Free Fall

Chapter Sixteen

Erick

I can tell Kendall is getting better by just the way the light has returned to her light blue eyes. I will never forget how the light had disappeared like a candle flame caught in a sudden wind. But now it has come back, and her face is full of color and her smile has never been so bright. 

I adore Kendall so much, and I just love how I can sit and talk to her for hours and have it feel like only minutes. It's hard that she still can't leave this hospital room yet, that she can't experience things with me. Driving home from the hospital yesterday, I saw a deer with it's baby as they trotted along the side of the road, their heads held high. I found myself smiling, remebering Kendall saying how much she loved nature. But she wasn't there to witness it with me. 

That's how you know you love someone, I guess, when you can't experience anything without wishing the other person were there to see it, too. It basically comes down to that word: love. I guess that's what it's all about, and it doesn't bother me anymore by how much I care for Kendall. She's changed me and she makes me so happy that I feel as if nothing could bring me down.

Why try to fight it off?

*

Cole nervously tapped the leather bus seat in front of him, looking out the window, down the aisle, and out the window again. 

"Cole?"

He stopped and looked at me for three seconds before tapping his fingers again. "I'm so nervous, man."

I rolled my eyes. "It's just a game."

"Uh, our first game? At Rockwood?" He exhaled for a long time and started tapping his foot, too.

I understand his intense apprehension. Unlike me, Cole doesn't have a plan B if he doesn't get into college on a baseball scholarship. He's worked twice as hard as me and been on travel teams almost his entire life, which shaped him into an amazing pitcher who basically carries our team. 

However, our first game against Rockwood High could cause a bit of nervousness. Rockwood is an extremely rich and prestigious school that has scouts at every single game. Many, many baseball players in the MLB have graduated from that school, so playing a small school with not as great as a record might not even catch the scouts' attention.

I didn't talk to Cole for the rest of the bus ride, and our teammates were unusually quiet as the bus pulled into the neatly paved parking lot and shuddered to a stop. 

Rockwood traveled in charter buses.

We quietly retrieved our bags from under the bus and made our way to the filed, which resembles a college-level field, where the Rams were warming up in their flashy gold and black uniforms. Our school wasn't necessarily poor, but our silver and gray uniforms didn't look nearly as cool as theirs.

Warmups went painstakingly slow as I struggled to ignore the other team watching us and whispering to one another. Coach Hatchback snapped at us to ignore them and focus on what we do best: baseball.

We pitched first. Cole stepped on the mound and eyed the batter as he striked the dirt in the batter's box with his cleat. Cole's eyes slid over to me, but I didn't give him any signals. Pitch just like you do, Cole. 

Cole pitched the ball and it went way high and outside, making me stand to catch it. I heard a chuckle inside the Rockwood dugout as I threw the ball back to Cole, who didn't seem fazed by one bad pitch. Good.

The second pitch was was low and bounced in the dirt, the third too far outside, the fourth low and outside. Rockwood's dugout clapped as the batter tossed the bat and slowly jogged to first. I called timout to the ref before jogging over to Cole, taking my helmet off. 

"What's going on, man?"

Cole took off his hat and scratched his head. "I know I'm throwing over seventy, but I'm too nervous. I can see the scout for UCLA right there. I just can't control the ball." 

"Forget your nervousness, Cole! This is your moment to get what you've been working so hard for, quit ruining it!" I struggled to think of something esle, but I didn't have to.

His eyes slid over to the bleachers and a grin slowly spread across his face. I turned to see Kelsey hurrying over the grass and settle on the third row of the bleachers, waving at us. 

I looked back at Cole and clapped his arm with my glove before jogging back to homeplate. I crouched down and held out my glove. Cole pitched and the ball zoomed right into my glove, hardly making me move it. Our dugout cheered as I threw the ball back. Cole threw a curveball and a change up before striking the batter out. . .

. . .as he did for the entire game. Cole, the first pitcher in Silver Lake history, threw a no hitter against Rockwood. Our team drenched Cole in gaterade as we clapped him on the back and head. But in the middle of our celebrating, a tall balding man stepped into the dugout, silencing us. 

"Cole Loughner and Erick Sanchez?" 

We looked at each other before reaching out to shake his hand. "May I have a word with you, boys?"

We followed the man outside and to the pitching mound, where he shielded his eyes from the sun and looked up at us. "You boys are mighty fine ball players. University of Southern California searches for athletes who also take care of your grades, which your coach says you're on top of. I would like to follow you men throughout your season, if that's all right with you."

Cole and I stared at each other before grinning and nodding vigoursly. "Of course, sir." I answered breathlessly. He winked at us before starting to retreat back to the other scouts. 

"Play to be remembered, boys. Play to be remembered."