Try-Outs

Chapter 2

EPOV

"Whoa," Emmet said, suddenly stopping on our way to the car. I looked to the left, following his gaze. Someone was on the baseball field. He threw up a a ball, and crushed it. It cleared the fence in center field. We looked back at the guy who just hit and stared in amazement. He chucked the bat on the ground saying, "Damn it!" I raised my eyebrows as he jogged towards the fence.

"Was he made that it went over the fence?" I asked questioningly.

"Definitely mad," Jasper said nodding.

"He knows there's no gate to get to the other side of the fence, right?" Emmet asked when the guy was about halfway there. We watched as he suddenly sped up and full out sprinted to the fece. He jumped, his hands gripping the top of the ten foot fence and pulled himself over.

"I guess so," Jasper said and started walking again. We followed him, still thinking about that guys. "Who was that anyway?"

"I have no idea, he might be new or something," Emmet said shrugging.

"That would make sense," I said glancing back at the feil as the guy climbed over again. "I hope he tries out tommarow, we could really use someone who can hit it like that."

"What if it was a girl?" Alice said popping up in front of me before I opened the volvo's door.

I snorted, "girls can't hit the ball like that, much less climb a ten foot fence." She just shrugged and hopped into the back seat next to Jasper and Rose. Girls can't play baseball.

BPOV

I threw up the second ball and hit it hard. As I watched it fly towards center field I though, oops, too hard. When it cleared the fence I threw my bat on the ground and swore, "Damn it!"

I hate it when I do that because I can never just bring myself to leave a perfectly good ball behind the fence. I started joggin to the fence, and sprinted toward it when I was halfway there. I jumped and grabbed the edge and pulled myself up. Wow. That wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I landed with a thud on the ground stumbled a little.

I started looking through busheds and all over the ground. "Where is that friggin ball?" I asked myself.

"This ball?" a voice asked from behind me. I jumped in surprise and spun around. Alice.

"Holy crap Alice, do not do that to me," I said grabbing the ball out of her hand. "Thanks-I didn't hit you, did I?" I asked remembering how many times that's happened before.

"Oh no, you didn't," she reassured me quickly. "I was walking out of the back building and saw it go over the fence, I figured I'd give it back to whoever hit it. Did you hit it?" she asked incredulously.

"Uh, yeah. I'm trying out for baseball tommarow, so I figured I get in some practice, you know?" I said, curious as to see her opinion of me playing.

"Really? That is so cool!" she squealed, smiling widely.

"You think it's a good idea?" I asked uncertainly. "I really want to play, but my Dad would kill me if I had to fight my in."

"I think it's a brilliant idea. Rose and I are so coming to watch try outs tommarow!" she said happily. "Do you want to have lunch with us tommarow?" she asked smiling widely.

I smiled back, "Yeah, thanks Alice."

"No, thank you Bella. I can't wait to see the boy's faces when you kick all of their asses," she said happily. "We're going to be really good friends," she added before turning away and jogging towards the barely visible parking lot.

"Thanks Alice, see you tommarow," I called after her.

"See ya," she said before disappearing. Wow, I'm actually going to have a friend who genuinely wants me to play baseball, I thought as I climbed back over the fence. As I walked back to home plate I readjusted my baseball cap and started running again. I almost started laughing when I realized that anyone who saw me hit those would think I was a boy because you can't see my hair in the cap. That is ironic.

I woke up this completelky siked for once. I hopped into the shower, pulled my hair into a ponytail, put on another pair of sweat pants, and a gray t-shirt. "See ya later Charlie," I called as I jogged out of the house.

"Good luck with try outs Bells, don't let anything stop you from being on that team," he said smiling at me.

"Anything?" I asked incredulously. He knows exactly what my anything is and he knows just how far I will go if I can. Let's just say it's bad for whoever stands between me and what I want. I make it bad for them.

"Anything," he said giving me a little shove out the door.

"Thanks Dad," I said before I got into the truck.

"Thank me by getting on that team," he said smiling. I smiled back and started the truck. This is going to be an interesting day.

"Hey Bella, you remember Rosalie," Alice said as they situated themselves on the bleachers next to me.

"Yeah. So, are you guys coming after school?" I asked curiously.

"Of course, when Alice told me about it I was so excited. Your going to be awesome and I can't wait to see the looks on the boys' faces," Rosalie said laughing.

