Baseball Princess

Chapter 17: Why the Hell

At lunch, I sat between Daniel and Tommy.

"I was a pretty great guy," Daniel told me.

"And you can still be. I'm not saying you have to be exactly like that, but be whomever you want to be. Think of it as a chance to start over. With maybe not as many privledges," I said the last sentence forcefully as Tommy wrapped his arm around me.

Daniel laughed, and said, "We'll see."

I turned to Tommy to see if he needed anything. He smiled at me, then kissed my cheek. Clearly, he's jealous of Daniel. But why?

"Lins, here's your phone," Daniel said, handing it to me with his casted arm.

"Thanks," I replied, thanks in more ways than one.

"Hold up, why the hell did Tommy just kiss Lins?" Mark asked, waving his fork at us.

"We're dating now," Tommy said, smiling at me and hugging me.

I forced a smile back. I guess I'm not in the mood for anything lovey-dovey.

"Alright, but same rules still apply," Mark said, then he resumed eating his lunch.

"I have to go make up some work. See you guys at practice," Daniel said, getting up to throw away the rest of his food.

A few classes later, and practice came. Ben was finally cleared, seeing as he got his cast of yesterday. He wasn't allowed to play in games for another week, though.

Just Daniel sat on the bench with me. He won't be able to even practice for a month, according to the doctor. Must have to do with his brain damage.

Me, on the other hand, still have an ankle brace on. I got rid of the crutches as soon as I could. It's still hard to walk, and it hurts, but I'm used to it. A few more weeks, and I'll be reduced to tape!

As for my ribs, they recommend I be careful. Only sleep on my back, which sucks butt since I always sleep on my sides. Little physical activity, which is alright since I sit out of gym.

"Tommy seems awfully possessive," Daniel said, observing them warm up.

"Yeah, well, it was more of my sisters' idea. They manipulated me to forget about you," I said, truthfully.

"Harsh, I'm a good guy," Daniel replied, chuckling.

"So did you look at anything, other than the video?"

"Yeah. Pictures, text messages, other videos, the whole thing," Daniel responded.

Guess this'll be more like a heart-to-heart, honest conversation.

"I figured you would," I said, "did you learn anything?"

"Other than I was pretty careless, not really. I do remember getting ice cream now. I payed, got a chocolate with sprinkles, and you got a vanilla with oreos?"

"Impressive. And, correct. Good job," I replied.

"I planned to look through my phone during practice," Daniel added.

"Then let's do it together, I want to see it, too."

We pulled up his pictures, and scrolled through. There was a ton of me, smiling, frowning, laughing, everything. He took all those without me knowing?

"Wow."

"There's a video," Daniel said, pushing play and turning the volume up.

"Don't flatter yourself," My voice said. I was laughing.

It was the time we went swimming. His mom must've recorded it. Good thing, too.

"What does that even mean?" Daniel's voice said.