Grandma let me sleep in on Sunday morning. The game started at three and Coach wanted us at his house by one for a team meeting. Daniel was waiting outside when I pulled up to Coach’s house ten minutes early. I’d hoped he would be early too. He looked as miserable as I felt. I smiled as he rushed over to me, but that didn’t change the look on his face.
“What did she say to you?” he demanded.
“It’s okay –”
“No, it’s not.” He ran his hands through his hair and spun in a circle. “God, I can’t believe …”
“Stop, Daniel. Just please stop.” Once this game was over, then things could go back to normal. We could get back together. “Your mom’s just being overprotective. After today, it’s not going to matter much. The media will be after the Senator and I’ll only be a pawn in the game. Besides, we aren’t …” I couldn’t say it. “It won’t affect you anymore.”
He turned on his heel and stormed into Coach’s house. I followed, leaving my bodyguards waiting in the SUV. Coach had few words to say to us before we left for the field. He wanted to get there early to show dominance. He wanted us there as a team. He didn’t talk about the Cyclones at all and we weren’t given a chance to say anything either.
Grandma and Charles arrived at the field at the same time as the rest of us. Wilson stopped and let her get in the middle of my security circle. Grandma reached out and squeezed my shoulder. When I glanced back, she was holding Charles’ hand.
Dad held center court of the media circus, talking about the state of our country’s economic crisis. Once the team was within eyesight, Robert came over to me and led me to the Senator’s side.
“Vicky, some of the reporters would like you to make a statement,” he said, beaming at me out of reach of the microphones.
“Are you kidding me? We’re so not having this conversation.” I couldn’t believe him. After everything that was said, after finally understanding what was wrong, he asked me to make a statement to the press?
His face fell. Only for a second. “One last time, Vicky. That’s all I’m asking.”
“No.” I tossed my bag into the dugout and turned to face him. “I’m not doing this for you or for your campaign. If you want to talk to the reporters, fine. Leave me out of it. I’m tired of living in your world. I’m tired of doing everything you ask of me when you can’t do the one thing I ask you to do.
“You put me in the beauty pageants. You entered me into academic bowls. You enrolled me in Xavier. You wanted me to be at the best, remember? You never once asked me if I wanted any of it. God, I thought you understood. I thought you finally got it. Mom may have been behind it, but you never stopped any of this from happening. You did it for you and for your campaigns. Not for me.” I paused. “Never for me.”
“Victoria –”
“Even my name was all about you. Just … leave me alone. All I wanted was to play baseball.” I stared at my father. “All I wanted was to be normal.”
I shook my head and turned away from him. Daniel stood in the dugout, pretending to put his gear on. I knew he’d been listening. I grabbed my bag and fought back the tears.
“Vic, what the hell is going on?” Daniel asked just loud enough for me to hear.
I shook my head. “Your parents aren’t the only ones making life tough, Daniel. Just leave it at that.”
Adam slapped my back and offered to warm me up.
When I trotted on the field, Reggie shouted, “That’s right, Vic. Get angry and take it out on the Cyclones!”
“Right on,” Calvin cheered.
The rest of the guys started in on me. I couldn’t hold back the laughter. Their attitude was infectious. We were still on the field when the other team showed up.
“Hey, Vicky,” Colby Bender shouted from their dugout. He ran out to greet me. “We’re playing your team?”
“Haven’t been talking to Erik, have you?” I fake laughed. Erik knew what team I was on.
He chuckled. “No. You know I hate Perday’s guts. Oh hey, I heard about your dad though. Ready to be First Daughter?”
The thought made me shiver in a bad way. “No, not at all.”
He looked back at his dugout. “Well, good luck, Vicky. I’ll see you after the game.”
I watched him jog back to his team.
“You know that guy?” T.C. asked.
“Yep, I know all of them.”
“Are you kidding?” Ollie’s face showed what I thought was disgust.
“No. Why?”
“Inside information,” Reggie whispered and then he shouted, “Dugout, guys!”
