She got out a clean washcloth, ran it under warm water, came back to the bedroom, and gently dabbed at the wounds. Derek breathed in sharply, hissing as the burning sensation hit him.
“I dived for a liner, out on the Hill,” he told her.
She shook her head and let out a chuckle. “Did you at least make the play?”
Derek shook his head. “That’s what really hurts,” he said, managing a wincing grin.
She got out some gauze and taped over his wounds, then helped him with his pajama top. “So, how’s school going?” she asked.
“Huh?”
“You know—school? Where you go five days a week?”
“Oh. It’s fine,” Derek said.
“I can see you’ve got other things on your mind.” She sat on the edge of the bed next to him. “Want to talk about it?”
Derek shrugged and sighed. “I don’t know. It’s just… we’ve got our first playoff game coming up, and there’s a bunch of teams with better records than us….”
“And…?”
“I just wish Dad was coaching us instead of Sharlee’s team. Like last year, when we won it all. With him as our coach, we just knew we were going to win. But without him…?”
“This year it was Sharlee’s turn,” she reminded him. “And by the way, old man—and I know your dad would agree—remember that it was you kids who went out there and played your hearts out and won that trophy, not him. And it’s going to be the same this time around.”
Derek shook his head. “I just feel a lot more nervous about it this year,” he admitted. “And I’m not the only one. Avery’s a mess. Pete’s losing his cool….”
“Poor Avery. I know how much this means to her, with her brother and all.”
Derek nodded. Avery’s big brother had taught her the game, and she’d idolized him, much like Derek idolized his dad.
“And there’s something else,” Derek told his mom. “Dave didn’t show up to play on the Hill today.”
Mrs. Jeter shrugged. “Something probably came up.”
“It’s never happened before. And he said he’d be there!”
“Don’t worry, old man. I’m sure it’s nothing serious.” She kissed Derek on the forehead. “Now try to get some sleep.”
“Ow!” Derek said as he realized that lying on his left side was too painful. He turned over, got comfortable, and said, “G’night,” as she turned out the light.
“Remember, Derek—no matter what happens, it’s still a game.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning that if you’re not having fun, what’s the point?”
After the tension of his last ball game, Derek could relate. Both he and Avery, not to mention a number of his other teammates, had all played tight as the pressure had built to a boiling point.
Derek understood what his mom was getting at. But it was hard to relax and stay loose when he had so much on his mind.
As he lay there in the dark, he wondered whether Dave had purposely stayed away, knowing that if their teams kept winning, they were on a collision course to meet in the final round.
Could that be it? Derek wondered.
Or maybe it was about Avery.
Ever since Derek and Vijay had made friends with her, they’d seen less and less of Dave. Partly that was because Dave was on a different team. But Derek remembered that Dave had been weirded out at first, dealing with the fact that a girl was now part of their regular get-togethers.
Avery was definitely part of their tight-knit gang now. The question was, was Dave?
From the moment when he woke up on Saturday, Derek was in a bad mood. First of all, his ribs still stung pretty badly. Second of all, Dave didn’t call all morning.
Derek started studying for finals, but he just couldn’t keep his mind on his work. He tried math, science, history, English—it didn’t matter the subject. Nothing was sinking in, and it was only making him more irritable.
Finally he’d put in the studying time he’d promised his parents—a minimum of one hour a day. As part of the contract they’d drawn up together and Derek had signed, he had to abide by a strict set of rules—one of which was that he had to finish his daily homework before going out to play ball or hang out with friends.
But today it was raining hard, and Coach Stafford had called midmorning to say that their game was now rescheduled for Wednesday at four o’clock. That would give Derek time to heal. But it would also give him more time to worry about everything.
It didn’t help that Sharlee was in such a state of happy excitement and refused to leave him alone to sulk.
“You’ll never guess the surprise!” she teased, coming up behind him as he sat on the couch, watching the Tigers play the Red Sox in sunny Boston.
“Just tell me already,” he said, rolling his eyes as he looked away from her.
“I can’t tell you!” she said with a giggle. “What kind of surprise would that be? Besides, your birthday isn’t for two more weeks!”
“Are you going to torment me about it for two weeks?” he asked, raising his eyebrows so that she laughed again.
“Yes!” she said. “Come on, guess!”
“If I guess right, you’ll be upset.”
“You’ll never guess.”
“Then why make me try?” he asked. “Oh, wait. I know. To drive me crazy, right?”
“Right! And by the way, you’re coming to my next game, right?”
“Of course, duh,” he said. “But right now I’m actually watching a different game. So unless you want to watch with me…”
“Derek,” his father said, looking up from his newspaper as he sat in the easy chair opposite the sofa. “That’s enough now.”
“I’m going to hit a home run for you,” Sharlee promised, leaning in and whispering it right into his ear.
“Is that the surprise?” he asked.
“Huh? That’s not a surprise. I hit a home run every game!”
She did, too, Derek knew. Sharlee was quite an athlete. And she couldn’t help it if her excitement irritated him. She was simply having fun, like
