Home Run || j.m.b [ON HOLD]

10 | los angeles

Harper has heard what happened through Lizzie, and is now looking down at me with concern. She ignores Coach Anne - who I'm trying so badly to concentrate on - and is poking my leg with her finger.

"Alissa," she whispers for the millionth time, "Alissa Alissa Alissa Alissa Alis -"

"Please shut up," I hiss, keeping an eye on Coach Anne who glanced at us a second ago.

The night is young. You can still see streaks of sunlight on the horizon, but the air is already piercing through my skin to my bones, making me pull my jacket tighter around me. We are sitting on the grass, an outdoor heater behind us and we huddle close to conserve body heat.

It's cold - not cold enough for snow because it never snows here - and I'd do anything to be in my bed right now, sipping on a mug of hot cappuccino and binge watch old episodes of iCarly on a (probably illegal) streaming website.

Of course, Coach Anne just had to ruin my perfect night with calling us to a sudden meeting. It's urgent she said, basically the only reason why I decided to gather my energy and make an effort to come in only a t-shirt, pyjama pants and a jumper, a bunny slipper snuggled on my feet.

"Now, has everyone gathered?" Coach Anne asks us, eyeing over the teenagers.

"Violet's on her way, Coach!" a voice calls out.

"Well tell her to get here quicker then," she answers the person, "I'm sure you all would like to return home soon."

There's a chorus of agreement. "Then why don't you e-mail us like you always do?" a girl asks her amidst all the commotion.

Coach Anne grins, "this is too exciting to be told through e-mail."

"Then why aren't you telling us!?"

There's a round of protests but Coach Anne simply ignores them as we wait for Violet to come along. In the mean time, Harper continues to bug me.

"Please tell me what happened," she says.

"You want me to tell you what happened?" Harper nods. "Well, you have to wait until later!" I continue.

Coach Anne grins when a girl finally comes into the field, clearing her throat. "Alright! We're all here now!" she announces.

"Are you guys curious?"

Coach Anne smirks, seeing us eager and excited to know what her news is. For some reason, I have this weird feeling about it, like I know what she's about to say - but I don't think that's it. Maybe it's just my nerves playing, maybe I'm just worried about nothing.

But seeing Coach Anne's eyes glinting with excitement make me think twice.

I just hope it is not what I think it is.

"Do you guys remember, months ago I signed you guys for an international softball program?" she starts.

"Well, the organisers," she says slowly, "reached out to me this afternoon, saying that we are one of the teams selected for the program!"

Phew, I thought it was about something else.

Cheering is all I can hear and I can't help myself but grin, slowly clapping my hands along with the others.

"As I explained to you before, there will be three locations, six teams," Coach Anne continues once the celebration dies down. "They are in ..."

"Tokyo, Vancouver and Los Angeles!" the team finishes for her.

Coach Anne claps her hands excitedly, "exactly!"

"Three very big and wonderful cities," she continues and then clears her throat. "The organisers also informed me of where we're placed, guess where we're going?"

She waits for the guessing to die down.

"We're going to LA!" she announces.

The team roars in celebration, a few girls squealing in excitement. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Harper jumping up and down excitedly, saying "oh my gosh" over and over again as if not believing it.

Me? I don't believe it either.

But something tells me going to LA doesn't seem to be a very good idea.

•

kinda short, kinda lame, and a filler chapter. wow, i'm such a good author (cue sarcasm). and for not updating for almost a month? what? but anyways, i hope you guys enjoyed that small chapter - i wish i could've written more but i've got so many things in my mind right now so my ideas aren't flowing as much. but hey, i'm still alive and i'll try to update more!