“Aw, Cass, look at that. Tysie Wysie’s making a fussy fuss,” Rowe says, and I can’t take it anymore.
“You know, I’m going to try sitting over there,” I say, pushing back from the aisle. Cass stops me though, sitting on my lap and weaving her arms around my neck, pulling my hat from my head, and putting it on hers. It looks better on her anyway. Damn, I’m easy.
“We’re just teasing you,” she says in my ear, kissing my neck, almost making me forget I’m at a baseball game. Almost.
“Yeah, well…it’s just important,” I say, this time seriously. She takes a deep breath and locks onto my eyes with hers.
“She knows. We know. And he’s going to be great,” she says. And with one kiss, I’m calm again.
There are scouts here for this series. We’re playing OSU. And usually it’s OSU that brings in the big teams, the serious scouts, the ones who are looking to pad rosters and fill triple-A ball clubs with talent that can be moved up sooner rather than later. But the Cardinals and the Cubs are here for someone else. They’re here for Nate Preeter. And my brother is a nervous fucking wreck.
“Sorry I’m late,” Paige says, and Cass stands up from my lap to go hug her sister. They’ve gotten closer. It’s taken months, but the effort on both of their parts has been genuine. I want this for Cass. I want her to have a sibling like I do, one that you count on and trust with everything.
“She brought him,” Cass whispers in my ear when she moves back to my lap. I look past her to see who she means. Houston is with Paige again. He’s been with her a lot. I like him. He’s a good guy, as far as I can tell from the few times we’ve hung out. Paige always says they’re just friends. But I don’t think that’s how Houston sees it.
“Hey man, you want to save me from all this girl talk over here? They’re determined to ruin baseball,” I say, and Cass rolls her eyes.
“He’s just being a baby,” she says.
Houston looks at Paige, whose attention is on her phone, and then looks at me with a slight shake of his head. He’s going to stay right where he is. Wait…for her to notice. I hope like hell for that poor bastard that she does.
“Excuse me, are you Cass Owens?” A skinny kid with a wrinkled notebook slides into the seat next to me, the one Rowe just left to go talk to Nate. She better not be messing up baseball.
“Yeah, I’m Cass,” she says, looking at me, like I know who he is.
“Hi, uhm…okay, well, I’m the beat reporter for the McConnell Times,” he’s nervous, and he’s dropped his pen twice in the span of a single sentence. Heaven help this kid if he ever tries to become a reporter anywhere bigger than a school with an enrollment of twenty thousand.
“Okay,” Cass says, waiting for him to get to the point. I’m waiting too. There’s a game about to start. Why is this not important to everyone else?
“I was wondering…would you let me ask you a few questions, maybe for a short profile, for the women’s soccer team? Since you’ve overcome so much, playing with MS and everything,” he’s getting his ground now. Unfortunately, he’s hit on that taboo topic. I feel for the kid, really.
“You know what? Yeah, sure. But we have to sit back here—they’re really into the game,” she says, shocking the hell out of me.
“You sure?” I whisper to her as she steps in front of me to follow the reporter to the last row.
“I’m absolutely sure. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, about talking about my MS. There aren’t a lot of teenagers out there who are like me, but there are some. And they need to hear what I have to say,” she says, nodding with a smile as she steps to the back, a few rows behind me.
I can still hear their interview, and even though my heart is focused on my brother and on the field, a part of it is also stuck behind me, so unbelievably proud of my little Ninja Princess.
“So, what are your thoughts on the whole Chandra scandal? Did you have any idea about her drug problem?” he asks. I listen close to this question, waiting for Cass’s response, and when I turn my head to the side, I notice that Paige is listening too. She’s looking at her phone, but nothing’s open. She’s eavesdropping.
“I had no idea. I was shocked, and it’s a big blow to our team for sure, losing her. But you know what? We’ll get through it,” Cass says, not dwelling on Chandra for long at all. While she talks, I watch Paige’s reaction, and her mouth curls up slightly to the side. And it’s more than just being proud of her sister and her ability to dance around a tough question.