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Longest Chapter written so far!! Let's go!

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"I don't think we should close the door all the way, I just think we need a break from each other until we've worked on ourselves more." Chases' voice plays in my head over again.

I had called him the next day after our fight two weeks ago, and we had both agreed that our relationship was going to turn toxic if all we ever did was argue and ignore each other instead of trying to work it out. I know I should be upset but there's a piece of me that feels a little relieved that I don't have to worry about who I hang out with anymore or what I say around Chase to not get him angry. There was still a piece of me that wished it would have worked out since we were still getting to know one another. Look at that, I can't even hold a relationship for more than two months, go me.

I walk out of my French class twenty minutes after the bell had rung due to my teacher keeping me back so that I could go over the paragraph that I had written last week and head to the side doors that lead over to the baseball field, where Sebastian should be practicing with the rest of the team. I walk outside and put my sunglasses on, shielding my eyes from the sun. I walk along the path nodding to some of my classmates. The boys are all standing around throwing the baseball to each other, but there is no sign of Coach anywhere.

"Hey, Char!" Sebastian shouts from where he's standing around the circle.

"Hello, sorry I didn't catch you when the bell rang, Miss Dubois asked me to hang back for a bit," I say slowly walking over to him. He throws the ball in my direction and I catch it with one hand, the rest of the boys stare at me for a few moments. My hand burns from catching the ball with no glove but I play it off like it was nothing. I swing my arm back over my head and launch the ball in his direction with almost perfect aim. Three years and I still got it.

"You can play?" Nathan asks appearing next to me out of nowhere.

I shrug, "I used to, softball though."

"You want to play a game with us?" Lucas asks stepping over towards us.

"Dude, if we do, I want Charlotte on my team, she kicks ass!" Cole exclaims no doubt remembering how I helped train him and Sebastian all summer this year.

"Okay how about we pick teams then? I'll be the leader of one and Char can be the leader of the other?" Nathan asks looking at the rest of his team in confirmation. Most of them nod their heads and some just shrug not really interested.

"I haven't even said yes to playing yet," I chuckle nervously, "What about Coach, won't he get pissed that a girl is playing?"

"He had to run off, something about a family emergency, I was supposed to run practice today, but I was just being lazy," Nathan smiles sheepishly.

"Oh, okay, I'll do it, you're on," I grin at him. Bring it.

All the boys gather around us, waiting for Nathan and me to pick players.

"Okay I choose Zach," Nathan starts the picking.

"Hey, what happened to ladies first?" I ask in mock offense.

"It's 2018, deal with it," Nathan smirks.

"I guess chivalry is dead then, no matter, I didn't want Zach on my team anyway," Zach scoffs in disbelief as I shrug nonchalantly turning my nose up slightly. "I pick Seb." He walks over to me offering me his hand for a high five.

"I pick Carson."

"Cole get your booty over here," I smile, and Cole struts over to me shaking his butt making me keel over with laughter.

"Kyle," Nathan calls trying not to laugh.

"Logan come hither with those gorgeous eyes," I spread my arms open in welcome and he shyly accepts my hug.

"You are so weird," Nathan elbows me. "Lucas."

"I see you're only picking seniors Nate, don't you have any trust in the juniors? James bring that perfect smile down this way," I smirk at Nathan knowing that he probably believes that the senior boys are better players but I beg to differ.

"Can you stop flirting with the player's Hayes, geez," Nathan reprimands me, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not flirting, I'm pointing out my favorite attributes in them!" I shout my defense.

We keep picking people until each side has 13 players each since there are 25 on the team excluding myself. Nathan and I flip a coin to decide who is batting first, I call tails and it lands on heads. Nathan decides his team will bat first. I pick Cole as pitcher because I saw him over the summer practicing with Sebastian, and he was really good.

"Seb, I want you to be first base; James you're going to be catcher, and everyone else who knows their position, go for it," I tell everyone looking at each of them with a head nod. Some of the boys seem a bit confused or annoyed that I am team leader but we're going to kick ass, so I don't really care.

"Where are you going?" Jeremy, a senior, asks looking over me.

"I'll take third base," I answer and hear some of the immature boys' chuckle, I roll my eyes. "Okay boys, let's kick some ass." The boys cheer and run off to their positions. I borrow one of the schools' extra gloves and run over to my spot.

Once everyone is in their positions, Carson strolls over to home plate getting ready to bat first. The field is quiet as the adrenaline starts.

