A young fourth grade boy stepped up to home plate, waiting for the pitcher to roll the ball toward him. He felt confident in his team and in himself. Perhaps a little too confident, but right now he'd need to harness all of that confidence and use it to his advantage. Losing was not an option for him. Normally this boy wouldn't care if he won or lost. He wasn't a bad sport or anything like that. Normally if he just enjoyed the game, he was content with anything, however there was more than just a simple reputation at stake here. Much more.

"You're goin' down T Jerk!" the pitcher yelled at him.

"In your dreams Lawson!" the boy yelled back. It wasn't the best of his counters, but he was concentrating hard on the kickball that was being pitched in his direction. "And my name's not T Jerk," the boy muttered under his breath as the ball advanced toward him, bouncing slightly on the uneven surface of the kickball field. "it's TJ Detweiler". With that TJ kicked the ball with all the strength he could muster.

It was an amazing kick. The ball soared beautifully in a broad rainbow arch. TJ was dumbfounded by his own kick. He stood in a daze at home base for a second or two, then coming back to his senses, began running as fast as he could toward first base.

"Catch it!" Yelled Lawson to his outfielders, unheard over the cheers coming from the crowd of bystanders and TJ's team mates.

TJ was nearing third base by the time the ball touched the ground. It had landed outside of the school's perimeter fence, making the kick a home run. TJ didn't hear the huge cheer that erupted from the crowd, he was concentrating on home base. As he scored a point for his team, TJ jumped in the air and let out a whoop of triumph. His first kick of the game had been a home run, and he barely ever kicked homers. 'If this is the way things are going to be' thought TJ, 'it's going to be the shortest game of kickball Third Street School has ever known. The first team to five points wins!'

It looked like it was going to be the shortest game of kickball Third Street School had ever seen. That didn't mean that it was TJ's team who was winning. It had only been ten minutes and the score was now two to four. Any confidence that TJ had had at the beginning of the game had diminished. Lawson only needed one more point to win, and it looked like he was going to get it. His team's best kicker was up and Lawson was on second base.

"We're gonna cream you Detweiler!" TJ heard Lawson yell behind him.

"Man, this whomps". It was one of those rare moments when TJ knew that Lawson was probably telling the truth. He wasn't going to resign though. No way. Not to
Lawson. Reluctantly, TJ took a deep breath, and pitched the kickball. He closed his eyes as the kicker's foot made contact with the ball. He forced himself to open them and immediately wished he hadn't. the ball was soaring through the air much like his own kick at the beginning of the game, only this one was higher and wasn't going to fly that far. It would land in the outfield just about where he realised his friend Gus was positioned.

"Gus!" TJ yelled "the ball's coming your way, try to catch it!"

"Huh?" said Gus, who had been previously day dreaming. He was currently looking at what appeared to be TJ doing an impression of a demented windmill with an anxiety problem, when something small and red above him caught his attention. He couldn't understand why it appeared to be getting bigger and bigg- WHAM. Gus was knocked to the ground. "Oh." he said, irritated at the fact that he was only just now gripping the situation.

TJ groaned and hid his face in his hands as Lawson ran over home plate, whooping and hollering.

"I won! I won! I won!" cheered Lawson. After triumphing in his victory, and rubbing it in everyone's faces, he walked over to TJ. "Ok T Jerk hand it over"

"Hand what over?" asked TJ planning to stall for as much time as he could.

"Forget our deal already doufus?" said Lawson.

"I'm afraid I have. Do you care to refresh my memory?" TJ smiled falsely, knowing he couldn't stall for much longer.

"If you got to five first, I'd leave you and your friends alone for the year. If I got to five first, which I did, I got the cap".

"My cap?" TJ continued stalling, firmly placing both hands on his head to prevent Lawson from taking his signature red baseball cap. Only TJ knew that it was more than just his trademark. A whole lot more.

"It's my cap now doufus" Lawson grinned. He reached out to claim his prize.

