A thousand stars filled the sky directly above her head and despite the uncomfortableness of Brittany’s windshield digging into the back of her head, Beth was happy to be out in the solace of the woods next to Muddy Creek. The scene on the square had been too much, and her friends had decided this was a better location to spend their Saturday night, despite the fact that Lexy had practically needed to be peeled off of the window as she drooled over Michael’s truck parked two cars over. Their location was across town, near to where the creek broke off from the bigger Spring Creek, and out here in the woods, it was easy to lose oneself in nature and forget about everything else. Almost.“It’s not… the end of the world,” Brittany offered, sitting next to Beth. Andi and Lexy were sitting on the bumper, which had to have been made of corrugated steel the car was so old.  &ldq

Lexy had no younger brothers or sisters, so she was the best choice for sleepovers, especially since her parents’ bedroom was in the back of their expansive one-story house, and Lexy’s room was near the living room, toward the middle of the house. It didn’t hurt that she had her own bathroom, and her older sister was away at college, so they were generally undisturbed and it didn’t bother her parents if they stayed up super late making macaroni and cheese with music playing on the radio while they slumped on the sofa, as they were doing the night of Halley’s revelation that she was the enemy.Beth stared at her half-eaten bowl of pasta and fought the urge to vomit that had been testing her will power and gut strength all night long, ever since she’d first seen Sammy and Carly together, something that, in retrospect, didn’t seem so bad now that she had seen him with Halley.“It’s not

Batting practice started at 2:00, but when Beth and her dad pulled up at 1:45, the cages were abandoned, only the kid at the window, a fellow sophomore named Hugh that Beth only sort of knew, was the other soul present. “You wanna take a few pitches while we wait for the guys?” Richard asked as Beth took a seat on one of the benches. There really was no reason for her to be there at all, but her dad liked for her to come so that if none of the other coaches showed up, he’d have someone to make comments to. He had no idea her previous trips had all been made in order to take advantage of an opportunity to stare at Sammy.“You want me to get in there and hit a few pitches? Are you crazy, Dad? I haven’t played ball since I was four.” Beth had scarring memories of being awful at tee-ball, of skipping around the outfield collecting flowers and not paying attention to the game at all, of knocking the tee over every time she

“So, what else happened at batting practice? Anything interesting?”Considering she wasn’t particularly happy with him at the moment, she was tempted to just say no. But there was something. Something she could use his opinion on. “Well, Michael may have asked me out.”Ryan stopped walking and turned to look at her, his eyebrows raised so high, she thought maybe they might tangle with his bangs. Was it so hard to believe that anyone would ask her out? Maybe she had misunderstood what Michael had meant.“Michael Splinter?”“Yeah.” It was her turn to keep walking while he stood melted to the asphalt. “Or maybe he didn’t.”With his long legs, Ryan was caught up to her in a second. “What did he say?”“He said we should hangout sometime. Or asked if I wanted to hangout sometime. Som

“You look hot.” Zoey spun Beth’s chair around so she could see herself in the mirror. She had to agree—but then she looked nothing like herself either. Zoey had done her makeup and hair so that she looked like one of the girls in her Seventeen magazine, and while it had taken over an hour, Beth thought maybe she could replicate the look, if she got some more expensive products. She was also wearing an outfit borrowed from one of Zoey’s friends who was Beth’s size, since Zoey was a good four inches taller and a size smaller than Beth. She’d have to spend her scorekeeping money and everything else she’d been saving up for the last few years to afford something this nice, but the effect was worth it.“Now, here’s hoping Dee Dee’s shoes fit,” Zoey said, looking at her equally stunning blonde friend. “You have to have Keds, Beth. You can’t wear your old sneakers or yo