Sliding into Home (13 page)

“You might even be prejudiced against them.”

Caitlyn bit her lip. She knew she’d made a mistake.

Ha!
Joelle thought.
Got her!

A few minutes later, it was time for Joelle to call her witnesses. All of them talked about how wonderful Goldilocks was and how shocked they were to hear she’d been accused of these crimes.

Ryan played the Bears’ neighbor, Mr. Farnsworth. “The Bears are a fine family,” he said in a deep, serious voice. “They keep to themselves and don’t cause trouble.”

“Would you say that the Bears are afraid of humans?” Joelle asked.

“Definitely,” Ryan said.

“And how was Goldilocks when you found her in the woods?” Joelle asked.

“Really, really sick,” Ryan said. “It was terrible.”

“Thank you, Mr. Farnsworth,” Joelle said.

Ian Walsh, who played the doctor, claimed that Goldilocks was hungry and dehydrated and probably not in her right mind at the time.

There wasn’t much Brooke could do with these witnesses in her cross-examination.

I’m going to win this
, Joelle thought triumphantly.
That’ll show Brooke.

Once all the witnesses had spoken, Brooke and Joelle gave their closing statements. Then the jury went out into the hall to make their decision.

“You all did a terrific job,” Mr. Hawkings said. “It’ll be interesting to see what the jury decides.”

All around the room, kids were whispering.

Yes,
Joelle thought.
It will be
very
interesting to see what the jury decides.
There was no doubt she’d presented the better case. She knew it and she was sure everybody else in the room knew it, too. She had just beaten the great Brooke Hartle!

Joelle glanced across the aisle and found Brooke looking back at her. Brooke actually looked worried.

Good,
Joelle thought with satisfaction.
She needs to lose every once in a while.

The jury marched back into the room, single file. They looked very serious.

“Has the jury reached a verdict?” Judge Hawkings asked.

Joelle sat up a little straighter.

The jury members all looked at each other. Then a boy stood up and said, “We have, Your Honor. We find the defendant, Goldilocks, guilty as charged.”

What?
Joelle’s mouth dropped open.

Even Brooke looked surprised. Then a slow smile broke out across her face.

No! This can’t be!
Joelle told herself.

But it was.

She’d lost.

“All right!” Several kids gathered around Brooke to congratulate her.

Joelle turned away. How could the jury have found Goldilocks guilty? Didn’t they listen to the testimony? Or didn’t the facts matter?

Was this whole trial just some sort of popularity contest?

It wasn’t fair!

The bell rang and kids charged toward the door.

Joelle stayed in her seat.

“Hey,” Ryan gave her a light punch on the arm as he passed. “You did a good job.”

Joelle stared at her desktop. “Right. Thanks.”

“Joelle?” Ryan frowned. “What’s the matter?”

Joelle turned away as tears pricked her eyes. She
never
cried. Ever.

“Why don’t you go on to class, Ryan?” Mr. Hawkings said, coming over. “See you tomorrow, okay?”

Ryan nodded and left. The teacher leaned against the desk across from Joelle.

Joelle raised her eyes. “I should have won,” she said tightly.

“I presented the better case.”

Mr. Hawkings rubbed his mustache. “I guess the jury didn’t see it that way.”

“That’s because they all wanted Brooke to win,” Joelle said. “In a real trial, jurors make a decision based on evidence, not on personal feelings.”

The teacher raised his eyebrows. “Not always. That’s one of the reasons we have an appeals process.”

“Okay, then. I want an appeal.”

Mr. Hawkings laughed. “Don’t take all this so seriously, Joelle.” He patted her on the shoulder. “You did a great job. You presented a good argument. You argued your case well. And your grade will reflect that.”

“I don’t care about my grade!” Joelle clenched her fist under her desk in frustration. “I care about fairness.”

“Nobody wins all the time, Joelle,” Mr. Hawkings said. “Sometimes, in the courtroom and in life, all you can do is present your argument and see what happens. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. And sometimes it doesn’t seem fair.”

Tell me about it
, Joelle thought. But she knew she couldn’t just sit around like this, moping and whining.

“Thanks, Mr. Hawkings,” Joelle said, getting up.

It was time to move on.

J
oelle heard some girls talking in the bathroom later that afternoon.