They pushed me into the dugout and pointed to the bench for me to sit. Adam sat on one side, Daniel on the other.
“Tell us everything you know.”
I smiled. I meant to tell them that I knew the guys on the Cyclones earlier, but Coach went on and on about team unity. It slipped my mind.
“Okay, give me their lineup.”
I ran through everything I could remember about each one of the guys, not leaving out a single detail. The one thing that surprised me most was that Erik wasn’t pitching. I wanted to ask Colby but didn’t risk it. We were better off without Erik on the mound.
We were the away team so I led off the game. When I stepped into the batter’s box, Dylan gave me a small smile. Last year he was in most of my classes and we shared notes. He was pretty cool. I wondered if Andrea would give him a second chance. He asked her out at the end of the year and she shot him down. Now I knew why.
If I thought Dylan had any qualms about pitching to me, the first strike on the outside corner proved me wrong. I ended up hitting a soft grounder to Jake at second for the easy put out.
Adam started pitching the bottom of the first like it was a continuation of his no hitter. He struck out the first two batters and got the third to hit a grounder to T.C. The second and third innings went by in much the same way. Neither team could manage so much as a single.
Top of the fourth and I was at the plate again. Dylan had no pattern that I could see or had spotted anyway. Instincts took over. I looked for everything and anything that he might throw. Dylan didn’t disappoint. He threw me a ball in, a ball out, and then a strike up in the zone. With the count at two and one, I hoped he’d just try to get me to swing. I focused on his fastball.
And got it, right down the middle.
I turned on it, hitting a line drive between third and short.
Brendan stood at first. “Dylan’s going to be pissed you hit that.”
“He shouldn’t have left it in the middle of the plate.”
He laughed. “He won’t do that again.”
“Probably not.”
I took a short lead off the bag. Dylan tried to pick me off. I figured he would. Boys get that revenge mentality. Ollie walked on four straight balls. Dylan’s frustration was clear on his face and in his pitches. I took a huge lead at second.
But I didn’t need it.
Dylan made another mistake to Jayden on the first pitch. Jayden crushed the ball over the wall in dead center. We were up three to nothing.
We scored another run making it four to nothing in the seventh. Unfortunately, Adam’s one hitter turned into a mess in the bottom of the frame. They scored two runs off him. He remained calm enough to get us out of the inning without further damage. He threw his glove into the dirt when he entered the dugout and Coach told him that his day was over. Walter and Gil warmed up in the bullpen.
Gil melted in the bottom of the ninth, giving up two runs to tie the game. The tenth was scoreless.
I was set to lead off the top of the eleventh. The Cyclones had a new pitcher, Erik Perday. He’d arrived just before the first pitch and sat alone on the bench for the last ten innings. I took a deep breath to calm down. Erik’s hatred of me was well known in both dugouts. I doubted he’d risk his team a championship for revenge.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
The first pitch flew inside at a neck breaking speed. There
was nothing I could do but turn my back to it. The ball slammed into my ribs in the same spot I’d taken a pitch the very first game of the season. Only ten times harder. I went down. My bat hit my helmet as I fell. I couldn’t get my arms up to brace myself before my head collided with the hard infield dirt. The helmet flew off and it felt like a million bees were stinging me on every inch of my body at once.
“Oh no, Vicky,” Jason, their catcher, said. He said something else, but he sounded like he was fading away.
Then I blacked out.
“Vic.” A thick hand slapped my left cheek. “Wake up, kid. C’mon. Vic, open ‘em eyes.”
I did as the gruff voice commanded. Coach Strauss knelt beside me. I laid on my right side.
“We’ll get an ambulance on the way, kid,” he growled.
“I don’t need an ambulance.” I tried to sit up on my own. My head spun, and the bees were back. “Crap.”
“Yeah, I think you do. You got a broken rib or two this time.”
“What the hell just happened?” my father bellowed as he rushed onto the field. “Vicky, are you okay?”
“Shut up, Senator,” I moaned as I tried again to sit up. It was hard to breath.
