by Derek Jeter
Derek kept his arms close to his sides, so Gary wouldn’t see the sweat stains under his arms. “Is that what you think, Gar? Well, good for you. You just keep thinking it.”
“Uh-huh. I’m not buying any of this stuff, Jeter—but have it your way.”
“Thanks, I’ll do that. Better start practicing your clucking, my friend.”
Gary stood there watching him go, seeds of doubt sprouting in his suspicious brain. “If you win, I’ll know you cheated,” he called after Derek.
Derek took one last glance behind him, just to see the look on Gary’s face as his supreme confidence began to wobble just a little bit.
Good, thought Derek. Now at least he knows how it feels.
* * *
When Derek got off the school bus and rounded the corner of his block, he saw the black sedan parked in front of his house.
“Dave! Hi,” he called, waving to his friend.
Dave was standing on the sidewalk, waiting for him. “Hi,” he said as he and Derek went through their elaborate private handshake.
“I can’t hang out today,” Derek said apologetically. “I have to study for tomorrow’s English final.”
“I know. Me too. I… I just wanted to talk for a few minutes.”
“Okay.”
Dave looked down the path, toward the Patels’ townhouse. “Can we talk inside?”
“Uh… sure.” Derek waved to Chase, who was sitting behind the wheel. “Hi.”
Chase waved back and smiled. “Good to see you, Derek.”
“Come on in.” Derek led Dave up the front stairs and inside. “My parents will be glad to see you. It’s been a while.”
“Dave!” Mr. Jeter said, getting up from the couch and coming over to shake Dave’s hand. “How’s it going?”
Dave sighed. “Not so great, Mr. Jeter. Derek told you we’re moving?”
“He did. I’m very sorry to hear it. We’re going to miss you, Dave. Derek most of all.”
“Thanks. I’m going to miss you all too.”
“Let me go rustle up some snacks for you,” Mr. Jeter said, leaving them alone in the living room.
“It feels like months since I’ve been here,” Dave began.
“I know! Half the time it feels like you’re already gone. I mean, I know we’ve all been busy with playoffs and finals and stuff. But you never even come out to the Hill anymore.”
“I’ve been packing up all my stuff.” Dave was looking straight down at the floor. “On top of studying and playoffs. You know, when you’re feeling cruddy, you don’t really feel like hanging out with people. You don’t want them to see you like that… to remember you like that.”
A long silence followed. Mr. Jeter returned with a plate of cookies and two glasses of milk. Then, sensing the heavy atmosphere and realizing the boys needed some space to talk, he went back into the kitchen.
The two boys ate and drank in silence, each waiting for the other to say something. Finally Dave put down his glass and heaved a big sigh. “I don’t want to go anywhere!” he cried. “I like it here!”
“Well… you know, maybe Hong Kong will be great,” Derek said, trying to console his friend. “I mean, if you have to go, you might as well get excited about it. Right?”
“That’s what my parents keep saying. ‘You’re going to love it there!’ I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Derek could see that Dave was close to tears. Luckily, just then the doorbell rang. “That’s Vijay for sure!”
Dave got up, sniffing. “I guess I’ll see you… whenever.”
“Look,” Derek said, trying to find something to say. “We’ll find some time before you leave, to hang out. After playoffs and finals are over, but before… you know.”
Dave shrugged. “That only leaves a few days. And it’ll be chaos over at my house.”
“We’ll find the time somehow,” Derek insisted. “Maybe even play a round of golf, or at least hit some balls at the range?”
Derek knew that would lift Dave’s spirits, and sure enough, it brought out a smile. Dave’s dream was to be a pro golfer someday. He enjoyed other sports, but nothing compared to golf.
“That’d be awesome! Let’s do it!”
The doorbell rang again, more insistently this time.
“Great,” said Derek, opening the door and clapping Dave on the shoulder. “See you then.”
“See you. Hi, Vijay. Bye, Vijay.”
Vijay watched Dave go, a startled look in his eyes. “What was that all about?” he asked Derek.
“I’ll tell you later,” said Derek. “Come on. We’ve got studying to do.”
* * *
The next morning was their science final. After managing to dent Gary’s armor, Derek was in a better frame of mind than the day before. He smiled as he got down to work. Just the thought of making Gary eat humble pie was enough motivation to do his best—or even better! And he found the test easier than he’d thought it would be. He even finished with five minutes to spare!
* * *
Derek sat by himself, eating his lunch in the cafeteria. He usually sat with Vijay and some of his other friends, but today, he wanted to think about nothing but the task at hand.
He thought he’d done pretty well on the math and science tests. But this was a two-final day, which meant that after lunch, he had to take the English final. Not his best subject.
He sure hoped he’d beaten Gary on the first two tests.
Suddenly, Derek found that he’d lost his appetite. He packed his lunch back up and put it in his book bag.
It was time. The moment of truth had arrived.
* * *
Derek finished the grammar and vocabulary sections with no problem and was feeling better about things. He was about to tackle the essay that would count for 40 percent of his score when he looked up and saw that Gary was already handing in his finished test!
Derek glanced at the clock—only fifteen minutes left, and he hadn’t even started his essay!
