Upside Down book 2

Chapter 11: The Big Game

"Oh my gosh! That is totally sibling goals!" Sasha said. We were talking like we usually do before the game and I was telling her about what happened last night.
"I know right!" I said.
"I told you that he liked you. I knew it all along!" Sasha said.
"Okay, okay, you were right." I said in defeat.
"Anyways, we have to focus right now. It's the World Series! Do you know what this means? We can be World Champions!" Sasha said. She was right. I've never made it this far in a softball season before. I never even got to the playoffs. This is a big moment for our team. We have made it very far and have done very well, so we're not going to wait till now to screw up.
As we all were talking, we finally saw Victoria. She is always late for everything. But I noticed something wrong with her. She came in sort of limping. Like she wasn't able to walk.
"Hey Victoria, are you alright?" Willow asked.
"Victoria, what's wrong? Why are you limping?" Coach Denver asked when he saw her.
"Oh nothing. My legs just hurt." She said.
"Oh really? Your 'legs hurt', huh?" I said. Sasha pulled me back before I could say anything else.
"Joy-Anna, what are you doing!?" Sasha asked.
"Don't worry, I got this." I said. "So Victoria, where were you last night?" I asked. All eyes went to me and Victoria.
"At a friends house, why?" She asked.
"Well, that 'friend', was it Kyle by any chance?" I said. Then Victoria shot wide eyes at me.
"How did YOU know!?" She yelled.
"I walked in on you guys having sex!" I yelled. After I said that, some of the girls jaws dropped. Some even laughed. Victoria had an embarrassed look on her face.
" Why would you go behind my friends back and have sex with her boyfriend?" Sasha asked.
"EX-boyfriend." I corrected her.
"I don't know. I guess I was just jealous of you." Victoria said.
"Jealous? Of me? Why the hell would you be jealous of me?" I asked in shock.
"Well it just seemed like you to had a future together. I mean, you went to the beach on your first date. On our first date, we went to McDonalds." She said.
"McDona-wait, how did you know we were at the beach?" I asked.
"I was hiding in the trail you guys were going in. You had on blue jeans, a mint green top, matching Converses, and a sweater. And Kyle had on blue jeans, a white button down shirt, a mint green suit jacket, and sneakers." She said. We all just stood there and stared.
"What?"
"The way you said everything, it sounded like you were a stalker that night." Pat said.
"Whatever. Right now, none of this is important. C'mon girls, we have a game to win." I said. "Now who's with me?!"
"Yeah!" All of the girls shouted.
"Victoria, we'll talk about this later." I said as she nodded.

*Skip to towards the end of the game*

"Okay so here's the deal guys, it's the bottom of the ninth, were up at bat, and the game is tied." I said to the girls. We were going against Japan, and let me just say, these girls are no joke. Every time we got a run, they always have to score one, or even two on us.
"So what's the plan?" Ingrid asked.
"Well, you, Leah, and Fiona are up at bat, so I'm hoping that you three can try to get on base, or one of you guys get a home run. But if you all are on base, t-"
"Then it's all up to you to get the winning run." Victoria said.
"Exactly." I said.
"What if we don't get the run, and the three of them strike out?" Ann asked.
"Then we go into extra innings." I said.
"I don't wanna go into extra innings." Rheagan said.
"That's why we need to get this run. Okay, who's ready to win this game?" I shouted.
"Whoo!!" Everyone shouted in unison.

*Skip to when Joy-Anna is up at bat*

"You're up Joy." Coach Denver said. Like it was planned, Ingrid, Leah, and Fiona are all on base. So I need to either get a hit, or a home run, and we win.
"I'm kinda nervous Coach." I said to him.
"Don't be. I know batting is not your strongest point, but you are good at it." He said. He was right. I was somewhat good at batting, but i can't bat as well as I can pitch. But with no choice, I walked up to home plate and got ready.
Once I was ready, the pitcher had a squint in her eyes, signaling that she was about to throw a pitch. She looked intimidating and kinda freaked me out a little bit. Then she finally threw a pitch.
"Strike one." The umpire yelled. Her pitches were really fast, faster than average, and it was hard to time it to the point where I could actually hit it. Then another pitch got thrown.
"Strike two." The umpire yelled again. I saw a smirk form on the pitchers face. Okay, that's it. I'm not gonna let her throw me off so easily. I got in my stance and waited for her to throw the last pitch. Bring it on, whatever your name is. It's showtime.
Once the pitch was thrown out, I swung the bat as hard as I could, with my eyes closed, until I heard a click. When I opened my eyes, I saw the ball fly into the air. I started running as fast as I could, until I saw the ball go out of the park. As I was still running I heard the announcer say,
It is high, it is far, it is GONE! A home run for Joy-Anna Howard, and that ends the game and the season, with the Midtown Bears winning the season 12-8!"

I just won the game for the team. I heard yelling, screaming, and cheering coming from the bleachers, and from the team coming out from the dugout. Ingrid, Leah, Fiona, and the rest of the team were waiting for me at home plate. When I finally got there, everyone huddled around me and started jumping up and down. We all ran to the middle of the field to Coach Denver. All of our families were waiting for us there too. I saw my mom and went to hug her.
"You did so well!!!" She said crying a little.
"Thanks mom." I said. Then I saw Ken and the rest of my friends and went to them.
"Hey Joy." Kenneth said.
"Hey." I said back.
"That was awesome." Sean said.
"Yeah. What went through your mind when the pitcher gave you that look?" Bailey asked.
"Honestly, I wasn't really thinking of anything, I was just pissed." I said. Then we all heard yelling again and realized that the trophies were here when we turned around to see. Everyone ran over there, except Ken. I went back over there to see what was up.
"Ken, what's wrong? Aren't you coming with us?" I asked. He didn't say anything. He just stood there and stared.
"Ken?" I asked again. I was just a few centimeters away from him and he was almost perfectly still. But then as he moved closer and came face to face with me, he made his move and......

He kissed me.