The Switch Hitter (GxG)

Chapter 5

I stood at my locker, putting away my textbooks from third period and shoving my homework into my backpack, which I then slung back over my shoulder. A week had passed since the first open field, but Madi's hate for me had only intensified. I rarely saw her during the day, but she ran infield practice, and she never hesitated to make my life difficult. During drills, we would take turns at different positions, practicing different scenarios, and Madi would stand at home plate and hit balls to us. I played shortstop most of the time, and it was obvious that she was giving me the hardest hits, trying to get me to mess up. She would hit the ball right up the middle, forcing me to dive, then immediately after she would hit a lazy pop fly into No Man's Land between third and left so I had to sprint to make a sliding catch. By the time drills were over I would be out of breath and sweating. But I took great satisfaction in the results I made play after play, knowing that Madi's attempts to knock me out of the game were just making me look better.

So I didn't dread going to practice, and I wasn't scared to face Madi on the field again. In fact, I rarely even thought about her while I was in classes.

All I could think about was Ari.

She had been occupying my mind ever since we had what I considered a moment last week, but I hadn't had an opportunity to pursue it further. It was driving me crazy. What had she thought when she was looking into my eyes for those few seconds? 

I shook my head and slammed the door to my locker and started walking to my Pre-Calc class. I was sure I was overthinking. But why? I never thought about a girl this much. Usually even the thought of them got boring after a while, and eventually I just forgot.

But for some reason, Ari was different.

I just had no idea if that was good or bad.

"Hey, Soph, wait up!" 

I turned around. Alyssa was coming toward me. "You forgot to wait for me," she said breathlessly. 

"Sorry, I was just distracted," I replied. We had been walking together since the first day, seeing as we had all our classes together.

"Hey, I'm sorry about last week. I know I should've said something, but I was just..." she trailed off and looked away, blushing.

"I get it," I said, "I do. I don't hold grudges about the little stuff."

"Really?" she said.

I nodded. "Yeah. To be honest, I hadn't even thought about it."

She eyed me curiously. "Why not? You ok?"

I looked down. "Yeah, just thinking about practice tonight," I lied.

Her expression softened a bit. "Hey, don't worry about Madi. As long as Ari's there she won't pull anything else."

I looked back up at that. "Why? I thought she was like team captain, El Jefe, or whatever."

Alyssa laughed a little, but shook her head. "Madi could never win team captain. Ari's the best player on the team. She already has full ride offers from Ohio State, Tennessee, and Florida. She was the fastest pitcher in our entire league last year, and that was as a junior."

"Holy shit." I was really impressed. Those were colleges I could only dream of playing for. Especially with my grades, which, I reflected, were less than admirable.

 "She's also the best power hitter I've ever seen. Not that I've seen many, but," Alyssa continued.

"Still," I finished.

We reached our Pre-Calc class and took seats at our table in the back. She leaned over to me and whispered, "I think she likes you though."

My heart lept. "Really?"