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The guys separate from each other, each team to one side, and I see Sebastian speaking to Cole quietly. Nathan kisses the top of my head before moving over to them, discussing the game plan.

"Is this necessary?" Courtney asks, rolling her eyes, "Why can't they just piss on things to mark their territory, this is stupid," she folds her arms, and watches the scene around us. Some partygoers are confused by all the commotion but this isn't one of those moments when the whole school waits in anticipation for this game, this is a party; half of them are already drunk and the rest are completely uninterested in what is happening around them.

"Char, I thought you said you and Chase got closure," Quinn says, holding Lilly's hand tightly as the crowd dances around us. Olivia distances herself from the guys and moves over to us.

I shrug helplessly, "I did, we did... I think." I look over at Chase and his friends in confusion. "I don't even know why they're here."

"Well, let's find out," Olivia gestures for me to go ahead first as we slowly but confidently walk up to them, with Olivia next to me and Courtney, Quinn, and Lilly behind us.

"Chase," I call to him as he looks over at us with a smirk.

"Hey Char, what's up?" he asks with a relaxed smile.

"Cut the crap, Graham, why are you here?" Olivia cuts him off, glaring at him.

"Nice to see you too Liv," he chuckles, looking back at Jackson, his best friend.

I push in front of Olivia and stare at Chase, "What is going on? I thought we were over this?" I ask in a hard tone, annoyed.

"Believe it or not, Charlie," I scowl at the nickname, "Not everything is about you," he nods his head over to Nathan and the boys, a few more of the team has emerged from the party. Nathan, feeling my gaze on him, turns to look at me. His face is blank as he sees who I am talking to but when he meets my eyes, he still smiles, winking at me before turning back to his team.

"Seriously? Why couldn't you have waited for baseball season?" I groan, annoyed even more now, "You had to crash my party over a petty rivalry?"

"There are some things that you girls wouldn't understand," Chase replies condescendingly.

My eyes blaze with fury as I get up in his face, "You are a fucking pig." He smirks down at me and raises an eyebrow playfully. This is all a game to him.

"Everyone's entitled to act stupid once in a while, but you really abuse the privilege, Chase," Courtney replies, looking at her nails, showing her lack of interest.

He scowls at her and Jackson moves to stand next to him, smiling genuinely at us.

"Jackass," Olivia greets him impassively.

"Hey, Liv, how's Izzy?" He asks nonchalantly.

"She's good. Have you lost any poker games lately?" She asks innocently, a smirk gracing her face.

He laughs loudly, saluting us before turning back to his friends. Chase looks confused but turns back to me, "Don't forget to cheer loudly for me from the sidelines," he winks, moving away from us.

"Break a leg!" Olivia yells at his back, he turns back to us with a smile as she flips him off, "Seriously, break a leg," she smiles sarcastically.

"He always seems so nice and then, boom, he's a prick," I mutter stomping back over to Nathan and the rest of them. He sees me coming and opens his arms and I waste no time stepping into them, immediately relaxing. "Ready to go down to the field?" I ask referring to the furthest, flattest part of our backyard where we did most of our softball or baseball training.

He nods his head, pressing his lips to my forehead, "Mhm, let's go," he grabs my hand and we all walk further down the slight hill to the back of the yard. "What position do you want to play?" he asks suddenly and I snap my head up at him.

"You don't want me on the sidelines, watching?" I ask confused and a little shocked.

He shakes his head with a laugh, "Fuck, no, you're one of the best players I've seen."

My heart swells in my chest and I grin up at him, "Even with my stupid knee?"

He laughs, kissing me softly, "Even with your stupid knee," he says against my lips.

"Do you have enough guys for a team?" I ask as I wrap my arm around his waist and he places his arm over my shoulder.

He sighs, "No, he doesn't either, though so that's positive, some of our guys aren't here tonight."

"Want a secret weapon?" I ask slyly.

