Concrete Angel

The next few weeks flew by. It was a daily routine that never changed. I woke up, ate breakfast and then school. After school, we went straight to the field and practice for a couple of hours. Then we went straight to dinner and then back to the room to sleep or do homework. It was exhausting. Soon it was time for our first game and practices got longer and harder. Weekends were spent trying to catch up on homework and sleep. It was work but I loved every minute of it. I had been sleeping soundlessly, I was too tired for nightmares. Joey and I were the 'it' couple. We were doing great as a couple and on the field. It was like we could read each others minds. Coach had me playing with other catchers and I got in a groove with them but when he played Joey with me, we were unstoppable. Coach was thrilled.

Our first game was on a Saturday. We had to travel about an hour to some school. They weren't really a big named school but all the local newspapers were going to be there. And some newspapers from around our school would be there too. Apparently, our team was the talk of everyone.

"First game team! We can do this." Coach tells us as we file into the dugout laying out our things.

"Scared Izzy?" Joey asks as the other team files into their dugout. They were all boys. They were all big. My eyes had went wide.

"Maybe a bit." I whisper quietly trying not to let Zach overhear who was standing close by observing the other team.

"You're going to do great. It's just another practice." Joey says and I nod as Scotty gains his attention by asking him something. A newspaper reporter stops by to talk to coach. I see the reporter pointing to me and coach waves him off.

"What was that?" I ask as Coach walks over to us.

"They were asking who you were. It's kind of abnormal to have a girl on these teams. I told them you're our new pitcher and no you won't talk to them. I need you focused. If you want to talk and let them take your picture later then that is okay." Coach says and my eyes widen. I want to play but I don't want my face blown up anywhere. He is still out there.

"I'd rather them not take close up pictures by myself or do a story on just me. It's a team effort not just me. And I don't want the attention." I say fixing my ponytail and tying up my cleats. Coach smiles down and me and nods letting me know he'd handle it.

The bleachers fill with students from our school that followed us up here. Kids took every opportunity they had to meet girls and get off campus. The other bleachers were also full apparently baseball was very popular around here.

"Let's play ball!" The ref yells and we all stand at the fence of the dugout as Zach goes up to bat. The other team was good. Zach hit off of them easily but they got him out after Joey got a hit and he was going to second. Scotty got another hit and Joey made it to second but barely. Then it was my turn to bat. In practice coach told me I was the fourth best batter so I went fourth. Our whole team had good batters but he wanted the best to go first so we'd be on base as the others hit. We were also good stealers. I came up to bat and the pitcher motioned for his team to come in some just because I was a girl. I got angry. I made sure to swing as hard as I possibly could and hit it all the way past his players who moved up.

"That's my girl!" Joey shouts and he makes it home and Scotty makes it to third. I stop on second and grin brightly at the boy who was staring at me wide eyed.

I wink at the pitcher as he turns to pitch to Chris. They didn't know what was coming. Chris struck out and walked off the field with his head hung. Ron was up next and got to first on it but it was a no go for Scotty and myself. Jake was next and he hit it just far enough to get me stuck between home and third. They were throwing it back and forth and I was stuck in the middle. Finally I decided to just go for it. I waited for the catcher to throw it to the third base person and I ran with all my might. I slid right into the catcher to make it home. The other team was amazed at us. They looked overly depressed and I hadn't even pitched to them yet. The next few guys struck out easily and the other team seemed to be feeling a bit better about themselves. Joey geared up and we practiced threw a few balls but nothing serious. Coach told me to not show my full skill unless necessary.

"Batter Up." The umpire says and the first guy comes up to bat. Joey gives me the signal and I nod throwing a pitch.

The poor guy didn't even see it coming. I could hear the newspaper man clicking away with his camera. I got a little shaky and one guy got on base but he was the only one to hit off of me for the rest of the game. They were shocked. The crowd was going wild. I just wanted to hide. We quickly cleaned up the dugout and I rushed to the bus trying to get away from everyone. Unlucky me got stopped by a guy on the other team.

"You were amazing." a lanky guy with crooked front teeth says smiling down at me.

"Thanks. Now excuse me." I say trying to step around him and get to the bus that was just in my sights. I could hear the rest of the team far behind me chatting and laughing away.

"You're really pretty as well." The lanky guy says placing a hand on my shoulder and stepping in front of me.

"Let go of me." I say trying not to shudder at his touch. Everything felt so much like that night recently.

"Come on babe, don't be a downer." He says leaning closer to me. I lean back and drop my bag on the ground next to me. He smiles getting the wrong idea. I raise my arm back and let my fist connect to his jaw. I had only tried to fight back once in my life and it was a horrible mistake.

"What the hell?" The guy says rubbing his jaw and stepping backwards. He glared down at me and shoved me to the ground in anger. That was his mistake. Joey and Scotty happened to walking up right about that moment. I heard their bags drop to the ground and then Joey was next to me in a heart beat and Scotty was shoving the guy against the bus.

"Izzy, are you okay?" Joey says as I slowly sat up. I nodded and made sure I wasn't bleeding anywhere.

"I'm fine. Scotty let him go." I say loudly. Joey helps me up then I hear it. There's clicking. This is not good. I see the camera man close to us. I grab my bag and run straight on the bus. Joey shouts something and then I see him and Scotty walking towards the bus. The lanky guy was shoving the camera out of his face and walking back to his team.

"Well that was fun." Scotty says laughing as he takes a seat behind me.

"Fun isn't quite the word for it." I mumble glancing out the bus window towards the camera men who were talking to coach.

"Izzy, calm down. It's just some local newspapers, none of this is going to get out too much other than within our school. We won. You did amazing. Focus on that." Joey whispers in my ear before kissing me on the cheek. I nod at him and the rest my head on his shoulder for the ride home. Something was going to go wrong. Nothing ever went this good for me. Ever.