"Our boyfriends and brothers are the team," Alice said smiling evily. "They don't really think girls can play sports, so this will be good."

"Who are your brothers?" I asked curiously. I get really mad when guys say girls can't play sports so I'll make sure I'm partnered up with them for some drills or something.

"My brothers are Edward and Emmet-Emmet's also Rosalie's boyfriend-and her brother is Jasper-who is my boyfriend," Alice explained.

I nodded thoughtfully, "Do you want me to teach them a little lesson. I wasn't planning on completely showing them all up, but if you want me too…" I trailed off as I saw the evil smiles appear on both their faces.

"This'll be great," Alice said happily right before the bell rang. "See you after school," Alice said in a sing-song voice. I laughed and heade to Biology.

Once again, no one was at my lab table when I got their. I sat down and started doodling again. I'm pretty sure I'm lab partners with Alice's brother, Edwar, if I remember right. He didn't see my face yesturday, so I'll try to keep that up again today. It'll just make it more fun for me later.

"Hi Bella," he said right when he sat down.

"Hey," I said simply.

"Were you sitting with Alice and Rosalie at lunch today?" he asked curiously.

"Yep, they're really nice," I said honestly.

"Alice is my sister," he added. I just nodded my head and continued doodling. "So, are you going to baseball try outs after school today? Alice and Rosalie are going to watch too," he said.

That time I couldn't help the smile that broke across my face. "Yeah, I am going actually," I said honestly. The the teacher started talking and I looked back to the front, making sure Edward couldn't really get a good look at my face.

When the bell rang I turned my back on Edward to gather my books. "I guess I'll see you after school then," he said to my back.

"Sure," I said getting up and heading quickly to gym.

I quickly grabbed my old softball bag and headed to the field after school. Rosalie and Alice were already there, waiting for me. When I saw that there were two other guys there-I'm guessing Emmet and Jasper-I put my bag behind the bleachers and sat next to Alice. "Hey guys," I said smiling to them.

"Emmet, Jasper, this our friend Bella. She's new here," Alice said gesturing to the two boys.

"Hey, are you watching try outs?" Jasper asked politely.

"Sort of," I said shrugging a bit. Rosalie and Alice had a little trouble holding back their giggles, but the guys didn't really notice. "So, how good is the baseball team anyway?" I asked curiously.

"Last year we were second place in the championships. We're hoping this new guy we saw batting the other day will show up, we would definitely win if we had him," Emmet said.

I exchanged a bit of a look with Alice, she nodded and I smiled. I guess someone did see me and thought I was a guy. Sweet.

"Do you have a team captain?" I asked curiously. I knew that person would have a bit of a say if I join the team or not.

"No, Coach L picks them after try outs. There are always two," Jasper said shrugging. I smiled a bit more now. Good, the coach will decide my fate-not some stupid boy.

"My brother Edward was one last year, along with another guy who graduated," Emmet said. I almost laughed. Edward who has been trying to get my attention for two days is going to hate me by the end of the day. That's funny.

We talked about random stuff for the rest of the time. Emmet and Jasper seemed like really cool guys, I hope they're okay with me on the team if I make it.

At 3:30 their were about twenty guys assembled by the field, talking to eachother about the try outs. There were also about ten other girls there too. Wow, that's lame. When the man that I assumed was the coach I excused myself from our small group to talk to him before he got to the field.

"Hey, you're the baseball coach, right?" I asked when I got his attention.

"Yeah, the boys call me Coach L. What do you need?" he asked curiously. He seemed nice enough…

"Actually, I wanted to try out for the team," I told him confidently.

He was surprised but he didn't look too surprised. "Your Bella Swan, right?" he asked.

Now I was surprised. How did he know me? "Uh, yeah. How did you…?"

"I talked to your Dad the other day. He told me all about you, and if your as good as he says you are, I would be happy for you to join the team," he said smiling.

"Thank you so much," I told him.

"It's no problem as long as you prove yourself today. I have a daughter who plays college softball, so I have no doubt a girl is capable of this," he added. I smiled at him before running back to Alice and Rose.

He showed up about thirty seconds after I did and stood in the center of the field. "Anyone who's trying out today, grap your mit and stant on the third base line," he said to the entire group. Emmet and Jasper went to stand over their right away-they already had their mits on-and I grabbed my mit out of my bag and stood at the end of the line.

"What are you doing here?" the guy next to me asked. Of course that got the entire team's attention.

