Author's Notes: Your reviews have been most helpful! (Also, they made me feel bad about taking so long.) I have the last chapter or two (however much it takes) pretty much mapped out in my head now so it should be easy to write the rest. I'm going to try to explain away any of the characters I didn't use to make the reformed Krushers. Sorry if I left one of your favorites out! Keep reading, keep reviewing!
My conscience felt a lot clearer after Monday. Even so, I officially let Margo take over as the Head Coach of the team. She had come to my rescue and kept the team together; it was the right thing to do. And Margo proved to be extremely capable of the job. She was like a little Kristin Amanda Thomas.
We had mandatory practices for the rest of the week. We visited the batting cages again. Jamie and Claire even took up tennis with Lindsey and Madeleine DeWitt to improve their hand-eye coordination. They would both come straight from tennis lessons to softball practice, looking worn out but determined.
"I think I should try out for tennis this year," Jamie told me one day while we were sitting the bench during Round Robin. "Madeleine says that I have a natural knack for it. She even offered to give me private lessons."
I merely grinned. Coordination was Claire's problem, but it didn't seem to be Jamie's. A tennis ball was much smaller and would presumably hurt a lot less if it made contact with your face. It was all in his head.
"I can think of a few more reasons Madeleine wants to give Jamie private lessons," Suzi, who seemed to overhear every conversation that would interest her, whispered to me. She burst into giggles, which left Jamie looking quite confused. Suzi carried on further, in a kind of shouted whisper that I knew Jamie could hear, "She is in L-O-V-E! With J-A-M-E!" (And here I thought all cheerleaders could spell.)
Was it just me or had Spring Fever swept Stoneybrook lately?
Speaking of love connections, I tried to stay true to my promise to Hannie. Instead of just outright asking Jackie what he thought of her, I tried to find out if they had any hobbies in common. To my shock and amazement, Jackie was into indoor rock climbing! That was the last thing I expected to hear from the Walking Disaster himself. Turns out, though, the climber is really at the mercy of whoever belays, or controls the ropes at the bottom. And apparently, his two brothers were pretty good at that. Jackie was simply never allowed to belay anyone. When I mentioned the rock climbing to Hannie, she beamed. It turned out that they had something in common. Hannie loved climbing, too.
"So, do I really have to ask him what he thinks of you?" I asked Hannie as we played catch together one day. "Why not just arrange a climbing date with him?"
"Me? Ask a guy out? I could never!"
"Why not?" I said. "Karen does it all the time."
"David Michael," she said, reproachfully. "However much I may try to be like her, I am not and will never be Karen Brewer."
"Yeah, I've always wondered about that," I said. It was nice to finally get talk to Hannie without worrying about giving her the wrong idea. Now we could talk for real. "Why do you try to be like Karen all the time?"
She laughed. "You know… I don't know," she said. "Before Nancy moved away, people always said I copied everything she did. Now everyone says I copy Karen. I guess I don't quite know who I am."
"You aren't just like Karen," I told her. "I can see lots of differences. Just be yourself. And do ask Jackie on that climbing date. I know Jackie. He would never try to ask you out himself."
"Hey!" Hannie looked offended. "Why not?"
"No, no, no," I said quickly. "It has nothing to do with you, Hannie. Jackie has never dated anyone. He doesn't have the first clue about how to ask a girl out. So you see? It has to be your job."
"Have you ever dated anyone?" Hannie asked innocently.
"It's different with me," I insisted. "It really doesn't fit into my life at the moment, to tell you the truth. I've got a lot of other stuff going with… you know… the usual stuff…"
"Oh… sure, I understand."
"… Yeah, thanks."
"Anytime."
Friday was a long school day. We had just one more practice left before the Bashers game, and it was on my mind all day long. I had an English test during first period and I could only pray that I did alright. During my essay about To Kill a Mockingbird, I somehow drew a parallel between the relationship of Scout and Jem and the Krushers/Bashers game.
Around lunchtime, something interesting happened to break up the general monotony of the day. Matt Braddock showed up at school with Haley. I spotted Haley first. She was in line for the soda machine. I did a double-take at first because of her spaghetti strap tank (clearly against school dress code), and then because I realized who she was.
"Haley?" I exclaimed; she turned to face me. "What are you doing here? Are you allowed to even come here after, you know, you graduate?"
"Apparently so," she grinned broadly. "And I totally wore this shirt to piss the administrators off. I think it worked already. Anyway, I'm here with Matt. He's here. He's in line to buy food. I gave him three dollars. Was that enough?"
"Wait, what? Why is Matt here?"
"Remember how I told you he might try to do his senior year here?" she replied. "Well, we arranged a tour of the school for him. This is the only day we can do it. We go on a family vacation next week since I'm out of college for Spring Break."
