Step it Up, Charlie Brown!

By Sean Mahoney

It was the bottom of the ninth; score tied 14-14. It had been a rough season to be sure, but Charlie Brown knew that if he could just strike out this last guy his team would make the championship. He'd be the hero.

His opposition stepped up at bat. He didn't look like much at a glance, but Jose Peterson was not a mortal. He had a batting average of .850, something that most statisticians would tell you is physically impossible. That however hasn't stopped the Mexican-Swede from demolishing his competition time after time. Charlie wondered how he could possibly strike this legend out.

"Come on Charlie Brown! You can do it!" Charlie Brown looked to stands to see the Little Red Haired Girl, Heather, cheering for him. He smiled, no matter what happened he had her.

With a renewed sense of determination, he made eye contact with his catcher, Schroeder, who signaled for a slider. Charlie Brown nodded and pitched. Jose confidently swung the bat and instinctively began to dart to first before he heard the umpire declare the ball a strike. Charlie Brown noted the look of confusion on Peterson's face and felt immensely proud.

This time Charlie Brown pitched a Screwball, something Jose hadn't anticipated in the least. The umpire declared, "Strike Two!" as Peterson swag at air. Charlie Brown saw the look on Peterson's face; he was clearly calculating the immanent drop in his average. He clenched the bat and gritted his teeth, yet for the first time in his life, didn't feel an air of smug confidence. That was actually reserved for Charlie Brown for once, who knew that Jose Peterson was too frazzled to hit his next pitch.

The crowd picked up on Jose's disposition and began to cheer for Charlie Brown. They chanted his name over and over, boosting his confidence to levels he never had reached before.

"CHARLIE BROWN! CHARLIE BROWN! CHARLIE BROWN!"

His entire team joined in on the chanting. Linus, Schroeder, Frieda, Eudora, Patty, Violet, Shermy, Pig-Pen, Snoopy, and even Lucy! Everybody wanted to see Charlie Brown win!

"CHARLIE BROWN! CHARLIE BROWN! CHARLIE BROWN!" They continued chanting!

Charlie Brown looked over at the opposing team's player's box. Both Franklin and Roy stared in complete shock at what was happening. Thibault grinded his teeth in hatred at Charlie Brown, "That little punk really does think he's better than us!" he growled to his manager and pitcher, Peppermint Patty. Peppermint Patty herself however, had to hold in her urge to begin to cheer for Charlie Brown herself. Even she, the leader of the opposing team, wanted to see him succeed.

"CHARLIE BROWN! CHARLIE BROWN! CHARLIE BROWN!"

Charlie Brown looked at the stands and noted that the loudest voice was Heathers! She was cheering for him; her eternal hero!

"CHARLIE BROWN! CHARLIE BROWN! CHARLIE BROWN!"

This was it, it was hero time alright! Just one pitch and they'd win the game! One pitch and they'd win the championship! He locked eyes with Schroeder. They agreed on a Forkball. Jose, sweating bullets, gritted his teeth. Charlie Brown threw the pitch!

"CHARLIE BROWN! CHARLIE BROWN! CHARLIE BROWN!"

"Charlie Brown!" He felt a swift jab in his shoulder and let out a small yelp. "Charlie Brown you blockhead! Are you coming or what?!" Confused, Charlie Brown looked around and found himself sitting at a desk in a classroom where everybody else was shuffling out of their seats and out of the door.

"Wha…where am I?!" Charlie Brown exclaimed.

His friend as well as the culprit behind his sore elbow, Lucy van Pelt, groaned, "Where in math class you moron! Mr. Drainoff's lecture must have put you to sleep! Good grief." Charlie Brown looked around and began to recognize his surroundings. He was a high school student, in his junior year. And that's all he was. He wasn't an all star baseball hero. In fact, he hadn't played baseball since he started middle school; he sure as heck didn't make the team.

More importantly though, nobody would have been chanting his name unless it was in blame. Everybody hated Charlie Brown, as evidenced right now when Jose Peterson (who did happen to be one of the school's all star players) walked past him and snidely remarked, "Hey, how bout you snore a little more loudly tomorrow Brown! Anything's better than listening to Drainoff!" Jose's remark garnered some chuckles from some other students which of course caused Charlie Brown to slink into his seat.

