Home Run

12| The Grand Slip

"Regular people don't plan their kiss," I said. I sat beside Trevor in the cafeteria, trying not to laugh in his face at his proposition. We both agreed we needed to make a grand gesture that would show everyone we were dating.

"We aren't normal." He whispered, "hell, I don't think we classify as people."

"You're right. We're aliens."

He caught me off guard when he kissed me on the lips as he set both of his hands under my jaw. I adjusted my body to face him. The kiss was delightfully different from my previous kisses with numerous boys. His kisses were soft and gentle, with a touch of hidden urgency and emotion.

"No kissing in the cafeteria," Mrs. Golightly said as she passed by our table. We pulled away. I couldn't stop staring at his lips, all I wanted to do was get lost in the way they moved against mine, the way his thumb would rub small circles behind my neck while we kissed. I wanted to close the gap between us.

"You're one hell of an alien Trevor," I faced back to my half-eaten burrito.

"My favourite part was the taste of burrito," he winked. He covered his mouth with his hand due to his uncontrollable loud laughter that was now earning a few glares from surrounding tables.

"I don't feel like being attacked during burrito Monday."

"That's not a thing," he said. "I was joking, although I could taste your coconut chapstick. Very tropical Nutty."

"It is a thing. We had burritos last Monday, and I predict that we will have it next Monday," I said. "All hail burrito Mondays!"

"I'll get you a shirt that says that."

"Look at the happy couple," Isaac sat across from us. He slid his tray on the table. "That was quite the stunt."

"That's quite the accusation for someone who can't spell accusation," Trevor cleared his throat.

"There's one c, I'm not stupid."

"You're right Isaac, and your name has one a," I said. "What do you want? I made it clear I don't want you near me, not after you hurt me."

"You're hurting me right now babe," he grabbed his chest in exaggeration. "You know what I want, and that's you."

"I'm moving on, I'm dating Trevor now," I said. I expected him to believe it, but instead, he raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"Sure you are. Tell me when that train wreck ends so you can ride the Isaac train again."

I scrunched up my nose, "never again. That train was too small. I'm moving onto better things now."

"Bigger things," Trevor added, nudging me in the arm.

"Trust me, Natalia, he can't love you like I can," Isaac stood up from his seat.

Trevor stood up. His two hands planted firmly on the table. "Listen, I've never loved anyone like I love Natalia. All you gave her was misery and endless pain. It was toxic Isaac, just let her be." His voice was louder this time, the anger carefully sewn into every word he said.

"It's not over yet," he said walking away.

I was appalled by Isaac's perseverance to win me over. It was so strong that it made him oblivious that I will never love him as I used to and I don't know how to make him realize that. Not only was he a walking reminder of the pain he caused me, but he was an inconvenience. He prevented me from moving on and from starting the healing process. Despite all the things he has done, I still care about his well being, not only is he hurting me but himself.

"Did you just profess your love for me?" I asked.

"It's all part of the illusion Nutty," he said. "How convincing was it?"

"Very, you could win an Oscar."

"I'll briefly mention you in my acceptance speech."

"Wait," I said. "Do you know how to spell accusation?"

He was looking at his phone. He was reading something. "Hey," I attempted to grab his phone. "No cheating."

He held his phone in front of my face. He wasn't searching up how to spell accusation. It was a text indicating the next grade battle information.

•••

Trevor drove down to the address indicated in the text. It was somewhere near the lake, so I was assuming it had something to do with swimming.  When we arrived at the location, there wasn't a lot of people. There were no Freshmen or Sophomores. There were only six Juniors, including Isaac who was watching us intently. The Seniors they were down by one, Audrey and Curtis were here. Veronica was probably at school supporting her brother who played for the basketball team.

"Get ready to get your ass kicked," Curtis said as he and Audrey approached us.

"What are we even supposed to do?" I asked. The student body president of our school, Hayley, was too busy telling everyone to simmer down so she can explain the task. Audrey pointed out to the lake. I can't believe I didn't see it when we arrived. It was this inflatable obstacle course that floated on the lake.

When everyone calmed down, Hayley explained that each one of us would have to race around the obstacle course, and the first team to finish wins a point for the grade battle. It was May, so far the Seniors were ahead by two points. The Sophomores were trailing behind us by a point and the Freshmen only had one point.

We needed to win.

Our team of six huddled together near the edge of the lake. Hayley yelled out that we only had two minutes before starting. "I'll go first so we can have a huge lead on them," Isaac volunteered. He was looking at me, probably expecting that I was impressed with his pompous attitude.

I zoned out after everyone started yelling out what they wanted to do. I was too busy focusing on the little waves that rocked the inflatable course. None of us brought any swimwear, so we were going to run the obstacle course with our clothes on.

"So are you okay with going last?" Trevor asked me. "If not we can switch, I'm going third."

"Yeah, I'm fine."

We lined up on the course, getting ready to run our turn. When I looked at the other team, I was in the same position as Audrey, last. But they have to have someone run twice since they were down by one. All I'm hoping is that it isn't a guy.

Hayley blew the whistle, which signalled them to begin. There were four main obstacles we had to pass through. The first one was a narrow ledge, and to pass that we had to grab onto the handles and slowly walk across. Then there was the hardest one. There were small circles lined up across the water, and we had to jump on each one to get across. Then there was this ladder we had to climb. From there we would have to jump across a large gap to get to the slide. Then a few feet away was the finish line.

When it was finally my turn, we were only ahead by one obstacle because one of their team members slipped into the water during the second obstacle. We had a chance to win. All I had to do was keep our lead, but Audrey was gaining on me. I was running too slow, afraid to slip into the water.

When I started climbing the ladder, Audrey was right beside me. I could see her smirk from the corner of my eyes. We both successfully jumped across the gap. We slid down the slide synchronously.

From here all I had to do was run faster than her to win, but she was ahead by a bit, Audrey would cross it before me. In an attempt to cross it before her, I purposely slipped and slid past her.

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