Extra Innings

by Stevens, Lynn

The third batter hit a hard-line drive to my left. I dove and caught it to end the inning. My first at bat came moments later and I hit a soft grounder back to the pitcher for the first out.

  Ollie smacked a hot fastball down the right field line for a double. The pitcher walked Jayden intentionally. Smart move, but Daniel brought Ollie home with a sacrifice fly.

  The rest of the game went like that. Ollie owned their pitching. Jayden was walked at almost every bat. The rest of the guys brought the win home. My bat was quiet, and my swing was off. It didn’t matter. We won five to nothing and were in the semis.

  My parents came over to congratulate us. The reporters followed them like sharks looking for a snack. I could’ve helped my father out here. If I wanted. His advisors kept the media away as he approached me. Mom smiled behind him, but it was all fake. I wondered, not for the first time that summer, if she was ever sincere.

  “Victoria, we need to talk,” he whispered through a gritted grin. “The way you acted –”

  I hugged him, faking a smile of my own. “The way I acted? You can’t let anything be mine, can you?”

  “I really think we need to talk about this.” He pushed me away and held me at arm’s length. “And about your relationship with that boy,” he said, beaming at me like I’d just won MVP at the World Series.

  “Leave Daniel alone,” I said. “You can add him to the list of things you’ve taken from me.”

  Reggie came up beside me with his hand in the air. I high-fived him and turned to fade into the team.

  TOP OF THE 10TH

  When the security detail dropped me off at Grandma’s, there was an Escalade in the driveway. I almost asked them to take me to Chez Hudson instead. I almost called Daniel. Of course, that would’ve been a bad idea. I almost called Andrea to come get me. There were so many things I thought about almost doing that I didn’t see Grandma before she grabbed my arm and pulled me into her one car garage.

  Then I almost peed my pants.

  “Why are they here?” I asked.

  “I think you know why. The question is, what are you going to do about it?” She put her hand on my shoulder and turned me to face her. “Vicky, you need to tell them everything and you need to do it calmly. Your father’s confused. Your mother’s upset. They seem to think this is stuff Daniel’s put in your head.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but she clamped her hand over it. I muttered, “Not fair.”

  “Listen to me. You have held this inside for so long that they don’t see that there is a problem.” She held up her finger to stop me from protesting again. “Make them see it, Vicky. Don’t yell. Don’t scream. Just talk to them.”

  I looked at the street and kicked the loose rocks. She was right. I started this on the field. Now I had to finish it. “Fine.”

  The walk into the house took a lifetime. When I got inside, I felt thirty years older. My parents waited for me in the living room. I peeked in and then continued to the kitchen. Grandma and I had all our in-depth heart-to-heart conversations in there. It seemed like the perfect place for this one too.

  The coffee pot was full of Mom’s French Roast and the aroma gave me strength. I poured a mug. When I turned around, my parents were sitting at the table while Grandma leaned against the doorway.

  “We need to discuss your outburst today,” my father said. He was in a gray golf shirt. I don’t remember the last time I had seen him in anything other than a tie.

  “Fine.” I sipped the coffee, burning my tongue and not caring.

  “Victoria, your father and I –”

  “I have nothing to say to you, Mother,” I said, forcing the calm into my voice. “You’re a liar.”

  They stared at me. Mom felt behind her for a chair and sat down. I never talked back. Never. Even when I wanted to, one look from my father would shut me down. Neither one of them knew what to think.

  “And you’re a racist.” I shook my head and took another sip of coffee, wishing I’d added sugar and creamer. The cup shook as I sat it down.

  “How dare –” she whispered.

  “Me? How dare me?” I pointed at her emphasizing each word. “‘Just look at him,’ you said. What were you talking about? Was his hair too long? His nose a little off center? Nope, you were talking about the fact that he’s Korean!”

  Neither one of them said a word. The Senator stared at my mother for a moment. And it hit me. He was looking to her for her guidance.

  “How did Wakefield know about the team?” I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter.

  Mom’s face went ashen. She didn’t answer.

