His Wolf Pup - a Jasper Hale Story

26- America's Favorite Pastime

Our family was chilling in the clearing, waiting for Bella and Edward to show up before the game could start. Carlisle and Emmet were setting up the bases while Rosalie was swinging the bat around to get her mind off the fact that Bella would be there soon.

"Here she comes."

As I turned I saw how Edward stoped running as he reached the edge of the clearing and attempted to set Bella down on her feet. Instead, her legs gave out from under her, and she collapsed onto the ground, causing Rosalie to chuckle quietly at her. I turned away to watch Emmet and Carlisle finish setting up. Soon enough, we all gathered around home plate, ready to start playing.

"Alright," Carlisle started saying, getting everyone's attention. "The teams will be Edward, me, Rosalie, and Alice on one team; Emmet, Noah, Jasper, and Emma on another team; and Esme and Bella will be the umpires. Sound good?"

"Yes, let's go!" Alice yelled, excitedly making her way to grab the bat.

She brought the bat over to Carlisle and Emmet, who played a hand-over-hand game to see who would bat first. Carlisle ended up winning, meaning I was pitching first.

As I made my way to the pitcher's mound with the ball I heard Esme tell Bella, "You are helping me ref the game."

"She thinks we cheat," Emmet yelled out.

"I know you cheat," Esme shot back, causing Emmet to laugh. "Just call them as you see them, Bella."

Everyone got into place, me on the mound, Carlisle with the bat in hand, and everyone else scattered around their respective areas.

We all looked at Alice, who had a smile on her face. "It's time." With those two words, the game was on.

I threw the ball as fast as possible, which was pretty quick for a hybrid, straight at Carlisle. I had gotten better at baseball after all the times we played as a family, so I was sure it looked like I played similarly to the others from Bella's perspective. Carlisle hit the ball, sending it flying into the trees behind us as he took off running. A loud, thundering sound was echoing around the field from the bat.

"I can see why you need the thunder," I heard Bella say aloud.

Jasper chased after the ball as Bella spoke and threw it to me before Carlisle could pass second base.

Then Edward was up to bat. "You ready?" I asked him.

He smirked at me before saying, "Bring it."

I threw the ball at Edward as he hit it far behind me again. Emmet ran off to chase it before throwing it back at me, but not before Carlisle made it past home plate.

Rosalie grabbed the bat off the ground and stared straight at me, ready. I threw the ball, she hit it, and multiple people took off running. I saw the ball fly past my face and straight at Esme as Rosalie was rounding the last corner. She slid into home base as Esme caught the ball.

Everyone looked to Bella, who timidly said, "You're out."

This caused Rosalie to sulk off while Emmet called out, "It's only a game, babe."

Their team continued to bat; Carlisle, Rosalie, Edward and Alice; until they got three outs causing us to switch. Alice took her place on the pitching mound as Emmet stepped up to the plate.

Alice threw the ball, and Emmet hit it with all his might. As Emmet ran around the bases, Edward took off in a full sprint after the ball.

"That's got to be a home run," Bella said.

"Not necessarily," Esme replied. "Emmet is the strongest, but Edward is very fast."

We all watched as Edward caught the ball and threw it to Esme before Emmet crossed over home base, causing him to be out.

As he walked over to me, sulking, I laughed at him.

"Hey, knock it off," he told me.

"You're just upset that Edward beat you," I told him.

"If you don't shut up, you'll miss your boyfriend's turn to hit."

I looked away as he spoke to see Jasper stepping up to bat. He decided to do a weird trick with the bat where he threw it in the air and hit it a bunch of times, but it looked cool.

Alice threw the ball, Jasper hit it, and he and Carlisle took off at a run. Before they could get far, Alice froze in the middle of the field saying, "Wait," causing us all to pause.

Her gasp caused us all to gather closer to see what was wrong. "They're coming," she said.

"The nomads?" Edward asked, obviously seeing them in her vision.

"I thought they were leaving," Carlisle said.

"They were, but they heard us, and they want to play."

I felt Jasper grab my arm as Alice spoke. If the nomads come to the field, they'll see Bella and me and smell our blood. They'll try and attack.

"Bella let's go," Edward said, trying to fix the situation.

"It's too late," Alice said sadly. "You'll never make it in time."

"Let's just go back to pretending we're playing, so we don't look suspicious. Bella can hide behind a few people. Just make it look like you're waiting to bat." Carlisle's words were calm, and his plan could work.

We all followed what he said, and Bella and I stood behind Jasper and Edward, who were doing their best to look calm.

"Just put your hair down," Edward told Bella, trying to hide her scent.

"Like that's going to help, I can smell her from across the field," Rosalie said, causing Edward to send her an angry look.

I could tell Jasper wanted to tell me something, but he didn't want to let Bella know that I wasn't a vampire, so he was conflicted as he stood beside me. I grabbed his hand in mine, leaning into him. "It's going to be okay," I told him quietly.

"They're here," he replied.