"Oh Jesus Christ…" Lucy muttered, and grabbed Charlie Brown's arm and pulled him out of his chair. "Come on you idiot, it's already been two minutes since the bell rang; do you want to be late for the bus?!"

Charlie Brown quickly gathered his belongings and muttered, "Sorry Lucy…"

Lucy rolled her eyes and grumbled, "I don't know why I put up with you, Charlie Brown." Charlie Brown sighed, that's what most of his "friends" probably thought about him. He was just some liability; some buzz kill that they didn't quite have the heart to cut off.

Charlie Brown quietly followed Lucy to his bus. Today's walk was notably not as painful as usual; probably because he was following Lucy. Lucy usually stayed after school, she seemed to be involved in everything: student council, event planning committee, editor of the school's newspaper (which incidentally is considered the most biased school publication in America); Lucy loved to be in the center of it all. All he had thrown at him was a spitball, courtesy of Thibault, who for whatever reason despised Charlie Brown, more than anything else in the universe. Before he got on the bus though, he caught a glimpse of the Little Red Haired Girl, otherwise known to the rest of the school as Heather, walking past the busses with the other notable red haired girl in the school, Frieda, both on their way to cheerleading practice. Charlie Brown's heart sank. The discrepancy between fantasy and reality that was most hurtful to him was the fact that instead of Heather being an adoring fan and devoted lover to Charlie Brown, he didn't exist at all to her and he was regularly reminded that he stood no chance with her whatsoever.

Lucy made her way to the back of the bus; Charlie Brown knew well enough not to follow. You could say that Lucy and Charlie Brown were friends, but her patience for him had an incredibly low threshold. Plus, Lucy would be sitting with her on again, off again, friends Violet and Patty who Charlie Brown had no intention of being near. Violet and Patty were the co-leaders of one of the biggest and influential cliques in the school. Being shunned by them meant almost complete social banishment. Charlie Brown was frequently at the top of their shun list. They often clashed with Lucy, whose brash personality often defied their social decrees.

As Charlie Brown made his way down the bus, he was met with the usual sight of most of the other kids putting their backpacks next to them while staring at him; just to drive home the fact that he wasn't welcome to sit with them. It didn't matter anyway though; he always ended up sitting with his best friend Linus anyway.

Linus van Pelt was certainly an interesting fellow. The younger brother of Lucy, he shared her fierce independent spirit, but did so in a much more refined and thoughtful way. Considered a philosopher at age 5, everybody knew that Linus had done more thinking about the world than products of the Enlightenment themselves. Linus however was never one to push his philosophical beliefs on others (excepting a certain vegetable that he still believed would travel the world on a specific date once a year); rather, Linus would only offer his wisdom to those in need, and let them sort it out for themselves. Perhaps this is the reason why he and Charlie Brown have been such great friends for so many years; Charlie Brown is in constant need of guidance.

Back in elementary school, Linus was bumped up a grade, explaining why he is a junior despite being noticeably younger than his peers. Though Linus was by no means considered as big a loser as Charlie Brown was, he still was one of the school's "misfits" so to speak. Much of this probably had to do with the fact that he associated with Charlie Brown; an action considered criminal in the eyes of Patty and Violet though Linus certainly didn't help matters by insisting on carrying his old mangy security blanket around with him. Back in the first week of freshman year, Linus was a frequent target of the school's numerous bullies. Of course once a bully got a taste of Linus's blanket wielding finesse they stayed far away from him. Linus was well aware that other people thought he was a bit off, and wasn't fazed in the least by it. He'd rather only deal with people who had real substance in their personalities anyway; he had no need for the superficial notions that came with high school society.

This mentality was something he wished his friend Charlie Brown would adopt. It was sad to see how he would beat himself up over the notion that nobody liked him. Linus did acknowledge the fact that most people were unnecessarily cruel to the kid, but he just couldn't understand why Charlie Brown would let such evil people bring him down in the first place. People like that shouldn't matter to him. Whenever Linus would suggest something like that however, Charlie Brown would quickly blame himself for all of his problems and would often tumble down a harmful train of thought that he was no good to anybody.

As Charlie Brown sat down Linus greeted him and then noted, "Oh great, Medusa is coming home normal time today huh?"

Lucy's short fuse engraved in his mind, Charlie Brown urged his friend keep quiet, lest he face her wrath. Linus shrugged, "Whatever, I'm heading to your house today anyway right?"

