Dare You to Fall for the Catcher Read online

  Dang my pale skin.

  Not that any of the offers from him were real. Jayden knew that me and him in a closet together for any amount of time would’ve led to nothing less than murder in the 2nd degree and forty years in the state penitentiary. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration. But there was no mistaking the way he loved to try and push me over that edge.

  It wasn’t until I was out on the track, with the sun beaming down, did I finally start to feel calm again. This was where I could get my frustrations out. Forget about Jayden and his cocky grin. Lose myself in some calisthenics and push everything else out of my head. Team warm-ups had already begun, so I joined in the session and did what I could on one foot, keeping a wary eye out for our coach.

  The coach who had trained me through middle school and high school track had to retire unexpectedly this year to take care of his sick wife. It put all of us in panic mode—probably me most of all. The school had to scramble to find someone to take his place and had come up with a new candidate.

  The infamous Coach Padilla.

  She was supposedly an experienced track coach with years of experience at some rinky-dink school in Texas, but that meant nothing to us. All we wanted to know was if she would be the one to help us take the sweeps at state tournament this year. It didn’t matter if she had horns and green skin, we just wanted to win for the first time in fifty years.

  As it turned out, Coach Padilla didn’t have green skin or horns. She was a forty-something-year-old woman who marched around the track, her nose directed at her clipboard of student names, wearing a blue wind-suit with her short brown hair tucked under a matching baseball cap. She was tall—like Amazonian-tall, with thick thighs and muscular arms. She constantly wore a scowl and it was hard to tell if she was angry or if her face was just frozen that way. But it hadn’t taken her long to get a reputation for being tough as nails.

  So far, I’d stayed under her radar. Ran the drills and didn’t make too much fuss. My running times spoke for themselves. It would’ve been fine for me if I never spoke a word to Coach Padilla, but it seemed like today my luck had run out.

  “Hale!” Coach strode toward me as I did my last one-legged squat for the warm-up. She was giving me a beady-eyed scowl under the bill of her baseball cap.

  My stomach clenched in anticipation. “Yeah, Coach?”

  She stopped in front of me and crossed her arms over her wind jacket. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Warming up.”

  “And why is that?”

  I looked around for assistance, but my teammates were avoiding my gaze. They were all petrified of Coach. “Just trying to stay limber for practice.”

  She shifted her weight on her feet and stared down her nose at me. “What practice? According to the call I got from your momma this morning, you’re not supposed to be practicing for the next three weeks on that ankle.”

  I puffed out my cheeks and shook my head. Of course, my mom had called Coach Padilla. I had hoped it would slip her mind this morning, but obviously, even getting behind at the restaurant hadn’t pushed it out of her head. Today was getting better and better.

  “Doc said I couldn’t run.” I leaned on my crutches and shot her an innocent smile. “So I won’t. But I still want to train. I can’t start slacking now.”

  She shook her head sharply from side to side. “Nope. You’re off practice until further notice. You’re welcome to watch from the sidelines, but no training, is that understood?”

  My mouth fell open and I gaped at her, feeling all the injustices of the world heaped on my shoulders at once. How was I supposed to stay in track shape if I wasn’t allowed to work one single muscle? I was going to fall so far behind that I’d never catch up. It wasn’t fair. I’d worked practically my whole life for this. “But Coach—”

  “On the sidelines, Ms. Hale,” Coach repeated, shooing me off the track with her clipboard. “Don’t let me see you set foot or crutch on this track again. I want a complete recovery of that limb of yours before districts.”

  In the short time I’d known Coach Padilla, it had been made crystal clear that there was no arguing with the woman. Padilla’s word was law. So I shuffled over the track and exited through the gate, parking myself on a cold metal bleacher to watch the rest of practice. Resentment flared up inside me for everything that had led me to this moment—the moment when my life plans would go up in a big cloud of smoke.

  This wasn’t winning. It was far from winning. It was like I was in last place in the 3200 meter dash with a full lap between me and the next runner. And the distance between us was increasing.

