"Susie steps up to the plate, bat in hand," Christy said in an announcer's voice. "She takes one look at the cute pitcher in the circle, and she's going, going, gone!"

"Shut up!"

"But it's so true, my friend. You hadn't even hit your grand slam yet, but, bam, you were in love with the cute blonde pitcher from Clarksonville."

Susie laughed with her friend. "I was." She groaned. "I'm so head over heels about her. She drives me crazy."

"In a good way?" Christy laughed suggestively.

"Hey, I don't kiss and tell."

"Maybe someday I'll find a guy that makes me happy like that."

"You will."

"That's why I'm getting the frick out of here."

"Maybe I'll come with you." Susie sighed into the phone.

"You can't avoid Isabella forever."

"Pfft," Susie grunted. "I know. That's not all. Marlee's got a notso-secret admirer."

"Ooh, besides you? Do tell!"

Susie told Christy about the Southbridge pitcher, Bree, who had oh-so-obviously flirted with Marlee after the game the day before and even had the nerve to call her that morning.

"The way I see Marlee look at you, I'd say you have nothing to worry about."

"I don't know." Susie's nagging doubts came back to the surface from where she'd stuffed them.

"You know what?"

"What?"

"I've never seen you back down from a fight. Ever. Even when I was beating the crap out of you in the dugout, you stood your ground until I was done being a maniac."

"You weren't beating the crap out of me. You hit me once. You beat up the dugout more than me."

"Yeah, well, my point is that if you love her, you'll fight for her." Christy grunted again.

Susie chuckled. "Another suitcase closed?"

"Yup, you're supposed to be here helping me."

"I know. I'm sorry." Susie glanced at the time on her cell phone. "Shit, I have to go. See you at the game on Tuesday?"

"Count on it."

"I love you." Susie meant it. They had been as close as two best friends could get.

"Me, too."

Susie clicked her phone shut and laid it on the passenger seat. She checked the traffic on the two-lane highway, and once it was clear both ways, did a U-turn and headed home.

Susie pulled her car into her usual spot on the side of the garage and toyed with the idea of bolting to her room to hide for a while, but it was best not to keep her mother waiting.

She took off her sneakers in the mud room and headed into the house. She paused in front of her grandmother's shrine and crossed herself like a good catholic girl. She kept her eyes closed and murmured. "Blessed Virgin Mary, my dear heavenly mother, take me under your protection for I am about to be slaughtered by my own mother." She wanted to smile, but couldn't find the strength.

With a deep breath she headed into the main part of the house. Her mother held a handful of plates and silverware and set them on the table. "Finish that." She didn't look at Susie.

Susie scurried over and set the table without a word. She felt her mother's anger all around her like a thick fog, but there was nothing she could do about it until they had another one-sided discussion about her bonehead mistake at Mrs. Johnson's. Susie slunk into the kitchen. Her grandmother stood at the counter spooning the arroz con pollo onto a serving platter. Her mother wiped the counter with short swift movements and looked like she could blow at any moment.

Taking a chance, Susie asked, "What else can I help you with, Mami?"

"Go get your brother and father for dinner," came the terse answer.

Susie spun on her heels and fled the kitchen as fast as her feet would take her.

Once the Torres family was seated at the table and had said grace, Susie's father smiled sympathetically like she was a prisoner about to be sentenced. "So, how's the travelling team this summer, mi mariposita?"

She loved it when he called her his little butterfly, and bless him for trying to change the mood at the table. "We're good. Christy's not pitching, but we have the Clarksonville pitcher this summer."

"Marlee," Miguel singsonged, and Susie shot him a warning look. He made a face back at her, but didn't press it.

"Ah, si, I remember her. You always complained about that pitch she threw you--what was it?"

"Her rise ball." Susie chuckled. "I can't hit that thing to save my life."

He grinned at her sympathetically. She appreciated the attention-diverting small talk, but knew the clock was ticking down on the next head-handing discussion with her mother. Susie mostly pushed the food around on her plate, having lost her appetite. When her grandmother went into the kitchen and came out with the flan for dessert, Susie perked up. Apparently her loss of appetite didn't apply to dessert, and she savored each and every bite like a death-row inmate eating her last meal.

"Mami," Miguel said as he pushed his now-empty dessert dish away, "can I go outside and play?"

