“Why did we have to move?! ” I exclaimed as my mom and I waited for the bus to my new school to pick us up at the bus stop parking spots. “It’s much cheaper to live here than Long Island,” my mom said calmly “Plus my new job here is higher paying than back in New York” she said again. Just then the big bright yellow bus pulled up to a stop “Bye” my mom said as I cut her off by slamming the door shut and running over to the bus and stepping on I realized I was the only black kid there. But I also realized how chaotic the bus was.
As I made the last step the bus got silent because of the bus driver declaring loudly “This is Michael,Lets welcome him to Vinewood Junior High” I sighed and walked down the walkway with gruesome smirks and stares and people refusing to let me sit with them this went on until I heard a low voice say “You can sit with me if you want” and I did. Sitting there was a tall blonde kid my age (about 13) with bright blue eyes and a LA Dodgers T-shirt on just like the one l had on that day. “I’m Ben” he said “But my friends call me Benny the Rocket” “I’m Michael… as you probably heard” I said with an odd smile. e just kinda looked away for awhile.
All of the sudden he said “Where did you move from Michael? ” “Long Island” I said with an very conspicuously displeased look on my face. “New York? Wow thats a long way from California,” He added with a smirk. The rest of the hour long bus ride was silent… between us anyway the whole bus was enveloped in sounds of laughter,shouts, music, and occasional cursing. Once we made it to school it wasn’t all I thought it would be thought LA was less urban than New York… I was very very wrong about that. We pulled into the big 3 story building with bricks placed in a path to two big glass doors.
There were houses and office buildings surrounding it. I was sort of in awe about how large the rooms were. There were tall red lockers lining both sides of the walls with black combination locks on them. After about 5 minutes of looking for my locker (locker #62) I finally found it and put my stuff in got my new school supplies out and got ready for the first day of school. In 4th period Ben introduced me to Kyle Who’s nickname was “Twitch” because he would always get twitch and shaky at bat. He welcomed me to the school and told me about the tryouts for the school baseball team next Wednesday.
I gladly accepted the flyer and got home to mom where i showed her the flyer for baseball tryouts and she just said “How far away is it because you’re walking” I was elated at the fact I got to go to tryouts I’ve always loved baseball and this may help me fit in too. The days passed and finally came wednesday, time for tryouts. I got my bag and headed out the door to Ben’s house where his mom would drive us to the Junior high for tryouts. Once I got to Bens house it was a blur we were racing out to the car to make it on time. We made it to tryouts with a few minutes to spare so I got my glove and Ben and I warmed up.
The coach strutted in. He a blue coat on and a black pair of sweatpants and he sat down with a thud on a chair next to a desk with random papers on them. He had us line up and he got up and asked us our names and what positions we played and we all lined up in order of positions. Then the coach told the pitchers and catchers to come up towards him but stay in line. He told the catchers to find a pitcher (Which we did) I probably haven’t mentioned this but i’m a pitcher and a pretty good one at that. Anyway we lined up and threw the ordered pitches.
First curveballs, sliders, fastballs, and then my weakness the all elusive circle change up. I wound up ready to watch as my chance on the team would soon slip away. I threw it and amazingly it was perfect the coach even applauded my “Performance” and announced very loudly “Here’s my starter” I was elated once the drills were done we went inside and hit a few baseballs of the coach into a net in the gym. Thad made the team first practice was next monday and we had a two weeks until our first game. The rest of the month was a blur of boredom in class and baseball and a few new friends who also made the team.
Ben and Kyle made the team to. But there were also a lot of people who didn’t like me and I’m still not sure why but they would call me names. One day this guy named Vinnie came up behind me in the hallway and flipped me around just so he could punch me in the stomach. I fell down but not before I caught his leg and brought him down with me. The principal found us and pulled us into his office and assigned us both a week long detention. The whole baseball season was a blast and I was the teams star pitcher and I was the third best batter on the team with an average of 189 (Which is good at my age).
Next to Ben and Kyle that is. It seemed as if out of nowhere we were at the past the last game of the season and past all the tournament games, exept for the championship. I showed up at the field to practice a little with Kyle before the game. I was really starting to get nervous about the game, if one of us messed up we could lose the game and have worked so hard for so long to come up short the season might have gone by quickly but it wasn’t the easiest season for me or the rest of the team. We almost lost a lot and there was some tension between players.
Anyway I was already sweating even though it was about 50 degrees outside. Finally everyone showed up and the first inning started with the field light cascading down on everyone. With all eyes on me I got into stance and wound up and threw my infamous circle change (Yes it improved over the season so much it became my go to pitch) It went straight at knee level “STRIKE ONE” yelled the umpire I saw the look of awe on the batters face. Soon came my turn at bat the last inning was a shutout no runs scored not even a man on base.
I was in the hole staring at the crowd thinking that since it’s the last half of the last inning and this is our last chance to win. We were tied up 3 to 3 and we had just gotten two outs from the guy that was in front of me (Kyle) and with no body on base it was up to me to hit a homerun or Ben behind me to hit at least a double if i got on base. It was up to me to win the game for my team and my parent who were standing up at the top of the bleachers watching me… just me. It seemed as if it was all eyes on me and everyone in the crowd, the outfield, all the bases, and both dugouts had their eyes staring straight into my soul.
I stood there with my bat held up off my shoulders and feet not to far apart but still away from each other and knees slightly bent staring at the pitcher as he wound up and threw I saw the ball going straight down the center “CRACK” my bat vibrated vigirously as I tried to find the ball as I ran to first, it sprung up and flew higher and farther I rounded first not stopping to look where the ball went only hearing my coach scream “Michael! GET THERE GET THERE GET THERE! ” and I was I kept running until was rounding second and I heard the ump say “HOME RUN” and slowed a little basking in all the glory of people cheering and screaming.
The only way it could have gotten any better is if people started throwing roses off the bleachers onto the field. Thalf sprinted half strutted towards home plate and stepped on it “SAFE” yelled the ump as I ran towards the dugout looking at Ben and Kyle huge smiles. I had done it… I mean i’ve hit homers before but this one was the best feeling in the world even better than my first home run. I walked into the dugout to see Kyle and he stared at me and just “YOU DID IT… HE DID IT GUYS… WE WON!
The game ended score 4 to 31 had one the game for the team and everyone at school suddenly knew my name and seemed to think that I was awesome or something. People I had only seen once let alone talk to them were talking to me like I had been their best friend since 1st grade. Everyone was inviting me to sit at their table but I always stayed at Kyle and Ben’s table. I was glad people seemed to like me know but I didn’t really care if it’s just my 15 minutes of fame or something i’m glad i’m fitting in now. Looks like I will like it here in L. A.
