Well, I never got to my short story. On Friday, I went home, took a nap, woke up at one in the morning, and went back to sleep.

On Saturday, my cousins came over, and I played with my baby cousin.

On Sunday, I went to church, then to the apple orchard to get donuts. I went home and ate the donuts, then showered. I did my spanish homework really quickly, chose my outfit for tomorrow, listened to some music, and went to sleep.

On Monday, I woke up refreshed. It felt great. I wasn't tired, for once. Maybe all that laziness payed off.

The whole dang week was really boring, though. I'd rather not go over it again, since it would sound like I went to class. The bell rung. I went to the next class. Honestly.

And on the weekend, I binge watched some shows. I don't even remember any of it.

Yay, another Monday. At least next Monday, tryouts start.

More and more people stared at me. Not just the older boys, but I recieved a lot of death stares from sophmore girls.

Instead of letting it get to me, I shrugged, and kept walking. At lunch, a guy came to our table.

"Hey, Lindsey."

"Hi."

The guy is John Greg, a junior. He was on varsity as a sophmore last year. It's no doubt that he'll be on it this year. John's really good.

"So tryouts start next week. I'm going to warn you a little bit. As freshmen, the boys always gawk and worship the manager. At JV, they ignore her. But at varsity, they treat her like a little sister. So don't expect to date any of them. And don't expect to date anyone. Probably as long as one of us is here. So, just a heads up, watch out."

"Thanks," I replied, and John walked away.

John is a really cool dude, and always honest, so of course I believed him. Little sister? Hm.

I don't need any big brothers, but I do wish I had a brother. All I have are two annoying little sisters.

I just hope someone asks me to prom. I want to go so bad, it's just I need someone to go with and I need to go dress shopping. But I'm not going shopping until I have a date. Besides, prom isn't until closer to the end of the school year. May 30th, I think.

I finished my meal in silence, listening to my friends talk. They wanted to hang out this weekend, but I told them I have family plans.

So the one weekend I don't have anything going on, I don't want to hang out with my friends. Life can be really confusing.

When I have nothing to do on a weekend, I usually just sleep and do chores. It's pretty simple. My whole life is pretty simple. I guess I like it that way.

The next monday, the day tryouts start, I woke up and stretched. Luckily, ny hair wasn't a mess so it didn't take much effort to make it look alright.

I threw on a pair of flares and a sweatshirt. It's supposed to be a little chilly today. Then again, it's April. Of course it's still cold.

In Algebra ll, we have a worksheet to finish. Then in Spanish, I have a worksheet also. Finally, I have a biology lab that I need to fill some answers in for.

When the final bell rang, I gathered all my homework and treaded to Mr. James's room, unsure of where to go.

Mr. James was locking up his classroom when I reached his door.

"Hello, Ms. Adams. Ready for the season to start?" He asked.

"Yes I am. So where do we meet everyday?"

"If the weather is bad, we just meet in the gym. But anything else, we meet in the front of the building where we all walk outside together," Mr. James replied.

"Okay." I walked with Mr. James down to the front. A few boys were already waiting, while more kept coming out of the locker room.

Jenna, a freshman, and Hannah, a sophmore were waiting with them, twirling their hair and blushing. Great.

"Alright, everyone who was on varsity last year, stand by Lindsey. Freshmen, stand by, um, what's your name again?" Mr. James asked.

I laughed to myself as a bunch of senoirs, some juniors and two sophmores walked over to me.

"I'm Jenna," Jenna said, blushing with embarassment.

"Okay, freshmen by Jenna, and everyone else by Hannh."

Mr. James handed me a sheet and had me write everyone's names down. Then we all walked outside.

First, the boys ran a lap around the track, freshmen pulling up the end. Then they stretched in a circle, three seniors in the middle.

Mr. James walked into the center of the circle to talk to them. For today and tomorrow, it would be kind of like practice to get them ready. Wednesday through Friday are the actual tryouts.

I was told to sit with Jenna and Hannah and that I could do homework. I easily finished in twenty minutes. By now, it's about 4:30. Another hour to go.

During a water break, all of the planned varsity players came up to me. There are sixteen in total. I counted.

"Hey, Lindsey, welcome to the varsity baseball family, where we treat you like a little sister," one of the seniors, Mark, said.

"So it's an actual thing, treating the manager like your little sister?" I asked.

"Yep. It's like a tradition. And it'll be easy this year since you're a freshman and we are all taller than you."

Mr. James called everyone back, but let the varsity guys stay, probably because he liked that we were getting along. Sports are always easier when you get along.

Eventually, they got back to practice. The boys did drills, helped the freshmen try some different positions, and a lot of other stuff.

