Can anyone hear us?

5

Ted walked up to the plate. He placed his feet shoulder width apart, bent his legs, and focused on the ball in Jake's hands. Jake threw the ball but it came out too late and Ted had to dodge it to avoid getting hit.

Ted looked at Jake, angry. He dropped his bat and walked up to Jake. I sat on the edge of the bench in the dugout, feeling something wasn't right.

"You tryin' to hit me?" Ted said furious.

"Yeah, you're the worst here." Jake spat. They both got up in each other's faces.

"What'd you say, white boy?"

"You heard me."

The lunged at each other, falling to the ground. I ran out of the dugout, followed by everyone else.

"Break it up!" I yelled but they continued to wrestle. Half of the team grabbed Jake and half grabbed Ted. The coach ran out of his office.

"What's goin' on here?" The coach said, seeing the whites separated from the blacks.

"I see that y'all are separated." He observed. "Here's what you're gonna do. Starting now, none of you leave the field until I say! I will lock the gates. But tonight is a camp out. Y'all need to learn how to be a team!"

"But coach, we don't have anything for tonight. No sleeping bags or food." Some team members complained.

"I'll give y'all food later. Now, as a team, set up your camp and get settled in."

The sun turned to the moon, clouds to stars. It was a breezy night so team members out on jackets that came with their uniform. They were usually never used. Everyone was sitting on the dirt, apart from each other.

"Think we'll get into champs?" A guy named Mason asked.

"Not if these whites are still here." Someone responded.

"Shut up." Ted responded and all at once everyone began arguing at each other. It was like we were children. I laughed to myself and Ted looked at me confused.

"Hey!" I shouted. Everyone quieted down. "I came here to play on a team. Not with a bunch of cry babies." A few murmured but I continued. "If I leave this team, I have nowhere to go. You guys are all I have."

"Damn Aron. That was really soft like you are." Mason said.

"You calling me soft?" I said and a few laughed. I joined in.

The rest of the night went by in many jokes and rude humor to each other. For the first time we actually looked like somewhat of a team, laying in the middle of a field, in the middle of the night. In other words, young and dumb.

Late at night, or whatever time it was, we all began to doze off. Ted laid beside me.

"Ted, what's your background?" I asked him.

"Umm... Well, I have a sister and both my parents. They live in Minnesota and I left them for baseball. Moved in here 'cause I wanted to live far away on my own and this team was closest to my apartment. I got in." He said.

"Ok cool. Have you seen your family since?"

"Talked on phones but, naw. They talked about comin' if 'y'all get into champs. I think that's the same thing with most of these other players here."

"I have a question for y'all, Aron." Ted began. "What happened with your dad?"

"He is in jail. But I don't know for how long. I keep looking around to see if he is watching me play. If he ever was, I don't know what I'd do."

We laid on the ground in silence. I stared up at the stars for hours until sleep finally took over.

-------------------------------

"Wake up. You got a game today!" Coach said, walking over to the players who were still asleep. He sighed in frustration and yelled it again. Many men just grumbled and rolled over, covered in dirt.

"Fine. No food, then." Coach said and at that everyone's eyes opened.

We walked to a local restaurant and waited to be seated. Many people just stared at us, probably because they weren't used to seeing both blacks and whites together. We were ignored for almost half an hour, people coming in after us being served right away. We walked out of the place and back onto the sidewalk.

"Ignore them. Stay here. I'll go and order." The coach waked back inside the place, leaving us standing on the sidewalk.

Cars drive past and honked. People threw garbage at us.

"Be right back. Just going to see if there are other food places." I said as an excuse. I walked a ways down the sidewalk, wanting to get away from the anger. I just needed some time to sort things out, I guess. Once the team was out of sight, I sat down on a bench and let my thoughts take over.

A man approached me.

"You play for the Louisiana Gators." He said, reading my uniform. I nodded my head, yes.

The man had a disgusted look on his face. He raised his fist and punched me in the lip. I stood from the bench and we both began to push each other and shout in each other's faces. A crowd was forming around us, no one willing to stop the fight.

Jake and Mason pushed through the crowd and pulled me away from the man.

"Aron, let's go." They grabbed me and drawer me away from the crowd and back towards the restaurant.

"What happened?" They asked, noticed blood on my lip.

"This man began to beat me just because I play for this team!" I said angrily.

"We heard a bunch of shouting and there you were in the middle of the crowd." Mason replied.

The rest of the team was still outside with the coach, waiting for us. The coach had bags of food in his hands.

"Let's get back to the field." The coach said.

"Aron, are you okay?" Coach asked, walking beside me.

I nodded yes. He didn't looked convinced.

"Don't let those people get inside your head. Did you see the way your team helped you out of the fight? Now everyone's looking out for each other. We got your back, Aron." He said.

The field came into view. But one thing was still in my mind: I saw one person stare at me in the crown. One person that stood out the most.

Elizabeth.