snorted a laugh. “How
was gym?”

“
It was good. I actually coached
the new kids through their warm up drills.”

I told Logan all about what Ronnie
had told me and he was happy for me, saying that I’d be a great
coach. I was trying to get him to talk, but he still seemed
distant.

I thanked him, as we walked into
the building, and he didn’t say anything else until he stopped by
his homeroom.

“
Chase, Um, look I’m sorry about…
you know… and after we get our results today, and the game,
everything will be better, I promise.” He said with a tight
smile.

“
Ok.” I replied, and I really hoped
he would keep his promise. I didn’t know how much more I could
take, and I had that feeling again. Something was happening, and it
was almost here.

During classes that day, we’d
gotten our tests results back and we were getting the last of them
during Math class. I’d been waiting for this day for so long, and
now it was finally here; I was anxious. Not because of the results,
but because after today, it was the end of junior year, and we were
finishing for our summer vacation before senior year
started.

“
Yes!” Logan shouted when we
received the last results from our math teacher.

He came up to me, picked me up and
spun me around. His arms tight around me, I could feel each and
every muscle as he gripped me; his firm body warm against
mine.

“
Straight A’s!” He said, as he put
me down. “I couldn’t have done it without you, Chase.” He beamed.
“Thank you.”

“
You’re welcome.” I replied,
shakily. The effects of his touch still lingering through the
shivers down my spine.

“
What did you get? Oh, stupid
question.” He laughed.

I had gotten 'A' stars for all of
my subjects, even chemistry. I wasn’t about to tell Logan that I’d
scored higher than he did. I’d just told him we had the same. I was
proud of myself for achieving my grades. I’d worked damn hard for
them.

“
God
Chase! You could go
anywhere
with your
scores.” Logan added.

“
Well, there’s senior year to go
yet.” I reminded him. We still had our SAT’s in the spring. Our
potential scholarships depended on them.

Logan was looking to get a sport
scholarship in the college two states away, and I was hoping to get
one too, in the same place. Not for sports, obviously, but for
academics. We needed to keep our grades up if we had any chance of
getting them.

“
You have that covered already.”
Logan said, completely convinced that I would ace them. It made me
all fuzzy inside that he had such confidence in me.

The other guys came over, and they
were happy with their scores too. Mostly B’s and a couple of A’s,
but better than they thought. At least they’d gotten into some of
the AP classes for next year, which was better for their college
applications.

“
We should totally party to
celebrate!” said Pike.

Stu and Lex were in agreement. Carl
just scowled.

Here we go again!

Before we knew it, Lex had
organized a party at his house and had planned on inviting a ton of
people. Especially if they won the game. You could be sure even
more people would turn up. I didn’t know why his parents let him do
that. Mine would go insane if I held even a
small
party!

“
You’re coming too, right?” Logan
asked. Of course, he’d be going.

“
I don’t think so…” I began,
thinking of an excuse not to go.

“
Yes you are.”
He snapped, then lowered his voice. “You helped me achieve this,
and you’re one of us. You
have
to go, no matter
what
happens at the game
today.”

I wanted to scream
‘
Enough with the ‘you’re one of us’!’. I’m
not a fucking guy!

My chest hurt, and I wanted to
cry.

After school, Logan was visibly
happier than he had been that morning, well, for the past few
mornings, and I watched him as he went off with the guys to get
ready for their game. The other team would be arriving soon, and it
would only be a matter of minutes before parents and visitors
filled the bleachers around the field, getting ready for the
game.

I waited out in the parking lot,
looking round for my Mom and Bren.

I spotted my Mom and I walked over
to help her get Bren into her wheelchair. She could walk around the
house, but she could only walk slowly, and short
distances.

Leading them to the field, we sat
right at the front, in the designated area for wheelchair users,
and waited for the players to come onto the field.

“
So, how’s things going?” Bren
asked.

“
Great, thanks. We got our results
back today too.”

“
And?” She asked, smiling as if she
already knew the answer. My Mom too.

“
A-stars, all subjects.” I
whispered.

“
Oh honey, that’s fantastic!” My
Mom said, pulling me in for a bone crushing hug.

“
Well done, sweetheart. You’re a
bright girl; I knew you’d do well.” Bren beamed.

Just then, the crowd cheered as the
players came onto the field and walked to their benched areas. I
watched as Logan walked out with his team.

Walking with his tight white pants
that hugged his perfect ass. The white shirts with red vertical
stripes, and a red flaming tiger over the right breast pocket. He
wore the same baseball cap I had, shading his blue eyes.

He looked mouth-wateringly
delicious.

I don’t know how long I stared at
his gorgeous, muscular frame when I heard somebody clearing their
throat.

Bren.

I immediately turned beet red,
glancing to my Mom to see whether she noticed.

She had.
Oh God.

Fortunately, neither of them said a
word, and I turned to look back at the team. Logan saw me and
waved. I waved back, feeling all kinds of special that he had
spotted me in the huge crowd.

Seriously, it looked like the whole
town had turned up to watch a High school baseball game.

I don’t know what happened,
exactly, with the rest of the game. I just paid attention to Logan
batting and then sprinting like the road runner. He was so fast,
and the other team didn’t have time to get the ball back to the
bases before he’d made a home run. They adapted and started to play
further afield when it was his turn to bat.

Watching as he slid to the bases, I
focused on his thigh muscles powering him along and making contact
with the dirt. He was filthy, and the images I had, of helping him
clean up in the shower, were far more detailed than I’d ever
imagined.

I seriously needed help, and soon;
otherwise, I was going to combust.

The crowd cheered when the Flaming
Tigers won 11-4, and I stood up and whistled for my team. Logan and
the guys were all congratulating each other when he turned and
pointed to me, grinning. It was cute that he thought I had
something to do with their win. I only wished that was true, then
he’d have an excuse to keep me around even more.

Oh my God I sound so clingy! Oh,
Logan. Please stay by my side forever! Please don’t turn me
away!
I thought, sarcastically,
admonishing myself for being so needy, internally rolling my eyes
at my girlishness. All I needed to do was clasp my hands together,
bat my eyes and let out a big sigh.

Ugh.

As the crowd began to leave, I took
the handles of Bren’s chair to turn her towards the exit. Before I
could go anywhere, I heard my name being called out.

“
Chase!” Logan yelled as he ran
towards us across the field.

He seemed happier now that the game
was over, and the obvious win; however, I could still tell that
there was something going on.