"I thought you were the secret weapon?" He asks with a cute confused smile on his face.

I shake my head lightly with a smirk and turn around, facing the party. I suck in a deep breath and yell loudly, "TESSA!"

I see her head perk up in the crowd and she looks around wildly, her friends standing around her. She catches my eyes and I nod to her, telling her to come over and she practically sprints down to where we had all stopped.

"What? Are you okay? What is it? Is there drama?" She bombards me with questions as a few of her friends come over, a lot slower than she did.

"There is drama, and we need your help," I tell her seriously.

She rolls her shoulders like she's getting ready for battle, "Who am I fucking up?" Drew stands behind her and laughs at her words.

"Chase and the rest of the Westview Baseball team," I reply, watching her facial expression.

"You want me to play?" she asks, looking over at Nathan for an answer.

"You any good?" He replies.

"'Am I any good?' Don't insult me like that Nathan," she replies cockily, smirking, moving past him, and fist-bumping me.

Nathan looks at me impressed and I laugh, patting his chest, "Just trust me," I wink and we continue to the field.

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"Two girls on your team, Ward? Are you that desperate?" Chase laughs as we all take our positions around the makeshift field. Tessa is standing at first base with an innocent smile on her face, swaying slowly to the music pumping from the party. I'm standing at in the outer field since I'm the fastest and Sebastian is at third base, with Cole pitching and Nathan as the catcher. A few of the other team players are spread out in their regular positions but I still don't know all their names. Tessa and I have both put our hair up in messy buns and we are both wearing sneakers.

A few teens have decided to join us but again, the majority of them are sloshed and having a great time.

Nathan doesn't rise to the bait that Chase is throwing at him and just squats quietly behind the first batter. Instead, he looks over at me and I think he winks because he's a bit far away for me to tell. I wave lightly, trying not to take this too seriously since this is supposed to be a fun party and the music is still blaring with partygoers dancing and having a good time.

A few of the Westview boys are making crude comments at Tessa and I can practically feel the anger radiating off us. Sebastian is scowling at them, ready to stomp over there and hit someone and even Nathan has told them to 'shut the fuck up' a few times, but the worst one is Olivia. The thing Tessa doesn't realize is that she is gorgeous and pretty tall for her age at 5ft6in, just an inch shorter than me. Her dirty blonde hair usually falls around her shoulders and she has dad's hazel eyes. Where Sebastian and Sophie have his dark hair and Harry, Maddie and I have moms blonde hair, Tessa is the in-between.

"Oi! Say that sentence again and I will cut off your dick!" Olivia yells at Travis, the Westview pervert. Drew is standing next to her, trying not to fall over from laughing so hard at Olivia's comments; he's wearing Tessa's black hat that she gave him to hold while she plays. He looks adorable in it.

"Okay, let's go!" Harry yells from behind Nathan, since he is acting as the umpire. Tessa's face remains smiling, and she jumps up in excitement.

Cole throws a few practices pitches to Nathan. Chase is standing on the sidelines giving Sebastian's practice bat from the garage a few swings, as his teammates stand around, throwing a ball to each other.

"If anyone suffers an injury, my family cannot be held liable!" Harry shouts as everyone slowly takes their places.

Coles face is neutral as he gets ready to pitch. The air around us has gotten a lot heavier with tension, and I can see everyone's faces becoming a lot more serious as the game begins. I look at Sebastian and we hit our chests with a fist, wishing each other luck and I end up doing the same with Tessa, as per our little family tradition. I take a deep breath, and keep my eyes locked on the ball.

Cole throws a fastball and the batter smacks it as hard as he can. It flies in Tessa's direction and she barely blinks an eye as she jumps in the air and catches it in her glove. The batter's face goes slack as he stares at Tessa, who is casually throwing the baseball back to Nathan with an uninterested facial expression. She even goes as far to look at her nails in boredom. God I love this child.

