The Amazing Catch

“Dang, Jordan’s really good at catching the softball!” Jessie yells.  “Well thanks’s; catching a softball comes natural to me.”  Replies Jordan.  “Will someone teach me?”  “Sure, but my boyfriend, Dylan, should coming to pick me up as soon as we finish practice.”  “Okay.”  “Alright, come over here and bring the glove.”  As Jessie goes to grab her glove from the dugout, Jordan walks out to the grass so they could have some room.  “I put every finger inside the glove, instead of my index finger out the hole.  Everyone does it differently; just go with feels more comfortable.  Okay, now squeeze the mitt together, to make sure the glove is flexible enough to catch the softball.  Make sure you keep both eyes on the ball, completely zone everything else, including the noise, out. Wherever the ball goes, you go.  Right once you can feel the ball hit, squeeze the ball tight in the glove.  Okay, ready?”  Jordan says, rolling the softball in her hand.  “Yeah, I think so.”  Jessie replies.  Jordan takes a few steps backward, away from Jessie.  Jordan tosses the ball softly towards her.  The ball doesn’t go completely straight to Jessie, so she has to run to it.  “Wow!”  Jessie yells in astonishment, admiring the ball in her glove.  “Great!  I said it wouldn’t be that difficult to catch, as long as you know exactly how to do it.  “Want to try again?”  “Yeah, until I get it perfect!”  Jordan and Jessie play catch for about ten minutes.  “BEEP BEEP!”  “Going to be ready for the game tomorrow?”  Jessie smiles and nods, “I sure hope so, thanks.”  “No problem.” Jordan said as she was running toward her boyfriend’s car. 

                Our team has two outs and up by one.  “ANY BASE!”  My coach yells out “any base” when there is someone on each base, just in case we don’t know where to throw it.  There it goes, perfect hit straight to Jessie.  Anyone could tell that Jessie looked nervous.  The ball goes just over her head, enough that she has to jump.  Jessie does a perfect leap, her mitt flopping in the air.  The crowd goes silent.  Once Jessie’s feet hit the ground, she looks around, confused.  She looks down, opens her glove then screams, “I GOT IT!”  My whole team, even my coach, takes off running after her.  Over everyone in our team, nobody would have expected Jessie to catch the last ball.  Everyone on our team throws her up in the air.  “What an AMAZING catch! I don’t think I could have done it better myself.”  I grin at her.   “Anyone want ice cream?”  My coach yells.  We all cheer.

                Everyone on our team has played softball for years now, but Jessie.  Jessie just moved here from Minnesota.  “I’m not going to lie; I thought we were doomed when I saw the ball heading your way.”  Britney, our pitcher, says.  “Me too.”  Our third basemen, Shawnee says.  “I know that being the coach, I should have faith in everyone…but it scared me, too.”  Coach Jacobson says.  “Well that makes me glad that everyone thought we might lose once the ball came toward me!”  Jessie says, putting her hand under her cone, trying not to let her ice cream dip on the table.  “I should say sorry, but Jessie just doesn’t really know exactly what she’s doing!”  Britney says.  My team laughs.  “Can we get more?”  Shawnee asks.  “Of course, everyone can!”  Coach Jacobson tells us all.

Stuck in Neutral New Ending

Crackle… crackle…crackle…  When I woke up, my dad was asleep, his head on my chest.  As I lay there, waiting for him to awake, I start to think about why my dad didn’t kill me, he had the perfect opportunity.  Maybe I would be better off up in heaven, its not like I am doing any good down here anyway.  Or maybe, just maybe, I’m still here for a reason, a purpose.  I am kinda glad my dad decided that he wouldn’t smother me with t a pillow, like Mr. Detreux.  We still need to make some more memories, especially if they involve Ally.  My dad still has my quilted blue and white checkered pillow in his hands.  Suddenly, I feel my dad’s eyes blink a few times, trying to get them used to the bright room.  I heard him yawn, then he sat up and looked at me.  My dad took a deep breath, “I guess you want to know why I haven’t killed you yet.”  He looks at me, as if he is expecting an answer.  “I have decided that I am not sure if you are suffering as much anymore.  You even laugh during your seizure’s…Shawn, I love you, we have quite a few memories together, and I have a good career going for me.  If you are suffering and in pain, then that may sound selfish, but I can’t stop thinking about how terrible that would make me feel.  People hate Mr. Detreux because he killed his little boy, I don’t want to be hated Shawn, I just don’t know what to do.  I have nobody to talk to about this.” My dad stared at me, thinking long and hard, and “so I am going to let you live, at least for now, to see how you do.” 

               

                The sound of the door opening made my dad jump.  “Vonda?”  I heard my mom shout.   Paul comes walking into my bedroom, “What are you doing here?”  Paul says eagerly.  “I was just leaving.”  My dad replies.  “You better be!”  Paul says as he is pointing to door.  Dad turns and looks at me again, “I truly love you son.”  It’s at those moments when I really wish I could say that I love him too.

Attack of the Papers

                “Yes! I’m finally finished!” said Jessie.  “I’m not even close.” Jordan says.  Jessie and Jordan are best friends, they do everything together, since they were five. “Do  you want to come home with me after school? We can work on them.” Asked Jessie.  “Alright,” Jordan answers.

