The Derivative Chapter 14: Judge

Chapter 1 <- Chapter 13

“Hello, Gramps?” I called coming into the house with Amita.

“Kitchen” the man called back.

“Hey” Charlie greeted us with a smile from where he sat at the kitchen table with Larry.

“How is CalSci’s most recent addition to the student body?” Larry inquired.

“Pretty good” I replied, adjusting my backpack on my shoulders. “Homework sucks”

The three adults chuckled light “well that doesn’t ever change” Amita scoffed and we took seats at the table.

“Hello ladies” Alan greeted, coming in with a tray of coffee cups.

“Hi Mr. Eppes,” Amita smiled.

“Alan, please” the man replied, setting the tray down and taking a seat.

We each took a cup and started to chat as we drank. I’d been attending CalSci for a couple weeks now and it was already far better than high school. Even though I was the youngest in all my classes being just shy of seventeen.

“Oh so I was at the court today looking for Don,” Charlie explained, “and he was talking to the prosecutor Hodges. I think he was going to lunch with her before I interrupted.”

“Lunch as in friends or lunch as in a date?” Amita inquired, sipping her coffee.

“It didn’t seem like a friend's thing” Charlie stated “I think he was asking her out” I shifted in my seat at the information.

“You say her name is Hodges?” Alan inquired standing up.

“Yeah. Nadine” Charlie offered as we all got up to follow the other man toward the living room “she seemed pretty interested in him, too. Although I’m not really good at reading those kinds of signals”

“No you're not” Amita muttered and we exchanged an amused look behind the professor’s back.

“You know that term dark matter?” Larry spoke up “that has always perplexed me. It fallaciously implies that the 95% of our universe that can’t be observed is some amorphous eventles, just, uh, emptiness” he shrugged as we all took seats. Amita and Charlie taking the couch and me grabbing a seat on the floor in front of the coffee table.

“I’m sorry?” Amita looked at him questioningly.

“The random musings of Professor Fleinhardt” I offered with a grin that made the others chuckle lightly.

“I suppose it’s all too human,” Larry continued uninhibited by our humor “instead of just admitting to the present limits of our knowledge, we simply declare things to be unknowable.”

“This somehow relates to dating?” Alan questioned from where he was still standing.

“Oh I’m sorry; to reading signals” the physicist clarified, coming around the chair he had been standing behind “and, of course, to Rhonda Pickford.”

“I’m not familiar with her work,” Amita said.

Larry sat his coffee cup on the table clapping his hands together to gesture with them “she had a crush on me in fifth grade” he admitted.

“Oh” Amita murmured as I had to restrain a small laugh.

“And of course girls in fifth grade suddenly became 95% unknowable,” Larry explained.

“Huh, isn’t that the truth,” Alan muttered.

“I’m not following” Charlie voiced in minor confusion.

“Then keep up” I replied back sarcastically even though I had no idea where the eccentric man was going either. My Uncle just shot me a look as Larry continued.

“Oh well, you see, I labeled her to be dark matter, and I just moved on to more accessible pursuits. Like uh,” he chuckled slightly “space invaders, actually.”

“So what happened to this, um, uh Rhonda?” Alan asked as Larry sat down.

“Oh, she became a professional cheerleader.” Larry informed.

“Really?”

“She did. Yes, she did” Larry muttered.

“I doubt that Don actually views women as dark matter.” Gramps objected.

“I think I might be some kind of proof of that,” I murmured taking a sip of my coffee. I was trying very hard to keep the overwhelming amount of sarcasm out of my voice.

“Well, she’s a prosecutor.” Amita voiced “I’m sure he’ll see her again.”

“Actually, Don thinks there’s a chance that the man she’s prosecuting may be behind the murder of the judges wife” Charlie informed.

“So they’ll be seeing each other a lot” I wasn’t sure my attempt to make that sound like a question rather than an annoyed statement quite succeeded based on the hum my grandfather made to my right.

“You know something?” Larry spoke up again “under that reasoning wouldn’t that make this prosecutor just as likely a target?”

We all mulled over that thought before Amita declared that we needed to talk about something brighter and changed the subject. I sighed picking up my empty coffee cup and saucer heading for the kitchen.

I entered and placed my dishes in the sink. A moment later Alan came in to do the same thing. I shifted to the island getting a cookie from the package we had sitting there. “So, uh, you’re alright. Right?” Alan asked, turning on the sink to rinse mine and his cups.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” I inquired leaning on the island.

