Running The Bases

Chapter 2
I felt something weird under my face. I tried to ignore it. I reached under my pillow and pulled out my phone. I squinted my eyes to read what the time was. 6:37a.m. it read in all of its LED glory.
“Shit.” I said as my head hit the pillow. “God, I hate you Mariah.” I lifted my head and rolled myself out of bed hitting the floor with a loud thump! I hoped no one heard that. I carelessly got up and out of yesterday’s clothes. I snagged a hoodie off the floor and sniffed it. I shrugged and threw it on, and with that I made it out of the door without anyone giving me shit this morning like usual.
I practically ran to the baseball diamond as the time slowly crawled to seven. Damn it!
“Right on time.” A figure stood over me as I was leaning forward to catch my breath. I looked up to see a tall and skinny boy with dark hair that covered his eyes from being so long.
“Uh, yeah.” I said straightening myself out. I dug my hands into the pockets of my hoodie.
“Oh August, is this our new manager?” Another tall boy came jogging over and slapped August on the back.
“I think so.” August said turning to me once again. He raised an eyebrow. Same with the other guy.
“Yeah. I am.” I said. The two boys turned away and giggled to one another. I exhaled deeply and crossed my arms. Boys will be boys. I stepped away from the tall pair and headed over to the dugout to see a female standing there.
“Hello there manager!” the female said with a loud booming voice. I jumped a little.
“You must be the coach?” I asked. The female nodded.
“Call me Amy!” Her hair went down to her chest and was braided into two pigtails. They bounced every time she spoke. I blinked and nodded. “Now you know that you have a big responsibility here Julia.” She slapped a hand on my shoulder. Creepy how she knows my name. “First you should meet your team!” She stepped away and exited the dugout. “HEY LADIES. GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE.” Amy yelled or in her case she spoke calmly. At that time I saw a blob of white running towards the dugout. They all gathered in a circle around Amy who grabbed me by the shoulders and threw me into the middle like I was a piece of meat for the dogs.
“Ladies, meet your manager.” Amy said. They all slapped me on the back or shoulder saying ‘Welcome’ and such. I just nodded and smiled. I looked around to find the one familiar face I knew but I couldn’t find him.
“Where’s Andrei?” I asked. All eyes were turned to me. I heard some snickers.
“Who knows? His family’s problem being an ass again.” August shrugged and took his hat off. He had hat hair.
“Where’s Brett?” I heard Amy ask some other teammates.
“I think he’s hiding over there somewhere again.” a short guy pointed in some direction. Amy sighed. I looked at the blob of white and counted eight team members. We were missing Andrei and this Brett guy.
“So, uh, you got a thing for Andrei or something?” I heard someone ask in my ear. I turn around to see that it was the other tall kid from earlier today.
“N-No!” I said. “God.”
“Oh, sure.” the kid raised his blonde eyebrows. He looked like he wanted to start a fight, but I wasn’t interested.
“I don’t.” I said.
“Then why are you here?” some other guy popped up out of nowhere.
“Because Andrei asked me to do it.” I said folding my arms.
“So, you said yes.”
“Because you like him.”
“I wonder why Andrei asked her.”
“Maybe he has a thing for her?” Now all members minus Andrei and Brett were at it having a full discussion about Andrei and me. I suddenly felt cold for no reason at all. I pulled on my hoodie but no luck. Even with the whole team surrounding me there was a chill. I looked beyond the group to see a boy standing there staring at me. His eyes were round and shiny as we stared at one another. He just didn’t look right in that uniform he wore at that moment. His shaggy brown hair crept around his face and under the hat. He had a black mitt on with was holding a baseball with three fingers. He kicked the dirt underneath him and looked away.
I turned away from him to think that must of have been Brett. I sighed and wondered what a kid looking like him was doing here? He just didn’t belong, then again I’m here. The team’s conversation kept on going until things died down and Amy told them to run a few laps. I stood in the dugout fumbling with my fingers. I watched the whole team now minus Andrei running.
I heard footsteps behind the dugout. I turned to see the one face I was glad to see.
“Sorry I’m late coach!” he said taking his hat off and rubbing his hair. He set his duffel bag down on the bench and walked past me.
“Hey!” he smiled at me.
“Hi.” I said. Andrei turned back to the coach.
“Really sorry I’m late.” he said putting his hat back on.
“Don’t let it happen again.” Amy boomed.
“Got it!” said Andrei. He saluted then ran out of the dugout and called out to his friends.
“No matter how many times I say that he’s always late.” Amy muttered to herself.
“Did you say something?” I asked her.
“Oh no! I was just talking to myself!” The coach laughed. I raised an eyebrow and turned. The team stretched and did warm-ups for another half an hour then began to play catch for a bit.
“So, uhm, what should I do?” I asked.
“Well, nothing today. But if you could pick up water for tomorrow’s practice anytime you can.” Amy said.
“Oh sure.” I said.
“Hey Julia! Why don’t you play some catch with us?” I looked out onto the field to see Andrei waving to me.
“Me?” I asked.
“Yeah you!” he said. “Grab a mitt from the dugout.” I sighed and looked around me for an extra mitt. I looked at Amy who threw me a mitt. I caught it with one hand.
I ran out into the field not sure how the weather was. There was a small breeze which felt nice. There was also no cloud in the sky. Just like yesterday.
“Alright catch.” Andrei threw the baseball straight towards me. I lifted my mitt without even thinking and it landed right in. I threw the ball back. Man did it feel good to throw a baseball around again for once.
Andrei threw the ball back and once again I heard the oomph noise the ball makes when it hits my mitt. I loved to hear that sound. After a few minutes of throwing around the three inch ball, Andrei stopped.
