Windmill Windup by Matt Christopher Page B

for a week,
     while her mom and lover boy smooched on some secluded beach!
    Well, forget it! She wasn’t sure how she could stop it, but somehow she was going to break up their relationship. At this
     point, what did she have to lose?

8
    T he next two days were agony for Kelly. At school, she avoided her old friends, who didn’t exactly go out of their way to seek
     her out. Kelly guessed they were as embarrassed about her performance as she was.
    At home, things were even worse. Her mom and Ken, instead of talking to her, left her a note, jointly signed, telling her
     that she was going to camp for spring break, whether she wanted to or not. After Kelly thrashed around for a way out of her
     dilemma, she finally broke down and called Sue Jeffers to ask if she could spend the break with her family.
    “Um, sorry, Kel, but we’re going to Florida,” Sue informed her.
    “I could come with you!” Kelly suggested boldly.
    “Hmm. Would your mom pay for your fare and stuff?” Sue asked.
    That stopped Kelly. Maybe her mom would have paid, if Kelly hadn’t blown up at her and Ken the other night. But as things
     stood, Kelly couldn’t imagine her mom being so generous. “I could ask,” she told Sue. But she never did. When she saw her
     mom next, Kelly couldn’t get up the nerve.
    Kelly realized by now that she would have to go along with the plan and get shipped off to this loser camp, wherever it was.
     Only one thought consoled her. However bad it was, being with her mom and Ken would be even worse.
    As for the Diamondbacks, their second game was on Thursday afternoon, against last year’s champs, the Giants. Kelly was dreading
     the encounter, but she needn’t have been so down about it.
    As it turned out, the Giants were a pale shadow of their former selves. The majority of their great players had gone on to
     the eighth-grade league, and the team was now made up mostly of sixth-graders. They had one pitcher who threw windmill-style,
     but the girl was so wild that she kept walking player after player. By the time the Giants’ coach signaled for a relief pitcher,
     she had walked in three runs — and it was still only the first inning!
    The Giants scored four runs in the first offDorothy Barad. Dorothy couldn’t seem to master the art of windmill pitching, but stubbornly refused to throw slow-pitch. In
     the top of the second, the Diamondbacks loaded the bases with two walks and a lined single by Allie Warheit off the Giants’
     slow-pitch reliever.
    Kelly came up to the plate, spat on her hands, and hoisted the bat over her shoulder. This was her meat and potatoes — slow-pitch
     batting-practice pitches, right over the plate. She turned on the first one, letting out all the anger she’d built up over
     the past two days, and smacked it way, way over the left fielder’s head!
    The crowd let out a whoop, and Kelly ran for all she was worth. As she rounded third, she saw Allie at the plate, yelling,
     “Slide! Slide!” Kelly slid, and the throw came seconds too late. She’d walloped a grand-slam home run!
    The Diamondbacks kept on scoring. In the fourth inning, Kelly hit another home run. This time it was a solo shot, because
     Allie had cleared the bases ahead of her with a two-run blast. Unfortunately, the Giants kept scoring off Dorothy Barad and
     Marie del Toro, who came on to replace her in the third.
    The final score was a hair-raising 13–12, but the D’backs had held on to notch their first victory. Kelly had six RBIs and
     Allie had two — but the main thing was, Kelly had come back from her miserable first-game performance. Sooner or later, word
     would get back to her old pals on the Devil Rays, and her reputation would be somewhat restored.
    It was a huge relief, and Kelly couldn’t help feeling generous. When Allie came over to congratulate her afterward, Kelly
     gave her a big hug and invited her to Sammy’s for an ice-cream sundae.
    “You mean it? Wow — sure!” Allie said,