Strike-Out

He Wants Jaime

STRIKE OUT

Copyright 2014

http://wattpad.com/teraysacraig

Chapter 1

WOOSH. Strike. WOOSH. Strike two. WOOSH. Ball. SMACK.

The little ball whirls in the air so high that the left fielder is blinded by the sun as he struggles to locate the ball in the mist of solar rays. This was, until the ball lands flat in front of him. He stands there for a moment, or two, before (probably) regaining his eyesight, picking up the ball, and throwing it clear over the pitchers head. Our whole team immediately stands up and screams and pumps their fists in the air screaming things like

"Go Justin!"

"Kill 'em J!"

I turn around in time to see Justin (my brother) sliding into third base as the third basement lays the tag on him.

Safe.

This is not how I intend on spending my summer. I could be dancing on some guy I'd never met at some sophomore party. Or laying on the beach working on some tan I'd never get. Even laying in a camper in the middle of the forest reading a book would be better than this.

I know nothing about baseball. The sport that has rocked my brothers world since he tried out this year, just to impress Jaimie Gardner, a senior that everyone has probably had a piece of.

Except him.

It is his destiny. No matter how many guys it takes before him, he's will still go through with it. He's already been to the store about six times buying about ten different boxes of condoms... Each.

He doesn't know that I know that.

After the game, my brother drives to our local drugstore. He talks about how he scored which led his team to victory.

It isn't at all surprising to discover that his team won.

"So," Justin squints his eyes and looks at me. In my mind I plead him to keep his eyes on the road. His driving skills were running the same marathon as his mathematical skills, and they were tied for last. "do you think that was enough to win her over?"

I decide to play the stupid card. "Win who over?"

"Jaimie." He states this as if I should know, which I did, but he doesn't know that. I found out on my own.

"Well, if she had been there, then maybe." He looks at me, unreadable.

"Just imagine!" He almost yells. " I will be on every newspaper in Champion!"

"What makes you think she reads newspapers?" I ask. "Grandpa reads them, not preppy little snobs."

"So?"

"And..." I continue, "There's only one newspaper in Champion. Anyways, most people either read only the sports section or skip it completely.I think the answer is pretty much written out for you."

"Jaimie totally loves sports." He argues.

"Cheerleading, Justin. She loves cheerleading. If she's not on the cover she probably won't even bother to pick it up." Justin knows I am right. He shrugs as he gets out of the car. I watch him swagger to the front door of the drugstore before waving me to follow. I am just going to sit here.

Justin comes back out with three bags. He tosses me a can of Zip.

"I hope that's good enough, that's all they had."

"Yeah, its fine," I sip on the energy drink.

As if I was the one who needs more energy. I didn't just play a game of baseball.

"You sure you don't want this?" I ask. He shakes his head, pulling another can of Zip from the grey grocery bag. He waves it back and forth as if I haven't already seen it.

On the way home, he blathers on about how Jaimie has a cheerleading competition in some fancy town and how he wants to go but he doesn't want her to think he is a stalker.

Basically I told him this:

He already is.