The boy in the pitcher's mound adjusted his glasses, his brown hair sticking up at odd angles from under the brim of his cap. His eyes were fixed on the fence line.

He wound up his arm, kicked his leg forward—and missed the ball completely. The baseball rolled out of his glove and bounced weakly toward home plate.

The lie didn't hold. His gaze drifted back to the fence, where a girl in a cheer uniform was walking past, her pom-poms slung over one shoulder.