The Switch Hitter (GxG)

Chapter 18

"Suicides!" called the coach as we finished our last drill of the night.

I smiled grimly to myself. Even though it could suck at times, there was something about running back and forth across a gym that was really rewarding. Plus it gave me a chance to show off my speed. I set my glove off to the side, then jogged to the line. I always tried to be on the end when we were doing suicides; it made tripping or running into someone else less likely. Wiping my hands across the bottom of my tennis shoes to give myself better traction, I shook my legs to loosen up the muscles and got my feet into a solid position to sprint from the beginning. Soon, Coach blew her whistle, and I took off, making sure to conserve my speed, but still stay ahead of the pack. I was really good at this. My dad had been making me do suicides for as long as I had been playing softball, which made me not only fast, but able to maintain my speed for a decent amount of time.

I finished way ahead of everyone else, using my hands to stop me from slamming into the opposite wall. Alyssa finished right after me, averting her eyes as she did so. I wasn't paying that much attention, even though I still felt guilty about how I'd hurt her. I was trying to give her the space she'd asked for. I watched as the rest of the girls finished running, unsurprised to see Madi finish dead last. She gave so little effort it was frankly astonishing that she was still on the team. She wasn't fast, her hitting was decent, and she seemed to be slacking. Maybe it was just the fact that open gyms weren't required, and she was only going to keep up appearances. Or maybe she just sucked and the coaches didn't want to kick her off because she was a senior. 

I realized I was staring, so I shook it off and jogged towards the coaches, where we were huddling up to break before we all went home. Conveniently enough, I ended up opposite of Madi. She was sneering at me, and I rolled my eyes at her pettiness. She probably noticed my staring earlier and assumed that I was into her. As the straights do.

Because she's so incredibly eye catching, I thought, mentally puking at the thought. I was still dry heaving when Coach's voice snapped me out of my trance. 

"Tryouts are in two weeks, over at the athletic complex. Underclassmen who don't drive can't ride with upperclassmen, but there will be a bus taking you guys there. They'll be after school, probably 3:15 to 4:30 on the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth. One of the days will be a scrimmage; we're not sure which yet. All days are required so we don't have to spread it out over a week."

At the mention of tryouts I froze. I was no longer dry heaving; my stomach was tight and I felt like I might actually throw up. It wasn't like I had anything to worry about, I knew I was practically guaranteed a spot on the team. But something official like a tryout made me incredibly, irrationally nervous. Which was something I associated with my dad, but it was partially my fault too. I hyped myself up too much, worried so much that my stomach ached constantly. Inevitably, when the time came everything turned out all right. Yet, that knowledge never stopped my stress.

"Stallions on three-- one, two, three-- STALLIONS!"

Ari, team captain she was, led the break. The rest of us joined in as we shouted our school's mascot, but my cheer was halfhearted at best. My stomach was starting to tie itself in knots once again. Now that we were officially done, I moved with the pack of girls to get water and leave. I trotted over to my bag and drank greedily from my water bottle. Since practice was over I didn't have to worry about drinking too much. And between resurfaced nerves and all the running, I was really thirsty. 

Though I was rapidly downing water, it did almost nothing to push away my nerves. And getting into an argument was the last thing I needed.

Alas, Madi was never the one for tactfulness.