I stood watching the door for several moments, considering running out of it so I could jump in the car before anyone noticed I was here. There was still a small knot of fear that stayed sunken in to the pit of my stomach. The air temperature seemed to drop and goose bumps popped up on my bare arms and shoulders. I turned on my heel and headed back to the registration table so I didn't actually carry out my escape plan. By pure will, my feet continued to put one in front of the other as I moved away from the parking lot and into the belly of the beast. The three coaches still sat behind the table with their clipboards, finishing up with reviewing the forms.

"So what now?" I asked causally.

"We're going to have a coaches-players meeting in about 5 minutes. You can take a seat at one of the tables and we'll get going soon," Coach Luck replied looking up from his papers.

"Thanks," I said heading off to find an empty chair.

Realizing I would probably be spending quite a bit of time here, I took a better look around the room. Most of the round tables seated six people around it and were scattered across the middle of the room. An open serving counter was on the far left wall and stretched across the whole wall. A bulletin board was hung on the other wall and a small platform was set up under it for someone to speak on. Flyers were already tacked on to the board.

The tables around the room were already mostly filled up and I did not really want to sit at a table with any of these guys. I knew a third of them were going to become my teammates but I was still weary of them.

Fortunately, I spotted a table towards the back with only one other person sitting at it. His head was cast downwards, so I took my chances and decided to try there. The table was at the back, meaning I was going to have to go past all the other tables. I looked for the fastest way to the table and started to hurry that way. As I sped walked towards my destination, confused looks flickered past, but shortly after, winks and wolf whistles replaced them. I did my best to ignore them, but when I finally got to the back table, I collapsed into the closest chair.

The guy who was sitting at the table looked up, startled, from my flopping into the seat and pushed shaggy brown hair out of his eyes. This guy or should I say kid was not what I was expecting. He was probably only about 13 or 14 years old. Large brown eyes the size of saucers stared at me as I stared back. The kid was rail thin and freckles covered his nose and cheeks. His eyes reflected the same fear that I was certain was in my eyes as well.

"Hi," I said finally breaking the silence.

"Hello," the kid said back, his voice cracking on the "o."

I suppressed a giggle at his voice cracking. Someone was going through puberty. No wonder he was over here by himself. Not only was he the smallest one in the room, but I could only imagine the relentless teasing from the occasional voice crack.

"I'm Gloria," I said sticking my hand out.

"Harrison," he replied shaking my hand lightly.

I nodded my head before I opened my mouth to ask the question I was dying to know the answer to. "How old are you?"

"I'm 14," he answered, his voice cracking again. He really was only a baby.

"Wow. You're really young. That's awesome that you're here" I said honestly.

He shrugged. "I guess. They don't think so," he nodded his head towards the rest of the room. "They just see that I'm small and that my voice cracks... Are you someone's sister?" he looked at me quizzically. It probably just dawned on him it was a bit odd for him to be sitting with a girl at the moment.

"No. I'm actually here as a player."

"Oh, that's really cool." There was not an ounce of sarcasm in his voice and I could tell Harrison was sincere. Some of the tension in my chest unraveled knowing there was at least one person here that was okay with me being here.

"They don't think so," I responded, using his same line and pointing my head to the rest of the players. "The catcalls and winks are already getting old."

Harrison giggled and flushed pink.

"You know what this means?" I asked him.

Harrison raised his eyebrows in confusion and waited for me to continue.

"We're going to have to be friends since no one else wants to be friends with us."

"That's okay with me. I already like you better than anyone else here and I just met you."

I smiled at him. Harrison might be the only person I could trust for awhile but finding one friend at this point was all I could ask for. Just as I was about to ask Harrison another question about himself, a voice crackled over the intercom.

"Hello everyone," Coach Luck said speaking in to the microphone. The other two coaches flanked him on either side.

"On behalf of Louisville Slugger and the other coaches, I would like to welcome you to Louisville Slugger's 4th Annual Baseball Summer Tournament Camp. For those of you who don't know, my name is Coach Luck. To my right is Coach Roberts and to my left is Coach Russ," he said gesturing to his companions

The microphone was passed to Coach Roberts, who took it and placed it below his mouth. "For the next three months, you will be training with some of the best players in the country and pushed harder than ever before. We have randomly divided you in to three different teams, which will be coached by one of the three of us. There will be fifteen players on a team, and your team will occupy one level of the dorm you saw when you drove in to the parking lot today. You will have a roommate to live with from your team as well. We hope with these living arrangements that you will form bonds with your teammates as you practice with each other every day. Up front, there are packets with your information about your team and room assignment," Coach Roberts explained.

The microphone was then passed down to Coach Russ. He looked bored as he spoke in to it. "Your luggage and bags have been brought up to your room already, so after getting your paperwork, go find your room. Everyone will be having a meeting in about an hour for a more informational meeting about your individual team. The time and place will be in your packet. Does anyone have a question?"

No one spoke or raised a hand.

"You can come up here to receive your information" Coach Russ said turning off the mic.

Everyone got up and started to shuffle forward.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and be on the same team," I said looking at Harrison.