"Wait!" I shout and everyone turns to face me, alarmed at my shout. "Who's going to be the umpire?"

"Can't we just trust each other to not cheat?" Nathan asks from behind the fence in the dugout.

"I don't trust you near me with a ten-foot pole, Ward," I laugh lightly.

"Hurtful," he pouts when the rest of his team laughs. "Hey JP! Do you mind being the umpire for this game?" JP's head pops up from his seat on the bleachers. He looks like he's at most a sophomore. He runs over and takes position behind James.

"Let's go!" I yell, starting the game.

Cole pitches the first throw and Carson hits it running to the first base before Sebastian got the ball. I sigh exaggeratedly knowing Nathan is probably gloating. Not for long. Zach comes out to bat next and I cough loudly giving Cole the sign to get Zach out. Cole throws a fastball and Zach just misses it. Yes! I smirk watching Zach scowl. James throws the ball back to Cole. Cole throws a curveball and Zach misses it again. This time he swears loudly and I let out a quiet giggle. He readies the bat and I can see from where I'm standing, how tight he is squeezing it. Bring it home Cole! Zach swings the bat and hits it straight up in the air, towards Sebastian. Sebastian stands at an angle and leans over watching Zach sprinting towards his base. Sebastian catches the ball, getting Zach out. Zach, in his tantrum, kicks the sand and shuffles off the field.

This happens repeatedly, with some people striking out completely or making it to a couple of bases only getting one run in total, but my team is too fast for them. Once we have 3 outs our teams switch sides. One of the players, whose name escapes me at the moment, is up to bat first. He manages to get to second base. Sebastian steps up to bat putting his game face on. I smile and roll my eyes at how serious he is. He smacks the ball and it goes far into the outfield, and Sebastian sprints to first base, eventually making it to third base, bringing the first batter to the home plate, giving us one run.

We end up getting two runs before we strikeout and the teams switch again. This time they manage to get two runs off us, one from Nathan who is damn good at batting. We switch again and I walk up to home plate getting ready to bat and look over at Sebastian who just got to second base and gives me thumbs up. I nod my head slightly and pick up the bat giving it a couple of half-hearted swings. Zach stands at the pitcher's mound with an evil smirk on his face. Nathan stands behind me as the catcher.

"Let's see what you've got Hayes," Nathan smirks from behind his mask and leans down getting ready to catch.

"Shut up, I'm concentrating," I mumble tuning him out.

Zach throws a fastball and I smack it as hard as I can into the outfield, I drop the bat and sprint straight to first base. I look to where the ball had gone and noticed them still running after it, so I run to second and third base, deciding to make a sprint for a homerun. I hear the boys shouting, trying to get the ball to Nathan, and I urge my body to go faster as I see the ball flying towards Nathan's gloved hand. I don't think rationally as I slide into home plate, feeling my left knee bend at a slight angle that is not comfortable. Flashbacks run through my head from the last time I slid 3 years ago, in the middle of a game, tearing my ACL in my knee. Surgery; six to nine months of physical therapy and crutches for 10 weeks, until full recovery.

I cry out in pain as I land on home plate a second before Nathan catches the ball. Everyone cheers but the sound doesn't reach my ears due to the amount of pain I'm in. I clutch my knee to my chest as silent tears roll down my face; my breathing is rapid.

"Char?" I hear Sebastian shout followed by his sprinting footsteps.

Nathan drops the ball and his glove, leaning down to my face, concerned. "What happened? Charlotte, where does it hurt? Char, talk to me, I can't help you if you don't speak to me," he grabs my face with his hands, tilting it so I'm looking directly into his eyes, "Tell me what hurts."

"My knee," I hiss through my teeth, tears still pouring out.

"She tore her ACL a few years back, Char do you think it's really bad? Do you think we should go to the Emergency Room?" Sebastian asks taking one of my hands, squeezing it gently while trying to inspect my knee.

"No, I think I just landed on my knee weirdly and it was just a shock, it's not too bad, maybe just a sprain or something," I catch my breath slowly sitting up, accepting the water bottle Cole handed me. "I think I just need to go to the nurse."

"I'll take you, practice is over boys, go home," Nathan says as he puts his hands underneath me, lifting me off the ground, as he holds me in his arms.

"I think I can walk Nate," I mumble out feeling a bit embarrassed in his arms.

"I'm not taking any chances," he replies and turns around walking away from the field and up towards the school, Sebastian tells me he will grab our stuff and meet us in the nurse's office.

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1961 words... Damn!

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Sammipott xx