Summer between 9th and 10th Grade, High School
Age: 14-15
July-August 2007
…
It's a hundred degrees outside.
Despite moving their practice to the early morning hours, the boys are still sluggish in their movements. Vince's shirt sticks uncomfortably to his body, a thick layer of sweat acting as glue between the fabric and his skin. Across the outfield, he can see TJ take his hat off and shake it out before putting it back on, brim forward to block the rays rather than its usual backwards position.
After a few more pop flies, one of which Sam loses in the sun and nearly gets hit in the head with, their coaches finally call the practice over. The boys don't even jog to their bags in the dugout.
"I'm so freaking hot," Sam groans, pulling his sports drink from his bag and cracking open the lid. "You know, if we didn't win the game, we wouldn't be here."
Their summer league baseball team won their district tournament championship and are now in a week of intense practice before they begin the state tournament. If they win that, they could go to regionals. Vince isn't sure they'd go very far in the regional tournament, but it'd be fun to go, even if they lose two in a row and get booted.
"You sound like a sore winner," TJ says, wiping sweat off his forehead with his arm and adjusting his hat.
"And your hat is an entire shade darker than it's supposed to be," Sam tells him, his nose crumpled. "Tell me that's healthy."
"Who's up for a trip to Muddy Bottom Pond?" Phil asks, throwing his bag over his shoulder.
The boys all agree and plan to meet back up at the pond after dropping their things at home and switching into their swim trunks. TJ and Vince bike off in the same direction, splitting off toward their respective streets but agreeing to meet back up at the Detweiler house before heading off again to meet the rest.
Vince's parents are both at work when he arrives. He had actually eaten breakfast with his mother this morning before she left for work as a nurse at the hospital and he went over to Third Street to get his shots done before he had to be at baseball practice. Chad is home from college, having just finished his sophomore year at Stanford. He has a summer internship with some big wig department head at the University of Arkansas that he attends a few days a week. When Vince had told her, Gretchen had actually known of the guy through her parents and had seemed impressed.
Vince wasn't surprised that Chad landed something impressive. It's Chad after all.
He climbs the steps and sticks his head in his brother's room. Chad is sitting at his desk, his fingers flying across a keyboard, appearing to type into some sort of coding software. Vince has no idea what software it is or what he is doing, but he knows the basic appearance of the screen. Gretchen would know. Maybe he should ask her to explain it to him sometime. Last time he asked Chad what he was up to, Chad gave him a two-hour lecture where half of it went over Vince's head. Gretchen is a bit better at layperson explanations than his brother.
"Hey," he calls. Chad's fingers still and he turns around to see what Vince has to say. "I'm heading to Muddy Bottom Pond with some friends. Do you want to come?"
Chad waves him off.
"Enjoy your summer with your friends, Vinny," he says with a smile. "I've got a code to crack and an air conditioner to keep me cool."
Vince nods and watches as Chad turns back to the computer, his eyes bouncing between a book on the desk in front of him and the screen. Once Chad is thoroughly immersed in his project again, Vince backs out of the room and shuts the door. He still idolizes his older brother, but sometimes he wishes he had more things in common with him. It might make hanging out easier.
He tosses his baseball clothes into his hamper and quickly grabs a towel from the hall closet on his way back out. TJ's street is only a couple away from his, so his bike ride over is short. Becky's old beat-up station wagon, which was basically given to her when Mr. Detweiler bought a new car, sits in the driveway.
He knocks on the door and can hear Mrs. Detweiler shout for him to come in. He opens the door to the entryway and Mrs. Detweiler meets him there, drying a dish with a rag as she walks.
"Vince, it's so good to see you, hun. TJ's upstairs," she says.
"Thanks, Mrs. Detweiler. It's good to see you too," he responds politely before climbing up the stairs.