  At this rate, I’d never catch up. Not if Coach Padilla had her way.

  Chapter Four

  The clang of dumbbells hitting together was like therapy for me after that terrible start to the week. I lifted them high above my head, touching them together at the top, and then brought them down with control. All the while, Audrey and Trina laid on my bed, stuffing themselves with leftover cheesecake from my parents’ diner and watching me work out.

  “Mandy, if you don’t come over here and have a bite, you’re going to miss out.” Audrey held out a piece of the creamy cake on her fork. She giggled and stuffed it in her mouth, humming with satisfaction. “Oh my gosh, if one of my parents owned a restaurant, I wouldn’t be able to fit through the front door of my apartment.”

  Trina laughed and took her own bite. “I don’t think I’d ever eat a frozen lasagna again. Mrs. Hale’s cooking is the best.”

  “Guys, I can’t stop for cheesecake,” I said, watching my reflection in the mirror. “This is serious. I spent two hours today watching other people improve their game, while I grew mold on the bleachers. I have to make it up where I can.”

  Their silence told me they knew how important this was to me. They’d followed their dreams. Audrey was a budding music star and Trina already had one of her amazing sculptures gracing the lawn of Rock Valley High. This was supposed to be my year, too.

  I wasn’t going to let it slip through my fingers. I was the one who controlled my future.

  “Wait, is that what I think it is?” Audrey sat up, cheesecake abandoned. She pointed to the gray sweatshirt draped over the back of my fuzzy blue chair as if it were the piece of evidence needed to put away a notorious criminal.

  Instantly, my ears burned hot. I dropped the dumbbells to the ground and hobbled toward the sweatshirt as fast as I could to stuff it in a drawer, but Audrey beat me to it. She snatched it up and waved it over her head like a victory flag.

  “It is Jayden’s sweatshirt.” She held me off with her free hand as I tried to grab it. If it hadn’t been for my injury, she wouldn’t have stood a chance, but I was not at the top of my game today. “I thought you were returning this...what did she call it in the car the other day, Trina?”

  “A disgusting physical reminder of everything wrong with men in the world today?” Trina offered, blinking up innocently at us from my bed.

  “Oh, yeah. That was it.” Audrey grinned at me. “So why do you think she still has it, huh? Do you think there could be something more to this heat between Rock Valley High’s catcher and track star?”

  I gagged and leaned on my dresser for support. They knew me better than that. The one and only possible reason for Jayden’s sweatshirt to be here was staring them in the face. With everything going on lately, I had forgotten it. Plain and simple. “You can’t be serious, A. I think you’ve been reading a little too much into the RockValleyBiz Instagram posts. Heat? More like burning hatred.”

  “Hmmm, I’m not so sure about that.” She cocked her hip. “Believe me, I’ve been in your position. There’s a fine line between love and hate. I think Jayden gets under your skin because somewhere deep inside, you like him.”

  My hand shot to my heart, as if Audrey had just put a bullet in me. Outrage spilled into every cell in my body as I sputtered at her, unable to put together any words to tell her exactly how wrong she was. Jayden and me? Get seri
ous.

  Maybe there was a single second—a teeny, tiny, bitty second—when I’d entertained that thought. It had occurred four years ago at a silly little sixth grade birthday party when I’d been dared to kiss Jayden in a closet. Honestly, I couldn’t even think about that time again without going beet red.

  It wasn’t like the kiss had been horrible or anything. Jayden had been surprisingly sweet in that tiny little three-by-three room. He even offered me a last-minute chance to chicken out. I hadn’t taken it. But for some reason, the moment his perfectly proportioned lips touched mine, everything changed between us. It was like he’d morphed into this alien creature with the main objective of finding out exactly what could make a preteen girl blow her top. And he was good at it. The whole thing made me shake with frustration.

  Audrey laughed at my silence and smiled at Trina over my shoulder. “I never thought I’d see the day when Mandy was speechless. Mark it on the calendar. We should celebrate this momentous occasion every year.”

  “I do not like Jayden Paul,” I replied, moisture returning to my mouth. “Not even close.”

