No more room for error. Two more strikes and the game’s over. Two more balls and I walk a batter, giving the other team a runner in scoring position.

The crowd joins in. They clap, whistle, and cheer. No one louder than Dad.

Grasping the ball tightly, I take a deep

breath, wrap my right arm behind my back, and lean forward to read Logan’s signal. The HC TITLE-AUTHOR

32

stress of this next pitch hangs on me.

Everyone wants this game done. No one more than me.

I don’t lose.

Logan crouches into position behind the

batter and does something unexpected. He

pulls his catcher’s mask onto the top of his head, places his hand between his legs, and flips me off.

Damn bastard.

Logan flaunts a grin and his reminder causes my shoulders to relax. It’s only the first game of the fall season. A scrimmage game at that. I nod and he slides his mask over his face and flashes me the peace sign twice.

Fastball it is.

I glance over my shoulder toward first. The runner’s taken a lead in his hunt for second, but not enough to chance a steal. I cock my arm back and throw with a rush of power and adrenaline. My heart thumps twice at the sweet sound of the ball smacking into Logan’s glove and the words “Strike two” falling out of the umpire’s mouth.

Logan fires the ball back and I waste no time preparing for the next pitch. This will be it. My HC TITLE-AUTHOR

33

team can go home—victorious.

Logan holds his pinkie and ring fingers

together. I shake my head. I want to close this out and a fastball will do it, not a curve. Logan hesitates before showing me two peace signs.

That’s my boy. He knows I can bring on the heat.

Keeping his hand between his legs, he

pauses, then points away from the batter, telling me that my fastballs have been straying outside. I nod. An understanding to keep

placement in mind with my speed. The ball flies out of my hand, punches Logan’s glove right in the middle, and the umpire shouts,

“Ball!”

I stop breathing. That was a strike.

The fence rattles as my teammates bang on it, screaming at the injustice. Shouting at the umpire, Coach stands on the verge of no-man’s-land between the dugout and the field.

My friends on the field whistle at the bad call.

The crowd murmurs and boos. In the

bleachers, with her head down and lost in prayer, Mom grasps the pearls that hang

around her neck.

Dammit. I yank hard on the bill of my hat, HC TITLE-AUTHOR

34

trying to calm the blood racing in my veins.

Bad calls suck, but they happen. I’ve got one more shot to close this out. One more…

“That was a strike.” Dad steps off the

bleachers and heads to the fence right behind the umpire. The players and the crowd fall silent. Dad demands fairness. Well, his version of fair.

“Get back in the stands, Mr. Stone,” the ump says. Everyone in this town knows Dad.

“I’ll return to my seat when we have an ump that can call fair. You’ve been calling bad this entire game.” Even though he said it loud enough for the entire park to hear, he never raised his voice. Dad’s a commanding man and someone this entire town admires.

From behind the fence, Dad towers over the short, fat ump and waits for someone to make right what he views as a wrong. We’re carbon copies of each other, my dad and I. Sandy hair and brown eyes. Long legs. All shoulders and upper arms. Grandma said people like Dad and me were built for hard labor. Dad said we were built for baseball.

My coach steps onto the field along with the coach from the other team. I agree. The ump’s HC TITLE-AUTHOR

35

been calling bad, on both sides, but I find it ironic that no one had the guts to say anything until Dad declared war.

“Your dad’s the man.” Chris walks onto the pitcher’s mound.

“Yeah.” The man. I glance over to Mom

again and at the empty space where my older brother, Mark, used to sit. Mark’s absence stings more than I thought it would. I extend my glove out to Logan, who has inched away from the four men discussing the fairness of the calls. He automatically pitches the ball back.

Chris scans the crowd. “Notice who came to the game?”

I don’t bother looking. Lacy always attends Chris’s games.

“Gwen,” he says with a canary-ate-the-cat grin. “Lacy heard she’s into you again.”

I react without thinking and turn my head to search the bleachers for her. For two years, Gwen and baseball were my entire life. The breeze blows through Gwen’s long blond hair and, as if she could sense my stare, she looks at me and smiles. Last year, I loved that smile. A smile once reserved for me. Several months HC TITLE-AUTHOR

36

have passed since that time. Mom still loves her. I’m not sure how I feel anymore. A guy scales the bleachers and puts his arm around her. Yeah, rub it in, asshole. I’m well aware Gwen and I are done.

“Play ball!” The voice of a new ump booms from the batter’s box. The old ump shakes hands with Dad on the other side of the fence.

As I said, Dad believes in fairness and also thinks justice should be served with a man’s pride still intact. Well, for every man that isn’t my brother.

Everyone off the field claps and watches my father return to his seat. Some people extend their hands to him. Others pat his back. Off the field, Dad’s the leader of this community. On the field, I’m the man.

Out of the batter’s box, the batter takes a few practice swings. Two strikes. Three balls. And the kid knows I can bring heat. I whistle and gesture for Logan.

Beside me, Chris laughs. He knows I’m up

to no good. Logan approaches with his

catcher’s mask on top of his head. “What’s up, boss man?”

“Talk to me.”

HC TITLE-AUTHOR

37

This is what a great catcher does. “The

batter was sluggish, but he’s had a break, which means he’ll give it everything he has.

Your fast has been wandering outside and he knows it.”

I roll the ball in my fingers. “He’ll be

expecting fast?”

“If I was him, I’d expect you to throw fast,”

says Chris.

I shrug my shoulder and the muscles yell in protest. “Let’s do a changeup. He’ll read it as fast and won’t have enough time to readjust.”

A smile slides across Chris’s face and he places his glove over his mouth. “You’re

popping him out.”

“We’re popping him out,” I repeat, hiding my own lips with my glove.

I turn toward the field and whistle to get everyone’s attention. Chris goes back to short, slides his open hand across his chest, and taps his left arm with his right hand twice. The center fielder runs up, and our second baseman passes on the message. By the time I face the batter, Logan’s already sent the message to first and third.

Logan flips his mask over his face, crouches HC TITLE-AUTHOR

38

into position, and holds his glove out for the pitch. Yeah, I’m closing this out.

“SEE YOU TONIGHT, DAWG.” Chris kicks my

foot as he walks past. He cradles his bat bag in one hand and Lacy’s hand in the other. Chris and I met Lacy when our schools combined in sixth grade. I liked her the day she skinned her knee playing football with the boys. Chris fell in love with her the day she pushed him on the playground after he tagged her out in baseball.

They’ve been a couple since sophomore

year—the year he grew a pair and finally asked her out.

Lacy pulls a rubber band off her wrist and twists her brown hair into a messy bun. I love that she isn’t a girly girl. In order to keep up with me, Chris, and Logan, a girl has to have thick skin. Don’t get me wrong—she’s hot as hell, but Lacy doesn’t give a damn what others think of her. “We’re going to the party tonight.

I want conversation and people and dancing.