Center Field by Robert Lipsyte Read Free Book Online

was going to cry.
    â€œI bet it was Tigerbitch’s idea to make Mike work for them,” said Ryan. “To keep him away from twirlers.”
    Lori relaxed and laughed but Tori kept glaring at Andy.
    â€œIt was Cody’s idea,” said Andy. “Everything he does isdesigned to keep us off balance and retain his totalitarian control of the school.”
    â€œ The Chocolate War ,” said Lori. “I read that last year.”
    â€œIf it’s in a novel,” said Andy, sneering, “it must be true.”
    â€œYou should read more,” said Lori. “It helps you understand relationships.”
    â€œAndy doesn’t need to understand relationships because he doesn’t have any,” said Ryan.
    Mike was trying to think of a way to get the conversation back to Kat when Tori said, “Can we go now?”
    â€œThe twin has spoken,” said Ryan, rising.
    Lori untangled herself from Mike and helped Tori straighten up the room.
    I’ll bail out by complaining about my ankle, thought Mike, and then I’ll feel angry at myself for lying. But I’ll explode if I have to be with them much longer.
    He could predict what would happen next. Andy, Ryan, and Tori would head off to Nearmont. Lori would stay but she wouldn’t make a fuss when he said he was in pain and wanted to get to sleep. She’d be disappointed, which would make him feel bad, but she’d say she was in the middle of a good book to make him feel better. She’d wait to be sure her sister and the guys were gone before she went home. She wouldn’t want them to think she was getting kicked out, too.
    He knew he’d be glad to be alone, but he’d be lonely,too. He could take a Vicodin for the pain in his ankle or a shot of Captain Morgan for the pain in his head. Never both, a deadly combination. How about neither? Suck it up.
    What’s wrong with me? Why do I treat Lori like this? Because I can? Never get away with being like this with Tigerbitch.

ELEVEN
    Coach Cody pulled him out of his last class of the day, a study hall for jocks, and walked him toward the front offices. “Talk to me. Saturday. Zack Berger.”
    â€œWe took computers to the senior center in Bergen Falls, brought them back.”
    â€œWhat were they computing?”
    â€œI think they were teaching them to send emails and pictures.”
    â€œThink? What were you doing?”
    â€œI wasn’t paying much attention.” Thinking about center field. He wondered if he should ask about that.
    â€œGot to stay in the now, wherever you are,” said Cody. He put a hand on Mike’s shoulder. “A lot of intangibles go into how I set my roster, you know what I mean?”
    â€œNo,” said Mike. He looked Coach in the eye, but broke contact first.
    â€œThere are a lot of ways to help the team,” said Coach.“Stay awake next week. I want to know exactly what they’re up to. Go get ready for practice.”
    Â 
    By the time Mike dressed and ran out to the field, Coach Cody and his assistant coaches were running positioning drills. They would be repeating them all season but never as intensely as now. Coach always said that fatigue lost games and fundamentals won them. Maybe he’d read Billy’s book, too. The basic drills taught you what to do and how to do it while the Ranger Runs made sure you had the stamina in the late innings to concentrate and execute.
    Today they were drilling outfielder positions on balls hit to infielders. It was routine on most plays, backing up the infielder in front of you. Follow the ball. It would become more complicated soon, Mike knew, depending on the score of the game, how many outs, how many runners on base. He loved that part of baseball, the thinking and remembering part, the math and science of it, as much as the pure athletics of running, catching, throwing, and hitting. He twisted his fist in the oiled pocket of his glove.
    Oscar was