“Yeah, Senator, keep your trap shut for a change,” Coach snapped. He winked at me and added in a softer tone, “Now, if I help you to the bench, you think you can make it?”
I nodded and then winced. It felt like a dozen little guys were hammering the inside of my skull and jackhammering in my back. Coach helped me to my feet. The low rumble of pain increased to a full symphony. I wanted to scream, but my shallow breaths wouldn’t allow it. I leaned more on Coach than my father who flanked my right and held me steady by the elbow. Only then I realized that the rest of the team surrounded us.
“Freddie, take first,” Coach yelled. “We got a game to win. Ollie, Jay … make ‘em pay.”
The guys cheered, and I whispered my own “woohoo” as I sat on the bench.
“Your mom called an ambulance,” Daniel said as he knelt in front of me. “She’s waiting for the EMTs by the parking lot. Do you want an aspirin?”
I shook my head no, which flamed in agony. Maybe I did need one. “How long was I out for?”
“Not that long, maybe a minute. Enough to miss the fun stuff.” He smiled, but the concern never left his eyes.
“Fun stuff?” I shifted to my left. Big mistake. Stars erupted in my vision.
“Don’t move, Vic. Wait for the ambulance.”
“Now you tell me.” I heard the wail of sirens entering the park. “I don’t need an ambulance.”
“Victoria,” my father began. I’d totally forgotten he was there. “You need to see a doctor. You can barely breathe.”
“They’re here,” Daniel said and stood to look toward the lot.
“They can wait. I want to see how this ends,” I motioned to the field with my right hand. That side hurt but considerably less so than my left.
“Vicky, you need –” the Senator started.
“Just listen to me for a change,” I snapped. “Please.”
Daniel sat beside me as we watched the game resume. I wanted to read more into this than there was. He wouldn’t sit by me like this if he didn’t care.
The EMTs were heading our way with a stretcher. I could already see tomorrow’s paper with a black and white of me lying on that thing and a caption that read “Senator Hudson’s Daughter Gravely Injured.”
Ollie smacked a base hit off Mark Law. Erik was nowhere to be seen. Dad stood and clapped then left the dugout to greet the EMTs.
“Distract me, Daniel.” I touched his leg and felt that familiar shock that I missed. “Tell me about this fun stuff I missed.”
“After that douchebag hit you, Jayden and Adam took off toward the mound. Erik ran like a pussy.” Daniel glanced around before adding, “He’s lucky they didn’t get to him.”
“They shouldn’t have done that. They could’ve gotten booted.”
“He shouldn’t have thrown at you. He did it on purpose, Vic. When you went down, he smiled.”
“But they didn’t need to –”
“Yeah, they did. You take out a member of our team, we take you out.” His hand hovered over mine, but he didn’t touch me. “He did manage to take himself out of the game though. The ump tossed him before you ate dirt.”
I nodded and returned my attention back to the field. Jayden was locked in. The look on his face was almost serene. No way Mark was going to pitch to him. That would be stupid.
“Vicky, the EMTs are here,” my father said.
They left the stretcher at the end of the dugout. A young guy with brown spiked hair sat down beside me. “Let’s have a look.”
“Shhh. Wait a minute, okay? I’m fine as long as I don’t move.” I didn’t want to miss the end of the game. We’d worked so hard to get here.
“Victoria …” my father scolded.
“Back off, Senator. I’m staying until the end of this game.” I didn’t look at him to see his expression. It could’ve been shock or he could’ve been pissed. At that moment I didn’t care what he or anyone else thought. I was going to finish this. Sort of.
“Fine,” the EMT said, “Let me take your vitals first.” He strapped the blood pressure thingy around my arm and started pumping the air. “You don’t have to move for this.” Under his breath, he added, “But you need to get on the gurney.”
“In a minute,” I snapped, looking back at him. “The game will be over on this pitch. Just watch.”
