Chapter 11

There were no more major issues with Aaron for the next week, and Mr. Eaves had been good on his word. He and Mom had a long conversation Saturday before she went to work. I wasn’t allowed to attend, but afterward, she said she’d agreed to let him fight the case. She was clearly still worried that we’d lose and it’d wreck us financially, but he’d managed to convince her to do it anyways. That alone made me feel better about our chances, since Mom was the most stubborn person I’d ever known. If he could convince her to do something she’d been so set against, he could convince a judge or whatever that I hadn’t attacked Aaron.

By that next Tuesday, I’d pushed most of the thoughts about Aaron and the court case to the side and focused on my next big challenge, our first actual baseball game. Both varsity and JV were playing against Martin Ridge High School, which was way out on the far western tip of the state near the Tennessee and Georgia borders. Marcus had played them last year and said they had a good team, despite being a pretty small school up in the mountains.

Varsity had played their game on Monday and had won, which they’d been bragging about all day leading up to our game. Harry had made one of the runs and was letting it go to his head, thinking he was MVP. Considering the game had gone six to four and three of those runs had been made when Charlie Hume, the team captain, hit a home run with two on base, it was clear to everyone else what an ass Harry was, but he didn’t let that stop him from talking shit.

Better yet, one of the other runs was made by Marcus, along with catching a possible run-scoring line drive on a diving catch in the sixth, ended the momentum the other team was on the verge of building. More surprising was hearing from Kat that Hanna, who’d never shown much interest in sports, bragged about him to everyone else at lunch, talking about how her boyfriend was a baseball star.

They’d had a pep rally for both teams the day before instead of sixth period to celebrate the beginning of the baseball season. It mostly focused on Varsity, where they even announced the names of each of the players, but it was still a weird experience. I’d gone to two of the pep rallies for football last semester, but I had been up in the bleachers and had more or less ignored it, while talking to Hanna and a few of the others from our lunch group instead. Sitting in plastic chairs on the floor of the gym while most of the student body looked down on us from the bleachers was way more attention than I wanted.

I knew Hanna would say I was being ridiculous and point out that there were a bunch of us down there and no one was looking at me, specifically. She’d also have reminded me that I had no problem when I was up on the stage where everyone was definitely staring at me, but the experiences were very different. I’d built up to playing in front of an audience. When I first started, Willie was the person everyone was watching, and I only moved to the front a little at a time. By the time I started playing in front of an audience, I’d had time to get comfortable with it. Maybe I was being ridiculous, but knowing that didn’t make me any less nervous.

Since they were coming to play at our field, we didn’t get out of any classes like Varsity did for the pep rally. Luckily, my last class was conditioning, which was reduced to just stretching and some simple warm-up exercises, so David and I weren’t too worn out for the game. Despite the fact that the game wasn’t until five-thirty, most of the rest of JV had managed to talk their way out of sixth-period early, so we spent the last half of class just messing around, everyone trying to shake off their first game nerves.

My guess was this was pretty normal, since Coach Dean spent most of the time in his office, letting us slack off until the bell rang.

“All right, knock it off,” he said to get us to quiet down. “You have an hour until you need to be back here to get suited up and get ready for warm-ups. If you’re going to get something to eat, keep it light and don’t stuff yourself. The last thing you want to do is yack on the field. I’m posting the lineups over here, but if you’re late to warm-ups I will bench you for someone else, so watch the time.”

With that, he tacked a sheet of paper up on the corkboard on his door, which he shut behind him, leaving us to our own devices. There was a rush to see who was starting, almost smashing me against the door, since I’d been one of the closest when the stampede started.

“Get off,” I said, pushing back from the door, forcing back the people trying to smash me into it.

While we’d already started settling down into our individual positions, the lineup was still a surprise for most of us, as were the pitchers, who’d been battling to see who’d get to start and who’d sit on the bench this game.

I was batting fifth, which wasn’t one of the premier slots but wasn’t terrible either. I’d been managing good control off the ball but I still didn’t have the power that some of the other guys who were higher up in the order did. My conditioning buddy David was listed as a relief pitcher for this game. I knew he was hoping for either the starting or closing spots, since depending on how it went, there was no guarantee he’d see game time as one of the relief pitchers.

“Hey, man, it’s just the first game,” I said as we pushed our way out of the scrum.

