Hit & Miss by Derek Jeter

parents before you’re able to go over to someone’s house.”
    â€œPlus, you should never get into a car without us knowing the person driving,” his dad added. “ And you need to always check with us before changing your plans.”
    â€œWhat would have happened if we’d needed to reach you in an emergency? We would have had absolutely no idea how to find you.”
    â€œWe need to know where you are,” his dad chimed in, “and you need to be where you say you’re going to be. That was a rule long before you even had a contract.”
    â€œHere’s another one you’ve broken, old man,” said Derek’s mom, looking over the contract. “ ‘Be a Role Model for Sharlee.’ ”
    â€œThat’s right,” Mr. Jeter said. “We don’t want her taking after you and running off without telling us where she’s going.”
    Suddenly Derek could see just how wrong he’d been. He should have told Dave right away that his family rules didn’t permit surprise visits to new people’s houses—not without his parents scoping out the lay of the land first. He should have thought about his contract before he went and broke it.
    â€œI guess I didn’t think about it that way,” he admitted. “I thought I was making a really good new friend. I guess I just didn’t see that I was also breaking my contract. I’m so sorry.”
    â€œThere you go,” his dad said, putting a hand on Derek’s shoulder. “That’s my boy.”
    â€œAnd we’re glad you made a new friend,” said his mom, “just not happy with the way you did it.”
    â€œSo . . . what do I do now?” Derek asked them. “I know it was wrong, but I can’t exactly take it back.”
    â€œDerek,” said his mom, “I know you’ve kept faithfully to your contract up to now, and it’s been almost a year—”
    â€œ More than a year,” Derek corrected her.
    â€œBut there are consequences for bad behavior,” his dad finished. “I know you were planning on spending the nightat Vijay’s this weekend, but you’ve just lost that privilege.”
    Derek looked down and nodded.
    â€œAnd if you break your contract again,” his mom cautioned, “we’ll have to cancel those Yankees-Tigers tickets.”
    â€œNo! Not that!” Derek begged.
    â€œMaybe you’d better study this some more,” his dad said, handing him the contract to look at. “You can give it back to me after you’ve memorized it.”
    â€œ And after you’ve finished your homework,” his mom said.
    Derek nodded. He did have a lot of homework and studying to do. And he was going to go over his contract, too. No way he wanted to lose those Yankees-Tigers tickets!
    Even more important, he never wanted to disappoint his mom and dad again.

Chapter Seven
PLAY BALL!
    Derek had never felt this excited to start a new season. His Red Sox were on the field, tossing the ball around before their first game. Across the diamond Derek could see the Tigers, the team he’d been on last year—and also today’s opponent.
    Derek had been waiting forever since last season had ended. Since then he’d had a total of two team practices, a couple of visits to the batting cages, and a few days of pickup games at the Hill.
    Today was a perfect day to start the new season. The sun was shining, the weather was warm, and the field wasn’t too wet. Derek put his hands together with the rest of the Red Sox for a team cheer, then went to grab abat. His team was up first, and he was batting third.
    â€œGo, Derek!” he heard his mom shout, echoed a second later by Sharlee and his dad. He waved to them in the bleachers, and they waved back, clapping and whooping it up.
    Cubby Katz came to the plate as all the Red Sox cheered. He stared calmly as the first pitch sailed