Charlie Brown nodded, "Yeah, we're not supposed to meet up with the girls until 5ish anyway, so I figure we can play some Crazy Crash Citizens [the latest fighting game out on the market]or something until then. "

Linus nodded, "Sounds good Charlie Brown, though I must say that I've practiced a lot with James Buchanan in the past week. I'm definitely going to take down your Henry Kissinger! " The two friends spent the remainder of the bus ride talking about which historical figures would beat each, and for a brief period of time, Charlie Brown forgot about how miserable his existence was, instead focusing on the trivial nonsense that was video games with his best friend.

As Linus and Charlie Brown continued their discussion, Lucy was having a much less pleasant one with Violet and Patty. "Whatchu doing walking with Charlie Brown, Lucy? You two aren't going out or anything huh?" Patty sarcastically remarked.

Lucy, not having the patience for this nonsense curtly replied, "Someone has to keep an eye on him; he's liable to get himself killed walking down the halls."

Violet giggled, "Sure thing Lucy, anything you say." Lucy grunted with impatience while Violet continued to make small talk. "So, I hear that you are planning on running for Senior Class President for next year? How's that going for you?"

"Just fine, thank you very much. Right now the only other people running are Molly Volley and '5'. They're going to be a piece of cake."

Patty sighed, "I guess they have to run elections now huh? I suppose somebody has to fill Shermy's shoes." Lucy gagged at the sight of Patty wistfully talking about Shermy. Shermy was a year older than her; a senior, and was the current class president. Everybody in the school loved Shermy. He was on the track to becoming valedictorian in addition to already being class president, recent favorite to prom king, and quarterback of the school's football team. Lucy personally never saw what was so great about the guy, but most everybody else seemed to love him. What did matter though was he was now graduating, and a lot of the positions he filled would be open.

Violet sneered, "Anyway Lucy, if you are serious about running for president, I'd probably want to be a little more selective about who I associate with."

Lucy furrowed her brow, "You know it's not like I hang out with Linus and Charlie Brown by choice! That little toad is my brother, and he's always hanging out with that blockhead! I have nothing to do with it!" Lucy felt her anger rising as Violet and Patty proceeded to advise her on her campaign.

Charlie Brown and Linus spent about an hour or so playing their new video game together. After the initial trash talking that always occurs whenever two males in the 13-25 demographic play video games, Linus noted Charlie Brown kept incredibly quiet with an air of gloom about him. This seemed to be the typical routine for Charlie Brown; he was always depressed about something. Despite not really wanting to play psychiatrist, Linus asked Charlie Brown, "Is something the matter? You're being awfully quiet." Granted Charlie Brown was usually quiet, but Linus didn't want to say something akin to the fact that Charlie Brown's demeanor was creeping him out.

Sighing, Charlie Brown replied, "Oh no, it's nothing."

Linus rolled his eyes, "It's obviously not nothing Charlie Brown. Was my sister harassing you before you went on the bus? Or did Thibault try starting trouble with you again?"

"No…well I mean kind…Thibault did try to fight me today, but I'm used to that…and Lucy didn't do anything…in fact because I was with her was probably why Thibault laid off today."

"Then what is it? Something is obviously bothering you."

"Oh…it's really nothing. I was just thinking earlier today and…well…I had a daydream about how things could be better and… oh nevermind…"

Linus shrugged, "We all daydream about how our lives can be better Charlie Brown. I frequently like to think that I've discovered some great universal truth and that I use that knowledge to lead everyone to enlightenment!"

"That's…not exactly what I was thinking…"

Linus laughed, "Well then, I would have to wager that you were day dreaming about Heather, huh, Charlie Brown?"

"Yeah…bingo."

"And how you'd never have a chance with her and all of that?" Charlie Brown nodded. They've had this conversation many times before.

"Man, I don't know why you just don't ask her out. You're a nice guy, I'm sure she'd like you."

Charlie Brown shook his head, "I doubt that. I can't think of anything I have to offer. I'm a loser, I'm boring, I'm sure not good looking by any stretch of the imagination, and I sure can't do anything right. I don't know what she'd ever see in me."

"Sheesh Charlie Brown, you know I keep telling you not to talk like that. You think Moses would have ever lead his people to freedom if he felt that way about himself? Or what about the Founding Fathers?"

