Chapter 23: Chapter 23

A few minutes later, Lockton’s batter hit a pop fly to center field, and Shane back pedaled, plucking it out of the air for the third out. The game was over. Andi clicked on the mic and said, “Final score, Barryville three, Lockton two.” The girls cleared the scoreboard while Beth finished up her book, and then they all headed down the ladder, Beth glad her drink was empty and in the trash so she didn’t have to carry it back down. She was thankful the scorekeeper’s box had its own private bathroom, so she hadn’t had to use the nasty ones behind the concession stand when all that Dr. Pepper had hit her bladder earlier.

“Why don’t you let us take the scorebook to your dad?” Lexy offered, looking at Zoey and Dee Dee with intimidation on her face and noting that Michael was still in the dugout.

“Okay,” Beth agreed quickly. Avoiding her brother and Tom seemed like a good idea. She took some deep breaths and tried to get back into character.

“We’ll just meet you on the square,” Brittany called as she backtracked, following Lexy and Andi toward the Barryville dugout.

“See ya,” Beth called, hoping they actually showed up. She could see them deciding it wasn’t for them and heading home since they didn’t even want to talk to Zoey and Dee Dee.

The other girls were in the middle of a conversation as she approached, but they both looked up and smiled at her as Dee Dee finished her sentence. “It’s just weird that she didn’t even come over, at all, not even to that other click of girls.”

“Totally,” Zoey nodded, but then turning her attention to Beth, she said, “Hey, how did it go?”

“Fine,” Beth replied with a shrug. “Just keeping score.”

“Ugh, I couldn’t do it.” Zoey rolled her eyes like scorekeeping was the most boring thing in the universe. “You sounded totally sexy on the mic, by the way.”

“Totally,” Dee Dee agreed.

“Thanks.” That hadn’t been Beth’s intention, but it was good to know. She hoped her dad wouldn’t have an opinion on that. There was a burst of giggles from the other bleachers, and Beth glanced back to see Shane had made his entrance, Marcus and Tom in tow. Tom was looking at her, and Beth gave him a little flirty wave and a sarcastic smile, which had him turning away quickly.

“Damn, you’ve totally messed that guy up. How hilarious!” Dee Dee said as she stood and both of the Lockton girls climbed down from the bleachers. “Are we ready to head out?”

“Sure,” Beth replied, surveying the other group one more time. It was strange that Halley wasn’t there.

“Hey, where’s the new girl?” Zoey asked, as if reading her mind. “All of those girls look about the same and not impressive.”

“Yeah, I expected to see a goddess or something,” Dee Dee agreed.

“It’s weird. She’s not here.” Beth pushed herself up on her tiptoes to see if maybe someone’s head was blocking her view.

“Huh. That’s too bad. I totally wanted to check her out,” Zoey said. “You know, size up the competition.”

Beth turned and looked at her. “She lives forty minutes from you.”

Zoey giggled and rolled her eyes. “Your competition, silly,” she commented, and they all headed toward her car.

Before they reached the parking lot, Beth heard a familiar voice shouting her name and stopped in her tracks, slowly turning to see Shane hurrying after her. “Yes?” she asked, crossing her arms and letting her bottled up wrath bubble to the surface.

“Listen, if you are planning on going downtown tonight and embarrassing me, don’t. You look like a whore, and you already almost made us lose that game with your stupid voice. Just knock it off, all right? Or I swear to God, I will humiliate you in front of all of them.”

“You will? You mean like you’ve been doing my whole life?” Beth took a step forward, and he actually backed up. “Listen, asswad, I can humiliate you, too, you know? I know things.”

“Please…” Shane began, but there was fear in his eyes.

“I have photographic evidence of you playing with Barbie dolls only a few years ago.” She narrowed her eyes and stared at him.

“You do not.”

“Don’t I?”

He thought for a moment, and then realization dawned on him. He inhaled deeply through his nostrils, seething. “I just played with you because you were being a baby. I was, like, eight.”

“I think you were more like twelve, and I can’t imagine your friends will care about that.”

“You don’t even know where those pictures are!”

Beth let the most evil smile she could conjure spread across her face. “Of course I do. And some other embarrassing ones as well.”

Shane swallowed hard. “Like… what?”

“Do you really want to know?” Other than baby pictures of him on the toilet or in the bath, she was bluffing, but it didn’t matter.

“No,” he said, his lips pierced together.

“Good. Then leave me the hell alone. I’ll do my thing; you do yours. But if you so much as make one asinine comment about my outfit, my friends, my face, my weight, anything… let’s just say those pictures aren’t in the photo album anymore.”

“You little monster.”

Beth smiled sweetly. “It’s about time you learned to take what you dish out, dear brother.” She winked at him, and he balled up his fists before he heard Tiffany calling his name, and he turned back toward his girlfriend.

Beth watched him go and then rejoined her friends who had been waiting within earshot.

“That was totally awesome!” Zoey gushed. “Man, you so told him off.”

“Thanks,” Beth said, opening the door to the back seat.

“Oh, no, Beth, you’ve gotta ride shotgun after that,” Dee Dee insisted.

Beth flashed her a killer smile and got in the front seat.

The square was fairly crowded considering it was a Tuesday evening. Zoey pulled her car into an empty spot, and they waited to see if they were in the right area. The group of popular girls was still sitting on the benches talking to Shane and his friends when they left, and Beth had never been a welcome member of their group before, so she wasn’t completely sure they were parked on the right side of the square. She noticed Brittany pull in way down on the other side, like she knew her car would be scoffed at if she parked where the popular kids hung out. Beth’s three friends slowly began to walk in her direction.