The Contract (5 page)

“Maria Vasquez—nurse; Claibourne Preston III—investment banker; Josh O'Hanlon—attorney; LaShonda Martin—scientist . . .”

Derek waited for his name to be called, dreading the moment and the reaction he knew would come.

“Derek Jeter—starting shortstop for the New York Yankees.” The class erupted in laughter, and Derek sank down low in his seat, staring at his desk.

“Simmer down, class,” said Ms. Wagner, and she continued reading off their names and chosen occupations until she was done.

Derek didn't dare look up. He knew lots of kids were staring at him, laughing at his cherished dream. In that moment, he held on to the fact that at least his mom and dad believed in him. What did he care what anybody else said, if they were on his side?

“Now it's time for your math test,” said the teacher, handing out test papers. “You have until ten thirty to finish and hand them in.”

“Well, Mr. Yankees Shortstop,” Gary said with a soft sniggering laugh, “I guess you're gonna knock this one out of the park, then, huh?” He waved his test in the air, chuckling to himself.

Derek set his jaw, grabbed his pencil, and went to work, determined to beat Gary on this test, no matter what!

“Okay, here we go.” The Tigers were gathered around Coach Kozlowski in a tight huddle. Their green caps with the yellow bills were tilted back, and most of the kids were practically jumping up and down with excitement to get the game going. There were twelve of them now. Mark Feinberg and Sun Lee had showed up for the team's second practice, but neither of them seemed too experienced. Sun didn't even know many of the rules of the game.

The coach cleared his throat. “Leading off, and playing center field . . . Chris Chang.”

Chris seemed happy that he was batting first, and Derek didn't blame him. Of course, Chris had asked to play either short or second, and he'd gotten neither one, but that didn't seem to bother him.

“Batting second, and playing second base . . . Derek Jeter.”

Derek's heart sank. Second base?

“Batting third, at shortstop . . . Pete Kozlowski.”

“Yessss!” said Pete, raising a clenched fist, then high-fiving every kid he could reach.

Derek turned away from the huddle and put a little distance between himself and the others. He didn't want them to see how disappointed he was.

“Batting fourth, at first base, Ryan McDonough. Fifth, and catching, Isaiah Martin . . .”

Turning toward the stands, Derek saw his father and Sharlee. They smiled at him and waved.

He waved back but couldn't manage a smile. He wished his mom were there, but she had to work till 5. She'd be there by the end of the game, but Derek wished she were there right now. He needed all the support he could get from the people who believed in him.

“Too bad, Derek,” Vijay said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You should have been the shortstop. The coach never gave you a chance.”

“I don't know,” Derek said. “Maybe he was right. Pete made better plays at short.”

“Are you kidding? He also made a million errors!”

“Come on, Vijay, we're all a team,” Derek reminded him, repeating the words his dad had said to him after that first practice. “Pete's on
our
side now. Hey, speaking of which—where are
you
playing?”

“Left out.”

“Left field?”

“No. Left
out
. I'm a substitute. Coach said he'll put me in later.”

“Oh, man. Sorry, Vijay.”

“It's okay. Everybody has to get a chance. Nine places, twelve kids. My turn to sit down.”

Derek laughed and shook his head. If Vijay could sit on the bench and cheer, who was he to complain about starting at second base instead of shortstop?

The Tigers batted first. Derek watched from the on-deck circle as the Indians' pitcher winged pitches right past little Chris. He probably would have walked if he hadn't kept swinging at pitches over his head or far off the plate.

One out, and Derek strode to the plate. He had his routine down, and he stuck with it now. He knew he had to calm down, to take a deep breath and make his heart beat a little more slowly, so that he didn't swing too hard and miss a ball he should be able to hit.

The first pitch came in, and Derek let it go by. “Strike one!” the umpire called.

“Way to look at one, Derek!” he heard his father call from the stands. “Now you've seen him!”

Derek nodded, and tapped the plate with his bat. Here came the second pitch. It was halfway to home plate when Derek realized it was coming
right at him
!

He tried to spin out of the way, but the ball plunked him square in the left arm, halfway between his elbow and shoulder.

“OW!” Derek cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground, grabbing his arm where the ball had hit it. “Owww.”

“Take your base!” the umpire said.

Derek got up and jogged down to first, fighting back tears. He didn't want to give the pitcher the satisfaction of seeing how badly he was hurting.