"I hope so. Maybe we'll share a room too. I'm worried my roommate won't like me," he said shyly looking down at his shoes.

I wanted to wrap him in a hug to comfort him. He was just so sweet and innocent.

"I wish we could, but I'm suppose to have a room to myself for privacy," I said patting his thin shoulder instead.

"Oh. Well, maybe it will be close to my room," he said disappointedly.

"We'll cross our fingers. Come on. Let's go up there and grab our stuff. Looks like most of the guys have left."

Harrison nodded and followed close behind as I led the way to the front. When we got up there, our packets were the only two left. We grabbed them and headed towards the door.

"Gloria!" Coach Luck said cutting us off before we could leave.

"What's up, Coach?" I said brightly. Having Harrison around had already improved my mood.

"Can I talk to you a second?" he asked. There was something off in his tone that caused the dread to return to my chest.

"Sure," I say following him a few steps away.

"There's a slight problem with your room," he said scratching the back of his head.

"What kind of problem?"

"The single room we arranged for you to stay in has some serious flood damage from a pipe bursting in the ceiling. It's not ready for anyone to stay in and because summer is the off season for the university, they won't be fixed until probably September."

"Oh," was all I could say.

"There's another room for you but you're going to be with one of your teammates. We just called your mom to confirm that it's okay. She said it was up to you."

My stomach suddenly squeezed even tighter. I had never shared a room with anyone for an extended period of time, let alone a boy. And now, I was expected to share a room with a complete stranger of the opposite sex for three months. There was something very personal about sharing a room with someone, which includes being able to trust them. Trusting others has been a difficult conflict for me the past few years, especially with male figures in my life. Sharing a room with a guy I didn't know whatsoever was going to be a real test of that.

What was going to happen if I say no? Was my mom going to pick me up and just drive home? The whole thing thrown out the window. I could do this. He was going to be my teammate anyways. "Okay," I said hesitantly.

"The key in your packet and room assignment are the updated one. Any problems just see one of us and we'll figure it out together," he said giving me a relieved smile. For him, this was crisis averted. For me, it was just getting started.

I headed back to Harrison with a queasy stomach. He had patiently waited by the door for me.

"Looks like maybe we will share a room," I said pushing the door open for us to leave.

"I heard bits and pieces of what Luck said. That's a bummer," he said walking beside me.

I shrugged my shoulders, hoping to seem like I wasn't internally losing my mind. "Let's open these up," I said ripping open the flap and pulling out the first paper. "Shit," I muttered looking at the information. As if this day could not get any worse.

"What's wrong?" Harrison asked opening his own folder.

"I have Russ as my coach."

"Hey, wait. So do I," Harrison said, proudly showing me his own packet.

"Looks like one of our wishes came true."

"I don't really like him either. He didn't think I was good enough or big enough when he came out to see me play," Harrison said sliding his feet against the ground. "He was a jerk when I was registering with my dad."

"That sounds almost exactly how my interactions with him went. The fact that I'm a girl drives him crazy. I don't how he got unlucky enough to get both of us on his team," I said jokingly.

The four story dorm building seemed to loom over Harrison and I as we made our way to the front entrance. The blinds of all the windows were shut tight, so it seemed like there was no activity going on inside at all.

There were a few guys milling around in the main lobby as Harrison and I stepped inside the air conditioned room. There were several tables around the room along with a flat screen TV mounted on to one of the walls. A vending machine and ping pong table were in the corner and I assumed this was used as a hang out area for Marist students when school was in session. Two elevators were at the back wall.

"Second floor," Harrison said with a glance down at his packet again. Taking charge, he pressed the Up button and the door dinged, sliding open to let us on. Harrison pressed the level two button and up we went.

"What room are you?" I asked looking down on my paper.

"203."

"I'm 206. At least we'll be close by."

"That's true. I'm going to go check out my room and meet my roommate."

"Okay. Just come find me if you need anything."

Harrison started down the hall and waved over his shoulder at me. When he got to his door, I could see the key practically shaking in his hand as he went to unlock the door. Pushing the door open, he stepped inside and out of view.

I looked up and down the hallway to figure out where my room was. Ten doors lined the hallway, not including the door for the stairs and elevator at the end of the hall.

The numbers were neatly printed on the doors, so I found 206 in no time. I swallowed hard, staring at the door in reluctance. Finally after several seconds of fighting with myself, I pulled the key out of the bottom of the folder. Loud music was thumping through the door already. With sweaty hands that barely let me grab the key, I pushed it in to the doorknob and pressed my palm on to door. Wanting to see my roommate before he saw me, I inched the door open just enough for me to see in to the room.

The room itself wasn't very big but was livable for the next three months. Two beds were on either side of the room with matching night tables next to them. A shag rug was laid on the floor between them. The walls of the room were painted a beige color and dark brown was the color of the floorboards. A dresser with six drawers was next to the window. The music was coming from a wireless speaker, which were placed on the top of the dresser.

