Seduce Me With A Sinister Beat

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Tory's POV

It's hard to stay mad at your friends forever.  There are always those little things, that only they can do for you, that end making life so much better. 

Dane and I had been friends for longer than I could remember.  His dad was an old war buddy of my dad's, so we were practically raised together. 

I think the first time that I noticed that something was weird about Dane, was when we were in high school.  We had just started grade ten, and weren't the most popular kids around.  Some people would have called us loners, but we liked to think of ourselves as rebels. 

I started it really.  I had been going through a phase; my obsession with retro hair styles and funky clothes, were only the beginning.  The first day of grade ten, I walked into the school with my bangs back combed and my hair in a side pony tail.  I was wearing a pair of lime green shorts and a black crop top.  Around my wrist I had tied an orange bandanna.  I had completed the look with a pair of mismatched flats; one was yellow, the other blue.

My outfit was pretty cutting edge, or so I had thought.  Most of the kids in my school could have been laughing at me; I wouldn't have known, because that was the day that I first met my real friends.  Besides Dane, of course. 

The next day they all came to school wearing outfits like my retro chic look.  It became a trend after that, and I was known as a trendsetter.

I sighed.

What was I going to do about Dane?  He could blow my cover completely; he knew I didn't have an uncle, and something was fishy about him.  There was this distinct aroma of tuna fish that seemed to permeate the air around him.  Unless he had been eating tuna before my departure, without me noticing, it had to be a recent thing.

I guess I could tell him that I didn't like him anymore, that I'd moved on. 

He probably wouldn't believe me, but it was worth a shot.

I had been released from the hospital for two weeks already.  Going back to school was harder than I thought it would be.  People stared at my neck as I walked by, and it was hard to miss the hands that flew up over the faces as people tried to muffle their words from my ears.  Let's just say it wasn't working, and leave it at that.

Generally, I wouldn't have had a problem with the way people were treating me, I'd come to recognize it for what it was; a defense mechanism.  They were afraid that Jason would come back and harm everyone because of something that I had done.

The girls had all been wary of him, and when he wanted something, he usually got it.  The only thing that had been sacred to Jason, were Peirce's girlfriends, and that was until Peirce picked me over Jason.

I keep worrying that Jason is going to pop out of some shadow with a gun and shoot Peirce.  It's not that far out of the realm of reality, especially not for a drug dealer like Jason.

"Tory, you're up," a voice snapped at me. 

I looked up; it was Coach King.  He was the gym teacher here, and ten times worse than my old one.  He was so strict that I had already lost my phone, ten times, since I had been released from the hospital. 

It seems like he's picking on me now.  He's always nagging me about not being aggresive enough, not playing properly, wearing inappropriate gym strip, staring at Peirce with googly eyes, yadda, yadda, yadda.  Blah.

Coach King should really get a life and stop picking on me.

We were playing baseball today.  I actually don't mind playing it, and if you ask me, I'm pretty decent.  I can't normally hit a home run, but today, I'm going to get one, just so Coach King will eat his words.

The first ball was too far inside, but I swung anyhow.  It was a fouler.

The boys out in the field jeered at me as the girls on my team tried to offer me incouragement.

"Let's see if you can't hit the ball in the right direction this time Lloyd," he taunted.

Did I ever mention how much I hate my last name?

The pitcher called the outfielders in before looking at me and sneering.  He cleared his throat and dropped a big wad of spit onto the ball before positioning his body.  He brought back his arm and threw.

The pitch came to me perfectly.  It wasn't to far in, but just a bit too far out.  I've always been a reacher, so it was the perfect pitch for me.

I brought my right foot back as I inched my left foot towards the plate.  I crouched down into a batter's stance and brought my elbow back.  I kept my eyes glued to the ball; then I swung. 

The ball sailed over everyone's heads, and to the astonishment of the opposing team and my gym teacher, over the chain link fence and into the forest.  It was an automatic home run.  I had done the impossible, and showed all of them exactly what I was made of. 

I skipped around the field, touching each plate before walking back to home plate.  I lifted the fingers of my right hand and put them towards my mouth.  Then I brought them down and touched the side of my hip.

"I'm glad everyone finally shut-up," I snapped as I stormed back to the changerooms.

I had left everyone speechless.

The bell rang as I finished changing out of my gym strip. 

"Congratulations Tory."

"That was some hit out there."

"Have you always been so good at baseball?"

I was bombarded by girls admiring the way that I had put Coach King in his spot.

If only Dane was so easy to deal with.

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