"I'm trying out," I said keeping my eyes focused on the smiling Coach L.

"You have got to be kidding me. Coach?" the kid called.

Coach L looked over to him and asked, "Problem?"

"Yeah, a girl is going to try out," he said clearly outraged. A couple of other guys said some bogus stuff about girls, but most just stared incredulously at me.

"Are you afraid she's going to be better than you Thompson?" Coach asked raising and eyebrow at him. I almost smiled, clearly he wants to have just as much fun I do with this.

"Fine, I just hope she doesn't get hurt," he muttered back. I almost snorted, this guy is the one who's going to get hurt.

"Alright boys-and girl-pair off and start warming up," he said. I pursed my lips and looked around. It didn't look like anyone really wanted to be my partner. "I'll pair with Bella," Coach said putting on his glove. I mouthed 'thanks' to him and he nodded to me, grabbing a baseball.

He went to the other side of the dirt across from me and lining up with the other boys. I noticed that everyone was basically focused on me.

Coach fired the ball to me and I caught it effortlessly and threw it back-hard-just to show the guys. "Ow. Bella, can you not throw that hard, I'm old," Coach said taking off his glove and shaking his hand. He smiled at me, but I knew that it really did hurt him.

"Sorry," I said shrugging.

"I'll partner with her Coach," a strangely familiar voice said. I looked over to see a bronze haired boy walk over to Coach L.

"Thanks Edward, I need some ice," he said rubbing his hand and heading towards the bench.

"Ready?" Edward asked me.

I rolled my eyes and said, "will you go easy on me?" My voice was dripping with sarcasm, but I couldn't tell if he heard it. He threw the ball to me, he just threw it like he would anyone else. I fired it back, just as hard as I did Coach. I saw that everyone was watching us and Edward knew that too. He cringed when he caught it but didn't say anything. I snickered quietly. We played catch for about ten more minutes, neither of us dropped it once. He started to throw it harder and harder, but I barely noticed.

"Alright, we're going to bat and field now. We'll rotate positions every time we have a new batter. Thompson, Hale, Emmet, and Swan are all up to bat first," Coach said eying me. He probably didn't believe what my Dad told him about my batting. "I want Edward pitching."

Hm. Edward's a pitcher? I wonder how he'll feel if he has some competition?

That Thompson guy was up first. He was pretty good. Coach let him hit the ball five times, they all stayed in the dirt though.

Jasper was next. He batted left handed, and was pretty good. Most of his went towards left field.

Emmet hit the ball hard. Almost all of his went somewhere in the outfeild and one hit the fence.

Then I was up. I grabbed my own bat-the Freak 98. The ball bounced off the bat at 98 miles an hour. I loved this bat. I approached the plate and took my stance. I saw the outfeild come in a bit and even the infeild. I ignored them and focused on Edward. I could tell he really wanted to strike me out, but I'm not going to let him.

The first one he pitched was a ball, so I let it go but followed the ball right to the glove with my head. He was a pretty fast pitcher, but I could hit it. I refocused Edward. The second one was right down the middle and I crushed it, I hit the fence in center field. I just stood their and watched all of their eyes follow the ball and their mouths drop open. The outfeilders didn't even chase after it.

When they all looked at me I smirked and took up my stance again. Then they all snapped out of it and got ready again. They got the ball to Edward and he pitched it down the middle hard again. This time I wanted it to go over the fence. I smacked the ball hard and watched it completely clear the fence in left field.

All the guys were completely stunned again. I just turned to look at Coach, he was just as amazed as the boys were. "Someone else can go if you want Coach," I said to him.

He looked at me stunned and said, "How did you do that?"

"Like this," I said swinging my bat at nothing. I heard a couple laugh and coach snapped out of it. I heard some people laughing from the sidelines and guessed that I was Alice and Rosalie.

"What position do you normally play?" Coach asked when he snapped out of it.

"All of them, but I was pitcher in Arizona," I said shrugging.

"We don't pitch underhand in baseball," some guys shouted from the field. I heard some other murmurs of agreement.

"I can pitch either way," I told Coach, ignoring the protests from the field.

"Give it a go Bella," Coach said sighing. I knew he didn't want all the boys to be upset, but how can he deny me the chance when I just cleared the fence.

I walked up to the mound and took the ball right of Edward's glove. He was still just staring at me. "Go," I whispered to him. He blinked a couple fo times and walked off the field.

