In Between the Lines

Chapter 17: Go Home

The sun woke me before my alarm did.

Orange light brushed against my eyelids as a slow warmth gradually settled onto my cheeks. I kept my eyes shut and let myself revel in that kindling for a moment before I opened them—in the utter silence and peace those few seconds between sleep and waking allowed.

But it all went wrong when I tried to stretch.

My entire upper body cried out in pain, my shoulders unbearably stiff and my arms leaden. With each attempt to move, it felt as if several knives were being jabbed into my muscles. It took me a second to piece together why my body felt this way—the batting cages. Dez said to take a cold bath when I got home last night, but I was so tired that I'd knocked out as soon as I walked into my room. And now, my body was repaying me for it.

I sighed, melting back into bed as I did the only thing I could do and pried my eyes open. Because I still had some time before my alarm was supposed to go off, I just watched as the sun rose and rose over the horizon. The sparkling light glossed over the still-waking ocean and broke through my floor-to-ceiling windows, cascading onto my sheets in a soft, golden splendor.

As if the universe knew where my thoughts were headed at that exact moment, my phone buzzed with a text. And despite the pain I felt as I moved, I reached over to my nightstand and grabbed my phone—the message from a vibrant, little blue heart.  

Sleep better?

Better . . . that would have been one way to put it. Last night, I didn't have time to think or sulk about my mom before my head hit the sheets and sleep ensnared me—which is undoubtedly what Dez had intended when he made me run through that entire last round of pitches.

So I responded, Like a baby, thanks to you. I'm so sore I can hardly move.

His reply was instant.

Wow.. That must be the first time a girl has said that to me without me taking her to bed first.

Ugh, I think I just puked a little in my mouth. Thanks for that.

Hot ;) And you're welcome.

I snorted. A second later, another text appeared. Are you always up this early?

I glanced at the time above my screen, surprised at how early it still was. No, not usually. You?

I try to catch sunrise when I can—old habits die hard and all that.

I was going to ask what got him into that habit when he sent another text.

Want a ride to school today?

I'm okay, thanks though.

I didn't know why I felt guilty as I sent it.

It took a bit longer for Dez to text back, long enough that I didn't think he was going to respond at all. But as the sun ascended just a few inches higher, he said, Let me guess. Ethan?

I sighed.

Yes. He drives me to school every day.

As I stared at my phone, I waited for the argument that was bound to start with the mention of Ethan. Dez wasn't stupid. He knew I was lying—and that I was lying about lying. But even if it wasn't because of my bodyguard, I wouldn't have had Dez pick me up anyway. I wouldn't know how to begin explaining to him that I didn't even live in Lincoln Valley and that I lived in that snooty, suburban town, as he so called it, just north of it.

I couldn't explain any of that without having to reveal why I lived here and had still chosen to go to Lincoln Valley High School instead of the small, private academy that Veranda Grove offered. Not without having to explain that a big school was what I needed to become invisible—to be able to hide in plain sight.