Her mother nodded once, and he bolted from the table almost knocking his chair over. Susie frowned as he left. When he wanted something from his parents, he used his little-boy voice. It worked on their mother every time. Susie wondered if that would work for her. Not a chance. She was almost eighteen.

Susie cleared the dishes while her mother took care of the leftover food. Her grandmother and father retreated to the living room to watch television. Her grandmother turned the volume up extra loud as if not wanting to hear the slaughter that was about to begin.

Susie stood at the sink rinsing the dishes thinking how alike she and her mother were. Susie even resembled her mother, although Susie towered over her by about five or six inches. They had the same brownish-auburn colored hair, although her mother's mostly came from a box these days. They had the same brown eyes, too, except at the moment, her mother's eyes were dark, a gathering thunderstorm.

"Susana," her mother said abruptly making Susie jump, "why did you put baby Emma in such danger?"

"Mami, I didn't." Susie turned off the faucet and spun around to face her mother. "I would never put the baby in danger. Si, I was on the phone, but I had just looked at the baby. I only looked away for a--"

"Ella es un bebe. You can't take your eyes off a baby for a second. Ever!" Her mother's voice rose steadily in volume. "Especially once they learn to walk. They're curious about everything."

Susie knew better than to try and defend herself any further. "Lo siento, Mami. I'm sorry I wasn't paying close enough attention."

Susie's mother sighed and leaned back against the counter. "People like us," she said tersely, "can't afford to mess up in the slightest. We have to be twice as good as them to be thought half as good. People like us, aren't good enough to check the White box on those forms." She stared into space as if forgetting that Susie was even there. "No, they have that special little Hispanic box just for us. And it wouldn't matter anyway, have skin that's a little darker, and the whole world judges you immediately."

Susie glanced looked down at her skin. Yeah, she was darker than all of her friends. Christy said once that it looked like she had a year-round tan. And now that summer was there, she was even darker.

"So," her mother looked back at her, "it didn't matter that you cleaned their house, washed their clothes, did their gardening, made their breakfast, lunch, and dinner." Her mother's voice was increasing in volume again. "No, all that doesn't matter, because you had to be on the phone not paying attention to the one thing that was most important. The baby could have been seriously hurt."

Susie felt terrible. Her mother was right. She vowed to leave the cell phone in the car the next day, so it wouldn't be a distraction. "I won't let it happen again, Mami. I won't. I promise."

"No, you won't." Her mother took several steps closer. "You won't because Mrs. Johnson fired you today."

"What?" Susie gasped. "What do you mean?"

"What do you think it means, hija? It means you won't be working for Mrs. Johnson anymore. The job I bent over backwards to get for you. It also means that you'll be grounded for the next two weeks and doing all those jobs here that you did for her. You'll clean the house, you'll do the laundry, mow the lawn, and weed the flower beds. And you can say goodbye to softball for the next two weeks, too."

Susie started to protest, but her mother cut her off.

"Mrs. Johnson is my boss," her mother said in clipped tones. "You've single-handedly jeopardized this whole family by your indiscretion. I don't know how I'm going to face her tomorrow."

"But Mami, I have a game on Tuesday," Susie said weakly.

"You should have thought about that before baby Emma got hurt."

Susie didn't really care about doing the household chores, but she couldn't stand the thought of not seeing Marlee for two whole weeks. And Christy. Christy was moving away. Forever.

"But Christy's moving on Wednesday."

Something like compassion flickered across her mother's face, and Susie held her breath. Her mother said, "I'll discuss that with your father, but for now, I'm going to leave you with the rest of this kitchen to clean up." She flung the dish towel on the counter and headed out the door. She turned around at the last moment and pointed a finger at Susie. "Think about what you've done."

"Si, Mami." Susie turned and gripped the edges of the sink until her knuckles turned white. She wanted to grab the nearest plate and fling it against the wall. Instead, she flung her mother's dish towel, but it barely made a sound when it hit the wall. It was quite unsatisfying. She wanted to roar, but could only squeak.

Chapter Seven.

Visiting Day SUSIE CHECKED THE time on her phone. The game had to be over by now. They had to be on their way. Susie hoped her friends hadn't done something silly, like gone into extra innings. Through much pleading and tears, she convinced her parents to let Christy and some other friends, that would include Marlee of course, come over for a farewell party for Christy.