"Well, I'm sure not Moses or Benjamin Franklin."

Before Linus could respond to his friend's typical depressing behavior, the front door slammed open as Sally, Charlie's younger sister, stormed through in a rage. She stared right at her brother and yelled, "You blockhead! You ruined my chances of making the cheerleading team!" Sally was a freshman, and was adamant on making the cheerleading team, possibly because she believed that cheerleaders were paid handsomely. She reasoned that since most girls on the cheerleading squad were rich, they must pay a lot of money. Her other motive of course was her notion that all boys liked cheerleaders, her sweet baboo included. Despite being fourteen, Sally still hadn't shaken off her borderline obsessive crush on her brother's friend, Linus.

Confused, Charlie groaned, "What are you talking about Sally?"

"When the other girls realized that I was your sister they all began laughing at me! They couldn't possibly stand somebody that is related to you being on the team! None of the girls would take me seriously!"

Linus started, "Now hold on, it's hardly fair for them to judge you based on the merits of…"

Charlie Brown, however, instantly thinking that the Little Red Haired Girl was on the team interrupted his friend, "Wait! All of the girls on the team were making fun of me?!" the sound of desperation clear in his voice.

Sally blinked, "Yeah, duh…"

Charlie Brown sighed, "So I guess they all hate me…"

Sally, trying to recollect back to an hour ago then said, "Well, I think one of them was trying to tell the others to stop."

Charlie Brown instantly perked up in hope, "YOU MEAN HEATHER?!"

Sally laughed a laugh that gave Charlie Brown goose bumps, "No definitely not her! No the other girl with the red hair. You know…the one who always talks about how great and curly it is." Charlie Brown stopped paying attention after sally said 'no'. He had once again been completely crushed.

Linus on the other hand couldn't believe Sally could be so dimwitted, "Are you kidding me? You can't remember Frieda's name!? You've only known her since you were in diapers!"

Defensively Sally replied, "Hey, it's not like I was ever close to her!" She then changed her tone to a much sweeter variety, "Unlike you, my Sweet Baboo!"

Linus grumbled in disgust, "Oh lord, not this again… Come on Charlie Brown, let's go; the girls are waiting for us."

Sally rolled her eyes, "Oh sheesh, what are you two doing with them today?"

Linus scoffed, "We're going to go see Not Without My Daughter 2 with them."

Sally gagged, "Why would you want to see that snooze fest?!"

Linus groaned, "Marcie and I have been looking forward to seeing it for a while. It should prove to be an enlightening film documenting a politically unstable region as well as dealing with the cultural-

"Oh brother, forget I asked. And why is my big brother and Peppermint Patty going?" She said with a hint of sarcasm that Linus picked up but was lost to Charlie Brown.

Linus shrugged, "Ms. Donovan is giving out extra credit in history for anybody who sees that movie and does a write up of it. Patty needs all the extra credit she can get. As for Charlie Brown, it's not like he has anything better to do."

"Gee, thanks Linus."

"Well it's true."

Sally, vastly uninterested in anything her brother had to say walked up to Linus, "Well, wouldn't you rather see the new Sundown movie with me, my Sweet Baboo?" Sally blinked twice and tried smile as cutely as possible.

Her charms had no effect on Linus, who replied, "I'm not your Sweet Baboo and I wouldn't take you a Lord of the Rings Live Action Role Play!!"

Sally giggled, not sure what he was talking about and cooed, "Isn't he just the cutest thing?"

Linus moaned, "Come on Charlie Brown, let's get out of here!" and dragged his friend who was too concerned over what his sister had just told him to pay attention to anything else.

Linus and a still gloomy Charlie Brown met up at the movie theater with their two friends Peppermint Patty and Marcie. Peppermint Patty was holding a notepad and a pencil and looked just as depressed as Charlie Brown; no sane person would want to take notes in a movie theater.

Much like Charlie Brown and Linus, Peppermint Patty and Marcie were somewhat social outcasts in school. Perhaps nowhere near the extent that Charlie Brown was, but still considerable. As a kid Peppermint Patty was a tomboy, a role she never grew out of. Peppermint Patty was overall the best athlete in the school. Some people were better than her at certain sports, such as Jose Peterson with baseball, but she was involved in so many sports that everybody recognized her. She was so good, that many attribute the fact that the school got rid of separate gender teams to her dominating performance for the baseball team tryouts back in freshman year.

