Okay, I gotta change the subject because I miss her too much. Sooooo, anyway, we play Whickett High School tomorrow. They’re the winners from the Capital District near Albany. According to Coach, the scouting report says they have a pitcher who is really fast. Faster than Marlee and faster than Christy. Of course, Coach didn’t say it that way. She said something like, “She’s faster than anything you’ve ever seen before.” Ha-ha. We know what that means, eh?
Okay, a few more things and then I have to get some sleep.
1. Coach Spears is totally gay. Her “roommate’s” name is Anne, and she’s really nice.
2. Bridget is sleeping so cute right now.
3. I think there’s a college scout looking at Marlee. He was at the game yesterday when we creamed Overton Corners. He’s really tall, too.
4. Oh, yea, (duh) I hit a game-winning double yesterday!!! My hand still hurts, but it wasn’t so bad at practice today. I’m fine!! (Yeah, right.) The whole right side of my hand is black and blue. I didn’t tell Coach.
5. Marlee and Susie make an awesome couple. I really like Susie. I think Marlee’s in love with her. I think they’re in love with each other. Her full name is Susana Torres.
6. I think Mom saw me and Sam kissing a coule of weeks ago.
She didn’t say anything, so maybe not.
7. I love Sam Payton!
Lisa put her journal and the cheap green pen back in the drawer. She yawned, snuggled down, and pulled the covers up around her neck. The second she closed her eyes, though, they flew open again. Crap, she hadn’t done her first period geometry homework. Maybe Mrs. Pacheco wouldn’t check it. Whatever. It was too late now. She closed her eyes again and willed sleep to come quickly.
THE CLARKSONVILLE SCHOOL bus entered the Adirondack Park on its way to Warrensburg. Tall pines and birches stood majestic in their mountain setting, and Lisa scanned for deer and black bear as the the bus whizzed by the wilderness. All she saw were a couple of wild turkeys running near the side of the road. Looking for wildlife was a lot more interesting than the unopened geometry review book in her lap.
Coach Spears stood up in the front of the bus. “Girls, can I get your attention please?”
Lisa sat in the next to last seat on the bus. Julie sat in the seat next to hers. They would have been in the way back, but Marlee and Jeri always claimed the very last seats. Lisa couldn’t see Coach Spears over the high-backed green seats, so she slid toward the center aisle.
“Girls,” Coach Spears continued, “we’ll stop at the McDonald’s in Tupper Lake to use the rest rooms, but that’ll be it until we get to the Warrensburg Sports Complex. So, go easy on the liquids, okay?”
Lisa laughed along with her teammates. She had a couple of bottles of water in the lunch cooler at her feet.
Coach Spears smiled. “I suggest you eat somewhere between here and Blue Mountain Lake. I don’t want you full and lethargic when we get there.”
They had about two hours to Blue Mountain Lake and then another hour or so after that to Warrensburg. Lisa wasn’t hungry yet, so maybe she’d wait until Long Lake to eat the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches she and Bridget made together that morning.
Coach Spears continued, “When we get closer we’ll talk about our strategy for the game, but here’s what’s coming up for us. If we win this afternoon—”
“Coach?” Jeri interrupted and raised her hand in the back seat.
“Yes?”
“When we win this afternoon.”
Coach Spears laughed. “Okay, you’re right. When we win, we’ll move on to the semi-finals on Saturday. We’ll take a bus to Binghamton on Friday, and yes, you’ll miss the entire last day of classes.”
A cheer went up in the bus.
“Sorry seniors, I bet you’re heartbroken about missing your last day.”
Jeri called up to the front, “Not a chance, Coach.”
“I didn’t think so. Anyway,” Coach Spears continued, “we’ll check into a local hotel, practice that evening, and then play in the semi-final game on Saturday morning. If, oops sorry, when we win the semis, we’ll play in the finals that very afternoon.”
Lisa grinned at Julie. They bumped fists across the aisle. It would be so cool to go all the way to the finals.
“Okay, that’s it for now. Remember to eat by the time we get to Blue Mountain Lake.”
“Hey, White Girl,” Lisa called over to Julie, “come help me with this.” She waved the geometry review book at her and slid toward the window to make room.
Julie sat next to her and reached for the geometry book. She opened the book to a page with practice proofs. Lisa groaned when she saw the proofs and pulled her new cell phone out of her jacket pocket. “Hey, check out my new phone first.”