On Monday, the day before, her mother had pounded on the outside garage door at six-thirty in the morning before heading to the hospital for work. Apparently, she wanted to make sure Susie was up and ready to tackle the list of chores waiting for her on the kitchen table in the house. Monday had been filled with house cleaning. This, of course, included Miguel's room. He took great delight trying to sabotage her efforts by shooting toilet paper wads at the garbage can, and missing most of the time. Susie didn't give him the time of day, waited until he got bored of his game, and simply cleaned up after him when he left. In addition to the usual routine of dusting, vacuuming, and cleaning the kitchen, Susie's mother made her scour all three bathrooms, including both tubs. She had worked so hard cleaning that she didn't have the time or energy to get in a decent workout with her weights. She'd done a hundred sit-ups, but that was it.

Susie took it in stride, though, because she had earned the punishment and there was no sense complaining. She simply kept her focus on the end of her two-week sentence. That's when she'd look for a real job. Sam's family probably owned a business or two that would hire a seventeen-year-old with no skills other than the knowledge of rocks and softball.

Susie stretched her aching back. In addition to mowing, edging, weed-whacking and blowing the lawn, her mother's list for Tuesday had included weeding the rose gardens. There were no less than five separate rose beds around the property. She'd finished the two beds in the front of the house, and had a good start on a third, but didn't have time to finish before she had to go inside and make lasagna for her family, ironically the same meal she had cooked for the Johnson family the day la mierda had hit the fan.

Susie couldn't wait to see her friends. She'd only been incarcerated for two days, but felt like a prisoner on visiting day. Her head jerked when she heard a car door open and then slam shut. She looked out her bedroom window to the driveway below.

"Hi, guys." Susie waved. Marlee, Christy, Sam, Lisa, and Jeri stood on the driveway below. "C'mon up. The door's unlocked."

"Be right up," Christy said and led the way.

Marlee lagged behind on the driveway and threw Susie a smoldering glance.

Susie's eyes grew wide. "Get up here," she hissed. She hoped she'd have time to spend a couple of minutes alone with Marlee before everyone had to leave.

Christy burst into her room. "Yo, what's up, jailbird?"

"Shut up." Susie gave her best friend a hug.

Sam flipped her blonde ponytail behind her and was next in line for a hug. "It's been a long time. Sorry to hear about your, uh, incarceration."

"You shut up, too."

Sam laughed and made way for her girlfriend Lisa to hug Susie.

Lisa gave Susie a quick hug. "Good to see you again, Susie." She gestured to the weight bench. "Geez, nice set of weights."

"Aay, I wish I had time to use them. My mother's keeping me way too busy. I'm surprised she let you guys come over."

"Girl," Jeri grabbed Susie in a bear hug, "the way Marlee gossips, it sounds like you're on a chain gang living on bread and water."

Susie laughed. "It felt like it today." She grabbed her lower back and stretched again.

Jeri nodded. "I feel your pain." She jumped when Marlee poked her in the back.

"Do you mind moving out of the way?" Marlee grinned behind her.

"Oh, excuse me." Jeri slithered off to the side. "Let me not stand in the way of love." She clapped her hands twice and said, "Everyone, let's please turn around and give the lovebirds a moment of privacy."

Sam and Lisa laughed, but did as Jeri asked and turned away.

"Oh, how sickening," Christy joked as she turned around.

Once they had a second of privacy, Susie threw her arms around Marlee's neck and kissed her as if she hadn't seen her in months instead of days.

Marlee leaned her forehead against Susie's. "I've missed you, too." She whispered in Susie's ear, "I wish we could be alone." She nipped at Susie's earlobe causing Susie to jump.

Christy, or maybe it was Jeri, cleared her throat suggesting the couple's alone time was over.

Still facing the other direction, Sam said, "Uh, Susie? P? We're burning daylight here. Can we turn around?"

"Yeah," Susie laughed, but didn't let go of Marlee.

"Two, you always ruin my fun," Marlee said to Sam using the nickname she'd made up after Sam starting calling her P for pitcher.

Christy groaned. "Somebody get a crow bar to separate those two."

"Shut up," Susie said and released Marlee. Her heart fluttered when Marlee seemed reluctant to go.