Windmill Windup by Matt Christopher Read Free Book Online Page A

uncomfortable silence fell. Now that they were done talking about their parents, there seemed to be nothing
     to say. Kelly couldn’t look at him, except when he wasn’t looking at her. And he seemed to look away every time she raised
     her eyes to his. It was beginning to feel weird.
    Kelly knew that the reason she was uncomfortable was that she thought Ryan was cute. But sheassumed his discomfort was because …well, because here he was, having to sit around with some dorky, shy seventh-grader.
    “So …you play ball, huh?” she said, and immediately felt stupid.
    “Yeah …you?” he asked, obviously not wanting to talk about himself.
    “Uh …yeah …softball, actually,” Kelly said. Why, oh why, was everything out of her mouth sounding so dumb?
    “Oh. Wow,” Ryan said, nodding slowly.
    This was torture. Kelly couldn’t stand it anymore. Luckily, at that moment the grown-ups came back downstairs, and pretty
     soon, after a few quick pleasantries, Ken drove off with Ryan.
    “So,” her mom said when they were alone again. “Where did you go off to?”
    “To Sue’s,” Kelly said dully.
    “Did you and Ryan get acquainted?”
    “Mom!” Kelly said in an annoyed tone. “What are you, the Spanish Inquisition? Stop asking me so many questions!” She stormed
     upstairs — and all the way to her room, she could feel her mom’s inquiring eyes following her.

7
    T he Diamondbacks’ next practice was almost as bad as the first, but not quite. Some of the sixth-graders on the team were actually
     good — Allie most of all, of course. Kelly thought that a year from now the Diamondbacks might actually have a team. Of course,
     she’d be on to the next league by then, so it wouldn’t benefit her any.
    Coach Beigelman spent most of his time trying to find someone who could pitch windmill. Nobody actually knew how, including
     him, so it was difficult. For most of batting practice, it was just Marie del Toro, a total klutz, soft-tossing to the hitters.
    Kelly, Allie, and even some of the girls who weren’t very good were smacking the ball all over the place. “Hey, we’ve got
     a hitting powerhouse here!” Coach Beigelman exclaimed enthusiastically.But Kelly knew that once they started facing real pitching the Diamondbacks’ bats were going to go cold in a hurry.
    When the day of their first game arrived, Kelly could not keep down her sense of dread. This was all so unreal! As she waved
     to all her friends on the other team, it felt like the old days in T-ball, when one team was short of players and the other
     team would lend them some for the day. Except in those cases, you would always give the other team your worst players. Kelly
     was one of the Devil Rays’ best, or rather, ex-best.
    She went over to greet her pals. They all seemed happy enough to see her, but Kelly could tell they were concentrating on
     getting ready for the game. The Rays were such a together team, they weren’t about to let themselves get distracted over a
     reunion with Kelly.
    “Good luck today,” Sue was kind enough to say to her. “You guys are gonna need it. No offense.”
    Kelly shrugged and sighed sadly. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she said. “It’s such a nightmare.”
    She swallowed hard so she wouldn’t start crying. She gave Sue a quick hug before running back to the other bench, where the
     Diamondbacks were allstaring at her like she was a traitor or something for talking with the enemy.
    “They’re friends of mine, okay?” Kelly said to their accusing faces.
    “Okay, okay, team!” Coach Beigelman said, clapping his hands to get their attention. “I want you all to play hard today and
     do your best, and may the best team win. But remember, it’s how you play the game that counts!”
    “Oh, brother,” Kelly said under her breath. “Spare us, please.”
    Coach Beigelman gave out the starting lineup. Kelly was batting cleanup, of course, with Allie just ahead of her in the third
     spot.