Free Force Out by Tim Green Page B

so far away that it was almost out of reach.
    â€œYeah. That.”
    The waitress brought them two plates of fries. Joey had gravy on his and used his fork. Zach doused his plate with ketchup and dug in with his fingers. They ate in silence until Zach’s phone buzzed. He read a text, then texted something back and it buzzed again right away.
    â€œWell,” Zach said, smiling up at him, “at least this will make you happy.”

28
    â€œWhere are we meeting them?” Joey asked.
    They had finished eating fries and were back out on the main road, trudging up the shoulder back toward the school. The summer night had begun to cool, but their brisk pace kept Joey from getting chilled. A fat moon beamed down on them, casting shadows in the dark spots between streetlights.
    â€œThe playground at the elementary school.” Zach walked with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his shorts. They both knew that once you left the dance, you couldn’t go back in. It was a school rule.
    â€œIsn’t that kind of weird?” Joey asked.
    â€œWhere else do you want to go? We can sit on the swings.”
    Joey had no other place he could think of, so he put his own hands in his pockets and stifled a yawn. Zach had bought gum at the cash register and told Joey to take two pieces. He chewed it in time to their footsteps, thinking that maybe he could work on the rhythm thing a bit. It had already been a roller-coaster day, and he sure wanted to end it going up, rather than plummeting down. This was his chance.
    They passed by the school, and the steady muffled thump of the dance leaked out into the darkness. As they crossed the soccer field, the forms of the playground equipment began to materialize, lit by the moon and haze from a spotlight on the corner of the elementary school. Perched on the rope jungle gym, four dark figures came into view, clustered together halfway up the pyramid.
    Joey and Zach stopped at the base.
    â€œHey.” Zach looked up. “What are you guys doing?”
    â€œHanging out.”
    Joey was pretty sure it was Leah who spoke.
    â€œCool.” Zach said. “Us, too. Who wants to slide in the dark?”
    Easy as pie, Zach had all six of them playing on the little kids’ playground and laughing and joking. The girls screamed and yipped going down the slide. They played freeze tag. Before Joey knew it, he and Leah were sitting next to each other on the swings with Zach challenging the other three girls to a contest on the rings at the far side of the playground. Exactly how he did it, Joey didn’t even know, so skilled and smooth was his friend.
    Joey spoke the first words that came to his mind. “He’s something.”
    â€œWho?” Leah leaned back and swung gently with her feet tapping the wood chips below.
    â€œZach.”
    â€œYou should hear him talk about you,” she said. “He worships you.”
    â€œI doubt that.”
    â€œHe says you’re going to go to Stanford and then be a pro baseball player after that. Everyone knows you’re the smartest kid in our grade.”
    â€œI don’t know if I’m the smartest.”
    Leah laughed, and it was like a small flight of birds bursting toward the moon. “What? You want to hear me say it again?”
    â€œNo, I’m just saying.” Joey was thankful she couldn’t see the color of his face in the shadows. “There’s book smart and people smart.”
    She turned her swing so that she no longer faced forward but directly at him. He turned his swing also and dared to touch his lower leg against hers. She didn’t take it away, and the thrill of the contact poured through him like a molten liquid.
    â€œDo you like baseball?” he asked.
    â€œI love baseball.”
    His insides twisted a bit. “I played like junk today.”
    â€œEveryone has a bad day. Zach said you had twenty-seven home runs.”
    Joey swelled with pride. “He has