Out of Left Field: Marlee's Story (11 page)

Marlee hoped she could stop shaking by the time they got back to the house.

Chapter Seven

Deceit

A LIGHT DUSTING of snow covered the Clarksonville Cougar softball field. Marlee pressed her nose against the glass of the gymnasium window, cell phone in hand. “We’re making up the game on Saturday.” Her breath fogged up the glass.

Susie said, “Cool. I can’t believe it snowed today. It’s April, c’mon. Our practice got cancelled. Did you guys practice inside?”

Marlee floated in the sound of Susie’s voice. Even over the crackly cell phone her voice was sweet. “Nah, they’re making everybody go home. And I’m just hanging in the dark gym waiting for Jeri to get her act together in the locker room. So, uh, do you maybe want to come to my game on Saturday?”

“Yeah, sure. What time?”

Marlee tried to stay cool, but she did a quiet little happy dance in the corner of the Clarksonville gymnasium. Susie was coming to see her. She did her best to keep her voice steady. “Coach said 2:00, but I’ll call you if it’s different.”

“Cool. Marlee?”

“Yeah?”

“I can’t believe how much I want to see you.”

“Oh, me too,” Marlee purred. “Talking on the phone is nice, but it’s not the same. I hope you won’t get bored on Saturday.”

“No way.”

Marlee swallowed hard. Anxiety flashed through her at the thought of Susie watching her pitch. “It’ll be nice not having to pitch to you that day. You know?”

Susie laughed.

Marlee’s heart swelled at the sound. “Too bad we can’t hang out on Friday.”

“I know, but we’re away at Mohawk and you guys are away too, right?”

“Yeah, we’ve got a scrimmage against the Clarksonville Community College team. It’s weird, but Coach says it’ll be good practice for us. Of course, Jeri says it’s always good practice getting your butt kicked.”

“That’s funny. I can see why Christy likes Jeri. And speaking of Christy, her folks will be home on Friday so we couldn’t have hung out there, anyway.”

“Who says we’d want to hang out with anyone else?” Marlee teased.

“Yeah, exactly.” With a slightly suggestive tone Susie asked, “So, what’re we gonna do after your game on Saturday?”

Marlee moved from the window and sat on the bottom row of the bleachers in the empty gymnasium. “I suppose we can go find a quiet place to, uh, hang out.” She was still new at this sort of thing.

“Great minds think alike.”

“You know, Susie, it was really hard not telling Jeri and Lisa on Friday.” Marlee picked at the peeling varnish on the old bleachers. “I mean, here’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me—”

“The best thing?”

Marlee smiled. “Yeah, the best thing, and I couldn’t tell them. I mean, especially Jeri. What was I supposed to say?” She lowered her voice. “Like, ‘By the way, Jeri, you know that left fielder? Well, we’ve got the hots for each other.’ I dunno. I just couldn’t do it.”

“It’s hard. Believe me, I know. People don’t always understand. You never know who’s going to flip out on you. I didn’t tell Christy either. She knows nothing about our covert encounter behind the shed.”

“Mmm, the shed. Hey, does she know about you?” Marlee asked boldly.

“Know about me? What?” Susie giggled. “That I’m Puerto Rican?”

“No.” Marlee snickered. “No. C’mon, you know.”

“Of course she knows.”

Of course? Of course she knows?
“Is she...you know?” Marlee marveled at her new courage even though she still couldn’t say the words.

“Oh, now who’s getting nosy? And, you know what? Why are we talking about Christy, anyway?”

Marlee let the question drop.

MARLEE CLOSED HER eyes and fell back into her pillows. Jeri had just dropped her off after the cancelled game. She heard a scritch, scritch, scritch on her closed bedroom door.

“Patches? Hang on, girl.” She got up and opened the door a crack to let the cat in her room. “Come on in, kitty cat. I know, girl, I never have my door closed. But sometimes I need privacy.”

Patches chirped her entrance and wound around Marlee’s legs. Marlee plopped back on the bed in a sitting position and patted her lap. “C’mon, kitty. Come up.”