Suddenly all the confidence he’d been feeling drained out of him, as if the bottoms of his feet were full of holes. He felt the cold sweat coming on again.
Gary turned at the door and looked right at Derek, a huge grin sprouting on his face.
Was it that obvious that Derek was in trouble? Obviously yes. At least to Gary.
Time was running out on Derek. What was he going to write about? Ms. Terrapin had listed a few topics, but none of them had much appeal to Derek.
There was no time to think. He just had to make up his mind and start writing—now!
Okay, he told himself. I’m just going to give it my best shot and try to relax, like my mom and dad always say to do.
An Important Lesson I Have Learned
One important lesson I have learned in my life is to enjoy every moment you can. Sometimes I try so hard to succeed that I get tense and worried. The weird thing about that is, then I usually don’t do my best. I do my best when I am relaxed and having a good time. Even in the middle of some close ball games, I still enjoy myself.
When I mess up, I don’t have to get even more tense because of it. I can remind myself that everyone messes up. I can learn from what I did wrong, so that I can do better next time.
Like with my friend Avery Mullins. She just started to play baseball this year, and she’s really good. But being the only girl in the league gets her stressed out sometimes. And when she gets like that, she doesn’t play her best ball.
That’s a shame, because she’s normally a really good player. I guess it’s hard for her to relax when there are always kids making fun of her, just because she’s the only girl on the team.
I can see she’d do better if she was playing loose. But it’s harder to see it in myself. Sometimes I catch myself clenching my jaw, or making fists with my hands, and I have to tell myself to chill out.
Then there’s my tied-for-best-friend Dave Hennum. When he first moved to town, he was all tense because he didn’t know anybody. So everybody thou
ght he was a snob, and nobody liked him, and it just got worse and worse.
Once I got to know him, I realized he wasn’t a snob at all. When he was relaxed and having fun, he was one of the coolest kids I’ve ever met, and we became best friends. We’ve got so much in common, like our dreams of being sports stars.
Well, we’ve been best friends ever since. But now he’s moving away, and I’m really pretty tense about it. I don’t know if we will even be friends in the future. I want to, but I have my doubts if it will work.
I am going to enjoy my last times with Dave, because you never know if you will have another chance to hang out with somebody you really care about. We are going to write to each other, so we’ll see. Let’s hope for the best.
But I don’t know how not to be tense about saying good-bye.
Derek didn’t know if his essay was any good, or if Ms. Terrapin would penalize him for not following one of the suggested topics—but what was done was done. He finished, putting down his pencil just as the bell rang.
At any rate, he’d enjoyed writing it. And at least every word in it was true.
Chapter Twelve CRASH AND BURN
“Go get ’em, Sharlee!”
Derek yelled as loudly as he could, to make sure she heard him over the noise of the crowd. It was amazing how much noise parents could make when their kids were in action.
Sharlee spotted Derek and her mom in the stands and pointed at them, nodding confidently as she stepped up to the plate.
Just like a pro, Derek thought proudly.
Sharlee’s team was up 3–2, with two runners on base. Hitting the first pitch, she drove them both in. It was a clean double—but Sharlee just kept on going, all the way around the bases, until she was finally tagged out at home!
She got mad, but only for a second. Then she leapt up and down along with her teammates, whooping it up to the max.
They’re used to winning, Derek thought, watching Sharlee and her teammates celebrate. They haven’t lost once all year. Just like the Giants—before we ambushed them.
Derek never liked to celebrate too much until the game was over, and the last out made. Because you never knew. In fact, Derek considered it bad luck. Like the great Yogi Berra once said, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
Sure enough, things started to fall apart for Sharlee’s team in the fifth inning. Four straight batters hit the ball really hard. Sharlee made one spectacular catch on a line drive over her head—but she couldn’t stop the onslaught alone, and her teammates made a couple of key errors in the infield to make the damage worse.
Looking at Sharlee, Derek could see that she was upset with what was happening—and particularly about the error. She knows she would have made that play, he thought.
By the time the inning was over, Sharlee’s team was behind, 8–5. Derek couldn’t see his sister’s face, but he knew for sure that she was steaming mad. When her team went down one, two, three in the top of the sixth, Sharlee’s magic carpet ride was over—she and her undefeated team had come crashing down to Earth.
Sharlee threw her mitt against the chain-link fence, refusing to go shake hands with the winning team—until her dad knelt down beside her and said something in her ear, his hand on her shoulder. She angrily yanked herself free—but she did go over and shake hands, murmuring “Good game” like all the rest of her tearful teammates.
“Hey, slugger,” Derek said when he caught up to her. “Don’t get too down. You played a great game.”
“No I didn’t!” she shouted, still upset. “We lost!”
“Hey, it happens.” Derek knew it wasn’t what she wanted to hear. But it was the truth. “You did your best, and you did great—knocked in two runs, made a great catch—you almost had a homer there. That’s pretty good for one game.”
“Not for me! If we lose, that means we were bad! And Daddy messed everything up.”
“What?”
“He put me at first base and moved everybody around and let Tara play shortstop.”
“Sharlee, coaches have to play every player in every game. That’s the rules. And hey, what about that catch you made?”