  “He’s not a sports reporter. He doesn’t write about politics.” I smacked my palm on my forehead. “God, I’m such an idiot. Wakefield is a society columnist. You called him, Mother. You did this to me.” I’d never seen it before this night. My life wasn’t screwed up because of him. It was all her.

  “I –”

  “Just admit it, Mom,” I said, cross-examining her with the skill of my father.

  “Did you call him?” the Senator asked with a disdain I’d only seen from him after eating bad shrimp.

  She glanced between us, panic on her face.

  “Why did you …” I choked on the words. The tears welled up behind my eyes, blurring the vision of my father. It was time to put everything on the table. “Why do you keep using me for your campaigns?”

  His head snapped around. “Using you? I’ve never used you, Vicky.”

  “Yes, you have. Did you forget everything I said earlier? What you called my outburst? How can you not …” I sobbed, choking on the tears as I tried to stop them from falling.

  He stood and walked over to me, wrapping his arms around me. “Vicky, I never meant to hurt you. If I did….”

  I felt like I was five again, crying over the hamster that died. He held me, let me get it all out. He never told me to stop or get over it. Everything I thought I knew about my father, I learned from my mother. I felt more defeated than ever.

  Mom sat alone at the table. After I cried myself out, he leaned against the counter beside me. We waited for Mom to say something. She wrung her hands together and stared at the floor.

  “Meredith, did you call –” the Senator began with a tone he usually reserved for Capitol Hill.

  “Yes,” she murmured. She cleared her throat and straightened her back. “Yes, I called Tim Wakefield. This was the perfect opportunity, Warren. You’re always concerned about young mothers and swing votes that I thought this was the chance to show them who you really are. A father that supports his daughter as she plays baseball … Warren, can’t you see –”

  “No, I can’t.” He shook his head.

  “It was always you, wasn’t it?” I asked her. She didn’t need to answer. I knew that it had been her all along. She used me to further my father’s career by planting the seeds in his head.

  “Why would you do this to me?” I blubbered.

  Mom started bawling. I mean full on bawling. “It was for you, Warren.”

  “Me?” He walked over and knelt in front of her. “What do you mean?”

  “All of it. I knew you could go far. I wanted to help. Then Victoria kept presenting these … opportunities to put you front and center.” She buried her head in her hands. Dad rubbed her arms. “Vicky, I didn’t … I never …”

  Everything I ever believed had changed in ten minutes. I didn’t know what to think about either one of them. Exhaustion overtook me. All I wanted was to curl up in my room and sleep until September.

  I rolled my eyes at Mom’s overdramatic tears. “We are so done here.”

  “Not yet,” the Senator said over his shoulder. “Meredith, we’ll discuss this later.” He patted Mom on the knee and stood to face me. “Will you be bothered if we come to your games? I enjoyed watching you play.”

  “Really? No cameras? No press?” I was totally ready for more fighting. This caught me off guard. I wasn’t sure about this idea, so I shrugged.

  “I c
an’t …” he began.

  Grandma cleared her throat. She hadn’t moved from the doorway. I waited for her to say something, but she didn’t.

  “Yes, Mother,” he said as helped Mom to her feet.

  “Victoria has … expressed an interest in staying here longer than her baseball season.” She stared my father down, challenging him to object. “Given the circumstances, it would be a good idea.”

  “How so?” Mom asked. She sounded more bitter than curious.

  “Well, you’ll need to get on the official campaign trail sooner rather than later. Vicky’s absence can be explained by her caring for her old decrepit grandmother. Here, she will be supervised.” She glanced at me then added, “And she likes it here.”

  My parents looked at one another, but my father answered, “We’ll think about it.”

  We said our goodbyes and Grandma ushered them out of the house. I sat at the table and waited for the analysis to start. Grandma joined me right after she closed the front door and turned the lock.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  I continued swirling the mug of cold coffee around. “I guess.” I spun the mug away from me and looked at her. “Just shell shocked. All this time I blamed him.”