The cat jumped up on Marlee’s lap, circled a few times, and finally settled down. “Good girl.” She thought about Susie as she absentmindedly stroked the cat. Patches purred. Marlee had talked on the phone with Susie every day since that first Friday evening when she and Jeri had made the long trip to East Valley. She couldn’t believe someone as pretty and wonderful and smart and funny as Susie would be interested in her. She tried not to think too closely about the fact that she had such strong feelings for another girl. She couldn’t quite wrap her mind around that and reasoned that she just had an attraction for one particular person and it didn’t have to mean anything earth shattering. It was just Susie for goodness sake.

Susie.
Does Susie get butterflies in her stomach the way I do?
Marlee smiled as she scratched Patches behind the ears.
Did Susie make a list of things to talk about that first time, too? Does Susie get nervous when I pitch to her?
Marlee made a mental note to ask her during their next phone conversation, which would be the next day, of course. Waiting to talk to Susie again wasn’t so bad since they could talk every day on the phone, but waiting to see her again was nerve-wracking.

Marlee jumped when her mother rapped on her closed bedroom door.

“Marlee? Can I come in?”

“Sure, Mom. Patches and I were just trying to solve the world’s problems.”

“Come up with anything?”

Marlee laughed. “Not really. Patches isn’t much for talking.” She smiled and moved toward the wall to make room for her mother to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Marlee, Mrs. Stratton called this afternoon.”

“Mrs. Stratton?” Marlee tried to stay cool, but alarm bells went off inside her head. Maybe she hadn’t escaped the wrath of Stratton after all.

“She’s concerned with your focus in class. She said you haven’t been putting in your best effort lately and your quiz grades haven’t been up to par.”

“Mom, I’m doing fine.”

“Well, Marlee, Mrs. Stratton seems to think otherwise, so I’m taking away your phone privileges.”

“What?” Marlee hadn’t meant the word to come out quite as strong as it did, but she couldn’t have her phone taken away. She just couldn’t. How would she talk to Susie? “Mom, c’mon. My phone? I’m not doing that bad.”

Her mother raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, okay. Maybe I was daydreaming one time. But that was only one time. C’mon, Mom. That’s so not fair.” Her voice was rising around the growing knot in her throat.

“Marlee, when Mrs. Stratton calls and tells me things are getting better then you can have your phone back. So no phone calls on school nights. You can make phone calls on the weekends, but only after all of your homework is finished. Understood?”

“But, Mom—” Marlee whined.

“Understood?” Marlee’s mother’s tone was grim and she held fast. Marlee knew she wasn’t going to get anywhere.

“Yeah. Okay. Fine.” Marlee sank lower in the bed and looked away from her mother.

“You can keep your cell phone, but only for emergencies.” She stood up. “Okay, I’ll leave you and Patches to finish fixing the world. Good night, honey.”

“‘Night,” Marlee mumbled as her mother closed the bedroom door. “Mom?” Marlee called.

The door opened slightly. “Yes, honey?”

“You’ll have to tell my friend Susie about my, uh, phone restrictions when she calls tomorrow.”

“Okay. I will. Good night.” Her mother closed the door again.

Marlee briefly entertained the idea of calling Susie from her cell phone anyway, but figured her mother would find out somehow. And she didn’t have text messaging on her phone so that was out. And besides, her mother got the cell phone bill so she’d know if Marlee used the phone. Marlee lamented not having a computer at home. She could have emailed or IM’d Susie all day and night and her mother would never know, but Marlee didn’t have a computer at home. Her mother had promised that by the start of her senior year they would finally get one. Her mother wanted to use it for her real estate business as well. But even if they had a computer it would probably be in the living room where her mother could see what she was doing. So, no, a computer wasn’t going to help anyway. And it wasn’t like she could ask Jeri to use her cell phone. Jeri would get too nosy. She’d want to know who Marlee was calling and why. Too risky. What about the school pay phone? No, that wouldn’t work either because Susie would be at school when she tried to call. And besides, Mrs. Stratton or Coach Spears would probably walk by just as she picked up the phone. Marlee became firmly convinced that the entire world was unfair when she realized that she didn’t even know Susie’s home address.

Marlee took a deep breath and held it. When her lungs threatened to burst she exhaled slowly, eyes closed. She consoled herself with the knowledge that Susie was coming to her game on Saturday. If she worked hard on Friday night she might be able to get all her homework done by game time the next day. She hoped her mother would let her go out with Susie after the game. She just had to. Marlee fell asleep praying that it was just her phone privileges that had been revoked.