He can hear Becky's voice through her closed bedroom door, most likely talking on the phone, as he passes. TJ is rummaging through his closet when Vince enters. He leans against the doorway and smirks. He hasn't been to TJ's room in a while. They typically head to the basement if they're hanging out at TJ's. But, his room hasn't changed much since he was last up here. His room is a mess, with piles of clothes right next to piles of comic books. No wonder TJ is always late.
"Need help?" he asks.
TJ turns around and shakes his head. "Nah, I'll find it eventually."
Vince chuckles and sits down at the end of TJ's bed. Across from him is TJ's dresser and on the mirror, he can see pictures stuck into the wooden frame. He stands and walks over to take a look. There's a picture from kindergarten that catches his eye. TJ stands between Spinelli and Gretchen, his arms over their shoulders, with Vince standing behind them, arms up as if he's cheering for something. He has no idea what was going on – maybe a birthday or a party of some sort – but it sure looks like they were having fun.
Above it is a more recent picture TJ must have cut out of the newspaper of the two of them at the little league championship a few years ago, where their team won the tournament. The caption reads: Vince LaSalle lifts TJ Detweiler, center, as the Kelso's General Store team celebrates their City League Tournament win. He remembers that game and the tournament after. They ended up winning to the state tournament that year and ended up representing Arkansas at the Little League World Series Southwest Regional Tournament. Of course, they lost both games they played in that tournament, but even getting to go had been cool for them at 12 years old. He'd love to be able to go to regionals again with almost the same group of guys from their old Little League team.
TJ shuffles in the closet and Vince turns. He shakes his head at TJ, who is kneeling on the floor, his head and chest invisible as he rummages.
"You okay in there?"
TJ pulls his head out and gives a sheepish grin. "Sorry, I just chucked all my clean laundry in here the other day and I could have sworn my trunks were in that pile."
Vince falls back on TJ's bed and rests his hands behind his head. "Eh, no problem. It's not like they expect you to be there on time."
As TJ starts to take one item at a time out of his closet, tossing them into a pile under his window when it's not his swim trunks, shrugs.
"I mean, it is helpful sometimes when no one expects me to be on time." He picks up a shirt and looks at it before tossing it at the window. "Have you heard from Gretch at all? Spin says she sounds like she's having a blast."
Vince nods. He tries not to bother her too much, knowing that she has a full agenda and more people than just him that want updates from her. But she usually has a period of downtime in the early afternoons and when he doesn't have practice, they're able to connect. He has been able to reassure her that – as always – she was right, his summer so far hasn't been a complete disaster. Yes, there have definitely been times where he felt like a third wheel, like the day or two before Spinelli left for soccer camp earlier in the month where TJ was essentially glued to her hip, but now things have sort of evened out. They've been so busy with baseball and Spinelli has been spending a fair amount of her time at the ballet studio, helping out Mademoiselle Pavlova with her very first summer camp for the younger kids – which Vince didn't think Spinelli would like at all but she is being paid under the table, so he supposes there must be some perks.
But listening to Gretchen talk about her experiences has been more of the focus of the calls. What she has been able to do – take lab tours, learn how to do sutures on fruit, and right now they're doing their own mini research projects which they'll present posters on at the end of the program – sounds really cool. Gretchen's voice drips with glee every time he talks to her and honestly, the excitement is sort of contagious.
"Yeah, I just talked to her yesterday, actually," he says, turning onto his side. He knows the next thing he says will catch TJ's attention. "She got to see part of an open-heart surgery."
TJ's head whips away from the closet, his eyes wide.
"Seriously? That's awesome!"
Vince nods his head. Gretchen called him yesterday almost immediately after she got out of the OR. She had changed out of her scrubs and while she was waiting in the hospital cafeteria for the rest of her fellow students to reconvene from their shadowing adventures, she spoke so quickly that occasionally Vince had to have her repeat what she had just said. Gretchen knows how to nerd out over something she's passionate about, but he has never seen it to this extreme.