  “Warren isn’t entirely innocent. He didn’t have to listen to Meredith.”

  “Yeah, I know.” I shrugged and shook it off as it settled in my heart. “It doesn’t matter now.”

  She took my mug and stood up. “Get some sleep, Vicky. We can talk more in the morning.”

  I knew she was right. I couldn’t focus on anything anyway. But it was over.

  After a hot shower, I collapsed into bed. As I waited for sleep to come, I thought about my father. He’d heard me. He’d understood why I was upset. Finally, it really was over.

  BOTTOM OF THE 10TH

  The tournament continued the next day as we faced off against a team called the Racers. When we got to the field, the reporters were like a swarm of wasps. My parents arrived a few moments later and took the sting away from me. The Senator held court, but he waved the reporters away a few minutes before the game started. I was surprised and impressed.

  Coach started Freddie over me. I didn’t know if it was because of my poor performance at the plate the day before or just because Coach wanted Freddie in the lineup. The crowd booed Freddie as he took his place at third. I cheered him on, getting a nervous thank-you nod in return.

  Unfortunately for Freddie, it didn’t take long for Coach to send me in. He blew an easy grounder in the third which cost us a run. Bottom of the fourth, I took my place. The first batter winked at me. I rolled my eyes and exaggerated it enough that he would see it. It irritated him, and I knew he’d be gunning for me. Boys are idiots.

  He smashed a hard line drive down the third base line that went foul. I dove anyway with my hand outstretched. My face slammed into the dirt and sent my hat flying. But I raised my glove with the ball firmly in the webbing.

  Taught him not to wink at me.

  Of course, cockiness on my part didn’t stop my knee from opening up or my elbow from getting scratched. It was getting to the point that I couldn’t play without bleeding. I bent over to wipe the sweat and dirt from my eyes and left a trail of blood on my jersey. Apparently, there was a gash on my cheek as well. Coach jogged out from the dugout.

  “You alrigh’, Hudson?” he quipped. He lifted my chin to assess the damage.

  I shoved his hand away. “Yeah, I’m fine. Get off the field.”

  He started back to the dugout and shouted over his shoulder, “Stop gettin’ hurt.”

  Walter waited for me to catch my breath before throwing the next pitch.

  The other team had it in for me that inning. The next batter hit a hard grounder that took an odd bounce and I had to backhand it while running to my left. I made the throw, beating the guy out by half a step. Two outs.

  The third batter shot a base hit up the middle. Walter walked the next guy. Now they had runners at first and second.

  Walter’s struggles continued. He threw two more balls. With two outs, I hung closer to the bag. The guy at second had taken a bigger lead with each pitch. Walter wasn’t looking him back. He took his biggest lead on the third pitch, a called strike. Daniel glanced my way. We were thinking the same thing. On the fourth pitch, a ball on the inside corner, the runner took off.

  Daniel threw the ball from his knees as he fell back behind the batter. I straddled the bag and caught the perfect throw at my ankles. The runner slid to the outside of the bag, into my glove. His foot caught my right ankle after I tagged him. I fell forward but held onto the ball.

  Walter and T.C. helped me back onto my feet. My ankle throbbed, but I ignored it. The guys smacked my back and high fived me. Daniel sat by me on the bench and got out the first aid kit. Without a word, he cleaned the scratch on my cheek with antiseptic. I could feel the prying eyes on us.

  “You realize that you’re going to be in the paper tomorrow?” I asked as he smoothed ointment over the spot then put a bandage on it.

  He didn’t smile. “Now let me see the elbow.”

  I held it out to him. He cleaned my elbow and started to bandage it when I pulled away.

  “Daniel…”

  “Vic, you’re on deck,” Coach shouted. “Cho, you done doctorin’ her?”

  Daniel nodded. “Yep, all better.”

  I grabbed my bat and took my spot in the on-deck circle. It didn’t make any sense. I shook off the thoughts clouding my brain and focused on the game. T.C. struck out swinging on a nasty curveball on the outside corner.

