by A. I. Newton
“Watch him now,” Roxy said to Zeke.
“He’s going to try to steal second.”
The next batter stepped up to the
plate. Dylan took a few steps off of
first. The moment the pitcher started
to throw the pitch, Dylan took off for
second base.
“There he goes!” Harris shouted.
The catcher threw the ball to the
second baseman. Dylan slid into the
base.
“Safe!” the umpire shouted.
The crowd roared.
“He did it!” Roxy cried. “He really
is the best!”
“I read that Dylan practices stealing
more than a hundred times a day,
every day,” Harris’s dad said.
The next player singled and Dylan
scored from second base.
Zeke smiled and looked around at
the cheering crowd. “This is really
fun,” he said.
The Knights won the game and
Dylan had an all-around great day:
hitting, fielding, and stealing bases.
“I have a surprise for you guys,”
Harris’s dad said. “How would you
kids like to meet Dylan Williams?”
“Really?!” Roxy asked excitedly.
“Really,” said Harris’s dad. “One
of my business associates is friendly
with the owner of the Knights. He set
it up so we can meet Dylan. Come on!”
“I can’t believe I’m going to meet
Dylan Williams!” Roxy said as the
group made their way down to the
team office.
“Not bad for your first game, huh,
Zeke?” Harris said.
Zeke smiled and nodded.
They arrived at the team office
where Dylan Williams was waiting. He
was still wearing his dirty uniform.
“Nice to meet you kids,” Dylan said,
shaking each of their hands.
“We all play together on our local
youth league team, the Chargers,”
Harris said.
“That’s great, what positions do you
play?” Dylan asked.
“I’m a catcher,” Harris said. “Zeke
is our pitcher.”
“And I’m the shortstop, like you!”
Roxy said nervously.
Dylan gave a friendly laugh.
“You certainly carry yourself like
a shortstop!”
Roxy smiled
and blushed.
“So, how’s
your team
doing?” Dylan
asked.
“We’re having a pretty good season,”
Harris said. “We have a big game
coming up against our rivals, the
Ramblers, next week.”
“Do you have any advice for young
players?” Roxy asked. Harris expected
Dylan to give her a few fielding or
hitting or maybe baserunning tips.
“The best advice I can give you is
to stay true to the sport. Never take
shortcuts to win. Practice your skills
and do the best you can and you’ll be
a winner no matter what the score is.”
Harris and Zeke looked at each
other in surprise.
“Thanks so much, Dylan,” said
Roxy, beaming.
Dylan held up his hand and gave
each of them a high five and an
autographed baseball.
On the way to the car, Zeke pulled
Harris aside.
“I’m sorry,” Zeke said. “I’ve been
thinking about what Dylan said. I realize
that even though using my powers
is natural to me, it does give me an
unfair advantage. I can see why it was
cheating. And you’re right, I need to be
more careful with using my powers.”
“You’re going to be a good
ballplayer . . . just by working hard,”
Harris said.
“I will work on my skills,” Zeke
said. “But I’m nervous about our big
game.”
“Only one
thing to do,”
Harris said.
“Let’s go
practice!”
FOR EACH OF THE NEXT FEW DAYS,
Harris and Zeke practiced for hours.
Zeke was now throwing more strikes.
And when hitting, Zeke learned to be
patient and time his swings.
Harris threw a pitch, and Zeke
swung and missed. On the very next
pitch however, he hit the ball hard. It
flew over Harris’s head.
“You’re getting better!” Harris said.
“Practice, practice, practice!” Zeke
said, smiling.
The day of the big game against the
Ramblers finally came. Zeke pitched
well. But without using his powers,
he gave up three runs. At the plate,
he struck out his first time up, but he
did manage to hit a few hard foul balls
that just missed landing in the field.
In the bottom of the final inning,
the Chargers started to rally back.
With two outs and a runner on second,
Roxy came to bat. She smacked the
ball to right field, which scored the
Chargers’ first run.
“Nice hit, Roxy!” Zeke shouted from
the bench.
Harris came up next. He also put
the ball in play, scoring Roxy. The
Chargers were now trailing 3–2. With
Harris on second, they were just one
hit away from tying the game.
Zeke came up to bat.
“Come on, Zeke! You got this!” Roxy
shouted from the bench.
“Remember what we practiced!”
Harris yelled from second base.
Zeke nodded, then stepped in to
face the pitcher.
Zeke swung and missed at the
first pitch. When the next one came,
he drew back the bat, but swung and
missed again.
The Chargers were now one strike
away from losing.
Zeke looked out at Harris, who gave
him a thumbs-up sign. Then he turned
to face the pitcher.
