Sam looked back at Susie, "And, the calf bruise?"

"Good." Susie plunked her foot on the bleacher in front of her and turned her gloriously bruised calf for all to see.

"Nice." Lisa touched the bruise. "The swelling went way down."

"Isabella's touch."

Lisa raised her eyebrows in question.

"My mother."

"She's a nurse, right?"

Susie nodded.

"So, how is public enemy number one?" Sam asked.

"Well," Susie wasn't quite sure where to begin, "she's talking to me, but it's more like 'pass the milk,' or 'set the table.' We're at a standstill. I don't talk about it, and she doesn't ask."

"Don't ask. Don't tell," Marlee said with a sigh. "I know your dad and grandmother are cool, but your mom? I still feel bad that I set her off like that just by breathing in her house, you know?"

"Ooh, what happened?" Sam leaned in close. "Did you, like, kiss Susie right in front of her mother?"

"No," Susie whacked Sam on the bicep.

"Hey." Sam rubbed her arm.

"You deserved that," Susie said to Sam. "Marlee didn't do anything but be her cute sweet charming self."

"Oh, gag me. Too much sweetness around here." Sam groaned and got another whack from Susie for her commentary.

"Tomorrow," Susie raised her eyebrows, "my mother and I are going shopping together. I am so not looking forward to being held captive in the car to and from Wal-Mart."

Sam hooted. "We'll all be praying for you."

Marlee and Lisa laughed. Susie rolled her eyes.

"I don't know," Marlee said. "The way your mom flipped out makes me not want to come out to anybody. You know?"

"Once bitten, twice shy," Lisa agreed. "My mom knows, but I still haven't come out to my dad yet. I mean my bio-dad knows, but not my real dad."

"Neither of my parents know," Sam added. "And, I'm not sure they'll ever know."

Susie cringed at the hurt look that passed over Lisa's face. She'd seen that same look in Marlee's eyes just a few short weeks before.

"I'm not out to my mom yet," Marlee said with a defeated tone. "I'm kind of scared to."

Susie patted Marlee's leg. "You know what?"

"What?"

"I think it'll be okay."

"Really? Why do you think that?"

"Your mom's cool. I have a feeling she'll be okay with it." Of course Susie didn't let on that Marlee's mother already knew.

"But how do you do it? What do you say?" Marlee leaned closer to her friends. "I mean seriously. Like, Lisa, how did you come out to your mom?"

"My mom came out to me, actually." Lisa laughed. "I mean, she dragged it right out of me. Remember when Sam and I were, well, you know," her cheeks turned bright red, "having our little misunderstanding?"

Marlee nodded.

"Well, she wanted to know why I was so down in the dumps, and she asked if I liked Sam. Really liked Sam." Lisa grinned. "William, my bio-dad? He just knew. His sister's queer, so he knew the signs, I guess."

Susie smiled at Lisa and then turned to Marlee. "You could wait for your mom to ask you, but if the opportunity presents itself, I say go for it. Honestly, I think it's better if you tell her before someone else does. Like the way stupid Mrs. Johnson told my mother."

"That was just wrong." Sam shook her head. "It wasn't any of her business."

Susie whacked Sam on the arm for the third time that night. "When are you gonna come out to your own parents, muchacha loca?"

"Never."

"Denial anybody?" Susie stood up, and Sam whacked her. "Hey." Susie rubbed her arm.

"I'm just getting even." Sam leaped up and bounded down the bleachers toward their home dugout. Bree's team had just beaten Northfork by a score of 9-0. Bree had held on to her one hitter.

"Maybe you're right." Marlee reluctantly put the bear back in her bag. "Maybe I'll tell my mom, but I don't know when or how or where or what." She stood up and grabbed on to Susie's elbow.

"You'll figure it out when the time comes." Even though Susie's feet were pretty much healed, she let Marlee help her navigate the bleacher steps. Everybody needed a little extra coddling now and then. "And what are you going to do after the game?" Susie cocked an eyebrow.

"I know. I know." Marlee took a deep breath. "Plan E. Take no prisoners."

Susie smiled, hoping that Marlee would have the cojones to stand up to Bree once their game was done.

They reached the dugout gate, but Bree blocked the way. They couldn't get on the field unless she moved. It looked like Plan E was going to be implemented sooner than expected.

"Miss me?" Bree flashed Marlee a toothy smile.

Stay strong, Marlee, Susie willed.

Marlee didn't say anything, but simply opened her bag and pulled out the bear. "I can't accept this."

"Oh, but he's so cute." Bree opened the gate to let them in.

Marlee stepped onto the field, and Susie stood tall and strong by her side. "I can't take this from you," Marlee repeated and held the bear out, but Bree still didn't take it. "I don't think it's a good idea for us to, uh, hang out anymore, either."

"What?" The hurt expression on Bree's face made Susie feel bad, but only for a split microsecond.

Dios mio, don't back down now, Marlee, Susie encouraged silently. You can do this.

After a few nerve-wracking moments, Marlee said, "We can't hang out, and you can't call me anymore, either."

"Why not?" The tears in Bree's eyes were almost pitiable. "When did you stop liking me?" Her shoulders drooped.

"I never liked you." Marlee turned to head toward the dugout. "Just leave me alone, okay?" She dropped the bear on the ground and walked away.