"No, fucking, way," Olivia says what everyone else is thinking. "Is every Hayes sibling a baseball prodigy or something?" She asks bewildered.

Tessa smirks with a shrug and turns back to the game. Secret weapon for the win. Chase and his teammates are practically speechless; when not even a minute ago, they were loud and boisterous about how they were going to win. Not when the Hayes' siblings are around.

The next couple of batters try and stay clear of hitting the ball anywhere near Tessa, but it doesn't always work out well for them since I'm in the outfield and Sebastian is third base. Chase managed to get one run in for his team, which he should since he's captain of the damn team, before it was time to switch over. Nathan's team has really gotten a lot better since I last played with them, I guess all that conditioning has paid off.

I walk over to Nathan with a grin on my face, "Okay, is it wrong that I want Tessa on the boys' baseball team at school? She doesn't even need to try out, she's that good," he says to me as we walk over to the sidelines as Chases team sets themselves up.

"Unfortunately, she doesn't want to play baseball. Dad, tried to convince her, but she's just not interested. Remember when we were at the playground that one time and I was telling you that Tessa was the sporty one? She enjoys doing things that people tell her she can't, and when some boys from school, when she was little, said that she can't play baseball because it's a 'boys' sport, she ended up challenging the whole team to a game with a few of her friends and they kicked the boys' asses," I tell him with a laugh.

"Damn," he replies, rubbing his chin with a grin, "That's badass," he laughs and I agree with him.

Sebastian has his arm around Tessa's shoulder as they walk up to us with grins, all the team players are applauding Tessa as she walks past them and she laughs, bowing dramatically. Tessa looks over at Nathan, "Can I bat first? I kind of want to just get it out of the way so I can chill before we switch," she smiles.

"Yeah, sure, go for it," he replies with a shrug. She salutes him and taps her chest wishing us luck as she walks over to the bat, picking it up and taking a few halfhearted swings with it. Nathan turns to the rest of the team, "Guys, we're doing awesome, and I know that this isn't the ideal time to be doing this, especially since some of you were expecting to party and not play a game of baseball with our rivals," he apologizes to his team. On the other side of the captains, Chase is yelling at his teammates for losing to a team with two girls on it and telling them to step up their game because they're embarrassing him. Great sportsmanship, Captain.

"Dude, so chill, if you need us, well be here," Lucas replies with a smile as the rest of the guys agree.

"I know we're supposed to say that our captain is going to lead us to victory but we underestimated Tessa Hayes," James, Sebastian's friend, says as everyone laughs, looking over at Tessa as she gets ready to swing.

She shuffles her feet on the ground and lifts the bat into position, looking Chase dead in the eye as he gets ready to throw the ball.

Jackson is crouched behind her, as the catcher, and I'm glad to see that he is not even looking in her direction, and he was one of the only ones not to make those crude comments at her. He's one of the good ones.

Chase throws a curveball trying to throw Tessa off but she's ready for it, and we all hold our breath as she smacks the ball as hard as she can, sending it far into the outfield. As soon as the ball smacks against the bat, she's dropped it behind her and is sprinting towards first base. The boys are running as fast as they can to get the ball but she's already at second base when they get it back to Chase. He stares at her with a scowl and she just smiles and waves in reply.

Nathan leans down to my ear, "You wanna go?" he asks quietly, kissing my neck quickly. I shudder and nod my head in reply. He squeezes my waist gently as I let go of him and walk up to the bat.

"No sliding," Nathan tells me sternly and I turn back to give him a little wink.

I pick up the bat and look at the smirk on Chase's face. Bring it on bitch. I bend my knees slightly and position the bat. "Don't break a nail," he jeers with a laugh, some of his teammates joining in.

"Don't listen to him, Char, kick some ass," Jackson mumbles quietly behind me and I almost turn to him, but think better of it since he's trying to be subtle.