                The last 15 minutes of school are always so exciting; everyone is watching the clock with anticipation.

                When the bell finally rang, almost every student put all their supplies away, and quickly went out the door.  Jessie walked over to Jordan’s desk and waited for her to put her pencil and paper in her book bag.

                As the two girls were walking home they met with their good friend Rider. “Hey buddy!” Said Jordan excitedly.  “Hey.” Replied Rider.  The three teenagers walked silently for two blocks. “So did you get your essay finished?” asked Jessie.  “Sure did,” replied Rider.  “What was your topic on?” Jordan asked.  “Motorcycles.” Rider said.  “Oh well that’s interesting…” Jessie said.  “Yeah, well I’ll see you two later.” Rider says as he is walking up his drive way. “Bye Rider!” The two girls yelled after him.  “Oh my gosh! Rider is SOOO cute!” whispered Jordan.  “What?! Since when?”  “Really Jessie? I’ve always like him.” “Well you guys should totally date!”  “Yeah right! I don’t think he even likes me like that…” “I’ll ask him!” “No it’ll make things weird!” “Fine, but you two would be super cute, just saying…” Jordan rolled her eyes.

                Jessie throws her book bag down on her bedroom floor, walks over to her CD player and turns it on.  “Okay, let’s get to work.”  Moans Jessie.  Jordan pulls out her folder that her barley started essay was in.  “Hmmm…” Jordan mumbles as she flips through the pages. “What is it Jordan?”  “I could have sworn it was in this folder somewhere…” “Maybe you put it in your binder.” “I’ve already checked.”  Replied Jordan.  “Huh…?”  Jordan looks over at Jessie, thinking she is talking to her.  Jessie was digging through the mountains of papers just over flowing from her backpack. Jessie was never the tidiest person in the world. “Jordan will you come help me?  I can’t seem to find mine either…” The two girls search for the missing paper for what seems to be hours.  “I guess we’ll have to start over.”  Jordan says.  “But I was already finished!”

                Finally the two girls finish their new essays.  “Gosh, time flies when you’re having fun!” Says Jordan sarcastically while putting her paper in her folder, this time paying attention to the exact place she puts it. Jessie just rolls her eyes and replied, “Oh man was I having a blast!”  They both giggle for a few seconds.  “Well, I better get going…we don’t want my mom freaking out again, do we?”  Jordan asks with a goofy look on her face.  “Not really. That is differently not the highlight of my day.”  Do you want me to walk you home?” Nah, it’s alright. Bye!”

                “Gosh, it’s freezing!” Yells Rider from across the aisle.  “Can this bus go any faster?” Jessie asks. Rider and Jordan laugh.

                “Did everyone finish their assignment?” Asks Mrs. Tanner.  “Yeah, except once I got home, I couldn’t find it.  I had to write a whole new one.” Jessie says.  “That’s weird, I couldn’t fine mine either!” yells Rider.  “Hey me either!” The majority of the class yells.  “Hmm… I’m sure you guys must’ve misplaced them.”  Mrs. Tanner tries to reassure her students.  “Okay, Pass them forward.”  Mrs. Tanner orders her students.  She collects everyone’s papers and says, “Is this some kind of joke?”  “What are you talking about, Mrs. Tanner?”  Asks little Sally from the back.  “Everyone handed me blank papers!”  “All the sudden the papers went flying out of her hand and start attacking everyone, Mrs. Tanner mainly.  “AHHH! What’s going on?!”  Yells the students.  “Everyone out the door, come on, HURRY!”  Screams Mrs. Tanner over all the screams and cries coming from her students.

                “What was that all about?”  Jordan asks Mrs. Tanner as she was cleaning up her now bloody and cut up face.  “I’m not sure, but I will find out who did this.”  Once the busses got there everyone just took off toward them.  “I’ll see you later.”  Jordan tells Jessie.  “Okay.” Jessie replies.

                “Mom, mom, MOM!”  Jordan yells right as she opens the front door.  “What is it Jordan?!”  Her mom yells as she comes running down the stairs.  “You would not believe what happened today!  It was so scary!”  Jordan tells her mom completely out of breath.  “Oh, you almost gave me a heart attack!  Wait, what happened to your face? Gosh what happened to your arms?!  Jordan what is going on?!”  Jordan’s mother starts examining her draughts body for any more cuts and scratches and scrapes that she should know about.  “Well, we were sitting in class, and everyone handed their papers up to Mrs. Tanner, and for some odd reason the papers were blank...”  Jordan tells her mom the whole story.  “Really?! What kind of a sick joke is that?!”  Complains her mom. “I’m not sure, but I’m kind of scared to go to school tomorrow.”  “You are NOT going!”

                That night Jordan was laying in her bed, and she heard rustling, getting louder and louder.  She jumps up and runs as fast as she can down the hall to her mother’s room.  She keeps running until she was practically on top of her mom in her bed.  “What is with you Jordan?”  Moans her mom. “The papers are attacking again!”  Jordan’s mom jumped up and grabbed her daughter.  “What do we do mom?!”  “Run outside!”  Jordan down the stairs grabs ahold of the door knob, but her mom was not behind her.  She looks up the stairs and sees her mom running down them and hurries and opens the door. Her mom had set fire to her house.

Attack of the Papers

My Favorite Scar