The Colonial Kid--Chapter 4

"Brooke, put more back into your throws, they're wimping out before they reach third." Coach Hart shouted at Brooke. After unsuccessfully hitting any home runs during batting practice, Coach decided to shove Brooke in the back corner of the outfield. She never played there. 1

Brooke was really mad today. She was steaming at Will, then Coach put her in some other position then first or third base? Ugh. Well, at least Taylor was going to pitch in the third inning. He could barely contain himself when Coach told him. Now he was excitedly hopping up and down at shortstop. 2

Finally, the game began. To her prediction, no balls came her way in the first two innings, so she had the chance to day dream. She began thinking about Will, where he had come from, and trying to come up with possible scenarios that actually made sense. Nothing did.3

In the third inning, Taylor got up to the pitcher's mound. He threw eight balls in a row, and Coach's frown became more apparent after every pitch. Finally, Taylor took a moment to collect himself and threw an unbelievable fast ball. Brooke watched in utter amazement as the ball reached the catcher, literally in a second. 4

Taylor seemed extremely pleased with himself, and Coach even stood up from his spot on the bench. Coach never stood up in a game, unless he was really happy with something.5

Talyor managed to throw a few more strikes, but the catcher continually bobbled it and let two guys get home. Coach sat down again. 6

"Rivers! Get Shrew out of the catchers gear and put it on yourself!"7

Brooke glanced up from her corner of the outfield and put back on her glove, which she had thrown several feet away. She sprinted to Harry Shrew who was in the catcher's gear and squeezed herself into it. Harry Shrew was a small kid. 8

Taylor grinned and threw a few more strikes, ending the inning. Brooke was pleased with her performance, but still had the boiling anger deep down inside. That anger then revived itself when she got up to bat and missed an easy pitch that came right to her. Then, she was so preoccpied with the previous pitch, she missed a second easy pitch. Finally, she just gave up and swung wildly at the last pitch. She retreated to the bench and avoided Coach's glare. 9

Brooke's favortie part of the game was the "three stikes, you're out" part at the end of the sixth inning. She had already packed up her bat and glove and began to walk home. She didn't want to go to the ice cream celebration with the team, she was too exhausted and mad. Unexpectantly, Taylor caught up to her as she just got off of school grounds. 10

"What's up with you, Brooke? You normally lead the pack to the ice cream after every game. what's wrong?"11

Brooke pondered for a moment. "I don't know. I feel tired to start with, but I'm just mad for no reason. I think it has to do with Will, but I'm not sure. Something about him is just so frustrating and irritating, but also it's fascinating in a wierd way. I want to know what his life was like, you know, before we met him. But it's almost like a secret to him. Like something he doesn't want to, or doesn't feel like he needs to share with us; like we should already know. But we don't, and that's what makes me so angry."12

"You're right, I sort of feel the same way about him, but it's also kind of funny. He's a good kid, but I think he's just confused for some reason." Taylor noticed that Brooke was deep in thought, but he was peased that she didn't look quite so devastated anymore. He hated when his best friend was sad.13

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Taylor and Brooke ran down to the woods. "Will!" They called. They swatted the bushes with their bats. "Will, are you here?!"14

They came to the opening of the clearing, and looked around. Will wasn't there. 15

"Will!" Brooke called, "I'm sorry!"16

"Will?" Taylor yelled, "You there?"17

Taylor turned to Brooke, "Where do you think he went?"18

"I don't-," she stopped, mid-sentence. 19

She was looking down at something. They were tracks in the snow. Yes, snow. On one of the hottest days of the year. The walls were crisp and straight, so she could tell they were recent. The tracks looked like those of a cat, but bigger. A cougar, or something. 20

"I wonder what happened," Brooke thought aloud.21

"Maybe he got mauled by a wolf," Taylor chuckled.22

Brooke slapped him on the shoulder.23

"What?"24

"Taylor, if you can't tell, I'm a little upset right now." 25

"Why would you be?" Taylor asked, concerned.26

"Because, this is obviously all my fault. He hates me now, he ran away, he doesn't want to see me ever again." 27

"Brooke, I could tell he wasn't mad at you when you yelled. He was seriously confused, that's all." Taylor comforted.28

"Maybe you're right," Brooke sighed, but she had her doubts, "or maybe he was mauled by a wolf."29

"I highly doubt it," Taylor observed, "the wolf would wither leave some sort of resemblence of blood, or be running. He wasn't doing either."30

"Fine," Brooke sighed, "we can always come look tomorrow, right?"31

"Right," Taylor agreed.