“Well you just started college which can be a little overwhelming and this thing with Don and dating” he muttered as I took a bite of my cookie.

“I’m fine Grandpa, it’s just a little weird thinking of my dad dating” I explained.

“I see,” Alan nodded, “any particular reason?”

I shrugged “not really” sometimes I hated how observant my grandfather could be. “Thanks Gramps for the concern but really I’m fine” I told him and promptly left the kitchen before he could probe anymore. Dark matter indeed.

______________

“Says the guy who only eats white food” I muttered, popping another piece of popcorn in my mouth.

“Touche” Larry nodded as we walked down the hall at CalSci. Him with his tray of food and me with a bag of popcorn “still I must agree with Alan that it is a fairly odd food choice”

“Have you ever tried it?” I argued.

“Well no,” Larry conceded as we reached Charlie’s office.

“Then don’t judge” I stated. The man shrugged as I opened the office door and walked in.

Within the office was my uncle and Amita along with another woman I didn’t recognize. However I could spot the badge and gun from the doorway. Meaning she probably worked with my father.

“Oh, well, this is where all the fun is, huh?” Larry voiced.

“Professor Fleinhardt, my dear niece,” Charlie greeted us.

“Hey Larry, hey Abby” Amita called from her place sitting at a computer.

“This is Megan Reeves” Uncle C introduced the woman “she’s working with Don”

“Uh, hi. Hi” Larry stammered in greeting as Megan smiled at him.

She then looked to me “you’re Don’s daughter?” Megan asked me with a curious look.

“Um, yeah you must be his new partner?” I inferred recalling what Don had told me about Terry’s leaving and the new female agent assigned to his office.

“Yup” Megan nodded.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Larry murmured, gesturing to my and his food as he ate.

“Oh, no, not at all” Megan assured as I tossed a couple more pieces of popcorn in my mouth. “You realize all your food is white?” she questioned the physicist.

“Mm, yes, I prefer white food.” Larry explained.

“Why is that?” Megan inquired further as Larry headed around me and my Uncle toward the desk.

“Supersymmetry” He offered “it’s a theory that describes the nature of connectivity in complex multi dimensional space” he moved some files in order to sit in the chair behind Charlie’s desk.

“You know symmetry is also a term we use in behavioral science to explain obsessive behavior” she suggested.

“Oh, is it now?” Larry questioned with an amused tone.

“I have a two year old nephew who won’t eat anything but pasta with butter,” Megan explained as I pulled my popcorn out of the reach of my scavenging uncle. “We’re a little worried he might be a budding scientist.”

“Larry has a tendency to live out his theories,” Charlie explained. Megan chuckled, lightly nodding in response, an endeared smile on her face. I glanced between her and the physicist, a small smirk growing on my face “Amita, are you ready to show us the 3-D scatter plot distribution of all the relevant cases?”

“Sure,” the computer guru replied, finishing her typing. We all looked at her screen curiously to see the scatter plot.

“It looks like a random buckshot of points” Megan muttered.

“Except for a small number of cases that stand out” Charlie advised. Amita typed in the next filter criteria and most of the points dropped down to the bottom of the graph.

“Wow, that’s a lot less files than I originally gave you” Megan observed.

“Yeah and we’re not even done yet” Charlie murmured. “Amita,” Uncle C grabbed a pad of paper and started writing. I glanced over his shoulder and quickly realized the filter he was putting together. “Do you think you can filter the rest through something like this?”

Amita took the paper and looked it over “It looks kind of like decision theory”

“Except it’s reverse decision theory isn’t it?” I voiced, giving my uncle a look. He nodded “Smart move”

“Thank you,” Charlie smirked. “Decision theory values are determined by risk and reward” he explained further to those who might not be aware.

“Corporations use it to weigh business plans, what products to develop, what companies to do business with.” Larry chimned in.

“Like a hunter searching for food.” Charlie analogized “he’s constantly evaluating his terrain, his available prey, and rival predators weighing them against his own appetite, his own strength, his needs. Until he makes what he considers an optimal decision.”

“But reverse decision theory flips it around” I offered.

“You take the optimal goal and you reverse the process,” Larry added.

“In other words you start with the final decision?” Megan inferred.

“The murder of Alison Trelane” Amita explained.