"Yeah, I don't know how they managed to get her out of the OR. Probably had to drag her out," he says with a laugh. "I mean, she's been having a good time – Gretchen always has a good time when she's learning, but this was different."
"I mean, she saw a human heart," TJ says, back to tossing items. "I guess that's the reward for being a super genius, you get to do super cool things."
"That's Gretchen for you." Vince turns to his back again, staring at the ceiling. "I got a postcard from Mikey yesterday. Have you heard from Gus?"
TJ hums an affirmative.
"Very briefly. They've got him on a tightrope over there. But, he seems to like it so I guess that's all that matters – yes!"
Vince turns his head, shaking his head when he sees what TJ's holding. "That's not your trunks, you weirdo."
TJ shakes his head and tosses an old Senior Fusion shirt into his pile. "Nah, but I've been looking for this for weeks. I thought Spin stole it."
Vince lets out a breath and turns his head back to face the ceiling. "She's turning into quite the klepto."
"Yeah, but that's okay," he hears TJ says. "I don't mind."
Vince clicks his tongue and stares at a spot on the ceiling. He would mind if someone randomly took things from his room. Maybe that's just TJ being TJ, or maybe it's because Spinelli and TJ are dating. He doesn't know, but he wonders what it would feel like to have a girl steal his stuff and for him not to mind.
Once TJ finally unearths his swim trunks from his closet pile and changes, they head out to meet the rest. The two boys lazily bike to Muddy Bottom Pond, not wanting to exert too much energy in the heat. When they arrive, they drop their bikes in the pile and head over to the dock where the rest of their teammates have congregated. Phil sees them first and waves them over.
"Where's your better half?" Dave calls out as they approach.
"She has ballet," TJ says. "I told her to stop by when she gets out."
Sam's head pokes out from under the water and he swims over to the dock, resting against it.
"Quit yakking and get in here before you all melt," he teases.
Muddy Bottom Pond is still a fairly well-kept secret of their neighborhood, though Vince assumes there are other little inlets and rivers the other kids must frequent on days like today. Regardless, it's nice that they don't have to share with the entire town. As they jump off the dock, doing back flips and fancy jumps, other kids show up that he remembers from Third Street but it's never excessively full. Just a bunch of kids having fun, which is exactly what Vince needs this summer.
After a while the boys decide on a cannonball contest and they jump out of the water and onto the dock once more. Dave goes first with a running start.
"Cannonball!"
As he finishes shouting, Dave leaps off the dock, jumping as high as he can in the air before he grabs his legs and contorts into a ball. He makes a splash as he hits the surface, water spewing around him like a geyser. Some of the kids in the water turn their heads to avoid the splash while others ride the small waves flowing from the landing point.
Dave resurfaces, head bobbing a little further out than he had jumped.
"So, who can beat that?"
Vince steps up to go next, ready to answer the question, when Sam grabs his arm.
"Wait a minute," he says. Then he turns to his twin. "You aren't the one deciding – I want a fair and impartial judge."
The boys take a look around the pond and TJ takes the lead, walking to the far end of the dock to shout over to a group of kids hanging around near the shore.
"Hey, Hector!" he shouts. The boy looks up and waves. "You guys want to judge our cannonball contest?"
Hector and his friends share a look and then swim over to where Dave is treading water. Once the group of younger boys are situated, Dave swims back to the dock, ready to join back in. They rock-paper-scissors for order, taking the contest seriously. Vince ends up right smack in the middle, TJ and Dave before him and Sam and Phil after him. It's not a bad position, although if he were to pick he'd go last, figure out what his competition is before he actually jumps.
Hector and the boys give Dave a 7.5 and TJ a 7.
Vince is debating his jumping strategy when he hears Phil call out to Spinelli. He turns around, seeing her dropping her bike in the pile alongside the rest of theirs.
"Hurry up, Spin!" he calls. "We're cannonballing. You can be next."
"Delaying your demise?" Phil jokes.
"Hardly," Vince scoffs. "I'm going to win regardless."
