Free Dropped Third Strike (Portland Pioneers #1) by Micah K Chaplin Page A

best friend, Amy, remained a steady companion. The two had been friends since grade school when they’d been paired up for a project on Theodore Roosevelt. Amy had taken notice of all the time Katie and Reid spent together, and she regularly interrogated Katie about it. It was clear she was curious, not jealous. Amy usually preferred to study alone, but she’d joined Katie and Reid a few times and had spent significant time observing the two together.
    “I don’t know how you get anything done with that gorgeous creature sitting right there,” Amy said to Katie one day. “I’d just be staring at him the whole time.”
    Katie shrugged. “I guess I don’t really notice he’s there most of the time.”
    Amy shot her friend a look of disbelief and then shook her head.
    “You might be able to tell yourself that, but you can’t fool me, Katie,” she said. “I was sitting next to you at the game the day you started drooling over him. There’s no way you’ve been able to hide your massive crush. You’re not that good of an actress.”
    Katie made a face at Amy. “First of all, it was never a massive crush, just a little one, and I’m over it, so there’s no acting involved. We’re just study partners.”
    “You spend four nights a week together. Something is going on.”
    “We’re just studying.”
    “The whole time? No one has that much homework.”
    “We talk baseball sometimes. But that’s it.”
    That wasn’t a lie. Katie and Reid’s conversations rarely veered from school or baseball, but occasionally they talked about other people in their school. She teased him about all the girls who fawned all over him – obnoxiously cheering for him from the stands (sometimes even when he hadn’t had anything to do with the play), handing him their phone numbers and bringing him baked goods. Katie had witnessed a lot of these moments and couldn’t help but smirk when Reid would dump the phone number in the nearest trash can or hand a plate of chocolate chip cookies to one of his teammates. He always waited until the girls were out of sight, of course. He may have been uninterested, but he wasn’t a jerk.
    “Why don’t you like any of those other girls?” she asked him one night as they studied for spring mid-terms.
    “Who said I don’t?”
    “Well, are you dating anyone?”
    “No.”
    “Then that tells me you don’t like them.”
    “They’re nice girls. Pretty, too. But I’m just not interested in dating right now,” Reid said. “I need to focus on school and baseball.”
    “You know they’re all clamoring to get a prom invitation from you.”
    “Well, they aren’t going to get one.”
    “You’re not going to prom?” she asked.
    She couldn’t imagine the most popular guy in school skipping out on one of high school’s biggest events.
    “Oh, I’ll probably go. Just not with any of them,” he said. “I was actually thinking we should go together.”
    Katie looked up at him in surprise, her World War II study guide momentarily forgotten. He was still staring intently at his own worksheet, which made her wonder if he realized what he’d just said.
    “You and me? Why would you want to go to prom with me?” she asked when he remained silent for several moments.
    “Because we’re friends and I like hanging out with you,” Reid said. “Plus, I figure it’s a good way to thank you for all your pre-calc help this year. I never would have passed on my own. I’ve brought my grade up to a ‘B’ since we started studying together. My other grades have improved too. I owe you big time.”
    He looked up from his study guide and met her gaze.
    “So what do you think?” he asked.
    It wasn’t the invitation Katie had dreamed of, although she’d never admit to anyone that she had dreamed of it at all. She’d even finally convinced Amy that she had no feelings at all for Reid beyond studying, discussing baseball, and a casual friendship. But now, with this invitation on the table and his