  “Watch the outside,” he said as he slumped back to the dugout.

  “Go get ‘em, Vic,” Calvin shouted as I made my way to the plate.

  A slew of other people cheered as well. I tuned them out. It was something I’d become very accustomed to lately.

  First pitch was down and in. So far down it hit my foot before I could move out of the way. The pitcher looked pissed as I trotted to first.

  “Wasn’t intentional,” the first baseman said.

  I grinned. “Didn’t think it was.”

  Calvin moved me to second with a long fly ball into left. I waited for Coach to give me the sign. The guy that knocked me on my ass in the last inning was also playing third. I wanted to take him out. Coach signaled for me to steal. On the third pitch, I took off.

  There wasn’t even a throw. I doubt they expected me to run. I was glad to get third, but I really wanted that guy to eat dirt.

  Reggie stood in the batter’s box with a nasty sneer on his face. If I’d been facing him, I would’ve thought he would swing for the fence. He surprised them with a soft single over the first baseman. I trotted home, tying the game one to one.

  We stayed tied until the eighth inning. Their pitcher made two mistakes during the game. First, he hit me. Second, he left a ball in the middle of the plate and Jayden smashed it over the fence, breaking the tie.

  We won by that lone run.

  Daniel touched my elbow in the dugout. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, great. Why?”

  “Just checking.” He backed away without breaking eye contact.

  I wanted to reach out to him, but he dumped me. He made that decision. He couldn’t handle the spotlight. I didn’t blame him in a way, but he was the reason we weren’t together. Was he changing his mind?

  “WooHoo,” Adam shouted in my ear, throwing his arms over our shoulders. “Boys and girl, we are in the finals.” Adam squeezed me hard enough that I couldn’t breathe. My security detail moved in to separate us. “Party time tonight.”

  An hour later, we took over Hansen’s. We moved to the second floor to get us out of the way of the regular crowd. They were packed and I wondered how many reporters were in the mix. Robert came in before we were forced upstairs. I brought him with me and let Wilson guard the stairs. He talked with Reggie’s mom and Calvin’s dad. Daniel’s parents stood in a corner alone, watching their son. I felt his mother’s eye
s on me the entire time.

  “Vic, may I have a word?” Mrs. Cho asked me as I stuffed a piece of cheese in my mouth.

  “Um, yeah. I mean sure.” I wasn’t sure.

  We moved into an unoccupied corner. Daniel’s eyes widened when he saw me alone with his mother, but he didn’t make any effort to stop this conversation from happening.

  “My husband and I were very upset about the article regarding your relationship with our son,” she said. I started to defend myself, but she waved her hand to stop me. “Personally, I don’t want to know how involved you are with him. Some things are not for a parent to know. But I thought you might want to understand why we’ve asked Daniel to stop seeing you.”

  What? They told Daniel to… it wasn’t his idea! Still, he didn’t have to go along with it. I waited for an explanation, afraid of what might fly out of my mouth. Shaking my head, I finally said, “I don’t understand. Not at all.”

  She smiled at me like I should know. “Your life is so much different than ours –”

  “So?” I interrupted as my irritation rose.

  “Please, let me finish.” She paused. When I didn’t say anything, she continued, “Your parents hold onto different values than we do. Your family is in the news –”

  I opened my mouth, but she cut me off before I could say anything.

  “Yes, I know you didn’t ask for this. But, in many ways, you did whether you realize it or not.” She grasped both of my hands and shook them. “I know that you and Daniel care about each other deeply, but you have to see that he could be hurt by all of this. He’s my only son. We just want to protect him.”

  Hope swelled in my chest. Things could go back to normal. Back to the way they were before the media, before the Senator. “What about after this is over? After the election?”

  She smiled as if it hurt to do so. “Will it ever really be over, Vic?”

  I couldn’t answer that.

  TOP OF THE 11TH

  I knew I was in trouble the minute I found out what team we’d be playing for the championship game. The Cyclones was made up of boys from Hillside. I went to school with half of them and knew them all.