Home Is Where The Heart Is

Part 12

Natalie Ross

I got on my bus and tried to process what had just happened. It was the second day of school and I had already made a somewhat plan to prove a point. And with Cache Littman none the less. I was very not excited to completely embarrass myself in front of her.

I sat on the bus until it left. Mackenzie had gotten checked out. She got checked out a lot due to it being girls soccer season.

On the way home I wondered what I was going to do about the whole situation. I was two days in and somehow went from thinking Cache hated me, to whatever this was. If this kept up I was in for a long year.

Finally the bus got to my stop and I walked home. I threw my backpack down a sat at the table. After a second I got up and made myself a snack. My dad walked in right as I went to sit down again.

"Practice got cancelled," he said. "Coaches can't make it."

I sighed. I had actually been looking forward to practice. It was going to be a good time to clear my mind.

"We can still go find a field and get some work in though," my dad reacted to my sigh.

A smile came to my face right away. "Yes. Good idea. I need work on grounders."

"Alright. We're leaving in an hour," he said making his way up the stairs, probably to go tell Stacy the same thing.

I sat back in the chair and closed my eyes. It wasn't even over and the week had been long. I couldn't wait for it to be over.

I sat like that for a while before going upstairs to get changed. It always felt good to get in uniform. Even just for practice. It made me forget about things going wrong and the troubles I had.

I walked down the stairs and filled up my water bottle. My sister came up behind me and grabbed her water bottle. She had a very upset look on her face.

"Someone isn't in the mood are they?" I laughed.

"Absolutely not," she groaned.

I just laughed at her attitude. She had just started 6th grade, and had an attitude or opinion about pretty much everything.

She continued to fill up her water bottle and I went to load up the car. I put in a bucket, my dad's glove, a stool, my bat bag, Stacy's bat bag, a tee and a net. Once it was loaded I got in the car. My dad and sister quicky followed.

We went to a small field a few blocks away. We got out of the car and walked into the the dugout.

"I'll meet you out here," my dad called as he went to sit behind home.

I turned to my sister. "Who's going first?"

"I will," she grumbled.

"Alrighty ma'am," I said walking over to set up the net in the outfield. I then set up the tee and brought the bucket over. I did my tee-work while my sister pitched. Once she was done I took my turn.

Pitching gave me a sense of control. On the mound I was the leader of the game. It was comforting. And when I was on the mound I had no worries, everything in my mind was about the next pitch and the next play. And for the next little while that was all I had in my head; the next pitch.

After awhile I had finished pitching. To finish up, we moved the net to the pitching mound, and my dad pitched to me and my sister.

I was as happy in the batters box as I was on the mound. While I didn't have as much control, I felt powerful. As my dad pitched I focused on all the mechanics of my swing. My hands, arms, hips, and legs all worked together to hit the ball. Near the end of the bucket I was able to put one over the short fence. Even though the fence was short it was still cool.

We picked up the balls, packed up, and went home. On the way home we chatted about our upcoming tournaments; my sister's this weekend and mine the next.

We got home and I went to get ready for bed. I saw my backpack sitting on the floor and thought about the days events.

Practice had been a good distraction but I was going to have to deal with mine and Cache's bet tomorrow.

I finished getting ready for bed and layed down, hoping for good night's sleep.

Why is this chapter way longer than other? Who knows. I will at some point add a context chapter with all the softball lingo.