"I will," I tell him in a whisper and nod my head at Chase, telling him I'm ready. The ball comes so fast that I miss it the first time, Jackson yelling out that it's the first strike. I roll my tongue across my teeth in silent anger as I get ready for the next throw.

"Go Charlotte!" I can hear the girls along with Harry and Sophie, cheering for me. "Beat his ass!" Olivia yells.

As I'm picking up the bat I lock eyes with Tessa, who is still at second base. She nods her head lightly telling me I got this and I tap my chest in reply, gearing up for the next bat, nodding at Chase.

He throws a curveball and I almost laugh as it flies too low for me to hit it; Jackson yells out a 'Ball' and throws the ball back to Chase, who groans in anger.

His third attempt is another fastball, hoping to catch me off guard again, but I anticipate it and swing my arms, smacking the ball hard, making it fly right over his head into the outfield. I drop the bat and sprint to the first base, and then the second until I'm running straight through the third base and to the home plate for a home run. Tessa crosses home plate, getting us a run, and turns to cheer me on with the rest of our friends and the team. I can hear Chase screaming to get the ball to him or Jackson and I speed up as I see it sailing over to Jackson; but I'm already over the home plate by the time it smacks into Jacksons glove. We all shout and cheer loudly, with Nathan picking me up and spinning me around.

"That's my best friend!" Olivia yells as Nathan puts me down and she jumps onto me, "You're gross and sweaty but I'm still proud of you!" I laugh loudly and hug her back.

I look over at Chase as he throws his glove on the ground in anger and I find myself smirking at his pathetic attitude.

"What was that about girls playing baseball, Chase?" I asked, cupping my ear for his reply.

Nathan laughs as he pulls me closer to him, "God, you're hot when you prove sexist assholes wrong," he murmurs, kissing my temple.

"Only then?" I smirk up at him and he winks in reply, kissing me on the lips this time.

"Maybe you should just quit, while you still have a sliver of dignity," Tessa tells him with a laugh.

"Fuck all of you, letting girls play is cheating," Chase spits as he walks up to us and gets in Nathan's face.

Nathan reacts quickly and moves me behind him, into Sebastian, who holds me back from getting involved.

"Why, Graham? Because they're better than you?" Nathan asks sarcastically.

Chase snarls in response, "Girls are only good for one thing, Ward, and when you get it from them, they become worthless."

"You son of a bitch," Courtney growls, standing next to Olivia and Quinn, who are both bristling with anger.

"Don't talk about girls that way, man, what is wrong with you?" Nathan asks in disbelief.

"Just stating facts, boy," Chase replies smugly, looking directly at me, implying that I'm 'easy' in front of everyone.

"I didn't give you anything Chase, contrary to what you told all of your friends, just so that you could sound like a man for once," I reply with my head held high.

"You little bitch," he growls, moving towards me, but Nathan slams his hand into Chase's chest, pushing him back.

"Describing yourself again, Chase?" Olivia replies with a smirk as everyone laughs in reply.

"Shut up, slut," he hisses, eyes blazing in anger.

"I know you didn't just say that to my girl," Sebastian replies in a deep voice, moving forward so he's standing next to Nathan.

"And what are you going to do about it, pussy?" Chase laughs at Sebastian, shoving him back.

Sebastian's eyes go hard as he steps forward and knocks Chase on his ass, "That," Sebastian replies.

Chaos erupts quickly as Chase lunges for Sebastian, knocking him onto the ground and Olivia jumps on Chase, yanking his hair so hard that pieces of his hair come out from the force of her pull. "Motherfucker!" She yells when he knocks her off of him, only for her to get up and pouncing on Chase again as he throws a punch at Sebastian's face.

Someone throws a punch at Nathan but he deflects it fast, shoving the guy onto the ground. I run over to Olivia and help her tackle Chase to the ground, getting him off Sebastian. Sebastian's lip is bleeding as he sits up quickly, coming over to us and taking down Chase, punching him in the face. Aidan, Sophie's boyfriend, stomps over and grabs one of the Westview guys that was trying to sneak up on Sebastian.

