8. There's a baseball team?!?!

Soraya’s POV

“So… what happened?” Raven asked me, just as confused as I was.

“Well, Alistair came up to us and you guys left. Then he asked me to help him out in Spanish, and then he asked me to go to a party with him. Then he didn’t understand when I said I wouldn’t go out with him, eventually I got it through to him…” I explained, trailing off as I thought about the turn down he got, I would rather fuck a pig than fuck you. That was some great creativity if I do say so myself.

“Right, we get that part but what was the rest again?” Jackson asked me next.

“Ashton came over, and Alistair said something about Ashton not getting in the way and I'm not entirely sure what happened after that…” I lied, replaying what had happened in my head.

“But… but…” the poor boy was struggling for words. “Ashton wasn’t getting in my way…” he trailed off.

“What? How does this have anything to do with Ass?” I asked him, his face became pale in response. “Alistair?”

“You say anything and the deals off.” Ashton said bluntly as he snapped out of his hysterics.

What was this deal he was on about? If Alistair already failed, how can the deal still be on? Surely the deal finished because he didn’t get me. Why would they call the deal off? What is this deal?

“Yo, are you alright?” Wilbur asked me.

“I'm confused, that’s all.” I responded straight away.

“Why would you get in the way of asking me out?” I asked, genuinely confused.

“Urg, I always get the hot girls, and he wanted you. I decided I would give up one of my future girls for my friend.”

Okay, so Ass and his friends think I'm hot and that they have a chance with me. They want me. This is weird and I don't like it. “You look damn confused.” Wilbur agreed with me from before.

“Oh well, that’s great to know.” I said sarcastically. Still thinking about what Ashton had said… one of his future girls, hmm? I highly, very highly, doubt that’s going to happen. Actually, I know that’s not going to happen.

“Hey! HEY GUYS!” I heard Willow shouting.

“What is it Will?!” I shouted back.

“Did you know that our school had a baseball team?” she asked all of us. I shook my head, and when I looked around everyone else was doing the same.

“No, why?” I summed up everyone’s answers and their probable questions. I was now interested in this, very interested.

“Because they're having try outs for it. I was just surpri-”

“When?” I cut her off, not caring for why she was asking if we knew. I wanted to know how I could get onto this team.

“Now, on the football oval.” She responded, I didn’t hear anything else as I picked up my bag and started running the direction of the football oval. If there is even a slim chance that I could play the singular sport I love, I would take it and milk it for all its worth. I heard the calls of my friends but I was too busy running to my dream to even acknowledge them.

I made it in time for the coach to be asking who was present. I set my bag on the ground next to the others and went over to the line of teenage boys. Why was I the only girl here? “A girl?” the only boy who was standing next to the coach asked.

“Congratulations, would you like an award?” I asked as the coach looked me over.

“What are you doing here?” he asked me.

“Well, I was going to try out for the team. Surely there are no rules against it.” I said smugly.

“That’s true-”

“We don't need a girl on our team.” The boy that was out the front cut the coach off. I counted how many people were here.

“If you want a full team you will.” I corrected that bright green eyed boy. His eyes were very striking with the contrasting brown hair. It was quite attractive actually.

“We have a full team in case you haven’t notice-”

“You have eight. If I'm wrong I'm pretty sure you need nine to have a full team. Am I wrong?” I asked him, when he responded with a glare I took it as I was right. “So, I would be number nine. So therefore you do need a girl on your team.” I said, watching as the guy clenched his jaw.

“Okay, well, this is try outs. So if none of you are good enough, you won’t be playing, I do have back-ups if needed. Alright, you should probably change into some good training clothes if you have them, if not there are some spare physical education uniforms over there. Meet back here in five.” The coach explained.

Shit, I don't have spare clothes. To the shitty PE uniforms it is then… I picked up the only decent and not too bad smelling shirt in the box, which happened to be about five sizes to big. Luckily I have a spare hair tie then. I then went to the shorts, trying to find a pair that would fit. An oversized shirt I could handle, oversized shorts are another story. I found a pair of shorts in my size, but some slut must have left them because they were only tight, black, lycra, booty shorts. God damn I hate my life.

I ran to the change rooms and quickly got changed into the clothes I had scavenged, and ran back out again with my hair in a ponytail. Luckily I had worn my Converse today, so I at least had some decent-ish footwear. “So, Soraya will be throwing to Xavier…” I zoned out after I heard my name and the person I would be throwing with. Xavier… which one was that?

When I looked around and saw the familiar pair of stunning green eyes, I knew that was him. The one who doesn’t want me playing was the one I would have to throw to, how brilliant. I got the most decent glove there that would fit onto my tiny hand and picked up a not-so-white ball with not-so-clean red stitching. It felt good to hold the ball in my hand, and to be able to throw to someone else’s glove instead of their head with a gumball.

“So… what you got hot-shot?” I asked, throwing the ball to him gently after we stretched.

“Well, I was the pitcher last year so I would hope I still have a good arm.” He responded. “What about you?” he said a little bitterly, still not too keen about having a girl on the team I see.

