Baseball Princess

Chapter 11: Laser Tag

"Practice got canceled tonight. Coach texted me," Mark said, sitting down at our lunch table.

I know it's pretty mean to ditch my friends like that, but these boys have taken over my life.

Cheers erupted over the whole table. They've been wanting a break for a little while.

I took Daniel's phone out of his sweatshirt pocket to check the time. Mine was in my backpack and I didn't feel like getting it out.

The picture from yesterday was his wallpaper. I clasped a hand over my mouth to stop myself from gasping. It looked even more perfect than Saturday.

"Watcha looking at, beautiful?" Daniel asked.

"The picture," I responded. Ben didn't get this one on my phone, since he took pictures on mine first, and got all the cute ones on Daniel's phone.

"What, I don't even get, "the picture, sexy"?" He frowned and pretended to be upset.

"How about I call you Danny," I suggested, changing the subject.

"Why would you do that, Lins?"

"Because I like it. You changed my name, I change yours. We'd be Lins and Danny," I said, gesturing with my hands.

"Fine, but only 'cause I love you," Danny responded.

"I love you, too."

"Aye, lovebirds, go to the mall and do laser tag with us?" Ben asked.

"Sure," I replied.

The bell rung, telling us to go to class. I have biology. It sucks, because I have no classes with the boys, since none are freshmen like me.

-

"Here are the two teams. Ben and I picked them during class," Mark said, holding up the list.

"How come Ben's team has one more person?" Tommy complained. He must be on Mark's team.

"Because we had an odd number of people," Mark grunted, like it was obvious.

"Ben, how come Danny and I are on different teams?" I asked.

"Because we want to see who shoots who," he replied.

"But what if someone else shoots me or him?"

"There's more than one round, sis."

We got our suits on, and got our guns. After being assured that if you shoot someone from your own team, they don't "die," and that everyone one the opposite side has a green suit, and we have red, I was ready.

The room we went in was dark and crowded, and the walls glowed with colorful graffiti. I hid behind a wall, laser gun ready to point and shoot.

The clock started. We have ten minutes, and whichever team has the most still standing wins that round. Or, if one team gets completely eliminated, the clock stops. There are five rounds.

I saw a red person come around the corner and stand by me. It was John.

We remained silent, not wanting to get caught. A green person flashed in the corner of my eye, so I turned.

The guy made a dramatic death, pretending to die horridly from my perfect shot.

I walked over to see who it was. Tommy.

I laughed to myself, and prepared to shoot someone else.

"Lins?" A voice came from behind me.

I spun around, laser gun pointed.

"God, you scared me, John," I whispered.

We walked back to back, ready to defend each other.

John took out someone, before we were ambushed by Mark, Ethan, and Sam. They got both of us.

We layed on the ground and counted graffiti stars until the clock stopped. Mark's team won with 2 minutes and 55 seconds left.

Round two started, and I immeadietly shot a green. It was Daniel.

"Love you, babe," I said, before squatting down to kiss him.

"So much to learn," Mark said behind me.

My vest lit up, indicating that he shot me. I layed down next to Daniel, and cuddled under his arm.

Somehow, our team managed to win that one.

Next round, three minutes passed before I saw anyone.

I turned a corner, and a green was standing, gun aimed, ready to shoot.

Before he could, Daniel ran out to take the shot, shoving me to the ground. Since he was a green too, it didn't affect him.

"Man, you're no fun," I heard Tommy say.

"No, I just wanted to do this."

Daniel turned to me, and shot me.

"How could you?" I said, dramatically. I clutched my heart and extended an arm.

"I'll stay with you to the end," he said, sitting next to me.

Daniel held my head up, and I let it sink and close my eyes like a dead person. He sighed, set me down, pretended to wipe away tears, then smiled and walked away.

We lost that round. We have to win the next two if we want to win overall.

We got lucky, too. I shot three people, and was one of the three on my team that was left. Yay!

The last round, it came down to me, Ben, Mark, and Ethan.

It was an epic showdown. The four of us stood, laser guns at our sides. It was a huge staring contest.

Unable to stay any longer, I pulled my gun up, squatted down, and fired as many shots as I could, hoping to hit at least one guy before I went down.

Fortunately, I took down Mark, got shot by Ethan, but then Ben shot Ethan. We won!

The lights turned on, and Ben helped me up. We took our vests off, and walked out of the room.

When I walked through the mall with the boys, I got dirty looks from girls. I just laughed.

We went to every store, just looking around. We came out at Target, but Mark stopped to get something.

"A box of condoms? Really?" I asked.

"Hey, I'm 18, and I need more," he replied, getting into his truck.

I rode with Ben, Tommy, and Daniel. Hard to believe it's already 8 pm. Good thing it's Saturday tomorrow.

We pulled out onto the road in his sister's car. His truck was being repaired right now.

It was quiet, and dark. There weren't many cars on the road. Those who were, had their headlights on.

We stopped at an intersection on the way to Tommy's house. Daniel held my hand in the backseat.

After looking on both sides and seeing that there were no cars, Ben kept driving.

All I saw was a bright light to the left before all went black.

Major cliffhanger!!! Sorry it's short, but I did a double update (twice!) so shut up.