Spinelli tosses off her t-shirt and shorts, walking down the dock to meet them. Out of the corner of his eye, Vince sees Sam throw his arm out, as if presenting something to a crowd, gesturing in Spinelli's direction.
"There she is," he sings, his voice horribly off-tune for the famous pageant theme song. "Miss America!"
Phil snickers and Vince can't help but join as Sam breaks out of his tease to laugh. Spinelli is no pageant girl. Even though she did win that one time with Vince's help after the Ashleys mockingly signed her up, Spinelli and Miss America are about as polar opposite as he can picture, which just makes the tease funnier. No, Spinelli has always and will always fit in better with a group of guys doing cannonballs than the Ashleys and their pageantry. She's just so easy to rile up because of it.
Spinelli continues walking toward them, but she slows her steps, crossing her arms over her chest. As she gets closer, Vince expects to see her scowl, but instead her face remains almost unreadable, her arms wrapped tightly around herself.
"Very funny," she sneers as she approaches, coming to a stop in front of them. "When's my turn?"
"You can go now if you want," Vince says. "TJ just went, got a 7. You can definitely beat that."
She smirks in his direction. "Oh, absolutely. That's child's play."
"For someone half the size of the rest of us, you have quite a bit of confidence," Sam says. He looks over her head at Vince. "How does TJ handle both of your egos in the same room?"
Spinelli rolls her eyes and pushes Sam off the dock. He lands in the water with a hard thunk, almost belly flopping against the surface. Vince and Phil both laugh as Spinelli smirks.
Sam's head resurfaces and he spits water toward the dock. "That wasn't very nice!" he shouts.
"Who said I was very nice?" Spinelli asks, acting nonchalant.
From across the pond, Hector screams out "Five!" and with the score, Vince and Phil both laugh even harder. He can see TJ and Dave both grinning as well.
"That was awesome," Phil says.
Vince holds his hand up and Spinelli meets it in a high five.
Sam swims out to tread with TJ and Dave, leaving plenty of room for the next cannonballer. Vince gestures for Spinelli to go ahead and she doesn't have to be asked twice. As she leaps into the air, her body forms a tight ball, all those years of ballet no doubt helping her flexibility. Vince watches her technique, impressed by how compact she keeps herself, even as she hits the water's surface, causing the best splash yet.
"I'm always amazed how someone so little can make such a big splash," Phil mutters.
"It's all in the technique," Vince tells him.
He watches as Spinelli resurfaces, wiping the water out of her eyes, as she swims over to TJ as the judges grant her a 9. He turns away and focuses on his cannonball.
"Here, watch the master."
…
98.
Vince races after the ball as it bounces under the net. Once he grabs it in his hand, he glances up at the clocktower. He'll finish right on time to meet everyone at Kelso's. It's the first time they're all back in town this summer. Mikey rolled back in just after TJ and Vince returned from regionals. Gus returned from military camp just as Spinelli was dragged kicking and screaming to Tennessee for a family reunion. And once they all came back, Gretchen was still gone, her parents deciding to turn their return trip from Boston into a college tour road trip.
She came back yesterday and they all decided to meet up today, spending one of the last days of summer break together before preseason and other school activities begin to get in the way.
He heads back to the line and lets the next shot fly. It soars through the air, swishing through the net. 99.
He walks out to grab the ball, ready to shoot one more shot, but when he turns around, he sees Gretchen at the gate. He dribbles the ball in place and waves. She waves back as she enters the schoolyard, holding a small blue gift bag in her other hand.
"Welcome back, Dr. Grundler," he says as she gets closer.
She shakes her head at him, but continues to smile nonetheless as she approaches. He picks up his ball and gives her a one-armed hug.
"It's good to be back," she says. "There's nothing quite like home."
"Were you heading over to Kelso's?" he asks. He gestures to the hoop. "I'll walk with you. I've only got one more shot."