He glanced toward the field. The stands were quiet. The dugouts were quiet. The game would be won or lost here, even with another half inning to play. We all knew it was up to Jayden now. He stood in the box, calm and relaxed.
Mark, however, was like a pig in an oven. He spun the ball in his right hand and ignored the runners. Freddie took off to third as Mark threw the pitch. It happened in slow motion, like these things always do. The ball floated toward the plate, hovering over the middle. Jayden’s head was down, his eye on the prize. Then his bat connected with a loud thwack.
The cheers in the stands and in our dugout drowned out anything the EMT said. I tried to stand up, but my body collapsed from the pain into the arms of the EMT. My father grabbed my hand. I looked at him for the first time since I had gotten hit.
The Senator was scared.
Somehow this calmed me down.
“Okay, take me to your gurney,” I said, gritting my teeth.
They led me to the stretcher at the end of the bench and lifted me. I crumbled face first into the tiny, antiseptic-smelling pillow. The scissors were cold as they cut up the back of my jersey. There wasn’t a collective gasp like the first time I’d been hit. The guys were watching Jayden cross home plate. They screamed and jumped and celebrated.
The gurney was pretty comfortable. The EMTs poked and prodded around my back and the pain was too much to bear. I passed out again, listening to the roar of the crowd.
I woke up in the emergency room. And I was feeling no pain. My head was groggy. My vision blurred, but I felt lightweight and fluffy. The bright lights of the room blinded me. Blurry vision and bright lights do not make it easy for a girl to recover.
So I asked a stupid question that I already knew the answer to, “Where am I?”
“You’re at the hospital, honey,” Mom said. She leaned over me and ran her hand through my dirty hair.
“Did we win?” I smacked my mouth together. I don’t remember ever being this thirsty.
“We don’t know for sure,” she said. “But I think so.”
“Where’s the Senator?”
“In the waiting room. A lot of reporters followed the ambulance.”
“Great, just fu –”
“Watch your language, young lady,” she barked without any bite to it.
“Sorry.” My eyes finally focused, and I could see that she’d been crying. “How long have I been out?”
“A couple of hours.”
“Really
?” I tried to sit up but couldn’t feel my arms or my legs. “Is anyone else here?”
She nodded. “Your grandmother and Charles are in the cafeteria.”
“And anyone else?” I started to slip. My mind drifted. For a moment I’d forgotten what I’d asked. “Well?”
“No, honey,” she said. “No one else.”
A small part of me wanted to cry. The non-drugged up part to be more specific.
“Vicky, I am so sorry if I …” she started crying and sniffling at the same time. She blew her nose and composed herself. “I never meant to hurt you. Your father’s political aspirations were all for you. Did you know that?” She waited for me to reply, but I didn’t. “He decided that he wanted to make the world a better place only after you were born. In college, he’d leaned toward politics, but once he started working with your grandfather, he was happy with being a lawyer. Then you came along. That’s when he decided to run for office. He wanted the world to be better for you than the one he grew up in. And we named you ‘Victoria’ because you’re our greatest achievement.” Mom shook her head and wiped her eyes. “Neither one of us ever meant to bring you pain.”
She squeezed my hand and kissed my forehead. I didn’t know what to say to her. My head grew foggy after a few minutes. I lost consciousness again and dreamed of the game. Of being the one that hit that homerun.
When I woke for the second time, the room was dark.
“Mom?” My throat burned as it cracked.
“She went to the cafeteria for coffee, Vicky,” Grandma said. She sat in a chair to my left, just within my peripheral vision.
“Tell me what’s going on, please,” I pleaded. I felt out of the loop with myself and everything around me. Probably because my brain was pretty loopy.
“You have three broken ribs. One of them was dangerously close to puncturing your lung. The doctor prescribed a powerful pain medication. That’s what has kept you unconscious. Drink some water.” She leaned forward, offering me a cup with a straw. I sipped as she continued, “Your parents insisted you be kept overnight. The doctors thought you might be able to go home, but your father didn’t want to leave room for doubt.”
Extra Innings Page 21