Out of Her League |Lesbian Story|

Chapter 12

Everyone except me.

I was not in my best element. My mind kept wandering off or panicking when the ball flew at me. I lost a few good strikes.

Felik marched up and down the sideline, his mouth running constantly.

"Good, Tonya. Yes. Look for the tag. That's it, Susan."

"Take your time, Darci," Grigor said with a nod to me.

Mom got swept up in the excitement of it more than she ever expected. Near the end of the first half, when Nora made a homerun, Mom was jumping up and down along the rest of the crazy Reject fans.

"Come on! Nora, yes!" Felik cried.

Nora threw herself towards the homeplate, but the Wanderer leaped and grabbed the ball. The umpire blew the whistle. We didn't get the run this time. There was a huge group-groan from our supporters.

"Awww...come on!"

"Head up, Nora, it was a great shot, no worries," Felik called out, applauding her. "Nothing to be ashamed of with that shot."

Susan was tagged by a Wanderer runner. The fact that it was a fair tactic didn't stop Susan going off her brain.

She bellowed, looming over the Wanderer player, ready to pulverize her. "Yeah, you! I'm talking to you! I'm gonna beat the stuffing out of ya!"

Grigor was signaling to Susan to calm down, but she didn't see him. I was so worried about her going ballistic on the poor runner that I ran out of my position to stand between them.

"Calm yourself, Susan, or you'll get yourself ejected," I said. She glared at me but did what she'd been practicing with Grigor at training. She took a deep breath and stepped around in a circle to calm down. Meanwhile, her father was razzing himself up into a toxic rage.

"Ump! That wasn't a legal tag, it was a foul ball," he cried. "Are you blind and deaf?"

Susan's dad looked ready to explode. That was when Grigor took a few mighty strides up the sideline. He put a hand on Susan's father's shoulder, turning him so he faced away from the game. We didn't hear what he was talking to the dad, but the man shut up and nodded as if to say he got the message.

The game continued in peace after that. Stafenie made a bold move, trying to throw the ball pass Nora. As usual, she ignored her teammate. But there was no way she could throw it across the field. The ball eventually landed and went rolling, and we all groaned. We lost the lead because of that.

Grigor made the hand signal for a player substitution. Then he called Stefanie off the field.

"Me? You want me to come off?" screeched Stefanie. She couldn't believe it. She stormed off the field to complain to Felik.

"I'm the best player you got!" she said. "This team could even win a game if you replaced the useless players. Olive. Harper. Tonya. They just waste space and slow us down."

Olive could hear Stefanie talking trash about her. I caught Olive's eyes and you could see the hurt in her face. Suddenly, my ears burned hot. I walked towards Stefanie and spun her around by the shoulder. She swept her head to look at me, and I had a strong urge to hit her, but Felik came to pull me back.

"Darci, Darci," he warned, steering me away. The crowd was watching us.

"You leave her alone, Stef!" I cried. "In fact, you've got a lot to learn about baseball from her!"

I was not one who throws tantrum like Susan, but if anyone hurts my best friend, I'm ready to go down with them. Nora was right behind me like she was my backup.

"Oh yeah?" Stefanie snorted. "You think you scored a homerun in the last game, now you can tell me what to do? I bet you're just here goofing around and trying to score with that blonde movie director."

I gritted my teeth. Felik shot Stefanie the sharpest look we'd ever seen him give anyone. A look so fierce it even made Stefanie Jenkins stop talking.

"If you disrespect your teammates," he said in a low and steely voice, "I don't care if you're the best player in the world, you're off the team."

Stefanie dropped onto the bench without another word.

Two minutes later, the Wanderer hitter struck the ball, which flew towards the fence. April was running after it. The Reject supporters were cheering like lunatics.

Even Grigor himself got a bit worked up.

We were watching April leaped into the air and caught it with her glove.

"Yes!"

The umpire raised his hand, and that was the end of the ninth innings.