Chapter 7

"Thomas. You ready to start again?" I looked at Karson."I'm as ready as I'll ever be." After this game was spring break. A week has passed since me and Liv spoke. I still haven't texted her. But after this game, I will. All I know is now, I have to prove myself. I put my glove on and walked out onto the field. First game of the regular season. The seats were filled. I could see the softball team having a game of their own. I hurried to the dugout only to see Cole standing there. He looked at me, almost in a way that made it feel like he would attack me."I heard you're starting today." He said, coldly."Yeah, big day for redemption.""Redemption my ass. You haven't even done anything." Cole is always the man to kill my pride. I have something to prove. I did in preseason, and I failed. Yet, I was given another chance. I'm honestly quite surprised they didn't kick me off the team. Once the game began, I watched from the dugout. Cheering every run we had, and booing every run they had. The crowd's anticipation grew with every pitch.As the game entered the bottom of the final inning, I was up to make a save. The weight of the season's expectations was slammed onto my shoulders. I walked up to the mound, and the crowd got silent. No cheers, no nothing. This silence made me feel a bit more calm. Their expectations were low, meaning I truly did have something to prove. And I wasn't gonna let this opportunity slip away. The first batter approached. He was their pitcher. This is always an easy strike-out. I'm not sure why they didn't bring out a designated hitter, but I'll take any easy strikeout I can get. The count quickly reached 0-2. On my final pitch, I had to use my fastball. It felt powerful coming out of my hand. He took a swing and missed. Strike three. The crowd began cheering loudly. I turned around at Karson who nodded his head. I nodded my head back to him and began facing the batter.I wasted no time on this batter. Fastball to the bottom left, and it hit the mark without him swinging. Strike one. My slider, breaking sharply to the right. Again, no swing and it hits the corner. Strike two. I could tell he was ready to swing at anything. He will most likely chase something down low. Perfect for my cutter. I pitched the devastating cutter right down the zone. Strike three. Two down, one more to go.The next batter stepped into the batter's box. The crowd's cheering went back to silence. They wanted to hold in their cheers for the best comeback player of the cheer. I took a deep breath and looked at Caelan. Caelan is the best catcher in the sport. He'd always know the correct pitches needed to put a batter to sleep. His first sign to me, a fastball. He must not like the heat. I winded up and delivered the first pitch. He swung, but that swing came way too late, as it hit the glove of Caelan who framed it incredibly. Strike one. For the next pitch, he called for a changeup. Perfect after the fastball. Come off as the same until the speed gap gets noticed the moment the ball hits the glove of the catcher. I threw the pitch, and the ball slowly danced to the plate, unlike its counterpart fastball. He swung and made contact to the right side. It was going and going but swayed into the crowd before it could pass the foul pole. The crowd cheered, but it was a quiet cheer. 0-2 count. You could hear a pin drop in this silence. The batter slammed his bat on the plate and got into his hitting stance. He was angry, ready to put full power into any pitch. As the sun shined down on my head, I looked at Caelan. Hoping this will be his final call for the day. A sinker down to the same side. Him being lefty makes this much easier. Feeling the seams in my hands, I put all the strength I could to make this pitch sink. As I predicted, he swung, but missed!"That's the game!" The umpire yelled out. The crowd erupted in applause and roars. Everyone started jogging to the locker room except for Karson, who instead jogged up to me. He patted my back."I knew you'd be back!""All that time off helped me. I'm back and ready for the season!" We both began jogging back into the locker rooms, but then he stopped."You go first, Thomas." This seemed odd. Very suspicious. I walked in slowly and looked around. Everyone had their head down, chilling by their cubby. Then why was Karson so insistent about me going first? And just as I took my jersey off, a giant bucket of water was dumped on my head from behind."AHH!" I yelled. All that fear came from the cold. The whole locker room circled me and started cheering."Let's go, Thomas! An immaculate inning!" I didn't even realize I threw an immaculate inning. Wow, I am back and better than ever. Man, I love this team, everyone except for one. But we don't worry about him."Alright everyone settle down!" Coach Dreason yelled. We all got quiet and looked ahead."Thomas, you've had a hell of a game. Nobody, not even me would have thought you'd come back and throw something this special. Just for that; no practice for tomorrow. Enjoy your spring break." As soon as he finished everyone began cheering again. I felt special, needed, wanted.I know my dad is proud of me now. This is what he would've wanted. After all the cheering, drying myself off, and leaving the locker room, I finally decided I needed to talk to Liv. Should I call her or walk up to her house? Her house isn't far from me at all. I just go up to her, and we talk for a little. I wanna hang out with her over spring break, but, I don't know. Is that what I should ask? That's what I was pondering about from when I left to when I got in front of her house. Once I did, I realized how weird it would be. But she did the same for me. Except she had a reason. I'm kind of just here for nothing. I knocked on her door, and she answered it instantly."Oh, hey Tom.""Why do you call me Tom?""I don't know. Tom like Tom and Jerry." That was, I don't know. Not anything near what I expected her to say. But to be fair, I didn't expect her to answer the question."Uh, Liv, are you busy?""Not really, why?" Perfect opportunity. Don't miss it, can't miss it."Well, I was wondering if we could just walk and talk.""Sure, I don't see why not. Give me a second." She closed the door and I waited. Well, I didn't do what I wanted to do. But, I'm putting myself in a position to ask her. I'm not asking her out, just asking to spend time with her. I got away with it last time since we had the project. But this is me being direct. And I've never been that direct. Especially in front of girls. I've never been a ladies' man. The door opened and Liv stepped out. Her hair was braided and lay upon her left shoulder."Where should we walk to?" She asked me."I don't know. Maybe to the stream." The stream was a little closer to her house than the park was when we first hung out. As we made it to the stream, I never realized how cute her outfit was. I mean, I mean, she had a gray skirt with black leggings. A white long-sleeved shirt with black socks. Simplicity is beauty nowadays. And here I am, wearing my school suit jacket, despite not even going to school today."Liv, how was your softball game today?""It went pretty well. We didn't win, but I did hit a home run.""A home run is still very good." I wanted to give her some encouragement."Yeah, I guess it is. Anyway, you wanted to talk about something?""Yeah. Umm... What's your schedule gonna be like over spring break?" She looked at the sky, clearly thinking."Not too busy. Why? Did you wanna ask me out again?" She's gonna tease me about that as if I had a choice. I didn't even ask her out."No. You certainly wish." She laughed at my response."What makes you curious if I'm busy?" We stopped ahead of the stream, looking at the water slowly passing by. I looked at her; my cheeks burning. Her hazel eyes shone from the sun's reflection. We looked at each other. She looked down at me, I looked up at her."Liv, how would you feel about hanging out over break?" Her eyes widened slightly. I was stupid to even ask that question. She was processing the question and then her lips parted. I expected her to say no but instead, she didn't say anything. Her expression softened a bit. She looked down, then back into my eyes. My face reddened."Thomas..."