“Yeah. Coach told me I still didn’t have enough on the ball to start, but I’d been hoping for closer. My slider’s been looking good and I’ve almost got a curveball going.”

“All they’ve seen is practice so far, which is different than playing. Just keep cool until you get a shot, and show them you can make stuff happen.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that, although we need to start getting some more upper-body work in the rest of the week. We’ve been doing too much other stuff.”

“I can live with that. Since it’s just us in class, let’s talk to Coach about what you can do to build up more speed on the ball. I’m about to go grab burgers with my friends, you wanna go with us?”

“Yeah, thanks,” he said, grabbing his backpack.

Although he’d briefly met Hanna and Kat a few times, this was the first time we’d all hung out. Around the corner from school was a small hamburger and hotdog stand with a few picnic tables out front that did a lot of business with students after school let out. I hadn’t had a chance to eat there before, since I had training at the Blue Ridge right after school, but both Hanna and Kat swore by it.

David initially struck me as a reserved kind of guy, but he fit in easily once we all got talking while we ate. I thought at first he might have been put at ease by me and Marcus both being there, since he spent a lot of time with both of us in practice, until I noticed him continuing to glance at Kat. I don’t think she noticed, but he was completely glued onto her every word every time she spoke. I hadn’t considered it before, but I liked David and thought he’d make a good match for Kat. Considering her last boyfriend, David would be a significant improvement. We weren’t close friends or anything, but he was a good guy and didn’t seem like the kind of person who’d take advantage of her condition.

I kept it to just a single chili-slaw dog and some chips, since I knew my stomach sometimes got nervous before a game, but David really packed it away. Marcus tried to warn him not to eat so much, but I think he was trying to eat his nerves away.

Since we were just around the corner and had to go get ready for the game, the other three took off, promising to come back and watch the game, while David and I walked back to the school.

“So what’s up with your friend Kat?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, playing dumb.

“Like, is she single? I know she dated Aaron and I heard a few thi...”

“Slow your roll, she’s not like that. Aaron’s an asshole and took advantage of her.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. She seemed cool and I figured if you were hanging out with her she was probably okay, especially considering how Aaron feels about you. I just didn’t know if you two ... you know.”

“We’re not together if that’s what you’re asking.”

He nodded and we walked a few more steps before he said, “She’s hot.”

“Yeah, she’s good-looking,” I said, pausing a second to consider my next words. “I don’t want to make it sound like I’m trying to talk you out of anything, but I want to give you a warning. She has some ... issues. She’s not nuts or anything, but she’s got some personal stuff going on, which is why Aaron was able to take advantage of her so easily. I’m just warning you now, ‘cause I’d hate for anyone to try and do that to her again.”

“I’m not like that, dude.”

“I know. Her thing makes it easy to do even if you’re not meaning to though, so you have to be careful is all. I’m just giving you the warning now so you’ll know why I might have to kick your ass later.”

He laughed and gave me a shove, “You and what army?”

We hit the parking lot and turned up towards the school before he said, “Seriously though, I wouldn’t try anything. Could, you ... ya know, put in a good word for me?”

“Sure. I’d rather she date someone like you than end up with someone like Aaron again, anyway. I’ll be honest, I don’t know if she’s wanting to date right now, ‘cause he messed her up pretty good.”

“Hey, if she’s not, she’s not. Gotta shoot my shot though, ya know.”

“Hey, I know. I’ll find out and give you the sign, how about that?”

“Thanks, man,” he said.

We were one of the first ones back and went to the locker rooms, switching into our uniforms. We talked until the rest of the guys showed up. The more time I spent with him, the more I found I liked David. He was really down-to-earth and pretty funny. Giving him and Kat some more thought, I could see them working out. It’d be nice if it did, ‘cause we’d have a guy in our group finally. Although Hanna was dating Marcus, he was pretty busy and had his own set of friends, so he didn’t hang out with us much, making it just the girls and me. I know a lot of guys would envy me my position, but Hanna was much more like a sister than anything else, and the strange balance Kat and I had made with her DPD precluded any kind of romance. I loved hanging out with them, but sometimes they’d get going on something that I had one too many Y chromosomes to follow.

The Coach had stepped out to check something out on the field and we were all waiting on him to get back when Harry and a few of the varsity guys that had bought into his bullshit pushed through the locker room door, strutting like they owned the world.

“You kids ready to go out there and lose today?” he said, noticing me and walking in my direction.