Compared to many, Peppermint Patty was one of the most well known and accomplished students in the school, which of course many people of higher social status resented. Therefore ever since her school and Charlie Brown's school merged when they all went to middle school, girls like Violet and the other Patty have made her a frequent (though still used less than old Charlie Brown) target of their attacks, usually over her lack of feminine qualities (a sore spot of hers), her affiliation with Charlie Brown, or her dismal performance in academic endeavors (though it's not like Violet and Patty were geniuses themselves).

Peppermint Patty looked at the ways the other girls made fun of her differently. She couldn't care less when it came to her grades; it just wasn't important to her. As for why people made fun of her for being friends with Charlie Brown, she wasn't sure why. She thought it was pathetic how people treated him. Sure he was a bit of a wishy-washy loser, but he was a really nice guy and had been an unconditional friend of hers since they were about nine. He could be a bit dense (but she knew she could be just as dense, if not more so) but he always meant well. Plus she knew how vulnerable he was, and she had a desire to protect him. To be honest, she had something of a crush on him. She had since she was little, though it had dissipated somewhat. Charlie Brown probably would like her back, if he could ever wrap his head around the concept of a girl actually liking him. That was a physical impossibility to him; thus any flirtations or compliments that she would give him would usually be misinterpreted as insults or a way to embarrass him, despite her sincerest efforts to boost his ego just a little bit. Despite being oblivious to how she felt about him though, Charlie Brown was happy to have someone like her for a friend. Sometimes she was a little too eager and pushy for his personality, but she was just as true a friend as Linus who accepted him unconditionally (though she did have plenty of moments of frustration at him). Charlie Brown personally got very upset when others would start to make fun of her for being a tomboy. Some of the less respectful people in the school would commonly make many allegations about her and her friend Marcie, which would upset Charlie Brown quite a bit; though never enough to actually stand up to anyone about it. Charlie Brown didn't see how she wasn't feminine. Sure she kicked butt in sports but she was still very sensitive about certain issues. Plus when she wanted to, she could make herself look incredibly pretty. In fact, Charlie Brown tends to forget who the Little Red Haired Girl is when he watches Peppermint Patty at her figure skating competitions.

Balancing Peppermint Patty out was her best friend, Marcie Johnson. For every bit brash and loud Patty was, Marcie was quiet and reserved. Bar none, the smartest person in her class (heck the school), Marcie would pretty much have to fail all of her classes to allow Linus and her cousin Maynard (who trailed behind her) a chance at the valedictorian spot come graduation. Marcie was probably also the sweetest person in the school. That isn't to say she wasn't above teasing somebody, in fact, at times she could also run for the title of biggest snarker. Overall though, Marcie was the very passive counterpart to Peppermint Patty who often had to rein her friend back into the realm of reality.

As the group purchased their tickets Peppermint Patty immediately began to complain, "This is insane Marcie! Why the heck would I want to take notes in a movie theater?! What's the whole point of going to a movie if you're going to have to write about it afterwards?!"

"Actually sir, there's an entire industry of reviewers who do this for a living. Some of them have considerable clout in the minds of the movie-going public. Besides, you should be happy you have this opportunity to bring up your average." Marcie tactfully responded.

Peppermint Patty rolled her eyes, "You're a weird one Marcie, and stop calling me sir!"

Marcie smiled, "Sorry sir!"

Peppermint Patty groaned and then turned her attention to Chuck, who had just purchased a bag of popcorn and soda; he hadn't spoken a word since they got to the theater.

"Hey Chuck, is something bothering ya?"

Linus, noticing that his friend was still staring blankly ahead gave him a nudge.

"Wha?...Is something--? Oh…no Patty."

"Aw jeeze Chuck, I know you better than you know yourself at this point! I know something's bothering you!"

Linus rolled his eyes, "He's just been thinking about Heather again Patty."

Peppermint Patty sighed, she didn't really like the Little Red Haired Girl. She didn't understand why Chuck was so hot for someone who didn't know he even existed. "You still aren't over her Chuck?"

Charlie Brown began to stammer. Marcie noticing the tense situation decided to diffuse it by reminding everybody that the movie was starting soon.

