Page 1 of Sometimes You Fall

Prologue

Grady

Senior Year of High School

“Good luck today, Grady!” one of the JV players shouts at me as he shuffles down the hallway past the lockers.

“Thanks.” I turn back to my open locker, shoot a text off to my mom about what time my game starts, then grab my math book and secure the lock on my locker before heading to class. Nerves run through me, the kind that usually fuel my focus to win our games, but today’s game is different. Today’s game could determine my future.

A few more kids offer their good luck wishes as I amble down the hall, and even the teachers standing by their doors chime in as I pass by. Over the past three years, Carrington Cove High School has had a winning baseball program, and much of that has to do with my performance on the pitching mound. So today’s game is just as much about me as it is about the school.

Settling into my desk in my math class, I flip open my textbook to the section we’ve been working on, cleaning some of the grease left under my fingernails from working at Carrington Cove AutoRepair. While I wait for class to start, a familiar voice pulls me from my thoughts. “Have you thrown up yet?”

Green eyes meet mine, the same green eyes that have become a source of comfort for me over the past year, as Scottland Daniels takes her seat right next to me, her bright smile making my own lips curl up in response.

Chuckling, I reply, “No, not yet, Scottie. I haven’t eaten much today, so hopefully that will help.”

She shakes her head at me as she digs her notebook out of her backpack. “You need to eat something, Grady. If you don’t, you could end up passing out on the mound in front of the scouts, and that would be even worse than you playing a shitty game.”

I swallow hard, envisioning what she just said and the embarrassment that would follow. “Crap. You’re right.” I dig out the protein bar from my backpack I keep for emergencies, tear open the wrapper, and shove the entire thing in my mouth as Mrs. Williams, our Algebra II teacher, signals that class is about to start.

Scottie laughs at me. “That was a little dramatic, but at least you know how to listen.”

“My mother taught me well.”

Smirking, she directs her attention to our teacher, and for the next twenty minutes, we take notes on the lesson until it’s time for us to work on today’s assignment. I twist in my desk to face hers and try my best to focus on the problems I need to complete, but Scottie is the only person who understands what today means for me, so our conversation drifts back to the topic neither one of us can ignore.

“So how many will there be?” she asks as she jots down the steps to the problem, rushing toward her answer. The NSYNC stickers plastered all over her folder catch my eye, and for the millionth time Ifind myself wondering how the hell she listens to that god awful music, but I keep that thought to myself.

“I think five.” My stomach twists in knots at the reminder.

“That’s amazing. Five scouts coming to see you, Grady!” She grins across her desk at me. “That’s everything you’ve been working toward.”

“I know, but now that it’s happening…”

“It’s becoming more real,” she finishes for me.

“Yeah. What if none of them make me an offer?”

“Or what if they all do?” she counters. “Have you thought of that?”

It’s a possibility. I know that. And then the problem becomes making a decision. “I doubt that will happen…”

She glares at me, snapping her fingers in front of my face. “Haven’t you heard of positive thinking? You have to manifest what you want, Reynolds. Negativity isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

Huffing out a laugh, I lean back in my desk chair. “Yeah, I guess. But what about you? Have you heard from any scouts?”

The pride that shows through her smile reminds me of why Scottie is the one friend I can talk to about this stuff. She’s the pitcher for our varsity girls’ softball team and has just as much promise and drive to play professionally as I do. It’s what solidified our friendship. She’s the only one who loves the sport and wants the same things out of it as I do. Plus, she’s smart, sassy, and gorgeous. I couldn’t help but want to get to know her.

“Of course. I was just letting you have your moment today, Grady. I didn’t want you to feel bad about how many scouts were coming to watchmeplay next week. I didn’t want to tear up your heart.”

“Was that an NSYNC reference?”

“Maybe.”

“Stop while you’re ahead, Daniels.” Laughing, I write down the next problem, then drop my pencil to my desk. My concentration is shot, so there’s no point in pretending I’m going to get any work done right now. I’ll finish these problems later tonight after the game is over and I can breathe. “Your cockiness is showing.”

“What can I say? I know what I have to offer these schools. They’re the ones that need to prove tomewhich one I should choose, not the other way around.”

---