TJ knew time was up and he ran faster than he knew he could, but he knew Lawson was right on his heels. he could also hear the rest of the playground not too far behind him. As TJ began to clear some ground between Lawson and himself, an idea began to form in his mind. He would tell Ms. Finster that Lawson had turned the playground into an angry mob. he ran to the school's back doors as fast as he could. "Ms. Finster!" He screamed desperately. "Lawson turned the whole playground into an angry mob and they're all coming after me!"

The old woman grinned. "Nice try Mr. Detweiler but Randall here," she gestured to the hunchback beside her, "told me you made a deal. You owe Mr. Lawson that hat of yours".

TJ wanted to tear his hair out. Nothing was working! He turned to run back only to find that the blacktop in between the two wings of the school was crammed with every kid out at recess. Including Lawson. Now knowing that he was trapped, TJ was beginning to panic. They had no idea what they were taking off of his head! It wasn't because it was his trademark that he didn't want it taken off of him, neither was it because the cap meant so much to him. It wasn't even because it would be Lawson wearing it. Even though he did care about the cap and who was wearing it, that wasn't nearly as important as the reason he was running away. Lawson advanced toward TJ, who tried to back away, but tripped on his shoelace and fell backwards onto the concrete steps leading into the building.

"Gimme my hat Detweiler" Lawson smiled evilly.

"No!" exclaimed TJ "I wont!".

"You will! Give it here, now!"

"You don't know what your doing Lawson!"

"I'm taking what's rightfully mine!". Lawson grabbed the hat. TJ was going hysterical. He was crying and screaming and trying to kick Lawson away, but to no success. TJ kept a grip of steel on the lid of his cap while Lawson pulled with all of his strength on the snaps. Tug of war began and chaos insued on the blacktop.

Everyone was either chanting "TJ! TJ! TJ!" or LAWSON! LAWSON! LAWSON!"

It was Lawson who eventually won. As he removed the red cap from TJ's head, the fourth grader's tears stopped dripping. the screaming ceased. Lawson wasn't getting kicked anymore. TJ had gone completely limp. Everyone had just assumed he was lying down, crying over his defeat.

"I have beaten the great TJ Detweiler!" Lawson screamed out to the crowd, all of whom were either yelling out in anger at their friend's defeat or cheering for Lawson.

Of all the people on the blacktop, only Randall saw what was really happening to TJ.

"Uh, Ms. Finster..." he said tugging on the old woman's sleeve.

She looked over her shoulder to find the source of the tugging. "What is it Randall.. MY STARS!"

With that the whole blacktop looked at TJ and gasped. Silence.

Lawson was angry. Why was everyone looking at the Detweiler kid instead of him? He wheeled around and saw a sight that would haunt him for the rest of his life. TJ had gone deathly pale. His blue eyes had turned black and were rolling up into their sockets. They were also beginning to glow. A vigorous twitching began in TJ's left leg.

Lawson threw the cap at TJ and ran away in terror, screaming all the way. By sheer dumb luck it fell on his head. Immediately, TJ's eyes rolled down, stopped glowing, and became blue again. His skin darkened to it's normal shade of peach, and the twitching ceased. TJ blinked a few times and stood up. He saw the sea of terrified faces staring at him. There was in fact only one person in the school not staring at him, and he was pushing through the crowd screaming, trying to get away from him. TJ remembered what had happened. Lawson had taken his hat off of him. That meant everyone here must have seen what he was like without the cap. 'They all must think I'm a freak' he thought. TJ walked down the steps and started to walk into the crowd, which instantly cleared a path for him. None of them wanted to be anywhere near him. TJ turned his cap into the forward position, pulled the lid down to cover his face and the tears that were welling up in his eyes, and began to run. He wanted to get away from the stares. He wanted to be alone.

TJ didn't notice the other five people trying to get out of the crowd. These five fourth graders wanted to comfort their friend, however, they also wanted a good explanation of what they had just seen.