About
her.
This was getting to be a habit. Did anybody in this town ever talk about anything else?

“She’s such a sore loser.”

“Well, I’m glad she lost. She thinks she’s better than everyone else, just because she’s from
Minn-e-a-pol-is!
”

Joelle peered through the crack by the stall door. Who was out there?

Shelby and Caitlyn. They were both softball players. Brooke was there, too, brushing her hair. She hadn’t said anything yet.

“She’s too good to play softball for Hoover. Too good to associate with us. So what does she do? She starts her own dumb league and goes over to Greendale Academy, our biggest competition, and asks
them
to play.”

“You should have heard her in band,” Brooke spoke up, putting her brush back in her backpack. “‘Let me put this in terms you’ll understand.’ Like I’m stupid or something.”

Joelle flushed the toilet and stormed out of the stall. “I never said you were stupid!”

All three girls jumped.

“Were you listening?” Shelby demanded.

Joelle ignored her and turned on Brooke. “So you’d rather talk about me behind my back than face to face, huh? Well, fine. Come on, what else about me bugs you? What else were you going to say?”

“Nothing.” Brooke shouldered her backpack. “Let’s go,” she said to her friends.

Joelle stuck her arm across the door to stop them from leaving. It was time she and Brooke had it out. “Hey, I never said you were stupid,” she repeated. “I just said I didn’t want to play softball.”

“Yeah, you’ve said it over and over and over. We’re all getting really sick of it, too.” Brooke’s eyes flashed and her face was flushed under her careful makeup. “You’re a
baseball
player. You’re way too good to play softball.”

“I never said I was too good to play softball!”

“Give me a break, Cunningham. Everything you do says it. You don’t even try to fit in here. You walk around the school all high and mighty.”

Joelle’s jaw dropped. “
You
should talk, Brooke! You’re the one who looks down on everyone else. Girls like you always have to look down on everyone else.”

“What do you mean, girls like me?” Brooke’s eyes narrowed. “You think you know all about me, don’t you?”

“Every school has girls like you,” Joelle said. “You’re all the same. Popular, perfect, snobby, and mean.”

To Joelle’s surprise, Brooke didn’t answer. She just stood there, looking stunned.

“That’s what you think?” Brooke said finally. Joelle couldn’t be sure, but she thought the girl’s mascara was starting to run a tiny bit. Was Brooke … crying?

Joelle gulped. Maybe she’d gone a little too far.

Brooke pushed past Joelle’s arm and out of the bathroom. The door swung shut behind her.

“You don’t know anything, Ms. Baseball,” Shelby said in a low voice. Then she and Caitlyn hurried out into the hall after Brooke.

Joelle slumped against the cold tile wall. Those girls had been jerks to talk about her like that. But she’d been a jerk, too. And she hadn’t accomplished a thing.

Sometimes trying to stand up for yourself makes things a whole lot worse
, Joelle told herself.
You have to do it the right way.

And she had a feeling she had just done everything the wrong way.

“I guess you heard about what happened with me and Brooke,” Joelle said to Elizabeth as the two of them walked home together after school.

Elizabeth nodded. “Yep, I heard.”

“It was pretty bad,” Joelle said. “I said some things I maybe shouldn’t have said. But I am so tired of girls like Brooke! I can’t get away from them.”

“What do you mean, girls like Brooke?”

“Oh, you know. The
popular ones.
Perfect clothes, perfect hair, perfect lives. Those kids can be so mean to anyone who’s just a little bit different.”

“Brooke’s not like that,” Elizabeth said slowly.

“Well, you didn’t hear her in the bathroom,” Joelle said as they crossed a street.

Elizabeth didn’t answer.

“You know, back in Minneapolis, some girls never understood why I liked baseball, either,” Joelle went on. “They picked on me all the time. The only friends I had were boys. None of the girls liked me.” There. She’d said it. “And it was all because of girls like Brooke!”

Elizabeth shifted her backpack to her other shoulder. “I’ve known Brooke a long time, Joelle,” she said. “She’s really not like you think. I mean, she’s had some bad stuff happen in her life.”

“Oh, what?” Joelle pretended to pout. “Has she broken a fingernail?”

Elizabeth stopped walking. “Her dad died, Joelle. He was working on their roof and he fell off and … he was paralyzed for a while and then he died.”