“That’s right.” Charlie agreed “and then, determine which predator is most likely by inclination, by opportunity to have made that decision”

The computer chirped as the final results boiled down to two points. “There you go” I murmured “your hunters”

____________ 3rd POV.

“So Charlie tells me you were shot at this afternoon. Huh again?” Alan muttered as the Eppes family sat around the kitchen table for dinner.

Don sighed annoyance flaring in him as he shot a look across the table at his little brother “oh, yeah? Well, what Charlie should have said was more like” he paused trying to figure out how to better phrase the encounter he’d had with Raymond outside the courthouse. “I was in the vicinity of shooting. Let’s put it that way.” he hazarded a glance at his daughter sitting next to him. She didn’t look up but impaled her next bite of food on her fork with a bit more force than probably necessary.

“He saved this prosecutor” Charlie declared, probably trying to earn favor with his brother with the praise but just bugging him more. “And yet, he still won’t ask her out, for some reason.”

The only one to catch the eye roll demonstrated by the resident teenager was Alan who made note of the reaction. “Really? What’s the problem” he questioned.

“Yeah, she’s hot, man. She’s perfect” Charlie encouraged. Don started shaking his head in denial “she’s interesting. You said she was perfect.”

“No, I didn't,” Don objected.

“So now you only date women who have something wrong with them?” Alan inquired of his eldest.

“I’m not dating anyone,” Don clarified.

“So I noticed.” Alan murmured.

“Yeah what’s that about?” Charlie asked.

“Look, you know” Don finally snapped holding up a hand “with what I do, relationships are, they’re- they’re just not easy, okay? Especially when you’re a single father?” Abby’s head popped up ever so slightly and Don somewhat regretted adding the last statement “would you just trust me?”

“Come on, Don,” Alan objected, “just because something might go wrong doesn’t mean that you don’t take a shot.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, okay?” Don’s voice raised slightly with his mounting frustration at both his family and himself. “It’s more complicated than that. Among other things, I don’t want to put someone at risk. I don’t want to be a risk for someone.” he paused and spared a glance at his daughter who was now looking at him with her sharp gaze “another someone” he muttered in addition “you understand?”

“I see,” Alan murmured leaning forward slightly “which means that police and lawyers and judges shouldn’t get married?”

“Yeah well look at judge Trelan” Don pointed out “Think I want to go through that? No, sir” Don sighed and glanced over at Abby again he did a double take but she’d already turned away by his second look. She no longer held that sharp look she’d given him and a tension in her shoulders had eased. She almost looked sad about something.

_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

“Here’s our new home,” Janice announced, leading her daughter into the building she was calling their home.

“It stinks in here,” Abby commented.

“It’s called having character squirt” Janice’s latest boyfriend spoke from where he appeared in the living room with a beer in hand.

“Hey Danny” Janice greeted him with a kiss. “Abbs, why don’t you go upstairs and settle in?”

“First door on the right” Danny offered the instruction. Six year old Abby left her mother down stairs with Danny climbing the steps.

The first room on the right was a dingy place. There was a mattress in one corner with a window next to it. The grey, probably at one point green, paint was peeled in places. Water marks were on the beige ceiling and the wood floor creaked with each of Abby’s steps.

The girl dropped her bag and walked over to the window looking out at the yard below. There was noise down stairs and moments later Janice came storming down the hallway.

“You said you stopped Danny!”

“I have babe I swear!”

“Then what are you doing hanging out with Darryl?”

“He’s my brother!”

“He’s a meth head!”

Abby decided to tune them out as they fought. Busying herself with making up her bed with the sheets in her duffel bag.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Abby POV.

A tap on my shoulder drew me from my memory. I slid my blinders to the top of my head and looked up to see Don looking down at me, a questioning look on his face.

“What’s up?” I inquired.

“I just wanted to talk to you real quick” Don muttered “about what Dad and Charlie were saying at dinner” he began “I know that me dating might not be the most comfortable subject for you an-”

“I think you should,” I declared before he could finish.

Don froze where he’d been scratching the back of his head and gave me a confused look “What?”

I sighed “I think you should ask the prosecutor out”

Don opened his mouth as if to say something but he closed it again with a sigh when nothing came out. He came over and sat down next to me on the bed. “So you’re okay with this?”

“Not really” I admitted taking my blinders off my head and fiddling with them “I mean my mom dated a lot of guys and most of them pretty crappy and part of me can’t help but relate that to this” I murmured Don nodded taking in the information. “But I don’t think not wanting to be a risk for someone is a reason not to date them. I mean you deserve to be happy and it’s really their choice if they want to take that risk with you”

“So if I asked Nadine out?” Don prompted.

