High and Inside by Jeff Rud Page A

the softball game the other day.”
    Matt blushed. He was glad nobody could see him.
    â€œShe’s all right,” Matt said. “I mean, she’s pretty cool. We could hang out. If she wants to, that is.”
    â€œAwesome,” Jake said. “Let me talk to Marcia and I’ll set it up. Okay?”
    â€œAll right,” Matt replied. “Later.”
    As Matt hung up, he felt a strange mix of nerves and excitement.
    The next morning, only Phil was waiting under the oak tree on Anderson Crescent. He and Matt hung around for a couple of minutes to see if Jake would show up. He didn’t. “We’d better go or we’ll be late,” Phil said, eyeing his watch.
    They walked the rest of the way to school together. By the time they arrived at South Side, the bell was about to ring. Matt strolled down the hallway to his locker, which was just outside Room 107, where they took morning advisory.
    He was pulling out his books for the first few classes of the day when he heard a voice behind him. “Hi, Matt.” He turned around to see Andrea standing there. She smiled.
    â€œJake said you guys are going to the dance on Friday,” Andrea said matter-of-factly. “So, are we all going to hang out there?”
    â€œI guess so,” Matt stammered, feeling his throat tighten and his voice rise slightly. “I mean, yeah, if that’s good with you.”
    â€œOkay,” Andrea replied. She turned around and headed into class without another word. That was weird, Matt thought.
    As he entered class, he noticed Andrea talking to two or three other girls, including Marcia Evans. They were smiling and whispering. They all looked at him while he hurriedly found his desk.
    The second bell rang and Miss Dawson began her advisory session. Every morning she would use the twenty-minute period to answer questions students had about middle school. But she always began the session with a two- or three-minute talk that carried a theme. Today’s theme was “Making Responsible Choices.” Matt barely heard a word she said. All he kept thinking was that he had just agreed to a date. He was going to his first school dance and he was taking a girl. Well, maybe not taking her, but meeting her there and hanging out together. What would Phil and Amar say? What about the guys on the team? What would he wear? It might have been the first time in his life that he had thought much at all about what he was going to wear.

chapter eight
    As Matt headed into the dugout, he looked up into the stands behind the third-base line. There was his mom, sitting beside Mrs. Piancato and Phil’s grandmother. She had made it to the game after all.
    Once on the bench, he waited for Coach Stephens to put the lineup card on the fence. Coach never told anybody except the pitcher and catcher who was playing where until the lineup card went up. That way, everybody warmed up as if he was starting. With his mom in the stands, Matt said a silent prayer, wishing his name would be on that list. But when Coach Stephens hung the lineup card, Kevin Archibald’s name was written in at second base. Matt would be starting the game on the bench.
    â€œHere you go.” Charlie handed Matt the clipboard with the game sheet. He was going to be keeping stats again. Once again, Matt bristled. He wasn’t in a South Side uniform just so he could be a manager.
    The Manning Minutemen did not have a good team this year and were no match for the Stingers. That much was obvious from the first at-bat, when South Side third baseman Howard Berger ripped a pitch into right field and it rolled all the way to the fence. By the time the Manning fielder had reached the ball, Berger was already on third.
    Next up was Phil, who walked on just four pitches. That brought Jake to the plate. With two balls and no strikes, Jake hammered the next pitch to deep center field. Howard and Phil scored easily, and Jake was standing up at second