“Oh.” Joelle blinked. “I didn’t know.” Not that that made her like Brooke any better, but she did feel bad for her.

“It happened about three years ago,” Elizabeth went on. “Brooke tries to cover things up, but it’s been pretty tough for her and her mom.”

“I’m really sorry,” Joelle said, shaking her head. It was hard enough simply having Jason away at college. If he or anyone else in her family was … gone forever … Joelle didn’t even want to think about it.

“Brooke wants to do really well in high school so she can get a college scholarship,” Elizabeth said as they started walking again. “That’s why she works so hard at everything all the time.”

Joelle certainly understood
that.
She was probably going to need a scholarship, too. Maybe not as much as Brooke, though.

“You want to know something else?” Elizabeth asked. “I think Brooke wants to play in our league.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Joelle couldn’t imagine Brooke on the Green Sox.

“No, really. She keeps asking me about it.”

“Brooke hates me, remember?” Joelle kicked at a pebble on the sidewalk. “She would never play on the same team as me.”

Elizabeth threw up her hands. “Look. Brooke doesn’t get why you won’t play softball. That doesn’t mean she hates you, Joelle. Actually, the two of you might even be friends if you got to know each other. You’re a lot alike.”

“Me? Like Brooke?”
No way,
Joelle told herself.

Elizabeth nodded. “You’re both really good athletes. Both smart and super competitive. And both kind of … stubborn.”

“I am
not
stubborn!” Joelle said quickly. But she was. She knew she was.

“Brooke may not want to admit it, but I think she really admires you for trying so hard to play baseball here.” Elizabeth’s voice suddenly dropped. “And we only need one more player for the Green Sox.”

“We?”
Joelle grabbed Elizabeth’s arm. “Does that mean you’re going to play?”

Elizabeth blushed. “Don’t change the subject, Joelle! I think
you should ask Brooke to join. If
you
asked her, I bet she’d say yes.”

“Oh no,” Joelle answered quickly. “I’m not going to go to Brooke and beg. There are signs up all over school. If she wants to play, she can come and talk to me about it.”

“She’s not going to do that,” Elizabeth said.

“Then I guess she won’t be playing with us,” Joelle said, shrugging.

Elizabeth sighed. “Like I said, you’re exactly alike,” she muttered. “Totally stubborn.”

On Saturday morning, Elizabeth’s dad showed up at Center Park wearing a green sweatshirt that said COACH across the front in huge yellow letters.

“He just had that made at the sports shop,” Elizabeth whispered to Joelle as they stood around waiting for practice to begin. “Isn’t it awful?”

“I think it’s kind of cute,” Joelle said, grinning. She was glad Mr. Shaw was taking his job as coach seriously.

“Okay, Green Sox.” Coach Shaw blew his whistle.

Joelle and Elizabeth both jumped. Elizabeth winced and rubbed her ear. “The whistle’s new, too.”

“Hello, girls,” Mr. Shaw said. “It’s good to see you again. As you know, I’m Elizabeth’s dad, and I’m really happy to be coaching the Green Sox. I guess we all know each other by now, so why don’t we get started right away?”

Everyone nodded eagerly.

Coach Shaw checked something in one of the library books he’d brought. Then he led the team through thirty minutes of bending, stretching, and running laps. It wasn’t as formal as what Joelle was used to, but it was fine, especially for a first practice.

Coach Shaw wanted to get an idea of everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. After warm-ups, he rotated each girl around to different positions.

Joelle paid close attention to how her teammates did at first base. She always considered first base
her
position, but she’d play whatever Coach Shaw told her to play.

Paige was pretty good at first base, too, but she wasn’t as tall as Joelle. Besides, Paige and Paula seemed to play outfield best. Especially when they were out there together. They always seemed to know who was going to go for the ball and who was going to make the relay play.

Joelle thought Mandi and Leah made another good team, as pitcher and catcher. On the other hand, Leah was short and quick. She might be better suited to second base than catcher.

And Tara, with her incredible arm, definitely belonged at left field, in Joelle’s opinion. Or maybe third base. She wasn’t sure where Nikki and Elizabeth played best.

Coach Shaw blew his whistle again. “Okay, that’s enough for today.” He waved them all in from the field.