"Actually, I was looking for you. I wanted to give you this before Kelso's," she says, holding up her little blue gift bag. "I stopped by your house first and your mother said to check here. I should have figured as much."
She holds the bag out to him and he frowns, reaching for it. "What's this for?"
"A belated birthday gift," she says. "I'm sorry I missed it. I heard it was pretty special."
He nods his head. Even if she hadn't been in Boston, it's unlikely she would have been around on his actual birthday anyway. The baseball team had won the state tournament and gone to the southwest regionals in Texas and they had won their one and only game of the tournament on his actual birthday. It was the best birthday present he could have asked for and that night they celebrated both the win and Vince turning fifteen all in one go.
Although, maybe she would have come. Becky begrudgingly drove Spinelli down with her. Gretchen probably would have joined if she was around.
But it's now the middle of August, two weeks after Vince's birthday and he had totally forgotten. He smiles and looks into the bag, shifting the tissue paper to reach inside. He can feel the shape and seams of a baseball and he pulls it out to see. It's a Boston souvenir baseball and as he turns it, he can see images screen-printed on the leather: the skyline, the iconic Fenway Park, and a few other locations.
"This is really cool," he says, continuing to turn it over in his hands. "Thank you."
"Happy belated birthday." She gestures to the bag and the ball. "Do you want me to hold it while you take your final shot?"
He tosses the baseball up into the air and catches it easily. Then he places the ball in the pocket of his athletic shorts.
"Nope, got a good spot for it right here," he says, patting the ball through his shorts.
"Gretchen!"
They both turn to the shout, seeing TJ and Spinelli are entering the schoolyard by the gate. Spinelli lets go of TJ's hand, nearly sprinting at top speed across the blacktop. She barrels right into Gretchen, the two of them stumbling backwards at the sheer force of Spinelli's running hug.
"Geez, Spin, don't knock her over," Vince says.
"You are never allowed to leave for the whole summer again," Spinelli says, completely ignoring Vince. She backs up and gestures to the boys. "I was the only girl surrounded by these bozos."
Vince crosses his arms. "Who are you calling bozos, you bozo?"
Spinelli sticks her tongue out at him and turns back to Gretchen. "I'm serious."
"Noted," Gretchen chuckles.
TJ gives Gretchen a quick welcome back hug as well.
"I want to hear everything," Spinelli says. "Especially all the gory details."
Vince watches as TJ glances up at the clocktower. TJ turns back to the group and wraps an arm around Spinelli's shoulders.
"And you will, but we should probably head out soon or poor Gus and Mikey are going to think we forgot about them."
Gretchen nods. "Absolutely. I'll tell you stories of my adventures until I lose your attentions once we meet the others."
TJ nods toward the basketball still under Vince's arm. "You finished?"
"I got one more."
"Well, hurry up," Spinelli says. "Let's get a move on."
Gretchen grabs the empty bag out of his hand so he can turn around. He stands at the line, aims, and lets it fly.
100. Perfect.
…
Notes:
The Southwest Region for Little League (ages 11/12) includes Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. In this chapter, the boys would currently be playing in the Babe Ruth League as 14/15-year-olds. The Southwest Region for this age group includes the same teams, except Alabama is included instead of Colorado.
"There She Is, Miss America" is the song that plays when Miss America is crowned at the Miss America pageant. It was famously sung by Bert Parks from 1955 to 1979.
Someone asked in the reviews for the previous chapter about the birthdays and zodiac signs for the characters. I do have my own headcanons for their birthdays and my goal is to sprinkle them in as they fit with the story – such as here, I envision Vince as a July Leo (July 30th is my headcanon) and that fit with the story here. Canonically, we know that Mikey is the oldest, Gretchen's birthday is March 23, and Spinelli is a Libra (and therefore probably the youngest), so I've worked with these parameters to figure out some dates. If anyone is interested, I can maybe write some birthday outtakes.
As always, thanks for reading and let me know what you think!
