Game Day!
The morning started off with a big pancake breakfast at the Thomas-Brewer residence. Charlie, his wife, Faith, and their two-year-old son Casey arrived before I was even awake. I came downstairs to find them sitting at the table. Casey ran across the kitchen towards me and yelled, "Day-Michael!" I promptly scooped him up and tossed him in the air. He shrieked with joy. Being an uncle is fun, but I could never keep up with Casey all the time. Faith got to her feet slowly and tried to hug me, but only managed to pat my shoulder with Casey and her belly in the way. Faith and Charlie were expecting a girl sometime next month.
"Thanks for coming!" I told them. Before I could ask about my other big brother, the door creaked open and a laundry basket dropped onto the floor. Sam stepped over it as he slipped inside, grinning goofily at us. He kicked the basket aside and opened the door all the way for a girl with wild, spiky hair and combat boots. She waved enthusiastically at us.
"This is Sam," announced Sam. "Samantha, that is, but she goes by Sam. She wanted to come at the last minute. Are we in time for food?"
"Hi!" exclaimed Sam (the girl) "Sam has told me so much about you guys. I can't wait to see this game. I love softball. I used to play short stop in high school."
Kristy grinned, "I like her already," she told our brother as she added two more plates to the table.
We spent the morning getting acquainted with Sam-the-girl and talking with Faith and Charlie about the new baby. I savored every moment spent with my older brothers. I missed getting to see them all the time. It meant the world to me that they both had come. After breakfast, we piled into cars. There were thirteen of us – Mom, Watson, Faith, Charlie, Casey, the Sams, Kristy, me, Karen, Andrew, Emily and Shannon (our dog) – plus a bunch of softball equipment and extra chairs so we managed to make the trip in three vehicles.
Margo had been right about our need for lots of chairs. The stands were filling up already and we hadn't even started warming up. I spotted Nina and Eleanor Marshall with Lucy Newton. They still came to town to visit often, even though it had been a long time since they lived in Stoneybrook. (The Marshalls now called Stamford home.) Jessi and Becca Ramsey were there, too, having a signed conversation with Matt. The other members of the Barrett-DeWitt clan – Lindsey, Madeleine, Marnie, and Ryan – comprised a huge section of the crowd alongside the remaining Pikes – Byron, Jordan, Adam, and Mallory. Vanessa Pike was there, too, but she and Haley were standing in front of the crowd wearing jean skirts, leggings and Krushers shirts. They waved pom-poms around and generally acted pretty goofy, but they were entertaining nevertheless.
Compared to our side, the Bashers' side looked pretty scarce. I was very glad that I didn't have to ask Moon and Quad Pickney back on the Krushers when I saw them hanging out with Max Delaney and doing bad impressions of our cheerleaders. Amanda Delaney was there, too, but she had distanced herself from them. She was sitting with Maria Kilbourne, who despite being one of the most popular girls at SDS, is a very nice person. Maria looked like she was torn between sides since she has been known to hang out with Hannie and Karen, as well as Amanda (though never at the same time).
When I arrived with the equipment, we started warming up on our side of the field. Buddy began hitting fly balls to our outfielders. I looked for Nick to pitch with me, but he was nowhere to be found, even though his other siblings had all arrived. I shrugged it off and went to find Jake, the only other pitcher on our team. He had just arrived with Laurel and Patsy. I held up the ball and yelled, "Jake! Come pitch with me?"
"Pitch?" He grabbed his glove and ran over. "What about Nick?"
I shrugged. "I don't see him here," I said. "I see the rest of the Pikes, but no Nick."
"Weird," he commented, frowning. "Dude, you don't want me to have to pitch today. I-I don't do that well under pressure, you know…"
I shook my head. "Jake, I'm sorry, but you're relief pitcher if Nick doesn't show up." Just then, Claire ran by. "Hey, Claire, where's Nick?"
"He still isn't here?" she replied, looking around. "Darn. Mom must still have him. He's on his way. He got in trouble last night for blowing off curfew again. She was trying to come up with a really good way to punish him this time."
I sighed. "Forget it," I said. "Jake, let's warm up."
We tossed it back and forth for awhile as I wondered what Mrs. Pike could possibly be doing to poor Nick. As we warmed up, Jake's pitching okay, but one mistake every now and then would fluster him. For every one mistake, he then made three more. Once he sent it flying into the crowd, and Charlie caught it just before it hit Casey. He came over and asked us, in a gruff voice, if we could move a bit farther away from the crowd or else pitch more accurately. I could hardly be angry with Charlie, considering he had a point. Jake began pacing nervously and muttered to himself a bit.
In an instant, Laurel came running over and pulled her brother aside. She handed him a Gatorade and began walking around with him. I guess she knew how to deal with Jake when he got this way. I turned around, intending to look for Nick. Instead, I came face to face with Margo.
"Have you seen Nick yet?" I asked.