“I wouldn’t be thrilled about it but I’d give her a shot” I declared.

Don nodded “alright” just then his phone beeped he looked at it and sighed “I got to go”

“Be safe” I told him as he got up and headed for the door.

“Made a promise remember?” he replied with a light smirk before heading down the hall.

A second later Alan appeared in the doorway. “How much of that did you overhear?” I asked with narrowed eyes.

“Enough to know I’m proud of you” he declared.

“Yeah well he deserves it” I replied and we shared a smile.

___________

“Okay, Donnie, it’s time to eat” Alan announced as me, him, and Charlie headed into my father’s office.

“Hey,” Don greeted.

“You eat dinner yet?” Charlie inquired.

“Lobster at the Oceanfront. Charlie’s buying” Alan declared.

“And hurry I’m starving” I added.

“Let’s go, I'm driving” Charlie stated, holding up his keys.

“Yeah, well, that’s not an incentive” Don objected, grabbing his coat and giving his brother a look.

“Which is why I need another adult witness,” Alan replied “insurance purposes, you know?”

I chuckled lightly then spotted a blonde haired woman that was all dressed up coming toward us. She stopped before us with a smile. “Nadine,” Don introduced, “this is my father Alan, and, uh, Charlie you know right? And this, uh, is my daughter Abby” he introduced me last with a hand on my shoulder.

“Hi nice to meet you” she smiled at all “Charlie good to see you again” then her gaze shifted to me “and it’s a real pleasure to meet you Abby, your Dad speaks quite highly of you”

“Uh thanks” I murmured, exchanging a look with my father.

Nadine then addressed Don “I need to grab something out of my car. Can I just meet you out there?” she asked.

“I’ll be two seconds,” Don assured her.

“All right” she then smiled at us, all waving farewell, as she walked away.

“Wow, she is one hot looking prosecutor” Alan murmured.

“Alright, easy there, pop,” Don spoke up.

“I know I'm your father” Gramps replied “but she’s still one hot looking prosecutor”

I shook my head “please stop” I muttered and the men chuckled, Don messing up my hair slightly as we continued to walk forward.

“We’re trying to figure out what to do about Hector Machado,” Don explained. “I mean, this guy might end up collecting reward money for reporting a crime that he probably arranged. So it’s a working dinner.”

“Which explains the professional working dinner cologne” Alan pointed out.

“Busted,” I murmured.

“Hey” Don objected with a slight smirk as he walked away from us “I never ruled out the possibility of some kind of quantum entanglement”

Alan looked to Charlie with a questioning look “that’s not one of mine” he admitted.

My grandfather’s gaze shifted to me “not mine either, but I like it” I replied and we all shared a small laugh.

Chapter 15 ->

The Derivative Chapter 8: Sports

Chapter 1 <- Chapter 7

“Do I even need to ask?” David snapped. Uncle Charlie just smiled smugly turning his hand around. The entire table groaned in annoyance.

“It’s not what it looks like, promise” Don spoke up.

“You brother hustling us?” one of Don’s friends Mike muttered.

“I’ve only played once before” Charlie informed as they collected the cards to deal another round of poker. “I actually have a one in eight chance of hitting a set when I’m holding a pocket pair. I’m about 50/50 to draw a flush with suited cards in my hand, two off the draw. I also count my outs I- I multiply by two. I add one. That’s roughly my percentage of hitting.” he explained.

“Card math” I muttered over my father’s shoulder as I walked past the table. Leaning over to snag some chips out of the snack bowl.

“Mr. Eppes you need to take my seat, your son is killing us” David declared as Alan brought out more chips.

“No, not me” Gramps objected “the only other time Charlie played, I learned my lesson about gambling with a mathematician”

“Hey could I-”

“No” Don cut me off “Ms. I-can’t-help-but-card-count”

“Not my fault I was born with perfect visual memory” I muttered as my father got up and headed to the kitchen.

“Hey weren’t we playing with bottle caps?” Charlie pointed out to his father.

“Yeah or else you’d have walked away with the pink slip to my car” Alan informed.

“You know, there is some element of chance here” Charlie explained “you know I- I may just be getting lucky.”

“Or you're just unlucky,” David joked to Mike.