“Well, it’s kind of ironic. I'm a pitcher and a catcher. So I’ll either be better than you or catch to you. Weird huh?” I said, he only responded by throwing the ball back to me with probably his ‘best throw’. “Is that all you’ve got?” I asked, as I got the ball to sit right in my hand before I threw it back to him with a lot more strength than he had anticipated.

He dodged it as it went to his shins and it zoomed right past him. “So… you played last year as pitcher I see…” I said sarcastically, not believing his claims anymore. “You would think that you could catch those ones if you were a ‘pitcher’.” I mocked him.

“Hey, it’s been a while.” He said like it would be a reasonable excuse.

“Shut up and go get the ball.” I told him, and he did as was instructed. He came back, throwing the ball with the same amount of strength as before. I threw it back with even more, however this time was more accurate. It went straight to his glove, he didn’t even have to move it.

A few minutes later and the coach had called us in to do some batting. I made some good hits, but I knew my strength was bunting and slap-hits. The short batting. So when we did bunts and slap-hits, I was doing them perfectly. Even with Xavier pitching to me and his so called ‘fast-speed’. I could tell where he was throwing it before he even let go of the ball, and he was surprised when I was hitting his inside pitches all over the place. Usually insides are the hardest to hit, but to me they were as easy as the ones that went over the middle of the plate.

The last period was almost finished, but we were still at the try-outs. Apparently all of the teachers knew about the try-outs, but I was hoping my friends would tell the teachers anyway. The coach let everyone go, except for me and Xavier. “So, where would your preferred position be Kingston?” he asked me, using the typical coaches thing of calling me by my ‘last name’.

“Anywhere, mostly catcher though.” I responded, biting my lip.

“Alright, well you can practice catching to Xavier here until the day finishes. Please put the gear on, it may be too big and probably unhygienic but I’d prefer for you to wear that then to get injured. Be careful, figure out signals. Kingston you’re on the team, and good arm by the way.” Coach finished before he walked away.

“So, the irony hits hard.” I stated as I tried to fish out two leg guards, a chest plate and a catching mask.

“I suppose it does.” Xavier responded, not helping me as I hung out of the container with my ass in the air. Damn school and their oversized bins that hold the sport gear in it and having the catching gear somewhere at the bottom. I'm too short for this, and that’s saying something considering I'm not even that short. I finally got out of the damn bin with the gear I needed, discovering it was in pretty shitty condition.

“Why is the gear so fucked?” I asked him, hoping he would know.

“That’s the training gear. The playing gear is in better condition, I swear.” He said, surprisingly with a bit of warmth.

“That’s good to know.” I responded as I started to clip on the leg guards. After I had gotten them on and tightened the straps I had put the chest plate on, seemingly frustrated when it fell halfway down my chest. I went to take it off again when Xavier went behind me an fumbled with the buckle as he tightened it. When he came back around to my front he was standing extremely close, but the chest plate was definitely fitting better than before.

I looked up into Xavier’s crystal green eyes, realising he was closer than originally thought.

Ashton’s POV;

“Klarence” Coach called out and I looked up from chatting with Alistair about the girls swim team to see Coach gesturing for me to go over.

“I’ll see you in Chem” I told Alistair who nodded and walked away, “Yeah Coach?” I asked as I made my way over,

“I didn’t see you at baseball tryouts today” He started as we walked down the hall,

“Yeah I think I’m gonna take a break this year” I responded with a shrug,

“How’s the ankle been?” He asked with a frown, completely ignoring my previous statement,

“It’s fine I guess, still hurts a bit though” I commented off handedly, I didn’t really notice it that much anymore.

“What would you do if I said we needed you to play?” he asked as we came to stop in front of a window that overlooked the pitch, a couple people were still practicing, but I couldn’t see who. Judging from the pitch it was Xavier but I couldn’t tell who was catching to him from here, the helmet didn’t help either.

“What happened to the people that tried out?” I asked confused, surely there was enough players to make a team, baseball was pretty big here,

“A lot of them didn’t make the cut” Coach stated, his frown deepening as he stared out the window, “We lost a lot of players last year, we need some of them back, to be precise I need you and Calen back on the team” he turned a stern look on me, Calen was out resident 3rd baseman, best in the school at his position since he started freshman year.

“I don’t know if I can” I admitted, “If I want that sports scholarship next year I can’t afford another serious injury like that” I was offered a scholarship last year for baseball before that accident, I was only allowed to keep it if I didn’t sustain another serious injury.

“We can put you in the outfield” Coach compromised, “You can play the easier rolls, nothing to extreme”

“What about a catcher? There’s no way Joseph can catch, you saw him last year, his throw is too weak” I asked

“We have a new one this year” Coach stated, “First girl to ever try out, she’s got a good arm and her instincts are good, she can be the catcher”

A girl? Since when does a girl play baseball? Since when does one of the girls at this school play base… wait,

“What girl?” I questioned,

“She’s out on the pitch practicing with Xavier” Coach stated, “You should go have a look, give a couple pointers,” at that he started walking away, “Oh and see you at training tomorrow, Klarence” with that he was gone and I let out a sigh,

“So much for a gap year” I grumbled in annoyance but started heading in the direction of the pitch, might as well see if she can actually do the job.