Living With Animals

Chapter 13

Claire's P.O.V.

"So. Why are you back?" Lilia asks, as we giddily walk out of the large high-school gym.

"Mom and Dad have trial today. Isabelle kind of sprung this trip on Mason and I. It turns out we had to go anyways, because Jacob has nationals here. Against them," I say, pointing towards the baseball field.

"Let's go over there, Claire! I'm sure they would be happy to have you watch and see you."

"Already saw them earlier. But yeah, I guess I can watch."

"Let's go!" she responds happily. It's odd.

We walk up to the dugout and walk inside it and the boys swarm around us.

"Eleven! Your back!" Carter calls, walking in after sliding into home plate.

"You still have that stupid nickname? Do they even know your real name?" I gasp.

"How dare you! That nickname is not stupid! It's my life!" Lilia rolls her eyes and the boys laugh at my mock accusation.

"You should play for a minute. Maybe just bat for a second and play outfield.

"Sure. What's it going to hurt."

"No," Lilia says, as the boys get into their positions on the field.

"Too late."

I grab Carter's bat, and walk up to the plate.

"Pitch."

HE gets ready, and the moment he pitches it, I can envision the hit. It's a fast pitch. Fster than normal, and I'd say it's about 90MPH. I take a swing and hear the ding of the aluminum bat.

I've always been a power hitter. Not in MLB terms, but in high school terms. I can hit a home-run with ease, so that's what I do.

The boys all run either out to the outfield or to a base, while I reach second, headed to 3rd.

I cna feel that i'm running slower than normal. I'm typically very fast, much faster than them. But my legs get tired as I'm halfway to home and I completely collapse into the dirst once I slide into homeplate.

I spread my arms and legs out ont he ground and just lay there, catching my breath. before everyone comes to check on me, I hold a thumbs up that I'm fine. I stand up and walk back into the dug out, setting the bat down and grabbing Carter's glove from his hand.

"Thank you," I say, in a sing-songy voice.

I look between outfield and first base and decide to play center. I run out to the back as the boys look at me oddly and I signal for Rylee to hit a pop-up far out into the back of the field, and two other boys to stand on 1st and 2nd.

He follows my instruction and does just that. I run, catching the ball, but falling on my butt. I see Ryder tag up 1st and then start running back to 2nd and I rocket the ball to Liam, who is playing second. He grabs the ball and tags Ryder getting him out. I run into the dugout and high five all of the guys.

I still feel very out of breath and tired though, as I sit down on the bench.

"You okay, Claire?" Carter asks, his Boston accent sharp.

"Great," I wheeze, and start coughing.

"Okay, I'm going to call Mason," Ryder says, grabbing my phone which I had set on the bench.

"Don't. He's with Ellorie."

"Why?"

"Elle needed him to beat her ex up. I don't understand how that kid has an ex. I've had to boyfriends. And I was 16 when I got both of them. She's 13."

"Wait you had another boyfriend?" Daniel asks, strolling into the dugout with a burrito in his hand.

"Yeah, Cash. He started dating me and then cheated on me with my best friend."

"Like Cash Cash? Like Cassius Martin the third, Cash? Like Ruby's twin brother and the one that ahs had a crush on you since you first talked. And the one you fell for before you even said a word to him?"

"Yes. Now stop questioning my love life. It happened last night and I've already gotten over it. We obviously weren't meant for each-other. Anyways, am I pale?" I ask.

"Yes."

"Can you call Drew, or TJ or something."

"Sure." He calls them and neither of them pick up. Nor do, Isabelle, Max, or Spencer and Mason.

"Fuck." I know there's one person I haven't called but he hates these guys. I sigh after thinking through it for a while. "Go get Jacob."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jacob's P.O.V.

I walk into the dugout after sliding into home-plate, and set my bat and helmet on the bench. I  quickly grab a drink of water and check to see how long until practice is over. I get sidetracked when I notice one of Claire's friends, who is also our rival, walking over to us.

"Are you Jacob?" he asks.

"Who's asking?" I ask.

"Claira is really pale. And she's out of breath. At one point she was wheezing."

"Why? How?"

"She may have played baseball with us."

"You dumbass!  She's not supposed to play! I mean, she can, but she can easily get bruised or bleed and he platelet count is low and her blood isn't going to clot! And she can get too tired too easily. The fatigue can keep her from healing.  And Any dirt or anything that could get into the smallest of cut can give her an infection and she'd need to stay at the hospital!" I march up to coach.

"I have to go take care of Claire." He nods at me.

"Oooh, Jake's got a girlfriend," the boys tease.

"No. Claire is just a nonsensical."

"Fair point." I run up to the dugout, grab my bag, and follow the boy to the field.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Claire's P.O.V.

I wake up and find myself lying on the coach.

"How was your nap?" Jacob asks, his voice gentle.

"Fine."

"How do you feel?"

"Fine."

"Well if you feel fine, now I can scold you for being fucking stupid. Why the hell would you play baseball. The doctor clearly stated that it's not a good idea because you can quickly become fatigued and fatigue makes the healing harder. And, your platelet count is low! You could have easily gotten a huge gash from the dirt from sliding and it wouldn't have been able to clot the blood. You would have had to go to the hospital. Or it could have gotten infected. Then you be in real deep shit. How could you be so dumb?"

"Jacob, the doctor also said that I can still participate in physical activities."

"Yes but he and mom ruled out softball and baseball! It's dangerous. What if-."

"Oh my god, can it with the what if's. Isabelle and the doctor can not make decisions for me, and you are just paranoid just like her. That's the only reason y'all won't let me."

"Did you not hear the other part? Fatigue. Can. Mess. Up. The. Healing. Process. Is that some kind of foreign language to you? Do you want to slow down the process and not be able to play next year too? And be in this stage for longer?"

"No," I say softly.

"Then stop doing stupid shit," he says, and walks out of the room.

"You two argue you like a couple," Connor says, walking into the room, avoiding the agitated Jacob.

I just sigh and set my head in my hands.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*

Hey y'all! How's everyone doing? I hope you liked this chapter! Feel free to comment.

(Sorry for the short putto but i'm speed writing this because I need to go to bed.)

Have an amazingly perfect day!

-Sav<3