“That’s funny Sinclair keep that up. It comes back to me when baseball starts” Mike countered taking a swig of his beer as dad returned and handed me a Mountain Dew as he sat down with his glass of water.

“Baseball?” Charlie questioned “”the FBI have a team?”

“Yeah, we got a whole league.” David explained “there’s, uh, LAPD, Sheriffs’ department”

“D.A.’s got the killer squad” Mike commented “Now that Kraft’s in San Diego, you guys don’t have a power hitter.”

“What about Don?” Charlie suggested.

“It’s not my thing” Don objected

“Oh, you play?” Mike inquired.

“Don went to college on a baseball scholarship,” Charlie informed. “What are you talking about? You played pro second base.”

“Single A about a million years ago” Don muttered.

“That’s great. It means you’re this year’s ringer.” Mike grumbled.

“Nope. I’m sorry.” Don objected quickly “not interest buddy”

“Come on, you gotta do it” David asked hopefully as Don’s phone rang.

“Excuse me” he murmured to us answering it. “Eppes… we’ll be right there” he declared, getting to his feet.

I sighed and shuffled back toward the kitchen where Alan was. “Looks like I’m spending the night,” I informed.

He looked up at me confused “really? Why?”

Just then Don popped into the doorway pulling on a jacket “hey dad I just got called in can she stay here tonight?”

I gave my grandfather a look who sighed “yes of course”

“Thanks,” Don murmured heading out.

______________

3rd POV.

“I’ve never seen him before,” Mr. Bayle declared, handing Don back the photo of Salazar.

“Are you sure?” the agent asked.

“Yeah” the man confirmed.

“I mean, maybe he did some work for you guys around here.” Don persisted.

“Yeah, he could have. I wouldn’t know” Bayle explained “Lisa was in charge of all that.”

“I’m just trying to figure out if there’s any possibility that this man knew your wife.” Don insisted as they stepped from the other man’s kitchen into his living room.

“Why?” Bayle inquired with a shrug as he stopped to face Don.

“You’re not going to want to hear this” Don prefaced reluctantly “but there are some questions about Cliff Howard’s conviction”

“The bastard said he did it,” Bayle scoffed.

“I know,” Don nodded.

“I haven’t seen you in a year” Bayle continued “I haven’t seen you since you interrogated me for 48 hours.”

“Sir..” Don tried to speak up but the other man continued.

“I had to call the funeral home handcuffed to a table.”

“I was pursuing your wife’s murder wherever it took me” Don attempted to explain his actions. “So help me..” he paused shaking his head and biting his lip and Bayle took the moment to speak again.

“Now you want to tear these wounds open again.”

“I don’t want to do that,” Don objected adamantly.

Both men paused to breathe and Don’s eyes wandered over to the mantel where he spotted a picture he recognized he shuffled over to point at it “that’s your, uh, your daughter. What’s her name? Paula?” he asked, trying to remember.

“Yes” Jonas answered, his voice still tense with emotion.

“Right. May I?” Don gestured to the photo.

“Go ahead,” Bayle allowed. Don took the photo from the mantel and looked at the young girl. “She’s a sophomore now.”

“Yeah, so is my daughter,” Don admitted.

“You have a daughter?” Jonas asked, surprised.

Don nodded “her names Abby.” he chuckled slightly with a bittersweet spike in his gut “yeah she came to live with me not too long ago after her mother died, car crash”

“I’m sorry” Bayle murmured, shifting on his feet.

Don replaced the photo and turned to face the other man. “Jonas, don’t you want to know the truth about your wife’s death?”

“Cliff Howard is the truth,” Bayle insisted.

______________

Abby POV.

“Okay tell me I’m crazy” Larry declared, setting his pencil down and rubbing his face with his hands. “I think I’ve just found a way to express Calabi-Yau manifolds in a way that goes beyond the existence of a nonvanishing harmonic spinor.”

“You're crazy,” I muttered, taking another bite of my food.

“Ch- Charles” Larry whined when he received no response from his fellow mathematician.

“Has he been out there all night?” Uncle C questioned turning away from the window he had been gazing out of. Watching my father play basketball.

“Well, on the bright side it seems like Don’s taken up an interest in sports again.” Alan commented.

Charlie sighed taking the seat next to me “it’s like the evidence proves him right and wrong at the same time”

“Oh, yeah, the old paradox of Schroedinger’s cat.” Larry murmured.

“Is that that persian that keeps hiding out in our garage?” Alan inquired.