I'm pretty sure one guy asked if they could take off their shirts, and Mr. James said yes. If they get this hot when I shiver, imagine how many shirtless practice they'll have. Oh dang.

It was funny to conpare the skinny freshmen to the sculpted seniors. They looked great. I'm starting to see Bre's point of view.

Sadly, 5:30 came around, and they boys headed inside to change. While I waited for my mom, I chatted with two juniors.

"So how did you end up managing the varsity team when there was a sophmore?" Sam asked.

"I'm not sure, Mr. James just told me that I'm managing varsity."

"That's great. Hannah is pretty annoying, same with that Jenna chick. But you seem really cool." George said.

"Well, I'm glad you think that. Oh, here's my mom. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Bye," they both said.

I got in the car, and breathed in heavily. Just socializing was enough to tire me. At least all of the guys were nice to me. This should be fun.

த

Luckily, I have no homework today. After the bell rang, I met up with everyone in the front of the high school, and we all walked out.

"Lindsey, do you have any homework to do?" Mr. James asked.

"Nope," I replied.

"Well then, today, you will be shagging balls with varsity."

Uh oh. Mr. James and the other coaches were playing pitcher and catcher while freshmen and JV lined up to bat. I was standing in the outfield with all of the varsity players.

One by one, balls were hit at us. Luckily, a lot of ground balls were hit, and I was able to catch one. A couple juniors were standing by the bucket, and we had to toss the balls up to them.

That was just the first drill. The next drill, the boys sprinted the bases, one at a time, with me on their backs. I mean, I don't weight very much, but some of the lowerclassmen struggled.

It was kind of fun, even though I almost fell off. I laughed the whole time, and everyone else joined in. At about 5:10, Mr. James had everyone sit around him in a circle. He began explaining how evaluations were going to work.

Then he talked about the team trip. We are going up and swimming in a huge lake for the whole day. We have to be at school by 9 a.m., and we get back around 4 p.m.

After the talking was over, the coaches dismissed the guys to the locker room. I grabbed my backpack, and waited outside for my mom. She picked me up right away, saving me from talking with the team.

"Hey, mom," I said, buckling my seatbelt.

"Hey, sweetie. How is managing going so far?"

"It's great. The boys had to carry me on their backs and sprint the bases, it was fun. Oh, and the team trip is this weekend. Bus leaves at nine. We're going to a lake."

"Oh, isn't that nice."

I nodded and smiled. This season is going to be pretty great.

ல

"Hey, Linds, wanna go to Taco Bell with us tonight?" One of the senoirs, Ben, asked me.

"Sure," I replied.

The boys find out which teams they make tonight. After long evaluations, Mr. James already figured everything out.

I texted my mom quickly, notifying her about going with the guys. She responded right away, telling me she'd pick me up from there when she got off work.

I sat in a circle with all the varsity boys. They were already told that they were on the team. Now we just waited for the freshmen and sophmores.

"So, since we'll all be one family, we have to get to know each other really well. Let's start by going around and saying your name and favorite food. Starting with me. I'm Ben, and I love pizza."

"I'm Mark, and I like alfredo."

"I'm George, and I absolutely pove chili."

"I'm Sam, and I like brownies."

"I'm Daniel, and I love chocolate chip cookies." I swear I saw him wink at me as he said it.

"I'm Tommy, and I like spaghetti."

Finally, it got to me. "I'm Lindsey, and I love chicken."

I counted sixteen guys on the team. Two sophmores, eight juniors, and six seniors.

Finally, we were allowed to leave, so I waited for the guys to change before we left.

We all packed into five cars. Four of the seniors were driving, and one junior drove. I was in Ben's car with Daniel and Tommy. Tommy is a junior.

Ben drove us to Taco Bell, leading the way for the other four cars. He parked his truck in the corner of the parking lot. We all got out, and walked in.

When Ben ordered his food, he asked me what I wanted. I told him, and reluctantly let him pay for my meal.

Some of the boys pushed four tables together so we could all fit. Everyone came with their trays, and we somehow managed to fit.

It started out with small talk, but within five minutes, we were all telling stories and laughing. I never realized just how cool these guys are.

It felt so comfortable to be talking to boys that just wanted to have fun. The tables turned when someone asked me if I had a crush on someone. The whole table went silent, and I'm pretty sure I turned redder than a tomato.

"Well?" Jack asked.

"Um, well, I'm not sure. No one, I guess." I replied.

"Lies. There must be someone."

"Nope," I sighed.

Finally, they carried back on with their comversations. I joined back in, feeling just as relaxed as before.

There is only one problem with my response. I kind of sort of did like someone. But I wasn't just about to tell them who. I don't think it would go over very well with them.

******Dylan O'brien as Mark Tills🔝