When it Happens

Chapter 15

The most important mail you will ever get as a senior will be from a college. Whether it's an acceptance letter or not, they're still pretty important, because, you know, it basically says your future. I had applied for a bunch of schools, like NYU, Northeastern, and hell, I even threw an application for Harvard in there for fun, but I knew what the answer for that was gonna be before the letter even came. But the school I really wanted to go was the University of Massachusetts Amherst. I really wanted to pursue a job in reporting, specifically for sports, like writing articles in magazines or newspapers. It all seemed so entertaining to me. I was really good at English, so I thought that it was my passion.

That next day, a very special envelope came in the mail for me, and it was from UMass. I sat at the breakfast table that morning, watching it in front of me as Bobby came down the stairs and saw me.

"Just open it already. What are you waiting for?"

"I don't know, what if they rejected me?" I ask nervously.

"You're never gonna find out if you don't open it. Plus, it's a big envelope. Definitely an acceptance letter."

As much as I didn't want to admit it, he had a point. I quickly lunged for the letter and slipped my fingers through the thoroughly-licked flap and tore it open. Inside, was the answer to my future. I took a peep, saw, "Congratulations!", and that was all I needed before I screamed my lungs out. Thank goodness my mom was already at work, or she would have gotten extremely upset with me for screaming inside the house this early.

"I'm guessing you got accepted?" Bobby was rubbing his ears of pain while chewing his cereal.

"Hell yeah, I did! This girl's going to Amherst!"

In History that same day, Nate told me something nobody at St. Agnes knew, and I've gotta say, I felt pretty special. I was really stunned when I heard it.

"I wanna try out for the baseball team." He told me before class started.

I almost spit out the water from my water bottle that I was drinking. His grin fell as he saw my reaction. "You what?" 

He rolled his eyes, noticing my disbelief, and repeated himself. "I wanna try out for the baseball team."

"Nate, you do realize that our varsity team has won three consecutive state titles in the past few years? They're going to choose the people with the experience." And I was right. Our school's baseball team was one of the top-ranked in the nation, a team who was led by none other than Dave and Mason. Dave was a well known first baseman in the area, but it was Mason who was the one getting looked at by all the top colleges. He had really improved last year. Sophmore year, he was a short, scrawny kid trying his hardest to be on varsity, just barely getting cut to JV. Then all of a sudden, last year, he gained a lot of muscle, grew five inches, and must've gotten his velocity up to not only make varsity but be our school's pitching ace.

He leans back in his seat, both hands behind his head, and smirks before telling me, "I do have experience. I've played since I was four, and was on the varsity team at my old school."

My eyes widen. He played baseball too? That explains his amazing ass. "Damn, why didn't you tell me you played baseball as well as football?"

Shrugging with a smug look on his face, he said, "I dunno. A little secret of mine. I didn't want Dave and Mason to get jealous of my .432 batting average last year."

"Pfffff. So cocky."

"You do know what that means, right?" He gave me a questioning look.

"Of course I do! Baseball's my favorite sport to watch. My dad used to take me to Red Sox games all the time when I was younger." I looked down, the once light-hearted conversation turning a bit dark. The flashback of me in his arms as we sang along with the crowd to "Sweet Caroline" in the bottom of the eighth pang at my heart. I quickly changed the subject before a pity-party could emerge, saying,  "Hey, kind of reminds me of some exciting news. I got into UMass Amherst!"