“You are so stalling, Brown Girl.”
“I know.” Lisa grinned.
Julie turned the phone over in her hand. “Cool phone.”
“My mom gave it to me this morning just as I was leaving to catch the bus for school. She said it was about time I had one.”
“Far out.” Julie slid the phone open. “I wish my mom would up and give me a phone like this. Oh, cool. You’ve got a Qwerty keyboard. That’s a lot easier for texting.”
“I know. I texted my friend Sam this morning. She’s in school, though, so she can only text me in between classes.”
Julie handed the phone back, and Lisa put it in her jacket pocket. Julie pointed to the first problem. “Let’s go over this one.”
“I hate proofs.”
“Everybody hates proofs, except Mrs. Pacheco, I think. I can’t believe she gave you a zero for not having your homework this morning.”
“I know, geez. She can’t cut me some slack? We’re playing in the state quarterfinals today. What’s more important than that?”
“Uh, let’s see.” Julie put her index finger on her chin and looked up. “Maybe the Regents’ exam on Tuesday?”
“Ugh,” Lisa groaned. “Don’t remind me.”
Julie shrugged. “So,” she said casually, “did I tell you?” She shut the book and clamped her lips together in a grin.
Lisa leaned in close. “Oh, my God. He finally asked you out, didn’t he?”
Julie nodded and her eyes grew wide in excitement.
“Did you guys go out yet?”
Julie nodded.
“Where?”
Julie cheeks flushed “He wanted to take me to D’Amico’s, but I wasn’t sure if Jeri would be working that night, and I…” She shrugged.
“What?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t want Jeri teasing me in front of people. They’d, like, stare at the white guy and black girl on their first date, you know?”
“I get that.”
More than you know
. “So what’d you do?”
“Okay, but don’t laugh.” Julie smiled.
“I won’t.” Lisa crossed her fingers just in case.
“We went to the Northwood Firemen’s Brass Band concert.”
“In the Northwood town square?”
Julie nodded. “Yeah, we were surrounded by all these white-haired senior citizens. Oh, and he brought a blanket and French bread and cheeses and little pepperonis. Oh, my God, Lisa, it was so nice. I like him so much.”
“Me, too. Oh, not in that way, but Marcus is cool.” Lisa smiled. She wanted to tell Julie that she felt the same way about Sam and how they had to hide from the world, too. Instead she said, “You know, it sucks that people judge you guys just because you’re black and he’s white.”
“Tell me about it. I wish you were dating somebody, ‘cuz then we could, like, double date or something.”
A little ache spread across Lisa’s chest. Maybe she’d tell Julie about Sam once school let out for summer in a couple of weeks. She cleared her throat. “People can be so freakin’ ignorant, eh?”
Julie rolled her eyes and nodded. “I know. I can’t change the color of my skin. It’s not like I have a choice here. I wish…”
“What?”
“I wish people would judge me by me and not what they think black people are supposed to be like. I’m just Julie, you know?”
Lisa nodded. “You’re more than ‘just Julie,’ but you’re right. Stereotypes suck.”
And, geez, I wish I had the nerve to come out to you right now, but I just can’t.
“Yeah,” Julie said, “people grow up prejudiced I guess. They think it’s okay to put down anybody that doesn’t look like them. They don’t think for themselves.”
Lisa nodded. “Yeah, really. It’s like they live in a vacuum. They cling to their tools of ignorance.”
“Tools of ignorance?” Julie cocked an eyebrow.
“That’s what my catcher’s equipment is called, actually.”
Julie shook her head. She looked totally confused. “Your catcher’s equipment?”
“I didn’t make it up. I swear. My father told me that some catcher a long time ago had to play in a heat wave, and when he put on his catcher’s stuff, he called them his tools of ignorance.” She shrugged.
“That’s funny. I could never be a catcher.”
Lisa laughed. “But ‘tools of ignorance’ fits those stupid people, eh?”
“Yeah. They need tools of enlightenment, I think. If Marcus likes me as much as I like him, then maybe we’ll just have to make people deal with it. Let them see us together, you know? Maybe that would enlighten more people.”
Lisa cringed inside. “Easier said than done, I imagine.”
I don’t ‘imagine’ how hard it would be because I know how hard it will be.
Lisa looked out the window at the lonely forest the bus was passing by. She needed to take her own advice. She and Sam needed to be more visible, too, but how?