My roommate was faced away from me so I could only see the backside of him. His backside was rather nice to look at though, especially since he had shed his shirt in the process of moving in. His toned back flexed as he was unloading his suitcase, and I couldn't help but sit and admire the muscles tightening and stretching under his nicely tanned skin. I crossed my fingers that he was somewhat pleasant because nice back muscles were not going to do much for me if he was a jerk.

I decided it was now or never to step into the room to introduce myself. I don't think the best first impression would be catching me secretly watching him. My palms pushed on the door harder and I stepped inside the room. I cleared my voice to let my roommate know I was there.

He turned around in surprise and then a smirk slowly raised one side of his mouth. My stomach dropped to the floor as I immediately recognized who it was. Miles Harris was my new roommate.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I said my voice rising with each word.

"This is my room," he replied smoothly before turning around and continuing to unpack.

"You can't be my roommate?"

"Why not?"

"Because... because you're you!"

"What you just did there is called circular reasoning. Do you have any credible reasons or is that it?"

I was taken aback by his wit and especially his actual intelligence to know what circular reasoning is. When I first met the guy, I immediately pegged him as some jock who probably pays no attention in school.

I couldn't even come up with something to say back to that, but my mouth just kept running. "I can't believe I'm going to be stuck with you for three months." Not only was I going to be living with Miles, but he was also going to be my teammate.

"Hey, I know you like what you see. You're not fooling anyone."

My eyes couldn't help but travel down to his perfectly molded abdominal and chest muscles that were impressive. I couldn't argue that he didn't have a good body. His biceps were toned and his veins lightly popped out of his arms to give anyone a reason to believe he was in incredibly good shape.

"My face is up here," he said pointing at his face with a smirk.

I couldn't even deny that I had checked him out, so there was no point in salvaging my ego at this point. "You are unbelievable," I barked at him.

"In so many ways," he immediately responded with a wink.

My eyes widened in disgust at his innuendo. I made a frustrated noise and stormed out of the room, slamming the door on my way out.

I stomped down the hall to Harrison's room to pick him up for the team meeting. I knocked on the door and waited. The door cracked open, and I could see Harrison's hazel eyes looking back at me.

"Oh, it's just you," he said opening the door wider and stepping out into the hall.

"How's your roommate?" I asked trying to peek through the open door before he closed it.

"Not here. His stuff is all unpacked, but he left before I got there. How's your's?"

"Terrible. I've never met someone more full of themselves. His name is Miles," I complained as we walked down the hall to the elevator.

"Miles Harris?"

I whipped my head around to look at Harrison. "Yes. How did you know that?"

"Miles and I are both from Benton, Pennsylvania, so I know him from the club ball circuit. We made the local newspaper when we both got invited to this camp. He's like a mini celebrity in Benton."

"A celebrity? I didn't realize having the biggest ego garnered that title."

"It didn't. He's a really good baseball player and is being recruited nationally."

"Okay, sure," I said sarcastically.

"I'm serious."

I had no desire to continue a conversation regarding my roommate, so I didn't reply. Harrison pushed the down arrow for the elevator. We stepped on when it got to the second floor and I pushed the ground floor button. The doors began to close when a voice called from down the hall.

"Hold the door."

Harrison stuck his hand in between the doors right before they closed. They sprung open when they tapped his hand.

Of all people that could have been coming, it was of course Miles that came running around the corner and stepped on to the elevator.

"Hey," he said pushing a hand through his hair.

I rolled my eyes and looked down at my fingernails.

"Thanks for holding the door," Miles said. His gaze was still directed my way as if I was the only one in the elevator.

"I didn't hold the door. I would have preferred making you take the stairs. Thank Harrison," I snapped at him not bothering to look up.

While I wanted nothing to do with him, Harrison looked starstruck as he looked at Miles. His eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly agape.

Miles finally seemed to recognize that we weren't the only two in the elevator. "Thanks Shrimp," Miles said barely giving him a second glance.

"N-n-no problem," Harrison said, a wide grin spreading across his face as the great Miles Harris acknowledged him.

"Don't call him that," I said immediately annoyed. Harrison obviously looked up to him and he should treated with some respect since he was our teammate.

"Alright, Shorty," Miles said looking at me for approval. There was a twinkle in his eye as if he enjoyed trying to get a rise out of me.

"No," I snapped in reply.

"Short stack?"

"No!"

"Fine, Smalls it is. Work with you? It's from the Sandlot. Come on, that's a fantastic movie."

Harrison nodded his head vigorously. I gave Harrison a look of disapproval, which he just responded with a shrug of the shoulders. The acknowledgement from Miles alone was enough to make him happy.

We finally hit the ground floor, and as soon as the doors opened, I pulled Harrison by the arm out of the building.

"I'll catch up with you guys," Miles yelled from behind us.

Harrison tried to wave, but I quickly smacked his hand down.

"Check your packet for where were suppose to meet," I instructed Harrison once we were far enough away from the dorm building.

"Geez, pushy," he said taking out his packet.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Sorry," he muttered shuffling through the papers. "Field 2."

As we approached the complex, I noticed how well kept up it was. A rock path lead to the four field park with trees lining the path. There were three practice fields and one stadium style field where the Red Foxes play their home games. The grass was green and lush, while the dirt had been carefully dragged.