NOTE: I don't own Big Widup or any of it's characters. I do however own the character Alexandria (Lexi) Mendrick. Please don't steal.
Ohmigawd, it's my first fanfic ever and the first chapter. I hope you like. :) Still in progress and will update asap. ^_~
I'm the new kid in Nishiura High School. Looking around, I notice I'm in the front of the school. Booths are set up to the entryway for everything and anything. But not for one for what I am looking for. I continue passed, my nerves making a strong knot in my stomach.
I let no emotion show, a skill I picked up from the seniors in middle school. I choose not to think about those three years. My pitcher... Let's just say he was a jerk-hole. That's why I transferred. I was surprised I didn't turn into my pitcher.
As I turn the corner, I come face to face with a woman. Her eyes are a milk chocolate brown, along with her hair. It's blowing in the wind. A piece fell over her shoulder. She pushes it back, a smile pulling up her lips.
"Sorry, ma'am," I take a step back. She waves me along without a word. I follow. Trekking along the side of the school, we turn a corner to a fenced in baseball field.
"Whoa," I breathe. It was... It was...
"Nice, huh?" she asked. Who was this woman?
"It's," I motion to the field. What could I say? "Beautiful."
"I know we've been working on it all summer," she smiles. My heart sinks.
"I'm sorry, if I would've known I would've been here, helping," I apologize.
"It's alright, you can help us by playing well," smiles the lady. Play well? Is she the coach?
"If you don't mind me asking, who are you?" I ask quietly. This woman is... Different... So to speak.
"Oh, I'm Momoe. I'm your coach," she smiles.
"C-coach?" I stutter. A woman coach? In baseball?
"You have a problem with that?" she glances at me from the side, placing her hands on her hips.
"N-no ma'am," I snap up. My back is straight, my arms pinned to my sides.
"So who are you?" Momoe turns from the field to look down at me.
"A-Abe Takaya, ma'am," I report.
"What position do you play?" Momoe inquires.
"Catcher, ma'am," I say.
"Great! We've been looking for one!" Momoe exclaims.
"Um, who're they?" I point to the guys walking toward us. One looks boundless with energy. From what I could see he has bright red-brown eyes with dark brown spiky hair to make them pop. He has a huge smile on his lips and is talking care free with the boy next to him.
Momoe doesn't look up from the little booklet in her hand, she speaks absently, "probably some of the team. We have practice at this hour."
"Practice," I mumble, watching the boys walk toward us.
"Whoa! Who's this?" the boundless kid runs up, leaving the other boy in his dust. I nod at the boy in front of me.
"My name is Abe," I say.
"Abe? Cool! My name is Tajima," smiles the boy. He sounds as if he is yelling.
"Tajima, shush," the other boy scolds. He has dark brown hair too, but his hair is longer, with a defiant piece in his face. He doesn't seem to mind it in his purple eyes. Him and the Tajima kid both have freckles dotting across their noses, "My name is Izumi."
"Pleasure. I'm Abe," I nod.
"Oh, don't be so formal," Izumi shoves his hands into his pockets, his figure relaxing in front of me. He smiles at me.
"Hey, Izumi! Tajima! Look who I found in the locker room!" a redheaded kid yells from a ways down. I see that he has headphones on. He's dragging a smaller boy by the collar. He looks scared, or is he nervous? I guess I won't know. His hair is the only thing I can see of him, for he turns to his captor and mumbles something. His hair is blonde and spiky. His captor mumbles something back. Izumi and Tajima both turn around to look. Izumi starts laughing first.
He turns to me and explains, "everyone has this job. Whoever finds that boy first gets to lead the stretches," he laughs again, "Looks like Mizutani gets his way today," Izumi says to Tajima, who nods.
"One day I have to find him!" Tajima exclaims.
"Tajima, none of us wants you to lead the stretches," Izumi sighs. Tajima pouts.
"I don't care!" Tajima yells again. The boys finally reach us.
"Hey, new guy?" he asks, a smile on his lips, "I'm Mizutani."
"Hey, I'm Abe, pleasure," I nod. Izumi walks over to us, annoyance clear in his eyes. He grabs me by the shoulders and shakes.
"Loosen up!" he says as he's shaking me. What am I supposed to do? I stand there like an idiot.
"I'm M-M-M-Mihashi," the blonde kid looks from the ground, to me, then back to the ground. He's nervous. His hand grasps the fabric over his heart.
"Oh, so you found him?" a taller boy saunters over. His head is shaved and of what hair you could see it is grey-ish. His eyes are a soft brown, almost like Momoe's.
"Yeah," Mizutani whips around, "found him dillydallying in the locker room."
"I wasn't dillydallying," Mihashi argues weakly. Mizutani shoots him a look, "I have gym that period."
"Mihashi, we all know you don't have gym that period," Mizutani points out. Mihashi sighs.
"I wasn't dillydallying," he mumbles. His shoulders are shaking and he wouldn't meet anyone's eyes. I decide to try to befriend him.
"Hi," I stride over to the small boy. He glances up at me.
"Hi," he answers.
"What position do you play?" I question.
"P-pitcher," he stutters.
"Cool," I nod, "I'm a catcher," I smile.
"A c-catcher? I-I've never h-had o-one b-before," Mihashi stutters bad.
"You've never had a catcher?" I ask. Who doesn't have a catcher. Especially if you're a pitcher.
"Well, I've been stepping in for him during practice," Tajima raises his hand.
"A-and I-I-I have a-a n-net I throw into a-at home," Mihashi glances up to me, his mouth set in a firm line.
"Well, how's about you show me what you got," I smirk.
"Uhm," he looks quickly to Tajima who smiles and nods, "sure."