  She held out the hoodie. “Oh yeah? Tell me again why you still have his sweatshirt?”

  Trina sat up on the bed, her eyes wide. “Maybe she just forgot.” I nodded my head in agreement. Thank you beautiful, kind, level-headed Trina. “Or...her subconscious isn’t letting her return the hoodie because she likes him but hasn’t realized it yet.”

  I groaned and threw a hand over my face. I officially took back every nice thing I’d ever said about Trina.

  “I’m only going to say this once.” I dropped my arm and shot them both a hard look. “There were no ulterior motives here. I do not like Jayden Paul. In fact, he could transfer schools tomorrow and I wouldn’t even notice.”

  Audrey rolled her eyes. “Riiiiiight.”

  “Give me that thing.” I finally snatched the hoodie from Audrey’s hands, and pinned it tight in my arms. The thing still smelled like soap and Jayden’s cologne, a strangely good combination. “I’m giving it back tomorrow morning. First thing. In fact, I’m going to put this by the front door right now so I don’t forget it again. But mostly, so you’ll stop with your crazy conspiracy theories. No more cheesecake for you, missy.”

  Audrey grinned and dropped herself into the fuzzy chair. “That’ll never stop me. I’m already working on a song about you two. You’ve got me inspired.”

  I groaned as I headed out my bedroom door on my crutches, the sweatshirt draped over my shoulders. Except for my bedroom, the house was dead silent. Mom and Dad were still working long hours at the restaurant, so they wouldn’t be home until later, and Charlotte was studying for a test at a new friend’s house.

  The silence once bugged me, but I’d become used to it. It’d become a sort of comfort. Audrey and Trina came over enough to fill the odd lonely times with giggles and silly dance parties. That was enough for me. I knew my parents worked hard for the life they’d given me and my sister. The long hours were to be expected, especially when they were replacing a manager.

  Placing Jayden’s sweatshirt carefully on the wooden bench near the front door, I clicked my tongue in satisfaction. The thing was like a bad omen. As soon as it was out my door tomorrow, things would start to get better. A new beginning.

  I liked the sound of that.

  Just as I was about to turn around, the front doorknob turned with a click. The door began to swing open slowly, as if someone were unsure what house they were entering. I watched it with narrowed eyes and slightly shaky legs, a terrifying thought niggling its way into my brain. Someone was trying to break into my house! But when a head of long, brown hair appeared a second later, relief swept over me, chasing those thoughts away.

  “Oh, hey,” my sister said, grinning guiltily at me.

  I gulped down the lump that had formed in my throat. “Charlotte, you almost gave me a heart attack.”

  “Sorry.” She smiled apologetically at me and ducked her head. “I didn’t want to make any noise, in case you were sleeping.”

  She dropped her backpack on the bench, next to Jayden’s sweater, and began to tug her shoes off. I shook my head as I watched her, indignation filling me. It wasn’t even nine o’clock yet. Maybe I wasn’t the biggest night owl there ever was, but I was hardly ever in bed by then. Not even on a school night.

  I was seventeen years old, not ninety.

  “So, how did studying go?” I smiled hopefully at her. After all the arguments this past weekend, I think I finally had her convinced to buckle down and raise her math grades. This study group session had been a good sign. It was one less thing for Mom to worry about. “Do you think you’re ready to ace the next test?”

  “Yep. It was awesome.” She gave me a tight-lipped smile and nearly lost her balance. With a giggle, she righted herself on the edge of the bench. “Oops.”

  All of the alarms in my big-sister brain went off at once. I moved closer to her, wrinkling my nose at the acrid smell wafting from her breath. “Are you drunk?”

  She blinked her eyes slowly and then refocused on me. “It’s no big deal. Sarah’s mom had some Boone’s Farm left over in the fridge. We only had a glass to help us study. I took the bus home.”

  A big part of me seriously doubted that a single glass had made my baby sister so tipsy she could hardly keep on her two feet. Still, she shrugged off her lie and began to walk away as if she’d just commented on the weather or something.