“C’mon,” Julie said breaking the silence. “Let’s practice some of those proofs. I predict a proof about quadrilaterals on Tuesday.”
Lisa let out an exaggerated sigh. “Do we have to?”
“We have to.”
Just as Julie opened the review book, the bus slowed down to a crawl. Lisa looked out her window. Construction cones lined the two-lane highway. The bus came to a full stop and didn’t move for several long minutes. Lisa groaned. “This better not make us late.”
Coach Spears stood up. “Can anybody get a cell phone signal? Mine won’t connect.” She held up her phone.
Lisa slid open her phone to see if she had a signal. “Here Coach.” She held it in the air. “It’s weak, but it’s got one.”
“Oh, excellent.” Coach Spears walked to the back of the bus. “I want to call the tournament director and let her know that this construction is slowing us down.” She looked at her watch. “Thank goodness we left so early.”
Coach Spears sat down in Julie’s vacated seat and punched in the number. “You know there are only two seasons in the Adirondacks, right?”
“Winter and more winter?” Lisa guessed.
“No, but good guess.” Coach Spears smiled. “Winter and construction.”
Julie and Lisa laughed. Coach Spears put up a finger when the call connected. She began explaining their delay to the tournament director.
Lisa and Julie exchanged a worried glance. “Hey,” Lisa said, “don’t worry. They can’t start the game without us.”
“Yeah,” Julie said with a grin, “especially not without the world’s greatest catcher and her tools of ignorance.”
“Oh, shut up and teach me geometry.”
Chapter Twelve
Quarterfinals
LISA PICKED UP her catcher’s gear from the front seat and hopped off the bus. Julie fell in step with her, and they headed to the field at the Warrensburg Sports Centre. The construction in the Adirondack Mountains slowed them down, but Coach Spears reassured them they would have plenty of time to get warmed up.
Lisa and Julie stepped into the visitors’ dugout and settled in to put on their cleats. The Whickett High School pitcher was warming up from the pitching rubber on the field.
“Geez!” Lisa pointed. “Coach was right.” She rubbed the side of her bruised hand.
Julie’s eyes widened. “We’re never gonna hit that.”
Lisa blew out a sigh and shook her head. “We gotta figure out a way.” She clenched and unclenched her fist. Her pinky still wouldn’t close all the way.
Lisa ran Marlee through their usual warm up routine, and then the infield and outfield took their warm ups. In a quick thirty minutes, the Clarksonville Cougars were ready to start the quarterfinal round. As the visiting team, the Cougars were up first. Jeri got up to bat and sat down quickly having struck out in three pitches. Apparently the rockets launched from the Whickett pitcher were too much for her. Julie managed to foul off one pitch, but she too struck out. Lisa stood in the on-deck circle watching Johnna swing and miss at the first pitch.
“No wonder this team made it so far,” Lisa muttered under her breath. She had no idea how she could swing fast enough to hit the supersonic pitches. Lisa wondered if maybe Coach Spears would make them all start bunting or something, so they wouldn’t strike out.
As if to prove Lisa’s point, Johnna struck out swinging to end the inning, so Lisa hustled back to the dugout to put on her gear.
Marlee kneeled down to help Lisa strap on her right shin guard. “Let’s try the screwball today.”
Lisa tightened her chest protector. “Okay.”
“Yea.” Marlee pumped both fists in the air like a kid who had just gotten permission to stay up late. She ran out toward the pitcher’s circle.
“But not in the first inning,” Lisa called after her.
The bottom half of the first inning didn’t go well for the Cougars. The first batter for Whickett High School smashed one of Marlee’s fastballs into the left-center field gap for a double. The next batter reached first base safely when Kym couldn’t handle a hot grounder at third.
With runners on first and second and no outs, Marlee got two quick strikes on the third batter. Lisa flashed the sign for fastball. Marlee shook it off. Lisa flashed the sign for change-up. Marlee shook that off, too.
No screwballs in the first inning.
Lisa flashed the sign for rise ball, and Marlee must have liked that selection because she put her hands together to get ready for the pitch.
The rise ball flew over Lisa’s head, but despite her best efforts she couldn’t reach it. She ran for the ball near the backstop. Marlee covered the plate, but there was no play because the runners only moved up one base. Thank goodness because it seemed to take forever to get to the ball. The backstop seemed so much farther away than the one at their home field.