Zeke swung at the next pitch.
BOOM!
He hit the ball hard and Harris
started running as fast as he could.
But the centerfielder tracked down
the ball and caught it, so Zeke was
out. The ball game was over and the
Chargers had lost.
Everyone on the team was
disappointed—everyone except Zeke,
who trotted back to the bench with a
huge smile on his face.
“What are you so happy about?”
asked one dejected teammate.
“I hit the ball in play!” Zeke said.
“And I did it all on my own!”
The teammate looked at him
strangely, then walked away.
Harris patted Zeke on the back. He
was happy, too.
“Good job,” said the coach. “Now,
who’s ready for a pizza party!”
“When can we practice next?”
Zeke asked Harris, who was thrilled
that Zeke wanted to keep improving
his baseball skills and that they were
good friends again.
Harris laughed. “Right afte
r we get
some pizza!”
Read on for a sneak peek at the sixth
book in the Alien Next Door series!
ZEKE WALKED INTO JEFFERSON
Elementary School. Since his arrival
on Earth from the planet Tragas a
few months ago, he had started to
feel more and more comfortable with
Earth customs with each new day. At
first, everything on this new planet
seemed strange to him. Now, even
something that was scary at first, like
walking into school, was no big deal.
Except for today.
When Zeke entered the building this
February morning, he was shocked by
what he saw. The walls were covered
with bright red and shiny paper hearts.
Curly pink ribbons dangled from the
ceiling.
Zeke saw pictures of babies with
wings soaring through the sky
shooting arrows.
I haven’t met any human babies
yet, Zeke thought. Do they really have
wings?
Signs hung everywhere saying: “Be
My Valentine!”, “I ♥ you!”, “It’s heart
not to love you!”, “Be my pal-intine!”
Zeke was confused. Normally,
the school hallways were filled
with posters and signs about school
plays, sports competitions against
other schools, or class projects. But
this? This seemed unusual, even for
humans.
Zeke stopped a boy who was
hurrying to his first class.
“Um, excuse me, but why is all this
stuff up on the walls?” he asked.
The boy shook his head, rolled his
eyes, and kept walking. Looking back
over his shoulder he said, “What
planet are you from, man?”
“Trag—” Zeke started to answer
automatically, but caught himself in time.
No one but his best friend Harris Walker
knew that Zeke was really an alien.
Then the boy stopped and added,
“Valentine’s Day is next week. What
else would it be?”
“I . . . don’t . . . know?” Zeke replied
as the boy disappeared down the hall.
“And what’s Valentine’s Day?”
At lunchtime, Zeke sat with Harris
as he usually did. He was eager to
figure out what all these strange
decorations were about.
“I have a question,” Zeke said.
“What is Valentine’s Day?”
“Ah, I guess you don’t have this
holiday on Tragas,” Harris said, being
sure to keep his voice low to protect
his friend’s secret.
“No, we don’t,” Zeke admitted.
“Valentine’s Day is a holiday when
you let the people that you like know
that you care about them,” Harris
explained. “You can give them a card,
or candy, a gift, or something shaped
like a heart.”
“Now I’m even more confused,”
said Zeke. “What does the organ that
pumps blood through the body have
to do with liking someone?”
Harris smiled. “It’s just a symbol.
On Earth, the heart is the place where
you feel an emotion, like love. Don’t
you have any similar holiday like that
on Tragas?”
“Well, we have Hole-tania Day,”
said Zeke. “That’s when each being
on Tragas digs a hole and fills it with
pieces of furniture they no longer
want. Then they invite everyone they
love over to see it.”
“Um...okay,” said Harris, a little
confused now himself. “Don’t worry,
Zeke. It’s one of those things that
might be easier to just experience
than to explain. You’ll get the hang of
Valentine’s Day!”
Journey to some magical places, rock out, and
find your inner superhero with these other
chapter book series from Little Bee Books!
A. I. NEWTON always wanted to travel into space,
visit another planet, and meet an alien. When that didn’t
work out, he decided to do the next best thing—write stories
about aliens! The Alien Next Door series gives him a chance to
imagine what it’s like to hang out with an alien. And you can
do the same—unless you’re lucky enough to live next door to
a real-life alien!
ANJAN SARKAR graduated from Manchester
Metropolitan University with a degree in illustration. He
worked as an illustrator and graphic designer before becoming
a freelancer, where he now gets to work on all sorts of different
illustration projects! He lives in Sheffield, England.
anjansarkar.co.uk
LOOK FOR
MORE BOOKS
IN THE ALIEN
NEXT DOOR
SERIES!
littlebeebooks.com
bonnierpublishingusa.com