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It was a sunny day in New York. Rosa Alvarez loved it that way. It was a perfect day to play softball, and that's just what she and her best friend, Sophie Schuyler, were going to do.
Pulling up to her friend's house, she held the horn down a little too long as the dogs in the neighborhood began to bark. Seeing Sophie sprint out of the house and to the car, the blonde threw her bag into the back seat, "We're late!" She breathed out.
"Yeah, I know that, so hurry up and get in!" Rosa shouted as Sophie scrambled into the passenger seat, "Besides, they can't start without us, I have the stereo."
The stereo, it was almost like a sacred object to their team, because it helped them do their ritual. Before every practice and every game, the Dodgers softball team would dance. It wasn't anything serious, just goofing around in the middle of the field, but it helped them get loose and rid their nerves for the day.
Sophie sat, trying to catch her breath, "Eva will be mad."
"Eva can kiss my butt," Rosa shook her head, "It's practice for a casual summer league, ya hear that? Casual."
"You can tell her that then," Sophie smiled, "I'm sure that'd go over well."
Rosa giggled, "Imagine if I had the balls to do that, like 'Hey Eva, kiss my butt. Just get right up in there and kiss it.' "
"Okay now it's getting gross," Sophie laughed, "please stop."
"Oh? Now you can kiss my butt too," Rosa made kissy noises at her friend as she pulled her car into the empty lot next to the field.
The two grabbed their bags from the backseat before Rosa began triumphantly holding up the stereo.
"What are you doing?" Romy asked as she and Joss passed, the two often carpooling together and always arriving late.
"It's a beautiful day, Romy!" Rosa grinned, shutting her car door and putting her arm around the woman's shoulder, "a perfect day for practice."
Jocelyn shook her head, "Not too loud please," the sunglasses she was wearing explained everything. "Either of you have an aspirin, or can you just run me over with your car?" She joked, motioning towards Rosa's beat up Ford Focus, "It looks like you've hit plenty of people with it."
"I don't hit people, they just hit me," Rosa muttered, crossing her arms like a child.
"I have some in my bag," Sophie told Jocelyn, "I'll get you one when we get to the field."
The girl smiled, "Oh, thank god. Soph, you're a lifesaver."
As they approached the center of the field, Eva, their captain and third baseman, greeted them with crossed arms, "You're late."
The rest of the team was there waiting for them. Jordan, their right fielder, was a skinny junior who made up for her size with her attitude. Emily, their catcher, was a senior who had her hair dyed pink on the ends. Bonnie, the pitcher, was a red-haired Junior who's temper was as fiery as her hair. Lori, Chasity, and Margot were all freshman, the first one being their Defense hitter, and the rest of them spending most of their time on the bench. Carmen, the first baseman, was an elementary school teacher who played in the summer league for fun. Romy and Jocelyn were their center fielder and left fielder, the two of them being Juniors.
Sophie and Rosa were sophomores, and they worked incredibly well together. Rosa was the team's shortstop and Sophie the second baseman. Nobody was getting past second, not on their watch.
"Kiss my ass, Eva, it's a summer league," Romy spat, throwing her bag down so she could stretch. Rosa and Sophie looked wide-eyed at each other before howling in laughter.
Eva sighed, "Just because it's a summer league doesn't mean you can start slacking-" she paused as she noticed Sophie give Jocelyn a Tylenol, "Are you hungover?"
"Me, hungover?" The dyed blonde brought a hand to her chest in mock offense, "Eva I'm appalled by your accusations. I totally didn't get trashed on Four Loko last night."
Jordan, who was sitting on the ground stretching, gasped, "Four Loko? Those things can kill you, Joss."
"Well, if they do then I'll die happy," The woman tossed her bag on the ground next to Romy's and went to lay down on the grass, "And plastered."
"Do you at least have the stereo?" Eva turned to Rosa, "That's the only reason we haven't started right now."
"That and Eva was busy complaining about your lateness," Emily, who grinned like a cat that had just caught a mouse, commented.
"I told everyone practice started at ten!" Bonnie mocked, glancing at Emily as if she was scolding her and the two began to laugh at each other.
"If everyone's done making fun of me," Eva sighed, "I'd like to dance so we can get started."
"I will never be done making fun of you," Bonnie smirked, "but I guess I can stop for now."
"Sorry we were late, Eva," Sophie apologized.
"Yeah, technically it was my fault," Rosa grimaced, "But I do have the stereo, whenever everyone's ready."
Jordan jumped to her feet, her braids flying in the air before coming down and hitting her back, "I was born ready, baby!"
"Just don't make me go too hard," Carmen added, "I think I pulled a muscle last time."
Rosa rolled her eyes with a chuckle about to hit play on her phone before a voice stopped her, "Excuse me ladies, but we have the field rented out for today."
A tall, dark-haired, man approached them, dawned in a red and white uniform. Baseball boys.
Eva crossed her arms, sizing the man up, "No, we rented out the field."
"Are you sure we rented out for today, Ty?" Another dark-haired man asked him, they looked as if they were related.
"Yes, Jonathan, I'm sure!" Ty told the other man before sighing, "Look, we really need the field, so if you girls can just-"
"What makes you think we don't need it?" Eva raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Romy spoke up, "we need it just as much as you do. And I don't exactly see a team with you," She motioned to the three men standing beside Ty.
"The rest of them are late, okay," Ty explained, scratching the back of his neck.
"Exactly why you don't need the field right now," Bonnie chimes in, hands on her hips.
"Let's call the field owners," A shorter man suggested, "They'll tell us who's actually supposed to be here."
The women narrowed their eyes at the man but agreed. They needed to get to the bottom of this.
- A meh first chapter because there are so many characters to introduce in such a short amount of time.
