Laced • Luke Dunphy

IV

Luke lets out a long groan and places his bat next to his bag before letting himself fall back onto it, crossing his arms. I follow suit by flopping down onto the soft grass, placing my head on my own bag and putting my cap over my face to keep the warm summer sun out of my tired eyes.

"Coach really has it out for us this week," He grumbles as Manny joins us.

"It's summer, he hasn't had us for the whole winter. He'd been looking forward to the next season since we lost that game." I croak from beneath my baseball cap.

"It was just one game. I don't know what else to tell you, but I think he needs to calm down a bit." Manny says and Luke lifts his head up slightly to peer at him.

"He's a coach, being hard on his team is his job." I oppose, rolling onto my back and staring up at the sky.

The three of us sit there for a while, throwing and catching my baseball for a while, the boys in their bare hands and me in my glove.

"All right, let's go," Luke stands up and walks over to our bikes, unlocking his. Manny and I stand up, fling our bags on our shoulders and unlock our own bikes.

As we bike through the park on our way home, we notice a few girls from school and Luke waves them over. They giggle among themselves before approaching us. I roll my eyes at their smug little faces and pull on Manny's sleeve, indicating I wanna leave.

He gives me an apologetic smile as Luke starts talking with the girls and I hide behind him. I'd been scared to talk to anyone from school apart from Manny, Luke and his sisters since my third grade best friend spread a very nasty rumor about me.

Plus, these girls were known to be bitches. *yes, I erased the pick me girl paragraph. Forgive me for ever writing that. I refuse to get bullied for it any further*

"You're so funny!" One of the girls says, playfully slapping Luke's shoulder and he beams, giving her a wink. I look at Manny pleadingly and he shakes his head.

"Please?" I mutter from behind him and he sighs.

"You young women are so beautiful," he says, giving in to my request, "so sophisticated. Would you like to grab a coffee with us?"

The girls look at him with confusion on their faces, as if they'd never seen him before. One of them whispers something into another's ear and she shrugs.

"Uh, who's he?" What seems like the leader of the group asks Luke, eyeing Manny. She doesn't even lower her voice. What a bitch.

"Oh, he's just my cousin."

"Actually, I'm your uncle-" Manny starts and I nudge him, knowing damn well this has been the subject of many Luke and Manny fights.

"Don't go there," I hiss, coming out from behind him to stare him down.

"Who's she?" The leader says in an unnaturally high voice. I roll my eyes and stick my tongue out at her. She looks at me as if I'm a wild animal and I smile triumphantly to myself.

"I'm the queen of England!" I say in a thick English accent, standing up tall. Luke turns to scowl at me and I just smile back at him.

I didn't want to say it, but Luke flirting with girls made me jealous. I don't know why, but it made my blood boil seeing him try to impress girls by being someone who's not, when his real self is truly amazing.

"She's.. nobody," he waves his hand in my direction but the girls seem unimpressed.

"Oh jeez, Luke, are you embarrassed of me?" I feign offense and clutch my chest. Manny gives me a sidelong look. The girls look at me one last time before telling Luke they're busy and leave without saying goodbye.

"Thanks, JJ," Luke grumbles and sets off on his bike. I look at Manny and he just looks back before we get on our own bikes and follow him.

•

Luke's pov

I bike off after sarcastically thanking Jamie. I don't know why, but something about her acting so jealous when I flirt makes me feel kinda good. Maybe I do it on purpose just to see if she gets jealous.

"Get over it, Lukie," she says as she catches up with me. I try my best to look angry but I can't stay mad at her, with those big green eyes, those cute little freckles, her beautiful black hair and the pet names she calls me.

"Shut it, shorty," I say, speeding up. She speeds up as well and bikes alongside me. I don't know if I'm imagining it but I think I see her cheeks burn up at the nickname.

"I'm not short," she huffs as Manny comes up on my other side.

"You're my height," he says and I stifle a laugh. Her cheeks grow hotter and she sways her bike as if she were trying to crash into me.

She leans a little too far on her left and falls off her bike. Manny and I hit the brakes and get off, hurrying over to her.

"Wow, are you okay?" Manny asks as I take her bike off of her body.

"Yeah. Yeah, no, I'm fine," a faint voice comes from under the curtain of hair over Jamie's face. Manny helps her up and my breathe hitches as I see blood.

"Jamie, you're bleeding." The whole left side of her arm and face is scratched up, the tip of her eyebrow bleeding.

Manny gasps as he sees it too, looking down at his bloody hand from helping her up. She looks like she can't stand up straight, leaning a bit to her side.

"We need to get you to a hospital," Manny says, trying not to look at the blood. He's a bit squeamish.