Page 65 of Study Buddies

TORI

I rose to my feet,clapping so hard that my hands hurt.

“Let’s go, Kyle!” Jayden shouted next to me. He squeezed my hand as we sat back down on the bleacher seats. “This is a fun game.”

It was the only one I’d been to since starting at Langley, but I’d picked a good one. It was just an exhibition game but perhaps since it was the last game of the season, the Langley team was on fire.

Especially Kyle.

He’d just hit a home run, and in the dugout, his teammates were still slapping him on the back, congratulating him. I couldn’t stop grinning—at least until a sobering thought hit me. If I couldn’t get him to pass the composition class, he wouldn’t be on the team next year.

“Are you okay?” Jayden had to lean close to my ear to be heard.

“Yes,” I shouted back. “Just getting a little hoarse.”

Jayden gave me a thumbs up. “Yes, you should get a little horse.”

I started to correct him before I caught the gleam in his eyes. He was kidding, of course.

The game got boring after that. Kyle played shortstop, but the Langley pitcher didn’t give the other team much they could hit.

Things got interesting the next time Kyle was up at the plate. He got another hit but only made it to first this time.

I was watching the next guy at the plate when the crowd roared. I squinted at the field. A guy in a Langley uniform was running from first base to second. “Is that Kyle?”

“Yep,” Jayden said. “He leads the team in stolen bases.”

I had a vague idea of what that meant. Sports in general weren’t my thing, but I’d grown up not that far from Atlanta, which was a big baseball town.

“He’s really good, isn’t he?”

“Yes, he’s great. He was good in high school, but he’s even better now.”

“Do you think he’ll go pro after college?”

Jayden shook his head. “Most of those guys get snapped up after high school. But he’s very good for the college level. That’s why he got a full ride.”

“He did? He has a scholarship, too?”

“Yep.”

I hadn’t known that. There was a sinking feeling in my gut. Could he lose that, too, if he didn’t pass the composition class?

I looked for him on the field, surprised to see that he was now at third base, not second. One of his teammates was on first base. “Why does the pitcher keep looking over at him?”

“Because he keeps stealing bases.”

Every time the pitcher whipped his head to the right, Kyle would smirk at him. I couldn’t even properly see his face from here, but something about his posture let me know that. Plus, the guy on the mound was getting pissed off. And Kyle wasan expert at getting under people’s skin. “Can you steal home base?”

“Under certain circumstances, yes.”

That was exciting. I cupped my hands around my mouth. “Go, Kyle!”

His head whipped around, and he found me in the stands. He tipped his cap with a grin. I ducked my head, embarrassed. I hadn’t thought he’d know that was me.

Jayden sputtered next to me.

“What?” I asked him, not looking at the field.

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