"Hey, Abe, do you need a glove?" Momoe asks, her hands still on her hips.
"No ma'am," I shake my head, "I have my own."
"Uhm, I have to warn you... My pitches... Are really slow," Mihashi says quietly, his eyes on the ground.
"Mihashi, shut up, you're pitches are great!" Tajima says, looping his arm around Mihashi's neck. Mihashi doesn't answer.
"Hey man, it's fine, I don't expect you to be the all star right away," I shrug.
"Okay," Mihashi whispers.
"You comin-"
"Ren!" a female voice cuts me off. Mihashi looks to the voice, as does the rest of the boys here.
"L-Lexi?" Mihashi asks.
"Hey," she smiles. Her smile... It's-it's perfect. Her eyes are hazel. Brown, blue and green. Beautiful. Her face is dotted with freckles. She looks athletic. Her shoulders, legs, and arms are bigger than normal. She has to be a softball player or maybe a gymnast.
"W-what are you doing here?" Mihashi asks.
"Yeah, Lex! What are you doing here?" yells Tajima. Lexi snaps her gaze from Mihashi to Tajima. She smiles sweetly.
"Tajima, why don't you-"
"Lexi," Mihashi pulls on her arm. She turns to him, blinking innocently.
"Hey! Lexi's here!" some boy yells. I turn, as does the rest of the team.
"Hamada!" Lexi yells, the taller boy waves when she says the name. I'm guessing that's Hamada. His hair is as spiky as Mihashi's but it seems a brighter blonde, "hey Sakaeguchi," she waves to the smaller boy.
"Hey Lex," he smiles and waves back. His hair is short and sandy blonde. Close to Mihashi's. His eyes are wide and he's too far away for me to see the color. Slowly, I count off the players. I hear there's supposed to be ten including me. There are eight right now counting myself. So there should be two more on their way. I turn back to Mihashi.
"So are you coming?" I turn on my heel and work my way to the dugout where the catcher's gear is sitting out.
"Yeah," Mihashi runs after me. As I get to the plate, Mihashi is already on the mound, rolling up his sleeves.
"Okay, just take it easy!" I yell through the mask. He is small. I don't expect him to be able to throw the heat. And his lack of confidence could quite easily throw off his accuracy. The less confidence you have the harder your pitches are to control. He nods and throws.
I was correct. His pitch wasn't that fast, but his accuracy... Is it a fluke? I throw it back wanting another one. There was something different about his fastball. He throws and again his fastball looks different. Again I throw it back.
His face said everything, 'another one?' I lift my glove, staring. He sighs and throw again. AH HELL!
I stride out to him, he starts looking around, as if to hide. I stay calm, keeping my emotions in check. I smirk.
"What else you got?" I ask, calmly.
"Well," he thinks, "I have a-"
"He has curve, a drop, a slider, and a screw," Tajima explains walking out the the mound. Four breaking balls? Tajima smiles, "See, Mihashi doesn't know a curve from a screw," he laughs. I nod.
"Okay Mihashi," I drop the ball into his glove and smirk, "show me."
Mihashi does a little nod. I leisure my way back to the plate. When I turn around again, the rest of the team is there with... Three others? I thought there are only ten? Also Lexi was standing next to him, murmuring things to him.
I set up for Mihashi, awaiting his next pitch. With every breaking ball Mihashi throws, I grow more and more excited. Oh man lucky us! I walk out again.
Mihashi seems to get more nervous with every step I get closer, "Mihashi," I say.
"Y-yes," he stutters, glancing up at me.
"Holy crap," I breathe, "you may be our greatest weapon."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lexi demands at his side.
"It means," I turn my gaze onto her. Her eyes widen slightly, "Mihashi's pitches could put away so many batters. I have myself a game plan."
Lexi doesn't answer. But Tajima does., "so you're one of those smart people?"
"Smart people, how?" I ask. He runs up, his eyes wide and excited.
"Like you can read any batter and know how to put them away?" he asks, loudly.
"Uh, yeah," I shrug, "pretty much."
"Whoa! So cool!" he yells. I smirk.
"Kay, so, I haven't met you yet. What's your name?" Lexi stands in front of me, cutting Tajima off. He pouts.
"I'm Abe," I nod, and smirk.
"Abe," she repeats, quietly, "I like it."
"Thanks, I didn't catch yours," I say politely.
"Alexandria Mendrick," she smiles, "but call me Lexi, please call me Lexi," she laughs. I chuckle with her.
"Say Lexi! Don't you have somewhere to be?" Tajima yells. Lexi turns on her heel and smiles. That kind of smile that's truly hiding something.
"Say, Tajima, why don't you go suck-"
"Lexi," Mihashi cut her off again.
"Don't I ever get to finish my comebacks?" she snaps at Mihashi. He flinches, "Sorry hun," she lowers her voice, "I didn't mean to yell."
"S'okay," he says, keeping his eyes to the ground. She smiles at him, then turns to look at me.
"Oh, look out, Abe! She'll turn you to stone!" Tajima exclaims with the rest if the team snickering behind him. Lexi twitches a little. Just slightly. She doesn't say a word, she must've learned that Mihashi won't let her finish her comebacks.
She walks toward Tajima. Slowly, calmly. He raises her hand to his face, as if she is caressing it. Tajima looks confused, but only for a moment, for she slams his face into the dirt. The silences is filled with 'ooooo's' and laughter. She returns to us, a polite smile on her face.
"Anyway, what I was going to say was have you met the entire team, yet?" she asks. She seems calm not, ooo scary. I swallowed and with it goes my nervousness and fear.
"Not entirely, no."