"Just warm up a bit Bella," Coach said to me.

"Which way do you want me to pitch?" I asked him.

"Just show me both, I'm curious," he told me.

I shrugged and started underhand. I did a windmill pitch hard to the masked cather. I can throw it about 70 mph underhand when I want to, and he looked stunned and…hurt? "Ouch," I heard him mutter.

"Sorry," I said shrugging as he threw it back to me. Now I did overhand. I wound up and threw it hard to the catcher, I can throw it harder overhand than when I pitch underhand. When he caught it he stumbled back a bit.

"Boys, can I talk to all of you for a minute?" Coach asked walking onto the the field. I knew this was good. "Can you hold on for a minute Bella?" he asked me. I just nodded and walked over to the bleachers by Rosalie and Alice.

"That was amazing!" Alice said when I sat down by them. I just put a finger up in the hold on sign. I was too focused on the group of guys around the pitchers mound.

"Are you kidding me Coach?" I heard someone exclaim.

Coach L said something else and then I heard someone say, "I think we need her."

"That was Emmet," Rosalie whispered to me. I nodded absently. At least I have someone on my side.

"We don't need her," another voice said. Then about five people started argueing at once and I could barely make out anything.

Finally the group broke apart, revealing about half the boys happy and the other half fuming. I looked at Coach who was smiling, "Bella, your in. You don't have to stay for the rest of the try outs if you don't want."

"Thanks Coach, but I'll stay for the rest of the time," I said getting up off the bleachers and heading towards the group. "I'll just go in the outfeild for now though," I told him. He nodded and I went to left field.

The rest of the guys filled in the positions and we continued try outs. I caught every ball that came to me. Ha ha.

At the end of try outs we all gathered around Coach and he said, "I'll have a schedule and a list of the team posted tommarow. Good job today guys, I think this might be our year."

"Thanks Coach," I said to him when everyone walked off the field.

"No Bella, your Dad was right. We really need you on this team," Coach said before walking towards the parking lot with his bag.

I jogged over to Rosalie and Alice who were smiling hugely. "I can't believe your that good Bella!" Rosalie exclaimed.

"That was so awesome!" Alice said hugging me.

"You were really good Bella, I'm glad your on the team," Emmet said to me.

"Thanks, and if you want to get the ball of the fence, make sure your right foot doesn't slide on contact," I told him. His eyebrows furrowed and then he pretended to swing a bat in the air. His back foot moved about half way through his swing and he nodded to himself and swung again-keeping that foot planted.

"Thanks, I'll remember that," he said smiling.

"No problem," I said picking up my bag and grabbing my bat.

"What kind of bat is that?" Jasper asked curiously.

I smiled, "It's the Freak 98."

"What's the 98 mean?" Emmet asked.

"The ball will rebound off the bat at 98 miles per hour. It's my favorite," I said smiling wider. "You guys can try it out tommarow if you want," I offered shrugging.

"Cool," Jasper said smiling.

"Well, I guess I better go. Chief Swan can't cook for shit," I said backing up.

"Will you sit with us at lunch again tommarow Bella?" Alice asked before I turned around.

"Definitely," I said smiling them.

When I got to the truck I stopped in surprise when I saw someone leaning against it with a group of about four other people next to him. "Jake?" I asked when I thought I recognized the boy.

He smiled widely, "hey Bells, your Dad just told me you were coming. You remember Quil, Embry, Jared, and Paul, right? We all used to play baseball together."

"Of course I remember. Where's Sam?" I asked when I realized someone else was missing from their usual group.

"He couldn't come. Sucks for him cause you were awesome Bella! We weren't sure if you still played," Quil said smiling at me.

"Yeah, we went to your house and Charlie told us you were trying out for the baseball team. We got here in time to see you hit it over the fence," Embry said.

"Glad you enjoyed the show," I told them smiling. "I almost thought they wouldn't want me on the team," I told them.

"I wish you weren't, now we're going to lose," Paul said jokingly.

"We play La Push?" I asked excitedly.

"Yeah you do, and they haven't beat us in about three years," Jared said proudly.

"Too bad you won't be able to say that much longer," I told them smiling. We talked for a bit longer and promised we would all get together to talk again before I had to go make Charlie dinner.

When I told Charlie I made it he was so happy for me, we went out to celebrate. I can't wait to see the rest of the school's reaction to me playing.