After that horrible game, we all wanted to forget about it and that we'd never laid eyes on each other.
The next training, I was thinking that no way the two Russian men would show up and want to coach a pathetic bunch of girls like us.
But the next thing we knew, Felik and Grigor marched towards us.
"Gather around us, gals," said Felik, waving his arms at us until we formed a ring. "Don't worry about the last game. It was only a pre-season practice game. Me and Grigor, we're going to start from scratch with this team."
"What?" gasped Rosie, amazed.
"You mean, you're volunteering to coach us?" said Nora.
"After what you saw?" added Harper.
"I get it," Melissa said. "You guys are convicted criminals. The court's ordered you to coach a sports team for community service."
Felik smiled and aimed a finger at her.
"You're funny," he said. Then he turned and launched into a serious speech.
"It's nothing like that. It's much more simple," he said. His hands whizzed and sliced through the air, his grayish-blue eyes flashed with electricity.
"Look, baseball is a magnificent and mysterious game. Me and Grigor believe if you all can learn to play this great game in honor, with team unity, with respect for each other, and with joy - then you will be a great team and you will all- " He pointed to each one of us in turn. "You will all grow in character."
We sat there like stunned moose, staring at this weird duo in front of us. I'd heard coach pep-talks before. The way this guy spoke was so over-the-top that it was strangely hypnotizing.
"Felik, wait a sec," said Grigor for the first time in a quiet tone and pointed to Stefanie.
Stefanie had Margaret cornered by the fence. She ranted at her, demanding to be put back in the Blue Belles. Margaret was trying to calm her down.
Grigor took a few mighty strides to reach Stefanie. We watched him turn Stef's body sideways and learn down to talk quietly in her ear.
Nobody knows exactly what Grigor said to Stefanie Jenkins that day, but whatever it was, it didn't take long. One minute later, Stefanie (looking a bit weirded out) followed the huge coach back to the group. Felik went on with his speech.
"Me and Grigor are not going to lie to you," he said. I noticed that he always made sure to include his partner. "This team has a lot of work to do. And we're going to have to find ourselves an outfielder. But there's also a lot of talent here."
"Yeah?" snorted Stefanie.
Felik fixed Stefanie with his electric eyes and said, "Maybe I can see a lot of potential that you can't see. Potential the players themselves can't see yet. It will help if we all keep a positive attitude. Agreed?"
But the trouble was, no one did agree. No one was feeling positive. We all just stared at the ground.
"Is there a problem here?" asked Felik.
"A humongous problem," said Stefanie. "No one wants to play in this team, right?" She raised her eyebrows and appealed to the rest of us.
"Does everyone feel like this?" asked Felik.
No one said anything. Eventually, I figured someone should answer.
"Look...ummm," I mumbled. "The thing is...."
"Excuse me- I don't know any of your names yet," said Felik, who was incredibly polite, even to kids. "Are you...?"
"Darci Bloom," I said.
"Nice to meet you, Darci," said Felik, jerking out his hand to me to shake. I'd never in my life met anyone like this guy, his dark eyes seemed as if they cut straight through me and see exactly who I was. I didn't want anyone to see me like that. I felt like I was giving out false hope.
"I'm sorry, Darci - were you saying?"
"Well," I said, "I think everyone thinks it's embarrassing to be in a team this lousy and we should just give up and...I don't know... disband the team or something."
There were general murmurs of agreement with this statement. Felik nodded, listening carefully, respectful.
"You haven't given me and Grigor a chance. You haven't given yourselves a chance. Give it a go for, say, six weeks, before you decide to kill off the team. Hands up who'll give us six weeks."
Felik and Grigor ran their eyes along the ring of faces, waiting for the answer. Melissa and Tonya shot their hands up straight away but the rest of us didn't move a muscle. We just stared at our boots, too embarrassed to took at the coaches in the eye. I could see a few of the others sneaking looks at me, seeing how I would vote.
The decision was easy for me - vote no. Killing the Rejects right now would solve my problem. No more humiliating games in this lousy team. In fact, no more baseball at all. This way I could give up baseball in a quiet, sneak-out-the-backdoor way, without Dad making a huge deal about it.
But then I glanced up and saw Felik's face sagging with disappointment.
I don't know exactly what happened next. I felt my hand slowly go up as if the arm didn't belong to me. I saw a hopeful light creeping across Felik's face. As soon as I put my hand up, Olive did too. All the other girls were looking at me. One by one, hands started going up - Rosie, Harper, Nora, even Susan.
Eventually, everyone- except Stefanie.
"Terrific. We got ourselves a team," said Felik. Margaret came to hand Felik the folder with our season's performance.
I noticed Grigor was peering at me over the top of his sunglasses with a hint of a smile. Then Felik leaned forward and very quietly said to me, "Thanks."
Something about the way he said it made me feel appreciated. He wasn't saying thanks like an adult talking to a kid. It was just one grown-up to another grown-up.
Felik and Grigor looked at the folder, then at each other.
"This must be a mistake," said Felik. "It says here this team is playing in Third Class."
"It's not a mistake," winced Margaret apologetically.
"I would have to say- " began Felik and then turned to us. "No offense, gals - " Then he turned back to Margaret - "This is not a team that should be in Third Class."
Margaret explained. "Well, Stefanie, Nora, and Darci have played two years of First Class before, but they got...er..."
"Rejected," I said.
~*~
We had a chance to check out the weird coaches at Thursday night's training.
Grigor and Felik weren't like any baseball coaches I'd ever seen. They were incredibly well organized, with a training program and season plan written out.
They worked us hard, putting the Rejects through different drills and exercises until we were ready to drop. They were also the noisiest coaches I'd ever had, always laughing, roaring out instructions, cheering, or having a jokey go at someone.
People around the diamond field watched our training, trying to figure out who these Russian guys were. Dad kept glancing in our direction on the sly. Even Charlotte Grace, the movie-maker, was curious. I caught her looking at us a few times.
I was in a couple of subjects with Charlotte but I didn't really know her. She used to stride around the school corridors, taking big strong steps, her hair bounced around her shoulders and her eyes shining like lights, dead sure where she was going. I always liked the way she marched around, but that was the problem too. How could I ever talk to a girl like that? I'd feel feeble next to a person as sure about themselves as Charlotte Grace.
I must've been staring at her without realizing it, because Charlotte suddenly waved. She couldn't be waving at me, could she?
"Darci! Your go, girl!" Felik sung out. I got back my attention and took my turn batting the ball.
Susan was a pitcher. She threw the first two balls, which I missed completely. Embarrassed, I glanced at Charlotte to see if she was laughing, but she wasn't where I last saw her. I sighed in relief.
"Darci," Felik said, applauding me for no reason. "Maybe you need to work on the control with your swing."
I struck the last ball with a loud pock! It flew in a high arch.
"Excellent!" Felik cried.
I looked to check if Charlotte saw that, but I found her focusing her camera at the Blue Bellers.
Melissa went straight after the ball in impressive speed. I could see Grigor's eyes tracking her. He flicked his hand for Melissa to come over.
"Girl, you're really fast, you know that?" said Felik.
"Pretty fast, I guess."
"No guessing about it. Very fast. So how come in the game last Saturday you were afraid to go after the ball?"
Melissa shrugged. "I'm not a good player."
Felik made a stop sign with his hand. "It's no excuse. You're fast like the wind. You gotta learn how to use this power."
"Pardon?" said Melissa. Obviously, no one had ever told little Melissa that she had any special power.
"It is your gift," Felik said with a wink. "And this team is lucky to have you."
I could see Melissa smile as her self-esteem soar up, and now I began to understand how these two coaches were different from my old coach.