  “Are you serious? You can’t be doing stuff like this.” I followed her toward her bedroom hall as fast as my crutches would allow. My best friends popped their heads out of my door to see what the commotion was about. I gave them a pleading look, then nodded toward Charlotte, hoping they were seeing what I was seeing. “You can’t be getting drunk at Monday night study sessions. You need to be focusing on your grades.”

  She paused in her bedroom doorway and turned around to face me, a frown pulling at her lips. “I’m just having a little fun, Mandy. Why do you have to be such a fun sucker? Why can’t you be cool, like Trina and Audrey?”

  A hollow laugh tore from my throat. As much as I loved and adored my two besties, the fact that my little sister thought they ranked way above me in coolness was utterly insane.

  I was cool. I did stuff. Just as much as Audrey and Trina.

  Maybe.

  “You’re not allowed to have fun while you have a D in math,” I said hoarsely, feeling the blood rush to my cheeks. “That’s just how it is.”

  Charlotte’s own cheeks began to blaze red. She stomped her bare foot and pointed a finger at me. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yeah!”

  My nostrils flared with anger. I couldn’t believe we were having this argument in front of my best friends. It was time to pull the trump card. “If you’re not going to listen to me, maybe I should tell Mom and Dad what you’ve been doing.”

  The blood drained from her face. She pursed her lips together in what would’ve resembled any toddler throwing a major hissy fit. I braced myself, waiting for the onslaught.

  But then her expression went blank and she stared at me with as much indifference as a stranger on the street. “Fine. You win.”

  Shock coursed through me. I slumped on top of my crutches, the fight going out of my body. That had been easier than I expected. “Really?”

  “Yeah.” She nodded. “I’ll go study. Happy?”

  “Ecstatic.” She closed her bedroom door and I turned to stare at my friends still watching from my doorway. “What was that?”

  Trina shrugged, her eyes slanted down in sympathy. “Growing pains?”

  “Hormones,” Audrey said with a firm nod. “Definitely hormones. My sister gets the same way. It’s like she’s two people sharing the same body.”

  I shrugged and hobbled back toward them. Whatever that was, growing pains or hormones, it seemed like I was seeing a lot more of it these days. Keeping it quiet from my parents was becom
ing more difficult. Charlotte used to be such a sweet little sister. It was hard to believe this teenaged monster was the little girl who used to sing Frozen songs at the top of her lungs in the backyard as a free concert for all the neighborhood kids.

  Things had changed and I wasn’t a fan. I wanted things to go back to the way they used to be.

  Back to when my little sister was still sweet, my ankle worked, and no one would’ve ever accused me of harboring any sort of feelings for Jayden Paul.

  If only.

  Chapter Five

  “No, no, no, that’ll never work.”

  I hung on top of the fence surrounding the track field, yelling at the new freshmen learning how to start from the block. They were a hot mess. One had fallen flat on his face, another had stumbled like she was on stilts, and the third had nearly scratched her own leg with her metal cleats.

  The incoming talent was...lacking. At this rate, Rock Valley High was definitely not going to be taking sweeps at district.

  “Here, let me show you.” I did a quick scan over the track. Coach Padilla had disappeared in the direction of the shot put field. After her lecture yesterday at practice, I didn’t want to get on her bad side again. With the coast clear, I held my crutches tight and swung myself through the nearby gate and onto the track. “This is how you line up on the block.”

  “Are you sure you should be doing that?” A tall freshman girl with shining black hair stared at me as if I were going to break. “With your ankle like that?”

  “My ankle will be fine.”

  I ditched the crutches and hopped on one foot. To be honest, today was the first time I’d woken up without any real pain. The swelling was coming down. The ice and elevation had definitely helped. With any luck, I’d be in a boot starting tomorrow and finally free of those horrible torture devices.

  “Remember that the starting block is the most important tool in any sprinting event,” I said, standing in front of the block, setting my bad leg gently on the ground to help with balance. “And how you break from the block can make all the difference in medaling or getting dead last. So listen up.”