Sliding into Home Read Free

look on her face. “I was just trying to help.”
    Joelle sighed. She hadn’t meant to snap at her friend. “No,
I’m
sorry,” she said quickly. “It’s not your fault. I’m just … frustrated, you know?”
    They started walking again. “I heard all that stuff Ms. Fenner said after P.E.,” Joelle said. “I just didn’t believe it. I was so sure Coach Carlyle would let me try out.”
    Elizabeth shook her head. “Maybe another coach, but not Carlyle. He probably wouldn’t even let his own daughter play baseball.”
    “He has a daughter?” Joelle asked.
    Elizabeth shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s got two sons, though. Two very
cute
sons.” She grinned. “Eric’s at Greendale High. And Ryan’s in our class. He has social studies with you. I saw him come out behind you this morning.”
    “Oh,” Joelle said. “Right.” She could hardly remember even going to social studies, much less who was in the class. She had too many other things on her mind.
    A few minutes later the girls reached Joelle’s house. “Do you want to come in for a while?” Joelle asked.
    Elizabeth checked her watch. “Well, I would, but my dad’ll be home soon. I should probably start supper.”
    “You cook?” Joelle raised an eyebrow in surprise.
    “Some,” Elizabeth admitted. “I don’t mind, though. It’s just me and my dad, anyway. And I kind of like cooking.”
    Joelle knew Elizabeth didn’t have any brothers or sisters. She wasn’t sure what the story was with Elizabeth’s mom. There clearly wasn’t a mom around, but Elizabeth had never said why.
    “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Elizabeth waved.
    Joelle nodded and slid her key into the lock. She pushed open the front door and stepped inside.
    This place sure didn’t feel like home. It was too new. And too … white. Every single room in the whole house was white with beige carpeting. Maybe it would be better when all the boxes were gone and the pictures were up and the windows had curtains instead of disposable paper shades.
    But she doubted it.
    Joelle dropped her backpack in the entryway and kicked off her tennis shoes. What a day! She headed into the living room, flopped down on the couch, and put her feet up on one of the moving boxes.
    “We’re all going to be so happy here,” Mom had said last week. “You know, Joelle, your dad and I both grew up in small towns like Greendale. Once you settle in, you’ll see how nice it is to live in a place like this.”
    Yeah, right
, Joelle said to herself.
Living in a little town like this is just what I’ve always dreamed of.
She thought about her friend Eric back in Minneapolis. He was probably at baseball practice right this minute. And her brother Jason. He was in college, but if they had stayed there at least they could have seen him on weekends. Now they’d be lucky to see him on holidays. But her parents didn’t seem too upset about that.
    “Jason’s eighteen,” her mom had told her. “He needs tolead his own life now. You’ll find a place for yourself here, too, Joelle. Wait and see.”
    Ha!
Joelle thought. There was no place for her here if she couldn’t play baseball.
    She wandered upstairs to her room. She only had a couple of boxes left to unpack. Mostly odds and ends, things from Jason’s old room that he hadn’t taken with him to his offcampus apartment: old pennants, a baseball bank, the big stuffed banana he’d won at the state fair.
    Joelle flopped down on her bed and picked up the baseball she always kept on her bedside table next to her clock radio. This was the home-run ball from the state tournament two years ago. The home-run ball that Jason had hit and
Joelle
had caught in the stands!
    It was an amazing catch. Of course, Joelle always sat in line with the shortstop at Jason’s games. She knew her brother’s homers usually sailed right over the shortstop’s head. But still, the odds of his hitting a homer right at Joelle during a playoff game—and her actually catching it—had