WHEN MARLEE WOKE early Saturday morning she leaped out of bed like it was Christmas morning. She had even finished every ounce of her homework the night before. It had taken her until two in the morning to do it, but it was all done. She asked her mom to drop her off at the fields early so she could get her head together before pitching in front of Susie. Marlee usually liked to be the first one on the field anyway, but today was special. Susie was coming. And this time, Susie wasn’t a competitor. This time, Susie was coming to watch her. The perfect day she ordered was delivered. Lazy cotton-ball clouds made their way slowly across the baby blue backdrop. And despite the slight chill in the air, the sunshine felt wonderfully warm on her face. Thankfully, there was no sign of snow.

She put her softball gear on the bench and took out her cleats. As she put them on she watched the sparrows flit from the outfield grass to the batters’ boxes. A sparrow chirped its pleasure while taking a dirt bath in one of the semi-permanent ruts. Miniature puffs of dirt blew in all directions. Marlee felt bad for the tiny bird because its day at the spa was about to be disrupted by two noisy softball teams.

Cleats finished, she pulled out her glove and rubbed the pocket absentmindedly. She looked at the empty bleachers and thought she should ask Susie not to sit right behind home plate. She was nervous enough, and if she had to look at Susie with every pitch she wouldn’t be able to concentrate. It was going to be hard enough as it was.

“Hi, Marlee.”

Marlee jumped. She hadn’t seen her coach walk up.

“You’re here early.” Coach Spears took out her scorebook and lineup cards.

“Uh, yeah, my Mom dropped me off. She has a house to show this afternoon.” Not exactly a lie.

“Seems like you’ve recovered from your...” her coach paused clearly trying to find the right words, “setback.”

Momentarily confused, Marlee suddenly realized that her coach was referring to her breakup with Bobby over a week ago. She said, “Oh, yeah. I bounced back.” Right into Susie’s arms. “I’m gonna take my laps now.” Marlee jumped up and spun away from her coach in order to hide her smile. She sprinted up the right field line. The bulk of her teammates, including Lisa and Jeri, arrived while Marlee was taking her last lap around the field.

“Hey, Marlee,” Jeri shouted as Marlee rounded left field and sprinted toward the Cougar bench.

“What’s up, kids?”

“What are we doing after the game today? Lisa wants to go to bowling.”

Lisa added, “Since you’re single now, we figured you’d have more time for the rest of us.”

Marlee smiled. Lisa had called her single. What they didn’t know was that Marlee had been single for only a few days. And, actually, Marlee did want to hang out with her friends. Just not tonight! She supposed that she and Susie could go to the bowling alley with the team, but then they’d have to wait even longer to be alone. She scrambled for an excuse. “Oh, I think I’d better take a rain check.” She fumbled, “I told you guys that Mrs. Stratton called my mom, didn’t I? I have to stay home and work on calculus.” She turned to Jeri. “You saw Mrs. Stratton give me grief for not having my homework.”

Jeri seemed surprised at Marlee’s sudden interest in homework on a Saturday night. “Uh, yeah, you’ve been a real slacker lately. Maybe next time.” She smacked Lisa on the arm and said, “C’mon, let’s take our laps.”

Marlee groaned. Her heart hurt. She didn’t like deceiving her friends. If she could only tell them what Susie meant to her, surely at least one of them would understand. But then again, she didn’t fully understand it herself. She didn’t exactly know what Susie meant to her yet. Marlee walked to her pitching area to wait for Lisa to finish her laps. Marlee looked around. No sign of Susie.

The game got underway and Marlee tried to concentrate, but found it difficult as she continually scanned the stands for Susie. As the game wore on, Marlee became frustrated on several levels. She had already walked five batters in five innings and she never walked that many. And to top it off, Susie still wasn’t there.

“Marlee McAllister.” Lisa pulled Marlee aside as the Southbridge team took the field for the bottom of the fifth inning. “Look me in the eye and tell me you’re giving it everything you’ve got.”

“Chill out, Lisa. I’m cool.”

Marlee started to walk away from her catcher, but Lisa held onto Marlee’s uniform sleeve. Marlee had no choice but to turn around and face her.

“Marlee, you pulled that one on me in the East Valley game. I’m on to you.”

Marlee swallowed hard.
On to what
?

Lisa continued. “When you’re on I can feel your focus, right on me. When you’re off, like now, I can tell you’re scattered. Where is your mind?”