Disclaimer: I don't own the book series, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor does. And if I did, I wouldn't be writing this right now. I do own all the teammates though.
A/N: This is the part one to my twoshot, "I Remember The Day."
I hope you love it!
Eddie POV:
It'd been at least five months since we moved back and Jake and I have been getting along a lot better than we used to.
I mean, we both just turned 16, and I don't know, but I think I might like him. But I really don't know how I feel. Feelings are way too complicated. Way too complicated for words. I think he probably feels the sane way, but like I said, too complicated to explain how I feel.
But, we have our last baseball game today and we're going against Grafton's high school baseball team. I've heard they're like, really good. They haven't even lost one single game this entire season.
We haven't lost any of our games this season either, but the teams we were going against were very scrawny looking kids. Especially for high schoolers.
"Hey, Eddie," Jake said, from the seat beside me on the bus, interrupting my thoughts. "You ready for this game?"
"Oh, yeah." I said, smiling at him. "Just a little nervous, I guess."
"Yeah, I get it, but you have no reason to be nervous. Because you're one of the best ones on our team," Then he added, grinning, "Next to me, of course."
I laughed out loud. "That's funny. You actually think that." I teased him, which caused him to laugh.
One of our other teammates, Alex Miller, who was in the seat in front of us, turned around and grinned at us. "Will you two stop flirting?" He said.
Just as soon as those words came out of his mouth, I knew I was blushing. I looked over at Jake to see if he was blushing too and he most definitely was.
"What are you talking about, Miller? Eddie and I don't like each other; we're best friends, but that's about as far as it'll go." Jake said, his face still as red as I'd ever seen it.
"Oh ok. Sure, whatever you say, Hatford." Alex said, smirking at Jake. "But, uh, just so you know, it's your ears that gave you away."
I took a look at his ears, which had turned bright red. "You just shut up, Miller." Jake growled as Alex smirked at us before he turned back around.
In just about 30 minutes, we arrived at the school and parked in the parking lot. I started to hype our team up. "ARE YOU READY TO ANNIHILATE, ARE YOU READY TO DESTROY, ARE YOU READY TO PULVERIZE THE GRAFTON GATORS?!" I bellowed, waiting for their response.
"YEAHHHHHHH." My entire team yelled back.
"Well, then let's show 'em who's boss." I said, as we followed our coach over to the dugout.
The game started a few minutes later, and we were in the outfield. Sammy "The Caldron" Waldron was on first, Donny "The Giant" Green was on second, and Jake was on third. I was the pitcher.
The first one at bat was Matthew Lyons. I pitched the ball to him as fast as I could and just like that, he swung and missed it.
"Strike one!" The umpire called out.
The catcher, Danny "The Robot" Ford, threw it back to me and caught it easily in my glove.
I wound up again and threw it as hard as I could. Matt swung again and missed it by half an inch.
"Strike two!" The umpire called out again.
Danny tossed it back to me and as I wound up once more, I threw it with so much force, that as Matt swung his bat again, not only did he miss it, but he fell on his face.
"Sssstrike threeee!" The umpire bellowed out, as the other Gators in their dugout kicked their cleats against the metal fence sectioning it off from the field.
"Yesss!" My entire team called out as another boy came up to bat.
The next one who was up at bat was Chase "Fastball" Rivers. I chuckled, remembering from when we'd played against this team back in the sixth grade. Chase was a scrawny looking 12 year old.
I wound up the ball, pitched it directly to him and as he swung the bat, he completely missed the ball.
"Strike one!" The umpire called out.
The catcher threw it back to me and and I caught it. I wound it up again and threw it as hard as I could.
Chase swung the bat and missed it once again. Oh yeah! We're gonna win this thing, hands down! I thought as I grinned.
"Strike two!" The umpire bellowed.
With a grin on my face, I threw the ball and as he swing his bat, he missed it, yet again.
"Sssstrike threeee!" The umpire bellowed again.
"Aw, dang it!" Chase shouted as he threw the bat down on the ground.
I grinned to myself then at Jake on third, and he grinned back at me.
Then the next one up at bat, sadly, I recognized him as Jason Daniels. I remember him from one of first games way back in sixth grade. He wss the one who threw the ball directly at my face, instead over the home plate. Talk about actually trying TO TAKE OUT YOUR COMPETITION.
I pitched the ball directly to him and as he swung the the bat, he completely missed the ball.
"Strike one!" The umpire called out.
My teammates on the field cheered out loud. I grinned slyly as Jason had this pissed off look on his face as he set the bat in place.
I pitched the ball to him and it was a swing and a miss. He missed it again! His face turing so red!
