Homerun (Norminah)

chapter one

Normani repeated her strategy over and over again in her head. Softball season was going to start before she knew it and if she wanted to get even better she had to work hard. She was at the batting cages practicing her swing. The machine shot another ball at her. She swung and missed for the seventh time. Normani sighed and kicked a random ball that was near her foot.

"You're swinging unevenly," a voice said from behind her. Normani groaned but didn't turn around.

"I didn't ask for your help, Dinah," she said with a tone of annoyance. Dinah laughed.

"Of course you didn't. But I don't exactly care," the blonde said smugly. Normani ignored her and stared straight ahead, ready for another round. The ball came at her and once again, she missed.

"Uneven."

"Why are you even here?" Normani asked flatly, still not facing Dinah.

"Because I wanted to practice, since when is that a crime Normani?" Dinah replied. The dark skinned girl rolled her eyes. She took a deep breath and focused on the ball.

Swing, miss.

"Uneven."

Swing, miss.

"Uneven."

Swing, miss.

"Unev-"

Normani spun around. "I get it Dinah! My swings are fucking uneven! But I don't need you to tell me every time that they're uneven!" she spat. Dinah had a satisfied smile on her face. A ball flew past Normani's face. The machine was still going.

"Whatever you say," Dinah said.

Normani spun around and prepared herself for the next ball. She decided to humor Dinah and try to even out her swing.

Swing, hit.

The ball hit her bat at the perfect time and soared to the other end of the cage. Normani could practically feel Dinah's smirk on her.

"You can thank me anytime, Hamilton!" Dinah yelled. She walked away, shoes clicking on the floor. Normani felt the anger bubbling inside of her, so when the next ball came flying at her, she hit it as hard as she could. It soared to the very very far end of the cage. The force was so much that it made an extremely loud dinging noise and Normani had to actually drop the bat to stop the pain that was running to her hands.

Her small outburst caused many people to look over at her. She sent them apologetic looks and began to load the softballs for another round. Normani realized that Dinah was actually correct about her swing, and that she was swinging unevenly. That bothered Normani, so she kept swinging angrily until the manager had to tell her that they were closing, and to next time not be so forceful.

Normani took her helmet off and shook out her hair. She went to the locker she had rented out and collected her stuff before exiting the facility. Texas was warm even in winter so she didn't need a jacket as she walked to her car. While she was driving through the dark town she thought about how angry Dinah made her.

Normani had been playing softball since she could remember, it had always been her passion. But Dinah had been playing since she was little too. Dinah joined her junior team when they were both 7 or 8. Normani had hated Dinah right off the bat. Dinah was always giving advice that no one wanted, but everyone acted like they enjoyed. Dinah was friends with everyone on the team, except for Normani. Normani just didn't like Dinah, and Dinah didn't exactly like Normani either.

It didn't help that Dinah seemed like her sole purpose in life was to beat Normani at everything and anything. Even the littlest things, like during their practices, Dinah always had to outrun Normani. When Normani was 13 she was one of two middle schoolers bumped up to play on the varsity team. The other girl, was Dinah. As they were warming up, Dinah kept telling Normani what she was doing wrong. Normani was raging by the time she went out to bat.