I am Clara

Constipated Walks and Broken bats

    "What's that got to do with anything?"

    "Your relationship is obviously serious, if you guys moved in together," he elucidated, which to me wasn't much of an explanation.

    "Well... yeah. We've been friends since kindergarten. Obviously, Andrews takes my problems seriously, it's not like he would have found my being homeless funny."

     "What?" He frowned like I was the one not making any sense.

     "What do you mean what?"

     "I don't know— you just..." he paused again, thinking.

     "Are you high? I'd rather walk, if you are."

     I didn't want to die in a car crash, I still had a week left to live. People were expecting my death next Wednesday, it'd be rude of Jason to kill me beforehand. He couldn't disappoint my future murderers. They had spent years training to kill me. It would be a real piss off if someone stole their glory.

    "I'm not!" he defended. "Are you?"

     "Me?" I asked incredulously. "I don't do that shit."

    "And what makes you think I do?"

     I perked a brow. He couldn't lie to me, his resolve broke. Drowning in pressure from his parents, the school's reputation, and scholarships, he had found solace in the wrong things. I truly felt for him. With a promise that he wasn't high, he drove me home without another word on his strange view of Andrews and I's platonic relationship.

     Andrews wouldn't be back for another half hour, so I figured it'd be a good time to make another attempt at destroying the Sphere. I searched the room for the perfect weapon, finding a metallic baseball bat beneath Colton's bed. Bat in hand, I started swinging.

     I half expected the Sphere to disappear before I could hit it. The fact that it didn't, made me a little suspicious. It just waited for the blow. The Sphere wasn't the least bit affected by the impact. There wasn't even a small dent, nor scratch. I swung harder. Still nothing. Mimpi showed up for a brief second, but the second the bat passed through her head, she sighed, shook her head, and disappeared. With newfound anger, I kept swinging. Eyes clamped shut in effort, I swung with all my force until I heard a sound that could only be associated with the sound of something breaking. I smiled for half a second, until I opened my eyes. The Sphere remained untouched; perfectly smooth and shiny. Bent into the shape of a U, Colton's bat was a different story. With a grimace, I searched the room, in pursuit of a solution. I could fix this. No need to panic. Hoping to straighten it out, I flipped the bat and swung again. That didn't work. I had managed to get it straight again, but not without breaking it in half. Nothing good ever happens when I try to fix something. This is why I usually run from my problems.

     I searched every drawer in the home, but for some reason the Andrews didn't have glue. Who doesn't own glue? Have Anna and Jim never needed to fix the countless objects their kids broke on a daily basis? Glue was a survival necessity in the Molino house, especially with the twins' experiments.

     "What are you looking for?"

    Frightened, I jumped two feet in the air, hitting my head on an open cabinet door in the process.

     "You're early," I noted, turning to face a suspicious Andrews.

     "I am. Being home alone, I had hoped you'd have taken the opportunity to walk around in your underwear."

      Was he hoping I'd have embarrassing superman underwear? I definitely did not. I preferred spider-man.

     "I don't wear underwear." I blinked, holding his gaze firmly.

     Andrews' face was priceless. His eyes turned wide, and his ears turned pink. Andrews blushing was the funniest thing ever. While I couldn't control my laughter, he flipped me off and headed towards his room.

     "Wait!" I called after him. "How much importance does your brother put in the old metal bat under his bed?"

     I was really hoping he'd have no idea what I was talking about. I mean you wouldn't throw something important under your bed, right? Andrews frowned as if to imagine the mentioned bat, and then nodded to himself in realisation. Damn.

     "It used to be his grandfathers and then his dads until it was finally passed down to Colton. It's the first bat he used, brought it to every game. Claimed it was his good luck charm."

     Immediately I planned my escape, contemplating running as far away as could from this town. Aunt Diana would take me in. Surely being the new kid couldn't be so bad. Who cares if I had no school friends? It was better than facing Colton. I destroyed his ancestors' bat. I ruined his future child's baseball career. Then again, this wasn't just my fault. Mimpi, and Colton were just as responsible. Colton was an idiot. You don't keep a family heirloom under your bed, it's practically begging strangers to take it.

     "What'd you do?" Andrews asked, lips twitching as he noticed the oh shit look on my face. Instead of verbally answering him, I grabbed the two halves of the baseball bat and handed it to him. His eyes grew wide again, likely trying to imagine ways I managed to accidentally break a metal bat.

     "Would he really know the difference if I bought an exact replica?" I asked.

     "Probably not. Honestly, I don't even think it's his bat."

     My heart stopped and restarted again. "What?!"

     "The whole grandfather thing? Ya, that was a lie."

     As much as his words relieved me, I wanted to kick his ass. "Andrews!" I complained, shoving him. I shoved him a little harder than I meant too. Loosing balance, bat pieces tumbled out of his arms. "That wasn't funny. You had me ready to move in with my Aunt Diana."

     "Nothing you don't deserve." He threw the metal in the trash. "How did you even manage to break it?" He asked the one question I hoped he wouldn't. He was the one person I wasn't supposed to lie to.

    "Long story."

     "I have time," he said, knowing very well that I hated the saying. Who cares if he had time? What if I didn't have the time? If I claim it's a long story, that is a silent code for I don't want to explain it. But Andrews was too stubborn to let it go.

     "I tried to use it to break something, but it broke instead. The rest you truly don't want to know."

    He squinted his eyes my way, thinking about it. He took my word for it and dropped the subject.