Sweet Spot Read Online Free Page B

the K watching me. It’s time to shine. Except, by “shine,” I mean “get walked to first.” Which is fine. Everyone cheers, I make small talk with the Tigers first baseman, and get ready to steal second. Carlos is up next and hits a hell of a sac-fly to center and I book it to third base. There’s a double play, and everyone is screaming, my heart is racing, and my knee is throbbing. Fuck my knee, I’ve got a run to score.
    Coach Bart is third base coach tonight, and a notorious stick-in-the-mud. He likes to play it safe. I lead off and Coach Bart is already waving at me in my periphery. He wants me to keep my ass there, even though we’re currently tied with two outs, and I have a promise to keep.
    The ball goes soaring into left field, bounces once, and is caught. Coach Bart yells at me to get back to base, but fuck this. I’ve gotta do this for Ally H. I made a promise. I wink at Coach and go for it, running faster than I ever have in my life.
    My knee is screaming, the crowd is screaming, I’m pretty sure I just heard Coach Bart utter some pretty nasty things about my mother, but I slide into home seconds before the catcher tags me. Safe .
    We win the game and the crowd goes crazy. My teammates rush me on the sidelines as I hold out three fingers.

Three
    C oach is fucking pissed . He’s so pissed he isn’t even looking at me. He’s just sitting there at his desk, stewing . I mean, I won the game, right? Let’s overlook the part where I completely disregarded Coach Bart’s instruction and took things into my own hands.
    Without me, we probably would have gone into extra innings and nobody wants that. The fans think they want that, but all it does is fuck up pitching rotations and make coaches antsy. Extra innings are the worst. I saved us a lot of headache. And also committed insubordination.
    I got carried away.
    “I thought we had an understanding, Fife.” Coach finally manages. He won’t look at me, which is for the best. He’s known to get laser-eyed from time to time. “Your ass is mine.”
    “I won the game, Coach.” I try to keep my voice even. “I saw the opening and I took it.”
    “You pointedly ignored Coach Bart.” He opens a container of chew.
    “Coach Bart is conservative. He doesn’t like to take risks.”
    “He’s the coach, not you.” The chew gets tucked into his jaw and I stare at the bulge of tobacco. It’s mesmerizing and comforting all at once. I’ve spent years of my life watching the rhythmic motions of Coach’s mouth chew and spit.
    “We would have gone into extra innings if I didn’t make a break for it.”
    “What you did was bullheaded and stupid.” Yes, but…
    “But it won the game.”
    “Don’t argue with me,” Coach snaps. I bow my head. He’s right, I know. I can’t exactly explain to him the real reasons for why I did what I did, especially since they all involve his daughter, so I keep my mouth shut. “You acted like an arrogant fool.”
    “But I didn’t break my oath.” I slam my mouth shut. Whoops, shouldn’t have said that. I watch Coach’s shoulders tense.
    “You’re right. You kept your nose clean, but completely disregarded your coaching staff. This will not happen again.”
    What I want to do is yell about how this is bullshit. I won the game. We shouldn’t be having this conversation. If I hadn’t been arrested the night before, we wouldn’t. It’s totally unfair, but Coach tries to keep us on a tight leash to prevent stupid shit, like what I did, from happening.
    Really, this is all my fault and I know it. I didn’t technically break my oath, but I acted out for a girl. She probably didn’t even watch the game, being too busy scooping out ice cream for fans. Maybe, as the coach’s daughter, she doesn’t even really care about the game. But I did my part, and that’s what matters the most. I kept a promise.
    “You’re on hospital duty tomorrow.” Coach finally says and I have to keep my face blank from groaning.