“Wait, I want to try something.” the tall male squatted down and made himself balance as he held his mitt out.
“W-what-“I looked around to everyone else doing normal catching. “You have no gear on either.” He shrugged.
“I don’t need any.” he grinned. “You said you were in Little League right? I think I can trust you.” I took a deep breath. I haven’t pitched since sixth grade.
“Are you sure? I don’t think-“
“Just throw already.”
I tilted my head to stare at the sky for a moment then focused my attention on the white leather that was in my hand. “Alright.” I muttered. I pulled the glove and ball close to my chest while my left knee rose. I took a big step and swung my arm over.
Hmph!
That sound. I had not moved from my position yet. I stared straight ahead into Andrei’s mitt. The ball was dead smack in the center. I rose and looked away for a moment like I often do.
“That was…great.” Andrei stood up and threw the ball back. He quickly squatted back down. I held my mitt up and caught the baseball. “Again.”
“Again?” I asked. I repeated the same movements and once again the ball landed perfectly in the mitt. “My God.” I muttered to myself.
“Were you a pitcher?” asked Andrei. He stood up and began walking towards me.
“N-no.” I said. “I just did outfield stuff.”
“Sure doesn’t seem like it.” said Andrei. “You better not be lying.”
“Yeah, no.” I said. “Only outfield.”
“Alright then.” He said. “We’ll play again okay?” he winked then raised his hands to the rest of the team. “Hey guys let’s go to the dugout!”
All eighteen eyes turned to Andrei.
“Right!” the whole team yelled. I stood in the middle of the field as I watched all the players run towards the dugout. A few members gave me a pat on the back. The first baseman Michael came towards me with the mitt on his head again.
“Come on.” he said. I nodded and followed. We all sat down in a circle around Andrei and the coach. It looked like a blob of white. I sat in the far back hugging my knees.
“So as we all know the Spring Tournament will be in a few months.” said Amy clapping her hands together. Her braids bounced.
“We’ll be going up against the toughest team in the first round.” said Andrei.
“Define toughest?” some kid asked raising his hand.
“I mean last year’s winner.” said Andrei closing his eyes.
“You mean Geneva?!” the whole team shouted in unison.
“Yes.” said Andrei. “Geneva.” I bit my lip. Why did it have to be Geneva?
“We need to be prepared!” said Amy. “If we can beat Geneva then the rest will be easy!”
“Julia.”
I looked up as my name was called.
“Huh?” I asked.
“Can you gather up all the players stats from Geneva by next week?” asked Andrei. His face has no expression like that one night.
He raised an eyebrow. “You are the manager right? I figured you could help us out somehow.”
“Right, of course.” I said. Andrei grinned but I couldn’t tell if it was directed at me.
“We’ll need to come up with a plan and we have one more practice game next week so all I really want to say is that let’s work hard and kick those Geneva asses!” Andrei said to the whole team.
“Yeah!” the whole team shouted and threw their hands in the air.
“Let’s practice some drills then!” Amy shouted. “I want our battery to work on the new pitches.” I saw Andrei and Brett nod. The blob of white stood up and returned to the field once again. This time I stayed behind and sat in the dugout.
“I think you’ll fit into this team easily if you tried.” I tilted my up and to the side as I watched Andrei gather his gear and began to put it on.
“Need help?” I asked. I stood up and walked over to him. I picked up one of his knee pads and began to buckle it onto him.
“Thanks.” he said as he was finishing putting on his chest protection.
“Sure.” I said. He put his mask halfway on and turned to me. “What?” I asked.
“Oh nothing.” he smiled. He turned away and ran out to where Brett is. I shrugged and sat down. I pulled my hood over my head and was debating if I could get away with a nap. I looked around for something to do. I walked over to the storage where they kept all the bats and helmets. I picked out a bat and lifted it out of it storage.
“Nice.” I said. I gave a little swing and it sure did feel amazing.
“Hey, manager. That’s my bat.” I swung around and saw the kid who asked the question earlier.
“Sorry, just trying out the equipment.” I said handing him the bat.
“Eh, it’s alright.” he said. “I’m Joey.”
“Oh, hi.” I said.
“I’m the cleanup hitter in this team.” he said proudly. He had blonde hair the stuck up. his hat kept most of it down.
“That’s nice.” I said. “You should probably go back onto the field now and use those skills to hit those balls far!” I said somewhat half sarcastic. I hated guys like this who boasted. He shrugged and walked off.
“God.” I said.
“You’ll get use to him sooner or later.” Amy said from behind me. “You’ll get use to all of the boys sooner or later.”
“Let’s hope.” I muttered. Practice went on for about another hour or so. I was totally dead even though I didn’t a single thing.
“Come on, it’s school.” said Andrei.
“School? I have to go to school?!” I asked. “My God.”
Some members of the team members laughed. I was sitting on the bench. The rest of the team was behind doing something. I turned around.
“OH MY GOD!” I shouted. “Don’t they have locker rooms?!” Just now I saw at least seven guys have naked.
“Yeah but we’re in a rush. We went over today in practice.” one of the members said. I quickly turned around and put a hand up to shield my eyes.
“I really did not need to see that.” I muttered. “You should have MANNERS since there’s a GIRL here.”
“Come on let’s get to school.” I felt a hand on my shoulder. I lowered my hand and craned my neck to see Andrei standing there looking down at me. He was smiling. God, this guy smiles way too much. I stood up and wiped the dirt off my pants. The two of us exited the field that was enclosed in a metal fence. The fence where we first met. The fence where we all met, through a special game called baseball.