Derek had just gotten off the bus Monday morning when he saw the black sedan pull up to the curb in front of the school. Dave got out and shut the door behind him. He slowly trudged toward the school’s main entrance, looking neither left nor right, but only straight ahead, into the far distance. His feet shuffled as he walked, which certainly wasn’t normal for him, and he slouched forward, like a defeated soldier limping home after a battle.
He looks like a zombie! Derek couldn’t help thinking.
Derek tried to get through the crowd of kids to see if his friend was okay. As bad as Derek had felt the night before—and he only felt slightly better this morning—Dave certainly seemed to be taking things much, much worse!
But it was impossible to get through the mass of kids funneling through the front doors, hurrying to get to class before the bell sounded. Derek watched Dave’s head disappear down the hallway and around the corner. I’ll have to find him at lunch, he told himself.
That morning, as the class reviewed for finals, Gary’s snide whispered comments, which usually amused Derek, irritated him far more than usual.
How was he supposed to concentrate under these circumstances?
The morning went from bad to worse when Ms. Terrapin handed out practice standardized tests, along with number two pencils, so they could practice against the time clock.
Derek’s anxiety caused him to put too much pressure on his pencil, and the point quickly broke off, which meant he had to get out his pencil sharpener and make a new point.
This kept happening, and half the time the pencil left marks in the wrong circles, which Derek had to erase, leaving smudges, costing precious time, and—UGGHH!
He didn’t have to glance to his left to see the amused look on Gary’s face. He just knew it was there.
Derek could have kicked himself now for accepting Gary’s dare! Of course, he’d never been one to shrink from a challenge.
But he couldn’t have foreseen the news about Dave. And that changed everything.
For the second time that week, he caught himself grinding his teeth.
Derek found Dave in the cafeteria. He was sitting alone at a table in the far corner, taking the occasional bite out of his sandwich, and slowly chewing it while staring into space. Derek plopped his tray down and sat next to him.
“Man, this stinks,” Derek said, not feeling much like eating.
“You can say that again,” Dave agreed. “I was so mad! For two days I just wouldn’t talk to my folks. I even threatened to fail my finals on purpose.”
“Wow!” Derek was shocked that Dave would go so far.
“Chase finally calmed me down. I mean, he was right. It’s not my parents’ fault. It’s just the kind of work they do. And there’s nothing I can do to change it anyway, so what’s the point of punishing myself, right?”
“Right.”
“But it still doesn’t make me feel any better,” Dave said, putting his sandwich down instead of biting into it. “You want this? I’m not hungry.”
“No, thanks,” said Derek, who was barely eating his own lunch. “I feel crummy too.”
“I’ve been trying to study, but I just can’t concentrate.”
“Me neither.”
“Yeah, but you’re not the one who’s moving. It’s not as hard for you.”
“Do you think Chase is right?” Derek asked. “I mean, what he said about writing to each other?”
Dave stared straight ahead, but he wasn’t really looking at anything. “I don’t know,” he said. “That’s what my old friends and I promised each other when I moved here.”
“And?”
Dave shrugged. “One or two of them still write now and then, and I write back, but…”
“But what?”
Dave turned to look at Derek, a hopeless expression on his face. “But I’ve never seen any of them since we moved. Not a single one.”
Chapter Six PLAYOFF FEVER
When Derek and Vijay arrived at Westwood Fields after school that Wednesday, Derek saw that the Reds were already out there, taking fielding practice. They sure got here early, he thought.
“I’ll go park,” said Mrs. Jeter as she pulled up to the curb. “See you out there, boys. Go get ’em.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Jeter!” said Vijay.
“Thanks, Mom.”
Derek grabbed his mitt and jumped out of the station wagon, then swung the door shut behind him. As he and Vijay jogged over to meet their teammates, Derek noticed that the Reds were making some sparkling plays in the field.
This was not going to be easy. The Reds had finished the regular season 5–3, the same record as the Yankees. But the Reds had beaten them head-to-head during the season, so that meant the Reds finished fourth, ahead of the Yanks. Which also made the Reds the home team today.
Whichever team took this wild-card game would win the “big prize”—a matchup against the undefeated first-place Giants in the next round.
Meanwhile, Dave’s Tigers and the Marlins, tied for second place with identical 6–2 records, would meet up to decide the other finalist.
Derek understood why the Reds were here early, getting extra practice in before the big game. It had originally been scheduled for last Saturday, but the rain had forced them all to wait… and wait. If it had been up to Derek, he and the Yankees would have been here since dawn this morning.
He greeted his teammates, then looked around for Avery. There she was, coming down the block, with her mom and two of Avery’s brother’s friends who’d been to nearly every game this season.
The sun was behind her, and Derek squinted to keep the sun out of his eyes. Wait… was she walking funny? She seemed almost to double over once or twice, grabbing her stomach.
By the time she’d reached the Yankees bench, though, she seemed okay. She high-fived the rest of the kids as usual, not cracking a smile. Then she sat down at the end of the bench, staring out at the field, a baseball in her hands.
