Catch Me If I Fall

Chapter One: Thunk

Catch Me If I Fall

Chapter One: Thunk

The baseball hit Ruben solidly in the middle of his forehead.

The shock was enough to knock him over. He lay there, completely stunned as he stared at the baby blue sky above him. There were a few wispy, feathery clouds above him. The grass below smelled freshly cut, and the sweet smell calmed him.

"HEY! LOCKS! DON'T LAY THERE STARING AT THE SKY, GET THE BALL!"

His coach's voice shocked him back to reality. He figured that two shocks in thirty minutes could almost be a record.

Her flipped around, to his knees, grabbed the ball, and with one angle of his strong arm, threw the ball all the way to home plate. The batter groaned when he got out.

"Out! Change!"

While they were changing positions, the coach pulled Ruben aside. "Boy, you need to learn to catch," he said, shaking his head. His tone was drowning in disappointment. "You throw good, you bat good. But you need to learn how to catch."

Ruben looked down, shame filling him as he thought again, how much he let his team down.

"I just... I can't, Coach... I've always been a terrible, terrible catch. I'm sorry," Ruben tried to say.

"No. 'Sorry' isn't always good enough. Keep your 'sorry' to yourself, and start working on catching. If not, you can get yourself acquainted with the bench."

Ruben nodded, and turned back to go play, but realized his team had already won. The pride he'd had with the throw and his team was snuffed out because of the shame he felt.

He took his duffel bag and slung it over one shoulder, then started walking towards his rusty old pickup at the parking lot. Throwing his bag into the passenger spot next to him, he set his hand on the gear stick and pulled it to the reverse position.

The vehicle coughed and snorted to life, and he gently pushed the gas forward, twisting around in his seat to look for any obstacles. There was nothing to be seen.

Ruben turned the truck and started through the opening other cars provided. He felt rather left out, like he was a poor kid in the rich neighborhood. The other cars were so colorful and shiny, making his rusty truck stick out like a sore thumb.

Caught up in his envy and staring at other cars, he lost sight of the road before him.

With the first jerk of the truck came, he wasn't sure what had happened. Then his mind sorted out that a jerk of the truck meant it had met an obstacle.

He slammed the old brakes, which squealed loudly, giving him a headache on top of his horror.

Once the screeching brakes finally did their job, he flung his door open and jumped to the asphalt below. He looked under the truck and saw a body there, which horrified him greatly.

"Hey, hey!" he called, reaching as if to touch the body. "Are you okay?"

Then the body moved. He wasn't sure if he was horrified or relieved as the head turned.

"You idiot," the girl spat at him, "you just hit me!"

"I-I'm sorry," he tried, but she was wiggling out from underneath the truck. Once out, she sat up, leaning back on her shins.

"You're sorry?" she demanded, green eyes flashing and telling him just how big of an idiot he was. "You're sorry?!"

"Y-Yeah-"

"Sorry isn't good enough!"

Ruben knew this conversation sounded awfully familiar.

She stood, glaring at him. "You better realize that I won't take this lightly!"

He had stopped listening by this point, because he recognized the girl. She had been a junior last year, when he was a senior. Everyone avoided her, including him. Her name was weird enough for them to steer clear.

"Raina?" he said.

She shut her mouth, then scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yes, Ruben?" There was a bit of venom in her voice, and he wondered what her issue was with him. He'd never done anything particularly mean to her, in fact he was even a bit nicer to her than most people.

"I'm truly sorry... I didn't see you at all. I admit, I wasn't paying attention. Any injuries that you have, I'll pay..."

Ruben looked over her, noticing as he said it that she was perfectly fine. Not even her clothes were shredded.

"Where... are your injuries?"

Raina scowled at him, something guarded in her expression. "Pay better attention next time! It's not really that hard to grasp!"

Glancing yet again at the ground, he bobbed his head up and down in a nod, feeling like a little kid.

Then, as if a strong surge of kind energy had gone through Raina, she held out her hand as an offering. Shocked, Ruben slid her hand into his, and used her palm as a leverage as he stood.

They stood there, hand in hand as if Ruben was still on the ground. Standing in front of her now, he noticed she was just a little shorter, and close enough that if he leaned down a few inches, his forehead would rest against hers.

Their eyes met, and Ruben noticed that she had very beautiful green eyes. Her signature scowl had fallen, and she wasn't even frowning.

He had just started to lean down to test his theory when he felt a stinging sensation on his wrist, the sharp sound of flat wood snapping against skin following.

"Ow!" he cried, yanking his whole body back. His other hand clamped over his wrist, the skin turning red and irritated.

Raina shifted her weight to one hip, twirling the wooden ruler through her fingers slowly, just watching him with a raised eyebrow.

"What was that for?!"

"It's how you scold someone," she said with a shrug. "And I figured, 'Why not?'"

"Not funny," muttered Ruben, as he began to walk back towards his open driver's side door. He clambered into the truck, making sure to throw Raina his coldest, filthiest look.

Ruben slammed the door and started to drive off again, before his guilt caught up to him. Hitting the brakes again, he switched gears to reverse and drove back to Raina's side. She had turned her head to watch him, and turned back now.

"Do you need a ride somewhere?" he asked before she said anything.

There was a period of silence, then the ruler snapped at the window of the vehicle. He flinched away, and almost decided the answer was no, when Raina gave him a grin.

"Who am I to deny a ride?"

He bit back his smart retort and unlocked the door to the passenger side, moving his duffel bag behind him. Raina climbed in, her black hair scruffy and disheveled as always. After receiving her address, he put the car into motion.

The ride was long and completely silent. Raina's jaw was leaning against her hand, elbow propped up on the sill. Her head was turned towards the window, watching the buildings come and go.

"There are the, erm... Sierra Nevada mountains there," he said, pointing them out. They were outlined in purple, the snow visible at the top.

"Yep."

More silence.

Finally, the destination came into view. Raina opened the door, stepping out lightly. After that, she turned back around and motioned for him to roll down the window. He, very cautiously, did so.

The ruler snapped against the bottom of the window one more time. "Don't run over any more young women, or I'll be after you!" she called, then turned and ran into the apartment complex which he assumed she lived in.

He rolled the window back up, and started on his way back home, a bit taken aback by Raina. Ruben squinted as a bit of evening sunlight tried blinding him, not even letting it occur to him the sky had been stormy not three minutes before.

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