"Wow," I replied. "Well, should you go help him? You know, in line?"
"He has a paper and pen," she said, calmly. "I'm just here today to help him meet some teachers. Maybe some students, if he can work up the nerve. Matt would be in a special class part of the day and would get an interpreter for regular classes."
"Cool," I said. "I could help introduce him if you want."
"Awesome," she beamed. It was her turn in line so she put her dollar in and bought a Dr. Pepper. "A lot of the Krushers have offered. Thanks to Myriah, he met all of the cheerleaders this morning. But I guess you probably noticed that he only cares about one cheerleader at the moment."
"Well, you heard what Gabbie said," I replied, dryly, as I stepped forward and bought my Mountain Dew. "Myriah has that effect on boys."
"Is that for the green monster?" she gestured to my green soda can.
"Ha, you're funny," I said, sarcastically, and she snickered inaudibly. "Actually, this is an old remedy," I explained, holding up my can. "It gets rid of the green monster."
She nodded seriously and nonchalantly followed me back to my table. Eventually, Matt came to join us. I introduced him to some guys who ate with me. Then Jackie, Margo, and Laurel joined us at the table. Myriah was the last to sit down with us, looking as lovely as ever as she pulled up a chair next to Matt.
Maybe it was the effect of the Mountain Dew poisoning my green monster, but at some point, it occurred to me that I might not have anything in common with Myriah. I thought about how important it had been to find common ground for Hannie and Jackie. Well? What would I have to say to Myriah anyway? Matt couldn't speak (or, at any rate, wasn't very good at it) and from the looks of it, he had plenty to say to her. Maybe they had something in common. They both knew sign language, for one thing.
"Yo, Earth to David Michael?" Margo waved her hand in front of my face. I snapped back to attention. "When does Kristy come home?"
"She comes home today," I said. "Probably around six or seven o'clock."
"Could we help you welcome her home?" Margo asked, hopefully. "I was thinking maybe a bunch of us Krushers could hold a banner or something. You know, like, 'Welcome home, Coach Kristy!'"
"I love that idea," I replied immediately. Where did Margo come up with this stuff? I never knew she had it in her.
"I want to help!" Jackie exclaimed.
"Me too!" Haley said. She quickly signed the plan to her brother, and his face lit up instantly. Haley translated, "We'll be there. I want to see Kristy. She's awesome! Will any other sitters come? Jessi? Mallory? Claudia? Stacey? Abby? Dawn? Logan?" His fingers flew as he signed their names and Haley hardly looked at him as she supplied the translation.
"Wow, that was fast," Myriah commented, signing to him. "My fingers are no good. Look. M-Y-R-I-A-H. Slow."
"Hey, Matt?" said Margo. "Mallory is going to come and she called Jessi. Jessi says she will try to make it. But there are even more people coming. I've been working on getting a bunch of fans together for Saturday. It will be awesome. David Michael, we need to make sure we bring lots of chairs. There might not be enough room in the stands."
"I have a new name for you," I told Margo. "Kristy 2.0."
Several hours later, Margo's idea played out in our driveway as the original Kristy arrived home. While everyone was waving and cheering, I peered into her SUV, looking for that male passenger who was supposed to be there. It was empty, except for her suitcase. She parked and got out, her hand on her heart and mouth gaping in surprise.
"My Krushers!" Kristy grinned a mile wide. "I was coming to see you, but you all came to see me. Wow, look at this banner! Terrific, who thought of that?"
"Margo did," said Mallory Pike, who had made it back to Stoneybrook just an hour earlier than Kristy. With her had come her college roommate and sister, Vanessa. "She's just like a little version of you these days."
"Mal, you came too!" Kristy hugged her, then turned to hug me next. "Hi! Charlie just called a few minutes ago. He'll be coming with Faith and Casey tomorrow. Sam's going to try to make it, too. Only if you promise to win, he says."
"Well, it's the Bashers so you never know," I said, still not feeling too confident but still happy nevertheless. "Uh, Kris, where's that new boyfriend you said you'd bring home?"
"He was a bad, rotten loser like Kyle," Karen supplied, patting Kristy's shoulder reassuringly. "So, she dumped him and came home to see us."
Kristy just laughed. "It wasn't meant to be," she said, waving it off. Turning to the rest of the group, she stuck her hands on her hips and looked serious. "Krushers – huddle! Hands in! Who will we beat?" (Everyone yelled, 'BASHERS!') WHO? ('BASHERS!') Krushers on three – ONE, TWO, THREE!"
"KRUSHERS!"
"OW!"
(Do I even have to tell you who said that?)