Two hours later the four friends exited the theater and congregated in the main lobby. Marcie and Linus were discussing the movie together; they both had found it quite enlightening. Peppermint Patty was annoyed because she ending up sleeping through it, so she effectively just wasted ten dollars while Charlie Brown was still brooding; he had probably caught less of the movie than Patty.

"I can't believe this! I wasted ten dollars and my afternoon and I still can't even write this stupid extra credit assignment! I'm no better off than I was before." Patty complained.

Marcie, trying to cheer her up, responded, "Well if it makes you feel better sir, the movie wasn't exactly historically credible."

"Yeah thanks Marcie, that makes me feel loads better…" Patty grumbled.

The group left the building and began walking down the street back home.

"Yeah Patty" Linus continued, "Once they revealed that the friendly shopkeeper was actually the previous Shah of Iran I couldn't take the movie serious anymore."

"The who of the what?!" Patty grew increasingly exasperated; she felt that she should have at least some marginal understanding of what they were talking about. "You didn't understand any of the movie either, right Chuck?"

"Wha..? Oh no… I…"

"Good grief, will you get your head out of the clouds?! Stop thinking about that stupid red haired girl if she upsets you so much! You really need to stop daydreaming so much about her!"

"But Peppermint Patty, daydreaming is Charlie Brown's only strong suit. If you take that away from him, he's nothing!" The group had bumped into Jose Peterson, surrounded by a group of girls who Charlie Brown didn't know by name but recognized as part of Patty and Violet's normal entourage. Jose Peterson was one of the two most popular boys in the school, tied of course with Shermy. Most girls were either loyal Shermy fans or part of "Team Peterson". While Shermy seemed rather aloof to most of his admirers, only really hanging out with Violet and Patty, Jose Peterson reveled in his popularity.

Charlie Brown immediately slinked back behind his other friends. Peppermint Patty on the other hand began to stare him down, "What do you want Peterson?"

"I aint talking to you freckles" Jose spat.

"Oh don't mind her Jose Peterson; Peppermint Patty has just been having a rough day today. You see she wanted to see…"

Patty began to boil over, "Marcie will you shut up!?!" Marcie quickly began to blush. It was no secret that Marcie was deep in the "Team Peterson" camp. Peppermint Patty however was one of the rare girls who didn't like either boy. She had no use for Shermy; she didn't see what was so special about him. Plus anyone associated with Violet and the other Patty was not to be trusted in her book. As for Jose, the two of them are what you'd call the dangerous term: exes. Back in freshman year the two of them began going out, it made sense seeing as the two of them were the best baseball players in the school. However it quickly became apparent to Patty just how conceited he was. Jose was perfectly fine with breaking up; he quickly realized that he could do a lot better than Peppermint Patty.

"Still taking orders from old Reichardt here, huh Marcie? That's a shame." The girls following him began giggling while Marcie turned a beat read. Jose turned his attention back to Charlie Brown, "So "Chuck" word is on the street that you got the hots for Heather eh?" The girls ceased simple giggling and began full on guffawing. Jose turned to his girls and smiled, "Now now girls, at least we now know that Charlie Brown isn't gay or anything. Granted, I mean it's not like there were as many rumors as with your friend Patty there, but still a lot of us were wondering."

Peppermint Patty's face turned redder than Linus's shirt as she began to make a move towards him, only to be held back by Linus.

"He's not worth it Patty!" Linus whispered. Charlie Brown meanwhile stared at his shoes. It was a technique that he had picked up in early middle school. If he just stood there and did nothing, the people making fun of him would eventually get bored and move on.

Jose noticing Patty's anger laughed, "Calm down, I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" Patty grumbled something untellable as Peterson continued to smirk, "Look kid, everyone and their mom knows that you practically stalk the girl, so I might as well make it said that you might as well move on." Charlie Brown's heart sank even further, the fact that he had just been called a stalker suddenly felt like a justified insult to him. Was that all he really was? Just a creepy stalker.

Linus noting Charlie Brown's stature whispered, "Don't listen to him man; he's just trying to mess with ya."

Jose rolled his eyes, "Yeah, take advice from the kid with the blanket. See how far you'll go in life. Now listen, as I'm sure you know our school's baseball team is set to make it to regional's and then probably state this year!" Charlie Brown winced, the idea of his baseball team as a kid ever getting pass the qualifiers was laughable.