Standing at first, Derek tried to rub the pain out of his arm. He saw his father and Sharlee in the stands, concerned looks on their faces. His dad stood up, pointed to Derek, and mouthed, “You okay?”

Derek nodded, because even though he wasn't really okay, he was pretty sure nothing was broken and that he would be okay soon enough. His dad sat back down, patting Sharlee comfortingly on the shoulder.

Pete got into the batter's box and watched the first pitch. As soon as the ball crossed the plate, Derek took off for second base. He could hear everyone yelling, but he never looked up. He just kept on running until it was time to slide—his dad had taught him how when he was still in T-ball—and then down he went, kicking up a cloud of dirt.

“Safe!” the umpire called.

Derek looked up to see that the catcher had never even thrown the ball. Over the cheers of his teammates, he could hear his dad and Sharlee whooping it up. “Attaboy, Derek!” Mr. Jeter shouted.

He got up and dusted himself off. That was when he noticed that his arm had stopped hurting.
Nothing like a stolen base to take away the pain,
he thought with a grin.

Derek's steal of second base must have shaken the pitcher's confidence, because on the very next pitch Pete smacked a fastball way over the left fielder's head!

Derek motored easily around third and scored, while Pete, who wasn't exactly a speed demon, kept on chugging all the way around the bases. “Safe!” called the umpire as Pete slid under the catcher's tag.

All the Tigers let out a whoop, and Derek slapped Pete on the back along with the rest of them. They were teammates, after all, weren't they? Besides, the Tigers were now ahead, 2–0, with only one out, and it was still the top of the first inning!

Hey
, Derek told himself,
maybe we can compete for a championship after all.

Ryan walked and Isaiah singled, sending Ryan to third. Ernesto followed with another walk, loading the bases!

The whole team was standing in front of the bench, gripping and shaking the chain-link fence. The Tigers were already giddy with success, and it was only the first inning of the first game.

Alas, Sims popped up to second, and Elliott struck out swinging at a pitch that was nowhere near the plate. All the Tigers groaned. They'd had such a good start and gotten only two runs out of it.

Oh well
, Derek thought.
I guess two runs is better than none.
He trotted out to second base for the bottom of the first.

When he got there, he saw Pete already at shortstop, acting like he owned the position. “Focus, Derek!” he heard his father call out. Immediately, Derek snapped to attention as if he'd had an electric shock. Forgetting all about Pete, he stared in at the hitter and got into his defensive crouch, ready for action.

“Hit it here,” Derek muttered under his breath. “Hit it . . . right . . . here. . . .”

As if in answer to a prayer, the hitter whacked a sharp line drive over Derek's head. Derek leapt into the air, stretching his arm up as far as he could—and came down with the ball!

“Yeah! Attababy!” he heard Coach Kozlowski shout. “Woo-hoo! We've got ourselves a second baseman!”

Uh-oh,
Derek thought.
Did I just mess up my chances of ever playing shortstop?

The next batter hit a pop-up between third and short. Sims, who was at third, and Pete both called for it, and although it was a much easier play for Sims, Pete didn't back off. The two boys bumped into each other, and the ball dropped between them.

“I called it!” Pete yelled at Sims. “I'm the shortstop. I'm supposed to catch anything I call for!”

Taking advantage of the fact that Pete was busy yelling at Sims and paying no attention to him, the runner kept on going!

“Second base!” Derek yelled. He raced to the bag ahead of the runner, but by the time Pete picked up the ball, he had to rush the throw, and it went wide, bouncing into right field.

The runner kept on going. By the time Norman got to it in right field and threw home, it was way too late.

“Come
on
, you guys!” Pete complained, looking around at the rest of them. “Let's go!”

He said it like he was blaming the other kids for the mistakes. But it was Pete, not Sims, not Derek, not even Norman, who was to blame. What should have been an out had turned into an unearned run, all because Pete had made two errors on the play!

Luckily, Ernesto, the Tigers' pitcher, buckled down after that, striking out two of the next three hitters, and the Indians settled for just one run.

As the Tigers gathered at their bench, Derek watched to see if Coach Kozlowski would say anything to Pete about the way he'd yelled at his teammates. But the coach seemed not to have noticed his son's behavior, or if he had noticed, he had decided it wasn't worth mentioning to Pete.

