Unresponsive -

Casualties

A muffled alarm sounded from Ester's pocket, reminding her to pack her books and not be late for her next class. She looked around, rather embarrassed from causing a distraction in the usually quiet library, and collected her things. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and stepped out of the building.

Ester absorbed her surroundings, inhaled the crisp air, observed the lush grass on the field just a few yards away, and readied herself. She walked closer to the field and stretched her arms, loosely dropping her bag. She felt great, letting herself fall into the ease of her casualties. She bent over, picking up her bag once more and reached in for her baseball and cap. Ester adjusted it to her head and made her way to where she and her coach normally met up, eager to get started. She coughed as she kicked up dirt into the air.

"Greetings."

Ester jumped up suddenly, startled by the voice. She let out a sigh of relief to see it was only her playful coach, who was also one of her close friends, Leslie.

Leslie laughed and grabbed two baseball bats: one for her, one for Ester.

"C'mon, man, let's get goin'." she urged.

Ester smiled lightheartedly, then regained her attitude and grinned, punching Leslie's arm softly.

"Race you, slowpoke!" she challenged before darting to the batting grounds.

Leslie scoffed, then ran to catch up to the other. Being the loser, she spat out her gum on the dirt and pulled out a glove. Ester tossed her the baseball, which Leslie caught quickly. She raised her bat.

"Ready?" Leslie called.

"Born ready."

An hour passed and both girls wheezed from exhaustion. Leslie huffed as she replaced her water bottle with her glove and bats. Ester did the same, chugging the bottle and squeezing it into a compact waste of plastic. She lazily tossed it into her bag, then pulled out her phone to a notification.

"Check your grades." it read, coming from her mom.

Ester panicked, then returned to a more stoic face as to not frighten Leslie, whose expression turned a shade of concerned.

"It's okay," Ester consoled. "There's just something I need to get to."

Leslie nodded understandingly.

With Leslie out of the way, Ester finally had time to address the issue. She remembered one of her old friends saying that they had the phone number- or some sort of communication -with a classmate of hers for tutoring. Ester hastily dialed the number and explained her inconveniences. The friend gave an annoyed sigh, then sent the number through text.

"Thanks."

She immediately ended the call, emotionally worn from trying to convince the stubborn friend to let up. She messaged the number, trying to see if they were available.

9:47 PM Ester: Hey, if you have time, I'd like to take you up on your offer for tutoring. Let me know when you're available.

Only a few minutes after did she get a reply, shocked at the timeliness of the person.

9:49 PM Tutor: Sure! I'd be happy to meet up at the local library tomorrow if you're okay with that.

9:51 PM Ester: Yeah, that's be great. Is 2:30 PM a good time?

9:51 PM Ester: That'd*

9:52 PM Tutor: Haha, no worries, and yes, THAT'D be great. :)

Ester gave herself a fist bump internally, then headed off for home.