Jose continued, making sure to show his pearly whites, "And as I'm sure everyone knows I'm the designated hitter and the short stop for our team." His entourage of girls, as well as Marcie, began to swoon.

One girl, Lyida, even shouted, ".850 baby!" Linus sighed when she yelled that.

Peterson smiled, "We all know Heather loves baseball. And with me on the way to be the team's hero…well, let's just say she'll just continue ignoring your existence."

Feeling utterly defeated, Charlie Brown muttered, "Yeah… you're right, I'm sorry Jose…" but was interrupted by Peppermint Patty's shouting.

"Augh! You're not going to take that are you Chuck?! Who the heck do you think you are Jose?! Just cause you're a baseball ace doesn't mean you can go around acting superior to everybody!"

Marcie whispered to Linus, "That's an incredibly odd thing to hear from Peppermint Patty." Linus nodded in agreement.

"Sheesh Patty, I'd hope the pitcher for our team would take baseball a little more seriously! I sure hope the coach doesn't hear about this."

Patty's yelling grew louder, "Screw the coach! I'll tell you what! I'll show you that you aren't such stuff! Me and Chuck here, we're gonna form our own baseball team and kick your ass!"

"WHAT?!?!" Linus and Charlie Brown yelled in unison. Peterson and his groupies stared silently in disbelief for a moment before bursting out laughing.

"HAHA are you kidding me Reichardt?! You're gonna form a team with him?! He's terrible! He can't pitch! He can't hit! He can't run! He can barely tie his shoes!" Charlie Brown quickly looked down, and indeed, one of his shoes was untied. He quickly remedied that, beat red in the face. "Come on, as kids we creamed them millions of times! Hell, we even played for them before we started our own team! Why would you possibly want to play with him?!"

"To kick your ass, Jose!"

Charlie Brown began to stammer, "Now guys, I don't think that this is really necessary…"

Ignoring the blockhead, Jose continued, "Fine, but who else are you going to have on your team? You might be so quick to defect but I can assure you that nobody else is going to defect when we're so close to winning it all this season! Not even Franklin and Roy!"

Patty threw an arm around Charlie Brown, "We don't need 'em! We already know an All Star team waiting to come out of retirement."

Charlie Brown stared at Patty like she was insane, "There's no way this is going to work Patty! Just let this go. It's really no big deal. Jose's right anyway, Heather is never going to go for a guy like me—"

"Oh no you don't Chuck! I'm not letting you slink your way out of this one! This time around, you're going to win! And you'll have me to devote every waking minute making that happen!"

Charlie Brown knew that there was no way that this was ever going to happen. They'd lose. He always lost. Plus, he and anyone else they got save Peppermint Patty were out of practice while their opponents were all seasoned players on their way to the state level! Who knows they may even be nation level quality!? But as Charlie Brown looked into Peppermint Patty's eyes he could tell that she was sincerely determined to helping bring him to victory. That was something he never had from his old team. So even if it was a fleeting dream, it was a still worth pursuing.

…plus if Heather really was a baseball fanatic, beating Jose Peterson would totally make her fall for him. It was his big chance!

Charlie Brown nodded at Patty, "Let's do this."

"That's what I like to hear Chuck!" She slapped him on the back, knocking him off balance. "You hear that Peterson? You're going down!!"

Peterson, eyes beginning to tear up from holding in laughter spat, "Whatever you say Patty! I'll tell you what, you give me a call when you actually get a team together and we'll set something up! Smell ya later!" A with a callous wave of his hand Peterson and his all girl entourage walked past Charlie Brown's group.

After Jose's group was well beyond earshot, Marcie, who seemed to be holding in as much energy as the human body could bare, worked up the courage to yell, "BYE JOSE! IT WAS GREAT TO SEE YOU!" and then went to swooning about how he said her name ten minutes ago.

Charlie Brown sighed, "I appreciate you standing up for me and all Patty, but where are we going to get a team. Jose's right, no one else on the baseball team is going to want to play for us. You don't really think we should get our old team back together?"

"Of course I do Chuck, obviously not everyone is going to sign up for this." She then coughed the names Patty and Violet, "But we'll figure out what to do from there. Besides, we already know at least one person who will definitely be on the team, right?" She and Charlie Brown both turned their heads towards Linus, who sighed.

"I guess there's no way I can sit this out, huh?"

To be continued…