A/N: I don't own these characters- S.M. does!

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away- well Seattle- there lived a girl. No one really paid any attention to her, or wanted to be her friend because, in a way, she was different. Her mother had died when she was two years old and her father had raised her all by himself. Being that she was his only child, Charlie didn't know the "proper" way to raise a girl. He put her in all sorts of sports: volleyball, tennis, basketball, soccer, and her favorite- baseball. She played baseball since she was four years old, up until she was six. She had asked Charlie if she could join her park's league; she was getting too old for T-ball.

Charlie sighed and squatted down in front of her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Bells," he cleared his throat, his mustache twitching slightly. "They only have a boys team and you can't join."

The girl's face fell and he was quick to reassure her. "You can join the softball team though."

She sniffled and cocked her head to one side. "Daddy, what's that?"

He wiped away the single tear that fell from her eyes. "It's basically the same game baby- just a bigger ball and different throwing."

She smiled then, exposing her missing front tooth. "So, it's like baseball? I get to keep playing baseball?" She asked nodded and she wrapped her small arms around her father's neck, jumping with happiness.

Since then, Charlie had been teaching her how to pitch for softball. She spent her weekends and summers practicing, throwing and trying different pitches until it was dark out, trying to get the ball to move the way Charlie wanted it to and to the spot he placed his catcher's mitt. By age eight she was the fastest and most controlled pitcher any park league had ever seen.

When she was twelve, she tried out for her school's softball team and made it, hands down. What she didn't know, was that not all of her team mates shared the same passion she had for the game. Her team mates thought she was too aggressive, and not "girly" enough. They dubbed her "Belly-Bob" because she didn't dress in pink, or in sparkles like the rest of them. When she was thirteen she didn't decorate her eyes with eyeliner, or show an interest in lip gloss. Unfortunately, she was stuck with this reputation throughout high school. That girl was me.

"Oh my god, look at him..." Jessica, the class mean-girl drawled. It was sophomore year, and Jessica and the rest of her cronies were picking on Mike, the new boy that moved from Wisconsin two weeks ago. He didn't really fit in with anyone at the school; if you weren't an athlete, you were a stoner. If you weren't a stoner, you were alone. Like me.

He bobbed his head slightly, listening to his CD player as he made his way to his usual spot at an empty lunch table.
Jessica whispered something into her friend's ear and stuck her leg out into the isle, right in time for Mike to miss it, and stumble, his CD player clattering to the floor. Everyone but me in the cafeteria erupted with laughter. That was when I snapped.

"Are you fucking serious?" I practically shouted as I made my way to Jessica's table. "He just got here!"

Jessica raised her eyebrows at me and glanced at her friends. She stood up, straightening out her red tank top before narrowing her eyes at me.

"Hey everyone, looks like Belly-Bob has a crush!" She called out to the cafeteria, eliciting a few snickers from onlookers.
She snorted, looking me up and down, scrutinizing my ripped up jeans and beat up Chucks.

I crossed my arms and cocked my head to the side. "You know, it must be pretty sad to be you."

She scoffed. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

I shrugged, smirking at her. "It must suck being so insecure that you need to resort to torturing other people just to feel good about yourself."

"Bitch," she hissed, reaching for her juice cup. I grabbed her wrist before she had a chance to throw it on me, retracted my right arm, and swung. I felt my knuckles connect to her nose, feeling a small crunch beneath them.

She stumbled back, cradling her face. Her nose was bleeding like a goddamn waterfall; her friends were screaming as they surrounded her.

I turned back to face Mike who was holding his now broken CD player in his hands, a stunned expression on his face. I gave him a half smile, not exactly sure what to do. His stunned expression turned to one of excitement.

"The was pretty fucking badass," he said, lifting his hand towards me. "I'm Mike."

"Bella."

Needless to say, Mike and I became friends shortly after that episode. He even skipped school the day after it happened to join me during my suspension. He came to all of my softball games and was even my date for junior and senior prom because no other boys asked me. He even came with me to Chicago, our current home. I had gotten a softball scholarship from DePaul University, joining the Blue Demon family and being in their starting rotation for pitchers since my freshman year.

"Strike three!" The umpire called from home plate; the bases were loaded and there were two outs when I threw the batter a change up which she missed by a long shot. My team mates and our coach jogged to the mound, ambushing me; I got a lot of ass-smacks and back slaps telling me 'great job'. As we made our way back to the dugout, Alice, our center fielder, jogged up next to me, poking me in my side.

"Bella's the bomb dot com!" she sung, taking her short hair out of her ponytail. "Don't forget about tonight!" she said before taking off for the locker room.

Alice had invited me over to her apartment for later to go clubbing; she insisted on helping me get ready for the night since she knew I wasn't good with the whole makeup and hair thing. She also wouldn't shut up about how her brothers were coming home this weekend and were coming with us, so I guess that had to do with it. One brother was coming from Northwestern, the other one was coming from UIUC.

Yeah, I had no fucking idea what to expect for later.

*I'm trying something different- still Chicago based as you can see! Haha. Let me know what you guys think!

Toodles.