“No, that's the Myers down the street’s cat” I muttered, taking a sip of my drink.

“It’s an intellectual exercise,” Charlie explained.

“I knew that,” Alan lied.

“Okay this is vastly simplified” Larry prompted “there’s a cat in a box. 50/50 chance it’s been poisoned, but now here’s the paradox: until such time as we can open the box and observe the cat, for that time, that cat is both alive and dead.”

“Larry I-I fail to see the analogy, though.” Charlie objected “I mean, in reality Don can’t be both right and wrong at the same time.”

“Well, of course not.” Alan chimed in “I mean, if a man is both right and wrong, then something’s gotta be wrong.”

“Positive and a negative equal a negative?” I scoffed.

“No. the truth of Schroedinger’s cat is that the question itself is meaningless until we look inside the box.” Larry informed.

“So you could ask a whole different question” I voiced.

“For a whole different result” Larry finished. Uncle Charlie immediately straightened and turned to look at the window again. Before getting up and heading outside after his brother. “Well and off he goes again to help solve the unjust of the world”

“You can always tell when he gets an idea he spaces out then runs” I muttered.

Larry hummed in agreement “you know you are quite insightful young enigma quite like your uncle I’m surprised you’ve yet to push ahead of your peers in academia like he so did”

“Oh here we go” Alan muttered.

“Well I’ve tried they won’t put me in advanced classes because I wasn’t in school consistently as a kid.” I explained.

“Well that’s absurd a brilliant mind shouldn’t be held back by the amount of desks they haven’t sat at or lectures they’ve witnessed” Larry voiced in annoyance.

“Preaching to the choir,” I told him.

“Yes but do me a favor and don’t get on the soap box of yours again” Gramps asked me.

I nodded in agreement and picked at the last bits of food on my plate. “You know what?” Larry spoke up causing me and Alan to look at him but his eyes were trained on me “you should attend CalSci once you’ve escaped high school. We have no such requirements if you show the aptitude”

“I don’t know I’m still looking at quite a bit of time being forced to look at this stuff in school let alone do I want to keep having to do school work beyond it.” I pointed out.

“No no no” Larry objected waving his hands “it’s not like that at CalSci you can learn what you want and gain knowledge and work to gather more knowledge of the universe itself with a very hands on approach”

I sighed finishing off my dinner and gathered my dishes. “I’ll think about it”

“Very well” Larry accepted the answer as I stood up.

“You done?” Alan asked.

“Yeah” I murmured, taking my dishes into the kitchen. I glanced out the window and spotted my Uncle joining my father in his basketball playing. I loved basketball. The one sport I was decent at. As I watched my mind different back to just shortly before I went to live with my father here.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

3rd POV.

“Yo Calvin” Abby looked up from where she was sitting with her back to a wall in the courtyard book in hand. A girl named Naomi was looking at her from the basketball court with the ball tucked under her arm. Other girls around her were glancing in Abby’s direction and muttering to each other. “We need a even number get over here”

Abby hesitated. Veronica was standing on the court eyeing her with the same hate in her eyes. However after one of her accomplices came over and whispered in her ear she nodded her agreement with the situation.

Abby sighed and closed her book getting up and heading to the court. “‘ight y’all line up me and V will choose the teams,” Naomi declared.

Abby stood in line with the seven other girls they had goated into playing with them. Veronica stuck to choosing her pals and Naomi was smart enough not to choose them but Veronica only had three friends and Abby ended up being the last one on the line as Naomi chose the girl next to her.

“Calvin and V on the same team” one of the girls on Naomi’s team voiced “this’ll be interesting.”

Abby scoffed and took her position on the court. “Hey bookworm don’t get in the way” Veronica snapped.

“Then stay out of mine” Abby shrugged. Veronica shot her a glare as the other girls jeered.

“Hey let’s play” Naomi called everyone’s attention.

The game started out easy. Naomi had the ball and was heading down the court. Abby intercepted her snagging the ball easily and heading down the court when she was slammed in the side hitting the ground. Veronica had the ball now and shot it into the hoop.

“Hey!” Abby yelled getting back to her feet “thought we were on the same team”

“Thought I said stay out of my way” Veronica retaliated coming up to get Abby’s face.

“Hey knock it off” Naomi pushed between the girls “either play or leave and sort your shit out the way you normally do and land in the infirmary”

“You telling me what to do, china?” Veronica snarled at Naomi.