Susie hustled alongside her. "Perfecta, mi vida. Well done," Susie whispered in Marlee's ear. She wanted to look back at Bree, but didn't dare.

When they got in the dugout, Marlee let out the biggest sigh Susie had ever heard.

"That sucked." Marlee shook her head.

"Unfortunately, I don't think it's over." Sam pointed to the bleachers. Bree had settled down on the first row near the Nor'easters' on-deck circle.

Susie didn't know whose groan was louder, hers or Marlee's.

"Nor'easters," Coach Gellar barked, "bring it in."

Susie and her friends hustled over to the team circle to hear the starting lineup. Susie sighed in relief. She was starting in left field again. Maybe her time in Coach's doghouse had ended.

The game against the Grasse River Tomahawks was rather uneventful. Coach Gellar took Marlee out of the game after the third inning when it became clear that the Nor'easters were going to win by the mercy rule, which they did by a score of 15-0. Susie, miraculously, fell back under Coach Gellar's radar and things seemed to be back to normal.

Susie fell in line behind Marlee as they high-fived the Grasse River team after the game. They had been keeping tabs on Bree as the game went on, and, sure enough, she still sat in the first row watching Marlee's every move.

"She's still here," Susie whispered in between saying, "Good game," to the Grasse River players.

"I know," Marlee said over her shoulder. "What do we do?"

They headed toward the dugout, and Susie positioned herself between Marlee and Bree. "Just don't look at her. Don't even acknowledge her."

"Easier said than done, man." They ducked into the dugout, glad to be out of sight.

"If she says anything to you, ignore her if you can." Susie tried to plaster a confident expression on her face, even though she was shaking a little bit inside. "If you can't, then try not to get upset. Stay cool and calm, be respectful, but tell her you don't want anything to do with her."

Marlee bit her bottom lip. "You make it sound so easy."

They put their gear away, slung their bags over their shoulders, and slithered toward the exit. Sam and Lisa joined them, and Susie filled them in on their exit strategy.

Susie positioned herself in the front. Sam and Lisa flanked Marlee, one on each side. "Okay, let's go." Susie opened the dugout gate, and they headed toward Marlee's van.

Bree leaped up off the bleachers when she saw them and hurried over. "I know you didn't mean what you said. Did you, Marlee?"

Susie kept walking, the others followed. Marlee didn't say a word.

"C'mon, after all we've shared already? That's just the tip of the iceberg." Bree's voice sounded confident.

Susie walked on and weaved her way through the cars. Bree followed them. She called, "Why can't you just say that you like me, too? I know you do."

Marlee stopped and turned around to face Bree. Sam and Lisa made a human wall in between them, but Susie turned and grabbed Marlee's arm just in case.

"I don't like you," Marlee said with a shaky voice. "I don't want anything more to do with you." She turned and ran toward her van.

How Bree broke through the Sam/Lisa wall, Susie didn't know, but she didn't have time to think about it. Bree had almost reached Marlee, but Susie reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder. She pushed Bree back against a parked car and leaned down close to her face. "The girl said she doesn't like you," Susie hissed. "Take a hint and leave her alone."

Bree didn't even seem to notice that Susie had her pinned. Her head turned as she looked for Marlee.

Susie wasn't sure what to do. She had expected some kind of reaction from Bree, but had gotten none. She shook the girl by the shoulders and leaned even closer. "Do you hear me?" she said even louder.

Bree turned her head back around and shot Susie a bored look. "How can I not hear you?" she said calmly. "You're shouting in my face. And you have bad breath, too."

Disarmed, Susie gave her one last push and backed away. "Just get the hell out of here, idiota." She, Sam, and Lisa blocked the way toward Marlee.

Bree stood up and made a show of brushing herself off. "What's it to you, anyway?" She pointed toward Marlee sitting in the driver's seat of her van, the engine running. "She can think for herself, you know."

"Everything okay here?" Susie jumped at the sound of Coach Gellar's voice.

Susie continued to glare at Bree. It was several long seconds before she answered. "Some people are more bull headed than donkeys around here."

"Whatever." Bree turned and walked away from them.

Coach Gellar cocked her head as if trying to figure out what had just happened. "Okay, then. It seems like you have it well in hand. I'll see you on Saturday."

Susie breathed a sigh of relief as their coach turned away. She, Sam, and Lisa ran to Marlee in the van.

Marlee opened the side door for them to jump in. Her eyes were red-rimmed. She wiped at them and said to Susie, "What happened to the 'stay cool and calm' part of the plan?"

"What else was I supposed to do? I didn't have a two-by-four."

Chapter Twenty-One.

Was it Something I Did?

SUSIE GOT OUT of bed and stretched. The Nor'easters had gotten up to bat so many times against the struggling Grasse River team the night before, that Susie was a little stiff and weary. Thinking about her impending shopping trip with her mother made her even more tired, and she was tempted to go back to bed.

After changing into a pair of hip hugger khaki shorts and a Taylor Swift concert t-shirt, she threw on her crocs and was about to head down the stairs to the main house when her cell phone rang. She pulled it out of her back pocket and threw herself on the bed once she saw who it was.

"Hola, mi vida."

"Hi, yourself," came Marlee's sultry response.