“May I ask why you cut me and then changed your mind?”
I may have overstepped my bounds here. He shook his head at me before answering.
“I could tell that I upset you when I announced that freshmen wouldn’t be playing varsity. Like I said before, I’ve been doing this a lot of years. I only have so much time to work with the freshmen. If I have a guy that’s potentially going to be a problem, it’s better to cut him now, regardless of talent. This conversation is a good example of that. Do you think I have time to do this with every freshman that’s upset?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“I can tell you the answer is ‘no.’”
With that, our conversation was over. It was clear he wasn’t going to change his mind. If I thought about it, why would he? He’d been doing this a certain way for a number of years, with success.
“Varsity, gather around. Everyone else can take off for the day,” Moose announced.
Shit. I may have just blown it for everyone. The rest of us headed to the locker room. Before we went in, Eve stopped us.
“Hang on, guys. Let’s talk about this,” she said.
Everyone was grumbling.
“What’s the point? We won’t get a chance to play varsity ball. It looks like we’re not going to get much coaching, either. At least I can still go out for track,” Mike said.
“I agree. I could be kicking back, relaxing the rest of the school year,” Jim offered.
“What do you think, David?” Eve asked.
“I’m pissed. I want to play baseball. I just talked to Moose, and his focus is on getting the varsity ready for their first game. You know, guys, I can see where that needs to take priority. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t play ball. We just need to figure out how to do it. Do any of you guys have any ideas?” I asked.
“Dad says they’re short on coaches. They used to have another volunteer coach that worked with the JV. He retired from the school district last year,” Mike said, giving us some insight.
“So what you’re saying is that we need a coach. Do they have to work for the school district?” Tim asked.
“I don’t know. Do you guys have any ideas?” Mike asked
“How about your dad?” Eve asked me.
“No, he’s taking care of my mom right now. Does anyone know of someone that would have the time?” I asked.
Jeff raised his hand. Eve smacked him in the back of the head because we weren’t in class.
“Oh, sorry. How about my neighbor, Mr. Haskins? He was a minor league coach for like thirty years. He’s always bitching about being retired.”
“Jeff, Mike, Eve and Jim, come with me. We need to talk to Coach Hope.”
We had to talk to someone that knew the rules and would listen to us.
COACH HOPE WANTED TO make sure we weren’t just causing trouble. No coach wants to interfere with another’s program. Mike explained about the change and lack of help. Eve laid out Jeff’s suggestion. Coach reluctantly agreed to talk to Moose. He didn’t want us to do it because it wouldn’t look right. His plan was to present it as a way to free up Moose’s time. Until Mr. Haskins was approved, he offered to be our interim coach. They had to make sure Mr. Haskins wasn’t a felon or sexual predator. I guess the school board was only worried about adult deviates. None of the kids would pass that test!
Wednesday March 5
WHOSE BRIGHT IDEA WAS it to have Coach Hope appointed our interim JV baseball coach? For the first half of practice, he had us head to the track to do ‘ladder interval training,’ also called ‘steps.’ That’s where you sprint for a hundred yards and then walk a hundred yards. Then you ‘step up the ladder’ and sprint two hundred yards and walk one hundred. The final ladder is to run four hundred, and then walk one hundred. Then you do it again.
When Cassidy was done abusing the after-school fitness group, she came to work with us. Coach had her do a thirty minutes of hell routine. It was obvious who’d been showing up to workouts and who hadn’t. But even those who’d been going were dead at the end of practice.
Moose stopped by and saw us all lying in the grass, trying to figure out if we were going to live or not. He just looked at Coach Hope and shook his head.
Today five guys quit. It didn’t seem to faze Coach Hope. He had us gather around.
“Good workout today. Coach Haskins will be starting on Monday. We talked and we want to carry about fifteen players. We’re at twenty-five; no, wait, five quit today. We’re at twenty. We’ll need four outfielders, five infielders, two catchers, three pitchers and a closer. Of course, if Mike pitches and plays second base, then we have room for one more player. My goal is to get five of you to quit in the next two days.
“If all of you survive the next two days, we will play with all twenty. So the only players that’ll be cut are the ones that quit. I expect to see all of you tomorrow morning lifting. If you haven’t been a part of the program, come early and the training staff will help you get started.
“Any questions?”
“If I’m having cramps ... for, you know ... can I pass on all the running?” Eve asked Coach.
The look on Coach Hope’s face was priceless. Girls were something he wasn’t used to having to deal with. Cassidy had been staying with relatives until they moved here. I thought Cassidy was going to pee her pants, watching her dad squirm.
“Yeah, what about that coach? Can I get a pass?” Mike asked.
Coach Hope threw his hat at Mike and stomped off the field mumbling something about not being paid enough for this shit. I lifted Eve onto my shoulders.
“Our champion, Eve Holliday!” I yelled and I ran her in a circle around the guys.
She gave them high fives.
“Damn, Dawson, where do you get all that energy?” Jeff complained.
“Me next!” Cassidy yelled.
I threw her over my shoulder and ran her into the boys locker room. The varsity team was in the showers. I don’t know who sounded more like a screaming little girl, Magic or Cassidy, when she saw him naked. I turned around and ran out with her.
“I’m scarred for life,” she wailed.
All the guys mooned her as we left. Eve and Cassidy were rolling on the ground when Moose came out of the locker room and glared at us. We just laughed harder.
“Come on, Eve, be a team player and show us your moon,” Jeff teased her.
She started to and we all acted like we’d gone blind.
“Screw you, you bunch of ass-hats,” Eve groused.
Cassidy was feeling frisky, and she mooned us. We all got really interested, which caused Jim to threaten to kick all our butts. I suggested that turnabout was fair play and she should go track down Magic. I thought the dog pile was uncalled for.
Baseball was going to be fun this year.
Chapter 19 – Keeping Secrets
Thursday March 6
I WOKE THIS MORNING to find an email from Lincoln High. I opened it up and it was my progress report. Alan had worked on the database and this was the first weekly report. It showed your grades for the year and when you joined. It also gave us a group average on how everyone was doing.
The group was up a little over a half letter-grade on average with the study groups’ help. No one was doing worse. Next it showed my personal stats: height, weight, bench press, etc. I could see progress in my personal results. The group as a whole was doing great.
The only people that could see all the results were the coaches and of course, Alan. The report was also sent to our parents. So of course, when I went down for breakfast, Angie was reading mine. I just shook my head. There was also a link showing a shell for your recruiting page. Lily had filled mine out. She had for hobbies ‘Making out with supermodels,’ and then she attached links to different files like the video of me and Adrienne in Chicago.