Naomi shifted back a bit “I’m actually Korean not that it matters but what I’m trying to do is play some basketball. Now you two can go duke it out if you want at least it’ll keep the teams even”

Veronica scoffed “whatever” she stalked back onto the court.

Abby sighed and followed the game started up again and Abby barely touched the ball as it was passed from player to player. Until it got to a point where they had five minutes left of courtyard time and Naomi’s team was up by one.

“We need to score. You beat Naomi at ball, that's a serious brag even with dead weights like Harp and Richards on her team” Veronica’s lacky Fiona stated.

“Yeah well we aren’t going to if Veronica tries to score again” Abby muttered to the rest of the huddle.

“You saying I can’t shoot Calvin?” Veronica turned to her angry.

“No I’m saying our entire strategy has been geared to give you glory this entire time and they’ve figured that out” Abby explained “that’s why they’ve blocked our last five attempts.”

“What? You want us to pass it to you?” Veronica asked “that ain’t how that works Calvin”

“I don’t care who you pass it to” Abby shrugged “you just gotta pass it”

Veronica thought about it a moment “Alright Fi you take it” she declared. “Let’s go”

“Okay” Fiona muttered, sounding unsure.

The game started and Naomi’s team got the ball dribbling down the court. Veronica intercepted as Abby and Fiona headed down opposite sides of the court. Veronica looked to pass it and saw Naomi guarding Fiona who was looking less than confident. Then she saw Calvin raise her hand. She was completely open. No one expected Veronica to pass the ball to the one girl she beat up every other day.

Veronica passed the ball. Abby caught it easy and dribbled it a step before shooting it circled the hoop before dropping in to the cheers of the team.

“Alright ladies time to get inside” one of the matron’s called from the door the girls shuffled to the door Naomi scooping the ball.

“Nice shot Calvin” Naomi told her, shoving her shoulder as she passed.

Abby grabbed her book and headed inside. She was heading down the hall at a casual pace before she was pinned to the wall. Veronica had her collar. “That was a one time thing you got that?”

Abby blinked at the other girl “really? You're so insecure about your status you have to make that point?” she asked with every ounce of sass she could muster.

Veronica growled and threw her to the floor Abby got on her feet and shoved Veronica’s middle. The bigger girl pushed her away and soon they were grabbing at each other pulling hair and scratching. Soon someone was there to pull them apart.

“Why do any of us expect different of those two?” Abby heard Naomi mutter to Fiona as Abby and Veronica were led to the infirmary.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_

Abby POV.

“Bye Uncle Charlie” I called from the shade as the mathematician peeled off the fence of the batting cages and headed back to his car.

“Bye Abbs” Charlie replied with a wave. I glanced over at my father as another crack of baseball on bat sounded. He was really starting to get into a rhythm, a proud smile on his face. I smiled lightly and returned to my reading. However there was only a moment of peace before Don appeared grabbing his water bottle and taking a swig.

“You want to take a few whacks?” He asked, gesturing to the batting cage.

I shot another look over at the ball spitter. “Uh no thanks I’ve never really..” I trailed off gesturing at the cage with an implied statement and apathetic wave.

Don looked at the cage then back at me with a small amount of shock evident in his face. “You’ve never played baseball before?” He asked in disbelief.

“Maybe once in gym class” I shrugged answering honestly. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed Donald but I’m kinda on the nerd side of things”

Don scoffed. “Come on” he grabbed my book and much to my relief remembered to put the bookmark in its place before closing it. “No daughter of mine is going to go through life without playing baseball”

I scoffed as I was pulled to my feet and given a helmet. I would normally put up a bit more of a fight but I knew that this sport meant a lot to him. So I kept my remarks to myself and went along with it. We headed out to the cage. He showed me what position to take. How to hold the bat properly and watch the ball.

Even with his coaching it took a while before I actually hit the ball. When I did it was quite auspicious to us both. Despite it not going anywhere near where we wanted it to go. There was a lot of laughing and joking and we both left happy reliving the events in story with some subtle elaborations. Don excited to take me back some time.

Chapter 9 ->

Stop what you’re doing. Reblog if you should be sleeping or doing work.

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rora-s

1 year ago

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rora-s

4 years ago

hanging out with other ADHD people is such a balm. i can interrupt them midsentence and go “look at that nice duck!!” and they’ll immediately turn around and go “oh my god that is a GOOD duck” instead of just snapping at me to pay attention

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