I was depressed once Lalani left.  She was a beautiful girl to admire from afar; but was too shy.

But for days, I wondered why was she too bashful?

Was it the way I looked?  Was it because of my long hair?  Or did my breath stink?

I even placed the back of my left hand in front of my lips and blew into it. (Isn't it funny how we guys do that?)

No, no problem there.  I always brushed my teeth every day and gurgled mouthwash afterwards. 

But what else could it be, if that was not  the reason?

Well, I soon learned the answer to that question, and what the rest of the "Outfielders" were up to.

~~

On certain days after school, I snuck out into the back area where the boys and I played baseball, and stayed there by myself.  I would hit a baseball onto the back of the wall and let my frustrations out.

I didn't understand why everyone got what they wanted and left me behind.

Wasn't I fully accepted into their crew as well?  Or was this a similar form of brotherhood initiation? I didn't have the nerve to ask the guys about any of these situations lingering in my mind, but that's just what guys do, we keep our emotions to ourselves!

But now I was stuck in that group till my dad would bail me out from jail.  I swear I didn't do anything wrong, but disturb the peace!

So, now I have a record on my profile Marlene, and have been hiding it from you.  It's just a minor detail left from my past and I'm not a bad boy at heart.

I am your troublemaker Sweetie, as you are mine.

~~

I was batting away to release the tensions of jealousy burning inside of me, when I saw Lalani, her sister Leah and another girl named Brooke behind the open section where the wall ended.

I asked them what they wanted since I wasn't really interested in seeing them.

"Hi Owen! Can I talk to you for a second?  Lalani has something to tell you," replied Leah.

I didn't really want to look at their faces, so I kept my head down. 

"All right.  What is it?" I asked.

"Go on sister, tell him!" remarked Leah as she pushed Lalani forward to me.

"I...I have a boyfriend back home."

Okay, well that explains one thing, but what does that have to do with me? 

Leah sighed.

Lalani was really timid and didn't say much.

Sometimes I wondered why she was even studying here as an international student.

"Owen, what she's really trying to say is that since she has a boyfriend back in Japan, so she couldn't really interact with you.  She wants to apologize, because she wasn't being reasonable."

Okay, now that clarifies why Lalani didn't want to be with me; she missed her boyfriend!

"So, why did Xavier bring her to our hideout?  Did he know about this? 

The girls looked at me like I was some kind of lunatic. 

"Didn't you know?"

Hmm... what was Leah talking about? Seems like there's something fishy about this situation.

I shook my head, because I really didn't know what was going on.

"No, I don't.  If you can please fill me in with some info, I'd appreciate it.  Plus, I'm new to their club, so I'm clueless!"

The girls hovered together to discuss something, and then Leah spoke up.

"Owen, I'm sorry you had to go through it, but Xavier likes to do some kind of crazy initiation with his friends."

Okay, I'm wondering what that would be.

"Go on, I'm listening!"

It took her some time to answer me, but I finally got a reply. 

"He likes to play tricks to newbies.  You see last time, Max was the new guy they added in their group.  So, Xavier and the guys played the game 'Spin the Bottle' at a party.  Poor Brooke, (she pointed to her friend) was also new to our boarding school, so Xavier picked her as the target for Max.  So, when some of the girls and I came to visit them, things seemed fishy when Max spun the bottle, since it pointed directly towards Brooke.  She's also shy and didn't want to kiss him, but they pushed the two into a closet to 'do it'."

I suppose the boys wanted to play rough with me then, huh?  Just because I'm the new guy, and my dad is rich, makes them think they can play me as a fool!  Who do they think I am!!!  I'm not stupid!

And what a dirty trick to do to Brooke!  The poor girl looks like she was shivering from the past memories Leah described. (Brooke had the facial expression of hatred once Xavier's name was announced.)

"Why didn't you gals do anything about it?"

Leah thought hard before she replied back to me.

"We like the guys, but we don't want to tell that to our headmistress ... I guess we're scared."

I threw the ball against the brick wall as hard as I could.  I warned the girls of the rage burning inside me and told them to leave, but they refused. 

In my opinion, these girls didn't have any signs of courage to do anything.

I volunteered to help them, but they also shook their heads not to do that.

Sigh!

~~

Leah explained to me that she brought Brooke over to see me, because she thought we'd be a great couple.

She didn't want to see her friend cry, since Xavier didn't choose her to be in his line-up of girls when we were introduced to them in our hideout. 

Instead of picking her again, he chose Lalani.

However, Brooke was not really my type.  She was an introvert.  The dark-haired bombshell was like the ordinary girl next door, who kept things to herself and it just didn't work out for me. 

So I refused to go out with her.

I was just plain angry ... furious like the mad hatter in 'Alice in Wonderland.' 

Xavier was someone who I thought could actually be a great guy!  I thought the crew would make me feel comfortable, but I guess I was wrong.  But despite my anger, I thanked Leah and her sister for their honesty that day, and decided to confront the crew in 'The Free Life' hideout.

~~

Hello dear readers,

The signs of peer pressure and becoming 'fresh bait' that acquaintances will use for their own advantage just for a good laugh, can occur.  I know how it is for us women, but I tried to look at it in a guy's perspective.   I assume that it's not easy either. 

I will dedicate this chapter to the Wattpad Boys, because ...well isn't this a guy situation?  Reading their books on 'How Boys Think and Speak' over again, made me think of the above plot for this chapter.

Think about those sneaky, conniving, clever foxes that just want to manipulate you or let's just say my former guy friends did that exact same thing!  LOL!  I had fun thinking about it.

But I am making Owen the good guy here ... he's actually waving the white peace flag!!!

I know he wasn't that great in Marlene's eyes (1st book), but please give the 'ole chap a break.

The song attached is "Gotta be somebody" by Nickleback.  The lyrics will tell you why I picked it for this chapter.  By now you might conclude that they are one of my favorite bands that are played in my chapters.

Hope you know understand what I'm trying to do in my Carpe Diem Books.  I'm trying to give each of my main characters a voice ... a voice where readers can hear their own outlooks towards life.  And don't worry, you won't actually read the same thing over again from the previous book.

With that said, please leave me a note and a vote. Thanks!