Joelle felt a little disappointed. It seemed like they’d just gotten started and now practice was over? Already? She wiped the sweat from her forehead, then jogged over to the dugout to join her friends.

“That wasn’t bad for our first practice,” Coach Shaw said as
the girls grabbed their water bottles and equipment. “But don’t go anywhere yet, Green Sox. We’ve got a few things to talk about. Take a look at this.”

He passed around what looked like a computer-designed invitation to a little kid’s birthday party. There was a ball and bat on the outside of the card. But on the inside it read: “The Chesterfield Kernels challenge the Greendale Green Sox to a game of baseball on May 3. Field to be determined. R.S.V.P.”

“They’re
challenging
us?” Mandi asked, cracking her gum.

“Hey, we can’t turn down a challenge,” Joelle said.

“But we don’t have a full team,” Elizabeth pointed out.

“Do they?” Nikki asked.

“They’ve got nine or ten players, I think,” Mr. Shaw said.

“Well, I’m with Joelle,” Mandi said. “We can’t turn down a challenge. We’ll just have to find one more player.”

Elizabeth nudged Joelle. “Brooke,” she whispered.

Joelle’s entire body tensed.

“Who’s Brooke?” Mandi asked, leaning forward.

“She’s co-captain of our softball team,” Elizabeth said. “And she’s really good.” She looked pointedly at Joelle.

“So why don’t you call her, Joelle?” Leah asked.

“Yeah,” several others put in.

Joelle glared at Elizabeth. She didn’t want Brooke on their team! But she wasn’t exactly in a position to be choosy. And Elizabeth knew that.

“Well, if we’re going to ask her to join, why do
I
have to be the one to do it?” Joelle grumbled.

“Because you know her,” Mandi said.

“Yeah, you go to the same school, right?” Leah put in.

“And since this whole league thing was your idea, it’ll sound better coming from you.” Elizabeth patted her on the back and smiled.

Joelle sighed. Strikes one, two, and three.

She was out.

Joelle sat cross-legged on the couch, the phone in her lap. She had been staring at the scrap of paper with Brooke’s phone number so long that she had the number memorized. Joelle did not want to have Brooke’s phone number memorized.

She sighed. Might as well get it over with.

“Hello?” Brooke answered.

“Hello, Brooke? This is, um, Joelle.” Joelle’s heart thumped. “Joelle Cunningham.”

“I only know one Joelle,” Brooke said coldly. “What do you want?”

Joelle stretched out her legs. “Listen,” she began, “about the other day in the bathroom.”

“Yeah.”

“You said I didn’t know anything about you.” Joelle picked at a loose thread in the couch. “Well, you’re right, I guess. I don’t. You do sort of remind me of some girls I knew back home. But you’re not them, so I shouldn’t treat you like you are.”

Silence. Maybe Brooke didn’t realize that was about as close to an apology as she was going to get.

“But you know, you don’t know much about me, either,” Joelle went on quickly. “I don’t think I’m better than anyone. I
just get a little, well … obsessed with things sometimes. Like baseball.” Brooke still didn’t say anything.

“Anyway, this sounds kind of crazy, but Elizabeth thinks we’d probably like each other if we got to know each other.”

Brooke snorted. “Ha. Right.”

“That’s what I said, too,” Joelle said with a short laugh. She cleared her throat. “Elizabeth … um … also thinks you might want to play in our baseball league.”

That got Brooke’s attention. “Are you asking me to play?”

“Do you want to play?” Joelle shot back.

Pause. “I might consider it,” Brooke said finally.

Joelle glared at the phone. What did she want? An engraved invitation?

“Look, we’re meeting at Center Park Saturday morning at ten,” Joelle said. “Come by if you want to, okay?”

“I’ll think about it,” Brooke answered.

Argh!
Joelle banged down the receiver. Dealing with that girl was so frustrating. Why couldn’t she just say “Sure, that sounds great!” instead of leaving everyone to wonder whether she’d be there or not?

The weird thing was, Joelle sort of hoped Brooke would decide to come.

Brooke did show up for practice on Saturday. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wore purple sweats with a plain white T-shirt.

Joelle nodded to Brooke and Brooke nodded back. What else
was there to say? Brooke would probably change her mind about playing baseball anyway. She might not even join the team.

After the other girls and Elizabeth’s dad introduced themselves to Brooke, they started on warm-ups.