"Strike two!" The umpire called out again.
I looked over at Jake, who grinned at me and gave me a thumps up. I grinned and pitched the ball to him again.
I watched as the bat made a connection with the ball and sent it up into the air. It started to come down right where I was standing at.
"I GOT IT!" I shouted as I held out my glove. But when I realized it was coming doen behind me, I did the most logical thing: I fell on my back and soon after, I felt the ball land softly in my glove. "YESSSS!"
I jumped up and showed that the ball landed in my glove. "NO!" Jason yelled, as he kicked his shoes in the dirt.
"YEAH, EDDIE! YOU SURE SHOWED THEM!" My teammates yelled, slapping my on my back as we now had our turn at bat.
As we walked over there, Jason, who looked so pissed off at getting striked by a girl, walked by me and stuck his foot out, causing me to fall on my face.
"Hey, jerk!" Jake cried. "Don't do that."
"Whatever." He sneered at us as his team took their place on the field.
(A/N: I'm doing a time jump, cause I don't want to write down nine innings lol)
It was the ninth inning, every single base was filled. Our team had 25 outs, whereas Grafton's team only had 14.
Oh yeah. I thought. We're gonna win. I have no doubts about it. We got this one all wrapped up.
Hayden Whittaker was on short stop, Marcus Brooks was on third, Donny Green was on second, I was on first, and Jake was the pitcher.
Everything we'd done before, came down to this hit. It'll decide rather we lose or rather we win.
The last one to come up to bat was Jeremiah Walker, one of the very best player on The Grafton Gators.
"You got this, Jake!" I shouted. "Strike him out! You can do this! I know you can!"
He looked back at me, smiled, then wound up and let the ball fly.
It went flying towards him, and as he swung the bat, he completely missed it. We all cheered on the field.
"Strike one!" The umpire shouted.
The catcher threw the ball back to Jake, who caught it in one hand. Jake got in position and pitched it directly back to Jeremiah.
He swung the bat again and missed by like, half an inch. "Dang it!" He shouted, as he kicked up a pile of dirt.
"Sstrike two!" The umpire called out as the catcher tossed the ball back to Jake.
Jake caught it and got back into position. "C'mon, Jake! You got this! You can do this!" I shouted, from my spot between second and third base. "Strike out this sucker!"
He tossed me a smirk over his shoulder as he wound up the ball and threw it directly over home plate.
Jeremiah swung the bat and just when you thought he would've hit it, he completely missed it.
"AHHHH! NO WAY!! WE WON!! OH MY GOSH!" I shouted as I ran over to Jake and jumped on his back. "YOU DID IT! YOU WON THE GAME! WE'RE GOING TO THE CHAMPIONSHIPS!"
I jumped down off his back and watched as two of our teammates lifted him on their shoulders. "Jake! Jake! Jake!" Our teammates yelled as he laughed.
"Thanks, guys." He laughed, just as they put him back down on the ground.
I walked up to him, grinning. "Good game, Jake. You did really good. You won the game for us." I told him.
"Hey, you did really good too." Suddenly, he started grinning at me, somewhat shyly.
"What? What is it?" I asked, as I smiled at him.
"It's just, well, I need to ask you something, ok?" He responded. He started looking a little nervous as everyone started heading back to the bus to go find somewhere to eat. "I wanted to know if you'd be my, um, my girlfriend?"
I gasped as I stared at him in shock. "Wait, actually? You're serious and this isn't some kind of prank?"
"I promise you; it's not a prank. I really like you, Eddie." He said, with an honest expression on his face. "So what do you say? You want to be my girlfriend?"
I grinned at him. "Yes." I said, smiling at him.
This big, goofy grin appeared on his face from my answer had been. "Oh, I'm so glad you said yes!" He said as he leaned forward and kissed me on my lips.
I kissed him back then we started walking by to the bus, holding each others hand. We got on the bus and sat in the same seat, together.
Todd Burke, who was sitting in the seat in front of us, turned around and grinned at us. "Hey, was that y'all I saw kissing out there on the pitcher's mound?"
I expected Jake to turn red or try to deny it, but he did neither of those things. He put his arm around my shoulder and grinned. "You sure did. Eddie and I are dating now. I just asked her to be my girlfriend while we were standing out there on the pitcher's mound."
Everyone smiled at us. "Well, we all knew it was coming. Y'all two got a lot more closer than y'all were when the Malloys first moved here." Alex said, agreeing with Todd.
"Well, all I know is: I'm forever yours, Eddie." Jake said, as he kissed me on the side of my head.
I felt myself begin to tear up as I put my head on his shoulder as we rode the bus up to a pizza parlor in Grafton.