1Prologue
It all started with my brother's daily baseball games he had. His games weren't really an official league just a bunch of guys from the block and their friends, and their friends. It totaled up to about 50 guys, which at that they divided into five teams of ten with some odd numbers here and there. There they had eight guys in the field and two or three on the bench.
Well they all had a rule that if you weren't thirteen by June 3rd you couldn't play and that if you were still 16 when tryouts were being held you could play. Any one under 13 on June 3rd or over sixteen on that date, you couldn't play the season. Well to my luck I turned 13 on the 9th so even after begging Joe and some other guys I still couldn't play the season.
"And besides," They'd all say, "You're a girl!" And at that I'd say some words in my defense most of them sounding something like, "You've seen me play!" and "I have a better fastball than Sammie!" and they'd just walk away shaking their heads, but I knew that they knew that I did have a better fastball than Sammie.
Well I came to tryouts to sort the teams anyways but Joe pushed me out of the line which boys were called and told me the rules.
1. You have to be thirteen of this date.
2. Unless you are thirteen, you can't be on the high school field for the hour of team sorting! Well… unless you were a stranger going for a walk…
Well I herd these rules every year as I sat on the bleachers watching and some kid said whose team everyone's on was a surprise for who ever cared at home. And each year, this one being no exception, I'd quietly walk off the field and wait under the bleachers where they couldn't see me watching them sort the teams.
Well this year under the bleachers weren't as uncomfortable as the previous years where there was gum every which way and I couldn't move without the old wooden bleacher creaking. Plus there was always garbage scattered here and there just daring to make a sound if I stepped.
Luckily this year they got newer wooden bleacher, which didn't creak or moan. There wasn't any gum because there hasn't been years' worth building up under these newer nicer bleachers, which smelled actually pleasant. Well, I mean, I wouldn't exactly run around hoping that everything smelled this way, I mean it still had a stench, but in a more tolerable way. The high school, Cooper High School, or some environment-must-be-cleaner group must've been daily cleaning under here because the only garbage was a soda can that wasn't even close enough for me hit with a twig, even though I wouldn't try anyways. The only downside was I wasn't so sure how well this thing would hide me.
Either way it worked because I made it to see who were the captains and everything. After about half an hour of crouching I figured out this much:
My brother's best friend Rodriguez was one of the captains so Joe, my brother, was automatically on the team to no surprise. Well Rodriguez's team was not bad, they named them selves the Philly-Cheese-Steaks for Joe and Rodriguez's and some other guys' love for the food. Although for short we all called them the "Phillis" which they wrote on the backs of the white shirts they bought for three bucks.
Well the Phillis had eleven guys and not ten like most of the teams. Their team was some guys I knew from the block and some I didn't. After some figuring I figured out the line up for most of team:
Pitchers: Sammie, Kyle B.
First Base: Tino
Second Base: Vinnie
Third Base: Joe, Austin
Short Stop: Brian
Catcher: Rodriguez
Right Field: Kyle K.
Middle Field: Josh
Left Field: Brock
Then the other four captains as I could tell were:
Tacos: Cody
Evil Lemons: Just by the name I knew was Jackson
Yankees: Jordan
Rockies: Billy
I knew all I wanted to know and slowly from habit backed out of the bleachers and crouched while I ran to the sidewalk where I could walk by and they all wouldn't care who was passing (plus they could barely see anything because the sidewalk and street were about 100 yards from the fields).
I walked home at a fast pace down 20th and onto Morgan Ave. I past Rodriguez and Tino's house, and saw there little sister Maria playing in a kiddy pool. I waved and walked on.
I turned got on the alley Joe and I called Stray Street because there was always a random cat or dog roaming around with a kid or with more cats or dogs. We named all the cats and dogs, which was hard because after counting them all there turned out to be twenty-nine, and I wasn't the best at naming things. But I named my favorite cat, the one that looked the oldest, Lee after my name, Lea.
Lee was out so I walked over to him and pet his puffy black fur. I reached under his big belly and lifted him off the ground. He always seemed to weigh slightly more when I picked him up. I sat on the bench right by Billy's house and started stroking Lee from head to the start of his tail.
"You should see Rodriguez's team!" I said to him in a calming voice. "They have a chance at being first in league!" Lee just purred softly. "Yeah, you'd like Joe and Rodriguez to win, wouldn't you?" Lee sat there and looked at me when I didn't pet him for a second. "You're spoiled Lee." I muttered to the cat as I set him on the ground. I got up and stretched my arms.
Out of nowhere, the eleven-year-old creep that lives three houses down from me was in front of me.
"Hey how'd you get here?" I asked accusingly. "And why?"
"Why are you talking to a cat?" He snapped back. "Don't you have friends to talk to?" He asked in a smarty- know-it-all voice.
"Shut up Quincy." I said calmly, and then I snapped. "You know darn well they're out trying out for the baseball teams!" I waited a couple seconds. "And I can't tryout because-"
"-because you're a girl!" He mocked. That was the line.
"Shut up creep! I'm a proud girl! I can throw a fastball that bruised Joe! And not because I'm a girl! It's because I'm not thirteen yet!" I turned around and went to my garage. Quincy tried to follow but I closed the garage door when he came. I turned on the lights and looked at my garage.
It was the same as always. Two shag rugs the size of cars covered most of the floor which was other wise the color or grime and always got my bare feet full of mud like dirt that I had to scrub off before entering our house. There was an old sofa and chair that used to be in the living room. There was a wooden coffee table that has always been there as long as I could remember. In the corner was the computer Joe and I shared. There was also an old refrigerator and a small sink. The rest was our bikes, my skateboard, a couple fans, a small cupboard full of cups and dishes (which Joe and I had to wash because we were the only ones using them). And last of all was Joe's Dog's cage where his black and white Collie-Shepard-Kesha was panting and wagging her tail. On top of the cage were some dog toys and on the side was her food and dish.
I turned on the fan that blew on the computer and turned up the fan that was almost always blowing on Abby, who right now sounded like she needed that and water. I grabbed her dish and began filling it up with water from the sink. I grabbed a handful of ice cubes from the freezer and put them in her water making it a cold as I could. I opened her cage and let her run around and drink water.
I turned on the computer and started up the Internet, which we finally just got DSL. I opened up the media player and played my play-list, which included some Yellow Card, Green Day, Good Charlotte, Hot Hot Heat, and some songs from the Moulin Rouge.
I turned on the speakers and made the music at a lower level than my blasting, which got too many complaints from the neighbors. The song was "Novocain" by Green Day. I signed on aim and realized it was pointless; all my friends were at the baseball tryouts, except for Siva from school, which they should be coming home now too.