“So? We lost!”
“Come on, Sharlee. Teams lose or win games—not any one player or coach. And you won every other game you played! You know, my team’s lost three games this year. You should be proud of yourself. And hey—didn’t you have fun?” As he said the words, Derek could hear his dad’s voice, telling him the same thing.
“I did have fun. Until today,” Sharlee said, pouting, but calming down a little.
“I know, losing stinks—but that’s baseball. You lose sometimes, no matter how good you are.”
“I guess…”
“Listen, I think Dad’s feeling bad. Maybe you should go say something to cheer him up. Maybe give him a hug, and a ‘thank you’ for doing such a good job.”
“No! He was supposed to win us the championship, like he did for you!”
“He tried, Sharlee. He really did. Just like you did. And I’m sure he feels just as badly.”
“Mmmm… okay.” She turned to go.
“Hey, Sharlee?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t worry. The way you play? You’re going to win a ton of championships.”
That made her smile. “Thanks,” she said, then ran to their dad. Derek watched as he got down on his knees to hug her, Sharlee’s face buried deep in his shoulder.
A few minutes later, as the family was walking back to the car, Sharlee turned to Derek. “I’ll comfort you when you lose too,” she said, taking his hand.
“Aw, thanks, Sharlee. But who says we’re going to lose, huh? I mean, what if we win?”
Sharlee shrugged. “Then at least Mommy and I won’t have to change the cake—” She yanked her hand away, suddenly angry again. “Aaaahhh! Derek!”
“What?” he asked, his arms out. “What did I do?”
“You made me tell!”
“Tell what?”
“The secret! Grrrr!”
“I didn’t make you do anything!”
“Yes, you did!”
So that was it—she and their mom were making him a special birthday cake! Derek resisted the urge to smile. He knew it would only make her madder. But now that she’d blown it, what could he do?
Luckily, the answer came to him. “You know what? I didn’t even hear what you said, Sharlee.”
“Yes, you did!”
“No, really! Because you were mumbling. What was it? Something about a rake? Or a snake or something?”
Sharlee looked at him, suspicious. “You sure you didn’t hear?”
“Seriously.”
“You swear?”
“Come on, Sharlee—tell me what you said. I can keep a secret.”
“No! The secret is about you, silly!”
“Oh…. Come on, tell me—please…. Pretty please.”
“Never mind,” she said, folding her arms in satisfaction. “You’ll see when it’s time.”
That seemed to do the trick. He’d have to work on his surprised face in the mirror, just to make sure he did a good job when Sharlee gave him the cake.
He didn’t normally like to deceive Sharlee, but in this case he decided to give himself a pass.
* * *
She seemed to be okay again at dinner. She and their dad went over all the great moments from their season, and by the time they’d finished dessert, Sharlee was in a fine mood.
She said, “Derek, you go into the living room—and promise to stay in there and NOT come into the kitchen. Mommy and I have work to do.”
Derek’s birthday was coming up that Sunday, and he guessed the cake/rake/snake was in process. He pretended not to be interested, focusing instead on reviewing for the standardized tests the next day.
It was almost eight o’clock when the phone rang. Mrs. Jeter picked it up. “Hello? Oh! Hello, Ms. Mullins.”
Derek looked up. Avery’s mother had called only once or twice before. Why was she
calling now?
“Sure…. Oh, I see…. Is she all right?” Derek’s mom was quiet for a long time, listening. Derek found himself making fists with his hands, and shook them out, blowing out a tense breath. What could they be talking about?
“Of course,” said Mrs. Jeter. “He’s right here.” She held out the receiver. “Derek? Avery’s mom.”
Derek took the phone. “Hello.”
“Derek, it’s Samantha Mullins, Avery’s mom.”
“Uh-huh?”
“I had to take Avery to the doctor today.”
“Oh…” Suddenly Derek felt something flip inside his stomach. “Is she… okay?”
“She’ll be fine—but she has severe gastritis. Meaning a severely upset stomach. The doctor says it’s stress-related.”
“Uh-huh…” Derek tried to swallow, but his throat was too dry. He dreaded what was coming next.
“When Avery asked him about playing in the final on Saturday, he advised strongly against it. He feels it’s the main source of her stress, that it’s affecting her physical health, and that she needs a break from baseball. I’m sorry, but she won’t be able to play Saturday. I’ve already told the coach, but Avery wanted me to let you know as well.”
“Could I… could I talk to her?”
“I’m afraid she’s too upset right now. But thank you for being her friend. I know how highly she thinks of you, Derek. And I’m so sorry. Please tell the team good luck from both of us.”
“But—”
“I have to go. Avery needs me. Good-bye.”
The phone went dead in his hands, and he put the receiver back on its cradle. “She’s not playing Saturday,” he told his parents, who were giving him curious looks. “She’s sick. Upset stomach. Her mom said it was caused by stress.”
“Poor girl!” said Mrs. Jeter.
“Mom, will she be all right?” Derek asked.
“I’m sure she will, old man. She just needs some time to rest and recover.”
Derek was relieved to hear that, at least. But what about the team? Avery had been one of their best players for the last half of the season!