Behind us, boys are tackling and hitting each other. Harry hangs back since he's an adult and if he hits a kid, he'll end up arrested, but that doesn't stop him from protecting Quinn and Lilly from any of the chaos, who hide behind him. Courtney throws her shoe at someone that took down Cole. Jackson stands off to the side with his hands in his pockets, almost as if he's watching paint dry.

Someone grabs me around the waist and I thrash around trying to get out of their arms, when I look over my shoulder, I see Travis smirking down at me, tightening his arms around me.

"Let," I elbow him in the stomach, "Me," I stomp on his foot, "Go!" I yell at him. He keels over in pain but doesn't let go. Nathan must hear me yelling because he runs over to me and looks at Travis in the eye.

"She told you to let her go," he says in a deathly calm voice.

"She's just playing hard to get," Travis laughs, moving me around.

Nathan grabs his arm and twists it in an awkward position so quickly that Travis drops to one knee, releasing me in the process. "I told you to let her go." Travis' face pales as Nathan lets him go and steps towards him.

"Okay, okay, you win, no hard feelings," he raises his hands in surrender and scrambles away.

A blowhorn suddenly goes off and everyone stops to cover their ears from the sound; even the music cuts and everyone on top of the slight hill towards the back of the house looks around in confusion. Sophie stands in the middle of the circle with said blowhorn in her hand. "All of you Westview people fuck off, now!" She yells into the crowd, not leaving any room to argue.

Sebastian climbs off Chase, moving towards Olivia as she shoves a guy's face into the dirt, and picks her up by the waist, taking her over to where Harry is. Everyone slowly breaks away and stands to their opposing sides. Nathan looks at a slightly bruised Chase, "Leave before we call the police."

Chase starts to say something but Nathan cuts him off, "Now." Chase mumbles to his teammates and they all walk around the house, leaving through the backyard.

"We'll finish this on the field in April, Ward." With those final words, Chase and his friends are gone.

"Did you guys see me? I kicked some guy's ass!" Tessa punches a fist in the air as Drew stands next to her, rubbing his jaw.

"Drew, are you okay?" I ask walking over to him, inspecting his red, blotchy jaw.

"Yeah, I'm fine, some dude clocked me in the jaw," he smiles lightly, waving it off like it was nothing.

"Don't worry, I saved him," Tessa grins at him, winking, doing some karate moves in the air.

He looks at her unimpressed, "My hero," he drawls, sarcastically.

"I thought you were supposed to be some kickass dude?" I ask with a laugh.

He shakes his head softly with a small smile, "I only fight in the ring, I try not to be violent in general." Tessa nods her head in agreement and leans her head on his shoulder with a grin.

Harry walks over and checks to make sure that Tessa isn't hurt but she just brushes him off with a high five as she tells him what had happened.

We look over the backfield and see that it wasn't much of a fight, since most of the guys are okay, save for a few of them.

"Are you okay?" Nathan asks, running his hands over me, looking for any injuries.

"I'm okay, I'm a tough girl," I grin up at him and he kisses my cheek softly.

Sebastian and Olivia are standing in front of each other; Sebastian moves a piece of her hair, that had gotten messed up, behind her ear. "I love you so fucking much," he says seriously, kissing her hard and lifting her into the air. She wraps her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, kissing him wildly. Okay... this is getting weird.

"That is so gross," Tessa shudders, moving her hand to cover Drew's eyes and her own.

"Get a room!" Courtney yells at them as she hops around the yard, looking for her lost shoe.

"Great idea," Sebastian says when he pulls and turns in the direction of the house, still carrying Olivia, who waves at us with a smirk and a thumbs up.

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Probably one of my favorite chapters to write, Girl Power for the win!!

Favorite moment of the chapter??

Until next time,

Sammipott xx