Senior Year Box Set

The count was now full, and I had to decide whether I believed Kayla or not. I hadn’t seen Chuck throw a slider all game, so I didn’t know if he could even throw the pitch. If he could, this would be the perfect spot.

A slider is a breaking pitch that tails laterally and down through the batter’s hitting zone. For a left-hander, like Chuck, against a right-handed hitter, it would start outside like the last two pitches. But then it would dive in towards the plate to nip the corner for a strike, if thrown correctly.

If Kayla hadn’t warned me, I would have struck out on a slider probably eight out of ten times. The other two would have ended up as foul balls when I accidentally made contact.

Chuck made a big production of calling off his catcher a couple of times. Usually, I would assume he wanted to challenge me with another fastball. He’d been able to get one past me, so that would be the logical choice. His catcher would be worried that I might straighten it out, and Lemont would be down one–nil.

I knew all the drama was intended to fool me. It convinced me he was going to throw the slider.

Chuck finally settled on a pitch and started into his motion. On the release, it looked like a fastball. I trusted both my gut and Kayla and guessed how much it would break. I would either come off looking completely clueless or be the hero. Taking Coach Haskin’s advice, I put a little something extra on my swing.

The ball dove towards the strike zone, and I crushed it. I began running around the bases and chuckled to myself when I didn’t actually break the window. To accomplish that, I would have to pull out some magic, as Yuri said. The ball did roll almost all the way to the yard, though, where a little boy tracked it down.

Either Chuck was shaken, or my guys were a little peeved at his before-game comments because we put up three more runs on him in the second. Lemont played small ball and picked up runs in the third and fourth to get within two. I hit another solo shot in the seventh to put us up 5–2, which turned out to be the final score.

“Act like you’ve been there,” I barked out to my teammates when they wanted to celebrate.

“We’ll go crazy when we win state,” Wolf said to back me up.

I’d said it because the game was being televised, and I was sure whoever we would meet in the first round of the state tournament was watching. Teams that went crazy thought they were lucky to have won. Those that took care of business expected to win. I wanted to send a message that we intended to win it all.

◊◊◊

Chapter 29 – I Would for You Friday May 5

Prom was finally upon us. I came down for breakfast to find my mom, Peggy, and Cassidy all sitting around the table, talking about makeup and the like. I noticed my dad was missing in action, along with Dave and Coby.

“Where’s Dad?” I asked.

“He said something about saving the boys and left,” Mom said dismissively.

“And he didn’t think I needed to be saved?”

“Quit your whining and help us decide which eyeshadow would work best for Cassidy, Model Boy,” Peggy said.

Shoot me! Shoot me now! I took a deep breath and slowly let it out as all three of them looked at me like I should have a clue. The sad part was, I probably did.

“What look are you trying to achieve?” I asked.

“A distinguished, sexy, sophisticated woman of the world, out on her big night,” Cassidy said.

I wrinkled my nose, which earned me a glare. Before they lynched me, I decided I’d better explain the face I’d made.

“I get what you’re going for, but that’s not who you are …”

“David!” Mom barked.

“I’m not trying to be mean. And before you lecture me, let me talk.”

They all glared at me. I knew this was a mistake.

“Makeup is supposed to accentuate who you are and how you look, not make you into someone unrecognizable. Cassidy is the sporty girl next door, not a martini-swilling New York fashion plate. The mistake girls make is trying to appear older than they are. The reason older women pile on makeup is to cover up what Mother Nature has done to them. Cassidy looks good with no makeup, so that means she doesn’t need much to achieve what she’s looking for,” I rambled.

“What’s that?” Cassidy asked.

“Like the arm candy befitting me,” I said.

For two beats, they were silent.

“Ignore him,” Mom advised, and they returned to their planning.

“Just don’t make her up like a circus clown,” I said as my parting shot before getting kicked out.

I kept the grin off my face until I got outside. They wouldn’t be coming to me for advice like that again anytime soon.

◊◊◊

Manaia suggested we swing by the little place that sold burritos as big as your head. That made me happy; I hadn’t realized they served breakfast as well. We had time, so we ate in.

“Have you eaten breakfast here before?” I asked.

“Yeah. Get the huevos rancheros with tomatillo sauce. It reminds me of what I used to get back in LA.”