"Nick?" she replied. "No, but don't worry about it. He'll be here any minute. In the meantime, are you done warming up? (I nodded.) Good! Condition Number Two, David Michael, is that you show us all a little team spirit. You get to warm up the crowd for us with Vanessa and Haley!" She offered me a pair of pom-poms.
"That's the second condition?"
"That isn't all of it," Suzi meandered toward us, looking devious as she hid something behind her back. "You have to look the part."
Even before she showed it to me, I already knew what else they had in store. As Suzi held out a long denim skirt, I hung my head in shame. And it turned out, there was more! Marnie trailed behind her with a long, blonde wig. Without so much as a protest, I accepted my fate to be dressed as a girl and forced into making a fool of myself. It was, afterall, my own fault entirely. Once I had the skirt on over my shorts and the wig placed crookedly on my head, Madeleine DeWitt finished me off with some bright pink lipstick. Giggling, Margo handed me my pom-poms. Haley and Vanessa waved me over. With the crowd whistling and my older brothers beside themselves with roaring laughter, I submissively added myself to the cheerleading squad.
"Check it out, the Three Stooges have returned!" Vanessa exclaimed.
"Couldn't we have dressed up in those costumes instead?" I pleaded. "They probably would fit now, you know."
"Hush!" Haley ordered. "We have some cheering to do. Charlotte was always professional about these things. If you're going to be her replacement, you need to do the same." She sounded entirely serious, even though she wore a little smirk the whole time. "Ready? OKAY!"
"Krushers crush! Bashers bash! But we'll crush those Bashers in a flash!" They repeated the chant over and over and I joined in. Then Haley and Vanessa attempted to pick me up. I fell on top of them in a heap and we laughed until our stomachs hurt. By now, the crowd was on their feet and had joined us in chanting. They stopped when we fell and laughter followed.
"Nice outfit, Thomas!" I heard Kyle call out. The Bashers had stopped playing to watch us, too. Instead of feeling embarrassed, however, I felt smug. Kyle no longer had my stepsister.
"Oh, you like it? You can wear it to school after you lose today. In fact, I think you should wear it for a whole week!"
"Sounds good to me!" Kyle retorted. "You might as well leave it on."
"Uh, guys," said Vanessa. "They wear uniforms at SDS. So that bet won't work."
"No more betting!" Karen had heard me. She threw down her glove and put her hands on her hips. "No more betting or Hannie and I don't play." Hannie looked murderous. It looked like she was starting to get tired of taking orders from Karen.
"Kyle, please," said one of the female Bashers. "No more betting." A few of her teammates were nodding as well. It looked like the Krushers weren't the only ones who had had enough of the betting.
"Fine," said Kyle. He looked at me and I nodded. Now we really were playing for pride. And it should have been that way all along.
"Haley, Vanessa," I said. "Am I excused?"
"Margo, Suzi?" Haley turned to the girls who could answer my question. They looked at each other and nodded. I wasted no time in ridding myself of the skirt and the wig.
The game was about to start. Our referee had just arrived. We had given that job to Mr. Kilbourne, Maria's father, who was friends with both Mr. Taylor and Watson. That seemed like enough to qualify him as an impartial judge. And arriving right behind Mr. Kilbourne were Nick and Mrs. Pike. Nick looked at the ground as he walked behind his mother.
"Stop that sulking," she said, in a hushed whisper that was still loud enough for everyone to hear. With that, Mrs. Pike took off for the stands leaving Nick to explain. From the look on his face, there was something he really did not want to tell us.
"I'm grounded," he told us.
"Grounded from… what?" I was afraid to hear the rest.
"Not from playing," he sighed heavily. "But from pitching. Mom almost grounded me from playing altogether, but I got her to give in just a little bit. She still wants me to learn a lesson or something so I won't be allowed to pitch today."
"I knew it," Margo exhaled loudly. "Mom always tries to take away what matters the most when she grounds us. Nick, I'm surprised you're even here." She looked at the line-up, which she and I had painstakingly put together yesterday. We had worked hard to ensure that everyone would get adequate playing time. "A few things will have to change here…"
"Can she be talked out of it?" Jackie asked.
Claire raised one eyebrow, a talent I was unaware she had. "Do you want to try?"
Jackie looked at Mrs. Pike. "No, not really."
"Well," I said, looking at Jake. "I know you're nervous about pitching. I'll pitch as long as I can. I'm not as good as you, Nick," I said, looking him in the eye. He immediately looked away. "But I'll do my best."
"David Michael?"
"What is it, Gabbie?"
"Nice lipstick."
I hastily wiped at my mouth. Giggling, Gabbie produced a tissue for me.
"Team captains?" That was Mr. Kilbourne. I patted Margo on the shoulder and sent her to meet Kyle at home plate. Kyle looked surprised to see Margo instead of me, but said nothing. The coin was flipped, and we won the honor of home field advantage. This was good – it meant we got to bat last. With that, we took the field!