Derek shook his head. If anybody needed a contract, it was Pete. If that had been Derek
yelling at his teammates, and if it had been
his
dad who was the coach?
Whoa.
Derek knew he would have gotten a real talking-to, one he wouldn't have forgotten for a long, long time.

But his dad
wasn't
the coach. And Pete's dad was. And that was the way it was going to be for the rest of the season. There wasn't a thing Derek could do to change it. He knew he would just have to find a way to deal with the cruel reality and make the best of it.

The Tigers' first two hitters grounded out, and Derek stepped up to the plate for his second at bat. He stood a little farther away from the plate this time, just in case another pitch strayed too far inside.

But the pitcher must have been thinking the same thing, because he threw outside on every pitch. Derek swung at the first one but couldn't reach it. He told himself to stay disciplined—it was what he knew his dad would have said—and refused to swing at anything that was clearly a ball.

Four pitches later he was on first with a walk.

Pete came to the plate again, taking practice swings that were so furious, Derek was afraid he would hurt himself. Pete's first-pitch swing was even harder—and he popped up meekly to the pitcher to end the inning.

Pete whacked the plate with his bat before heading back to the bench. Again, his father seemed to ignore his outburst.

Luckily, the Indians didn't appear to have a lot of great hitters. Ernesto didn't throw very fast, and he threw over the plate a lot. So while there weren't many walks, there should have been plenty of hits. But after the first inning, Ernesto held them hitless until the fourth.

But then, with two outs and the score still 2–1, Ernesto's arm seemed to get tired. He started missing the plate and walked two batters in a row. Then he grooved a pitch right over the plate, and the Indians' hitter whacked it deep to left, way over Elliott's head!

Elliott stood there, stunned, as if he didn't know what to do. Meanwhile, the center fielder, little Chris, used his speed to quickly run down the ball and throw it back in. Derek grabbed the relay and fired home just as the batter came barreling into Isaiah.

“OUT!” called the umpire as Isaiah held the ball up in his hand to show he still had it. Chris, Derek, and Isaiah had kept the third run from scoring, but both of the other runners had already come around ahead of the hitter to score on the play. The Indians were in the lead, 3–2.

Derek led off the fifth inning for the Tigers. This time he was determined to make contact, start a rally, and get his team right back into the lead.

The first pitch was over the plate, and Derek swung hard, smacking a sharp grounder to short. The shortstop was right there, but the ball was hit so hard, he couldn't field it cleanly, and Derek wound up with an infield single.

Well, it wasn't a home run, true, but at least he had his first hit of the season. And on the very next pitch he stole second base for the second time that day!

Pete proceeded to drive him in with a long triple to left to tie the game back up. Then Pete scored on a groundout by Ryan, putting the Tigers back in the lead, 4–3!

That was the way it stayed, until the Indians' last licks in the bottom of the sixth.

Derek knew that according to the rules of the Westwood Little League, every player had to play at least two innings in the field in every game. Coach Kozlowski had waited until the fifth to put in his subs, swapping Sun and Mark in as outfield replacements for Elliott and Norman.

Sun and Mark had been to only one of the team's practices. They seemed unsure of where they were supposed to be and what they were supposed to be doing out there. Derek now wished that the coach had put them in for the beginning of the game instead of the end.

As for Vijay, Derek was surprised to see Coach Kozlowski put him in at first base. Ryan was pitching now, and Ernesto had sat down along with Elliott and Norman.

The bottom of the inning started well. Ryan threw a lot harder than Ernesto, and he fanned the first batter. Two more outs, and the Tigers would notch their first victory!

But the next two hitters walked, and then the top of the Indians' order came to bat. On Ryan's second pitch, the hitter smacked a sharp grounder to Derek's left.

Derek made a neat play on it and pivoted to throw to second, where Pete had gone to cover the base. Pete took the throw for the second out of the inning, then fired to first, trying to complete the double play that would end the game . . .

Except he threw it on a bounce, and the ball hopped up and over Vijay's mitt! It bounced off the chain-link fence that protected the Indians' bench, and skittered into short right field!

Vijay quickly got to it, while Derek and all the Tigers started yelling, “Home! Home!”

Vijay threw, but his aim was off. Isaiah caught it too far from the plate to tag the runner. Now it was a tie game, and the winning run was standing on second base.

“How did you not catch that ball?” Pete yelled at Vijay, throwing his arms out wide. “You just cost us the game!”