"Guys, the baseball game's starting. I got to go," Lauren piped up, waving bye to us. "I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?"
"Why the rush?" Sasha asked, but she had already disappeared around the corner.
"I'm going to go," I said, slipping away. "I'll... talk to you later, Esme."
I walked towards the front door but then I heard something from inside the sports equipment room. A shadow of a female student seemed to be moving around inside. I sneaked behind the corner and peaked my head out. There was some more fumbling before a brunette girl walked out with a familiar bat in her hands. The girl was even more familiar.
"Lauren?" I muttered under my breath. What the heck was she doing with Gabriel Salazar's lucky bat? Hadn't it gone missing since yesterday?
As she walked down the hall with the bat in her hands, I trailed behind quietly. Suddenly, Gabriel (Gabe) was walking down the hall, towards us. I panicked and quickly flung myself into the nearest classroom. Then, I heard Lauren's bright, energetic voice.
"Hey, Gabe!" she called out. "I found your bat!"
"Ohmygosh, you did," Gabe answered, excitedly. "Thank you, Lauren. Thank you so much."
"Of course, it was nothing!" she giggled in return. Huh? So was Lauren digging through the sports equipment to find Gabe's bat?
"Hey, give me your number. I'll take you out to get smoothies one day as a thank you, okay?"
There was a moment of silence as she probably punched in her digits into Gabe's phone.
"Good luck today!" Lauren squeaked, seconds later. I heard movement and a couple footsteps, which sounded like they were leaving. Then, I heard a loud sigh of relief. From Lauren. I took a peak out of the classroom and saw her turning around. I walked out and stood right in front of her, which clearly gave her a shock.
"Amelia, what are you..."
"No, stop talking. What were you doing?" I demanded.
"Uh, nothing. I just found Gabe's bat. That's all," she murmured.
I replied, "Yeah, I got that part. But how on earth did you know it was in the equipment room?"
"Lucky guess," Lauren shrugged, her eyes looking at the ground. "Listen, I'm going to go watch the game. I'll see you later." She rushed off without another word.