A Whole New Ball Game (8 page)

Ava jumped in. “Alex was huge on school spirit back at our old school,” she informed the group.

Alex finally found her voice. “Yeah, but I
didn't do anything that involved any actual moving. I'm a total klutz athletically,” she said. “I think ‘ungainly' is a good word to describe me.”

Corey laughed. Alex noticed her sister scowl. What was her problem with Corey?

“Ava's the athlete,” Alex continued loyally, smiling at her sister. “She's awesome at any sport she tries.”

Jack grinned at Ava.

Ava glared at Corey.

Corey was hanging on every word Alex said.

Alex sniffed and turned away from Jack.

Then Emily and Rosa steered the conversation toward school and teachers and classes, and Corey and Jack went to join another group of boys a couple of bleacher sections away. As they headed off, Corey glanced back and almost smashed into a stair railing, catching himself just in time. Alex giggled and then joined the animated conversation with her new friends. Ava, as usual when around new people, was pretty quiet, only speaking when someone asked her a question. Alex tried bringing her into the conversation, but it seemed like Ava's mind was elsewhere. After a while, Alex heard their father calling.

“Girls! Time to head home!”

Alex exchanged phone numbers with the other girls. Ava had forgotten her phone again.

They followed their dad and Tommy toward the car a few minutes later. “Jack's great, huh?” Ava said when they were in the backseat (shotgun rules didn't apply after practice; Tommy automatically got the front).

Alex shrugged. “He's okay. How much do you really
like
like him?” She knew she should say something to her sister about how she'd seen him in the mall that day with the blond girl; how she was 98 percent sure she was his girlfriend. She just couldn't bring herself to deflate Ava's first crush in their new town.

Ava reddened. “I never said I
like
liked him. We just played basketball, that's all.”

“Okay,” said Alex, deciding to let it drop. “So, what'd you think of Corey?”

“Oh. Corey. Yeah. He's okay,” said Ava.

“You don't think he's supercute?”

Ava shrugged.

They were silent for a few minutes, and then Ava blurted out, “You weren't too friendly to Jack.”

Alex shrugged. “He's fine,” she said carefully. She didn't know what to say! “He just . . . well,
he strikes me as a little inappropriate for you.”

Ava's eyes narrowed. “Inappropriate? You sound like a teacher, Al. I'm not saying this because I like Jack or anything. I don't. But you were turning your back to him and practically ignoring everything he said. Do you think he's inappropriate because he isn't on the middle school football team, like Corey? Or part of student government? Or just because he's not cool enough?”

Alex was outraged. “No! I never implied that! I just think he—he lacks character. Anyway, you weren't especially friendly to Corey. What was that about?”

Ava shrugged again.

“Maybe
you
like him?” accused Alex.

Ava's eyes widened with horror. “Him? Ew! No!”

Alex's eyes flashed with anger. She thought again about telling Ava that the guy she liked was a double-crossing two-timer. “Scoundrel” was a good word for him. But this time she chose not to out of anger.

By the time they got home, neither girl was speaking to the other.

Again.

On Saturday afternoon Tommy came home early from practice.

“Is everything okay?” Mrs. Sackett asked him worriedly. “You didn't hurt yourself, did you?”

“Everything's fine,” said Tommy. “We had baseline concussion testing today—just a bunch of computer questions that measure our processing speed and reaction time in case we ever get a concussion.”

Mrs. Sacket looked relieved. “Got it. Well, I was going to take the girls to the pool. But maybe you'd like to take them?”

“Sure,” Tommy said. “I heard some of the guys say they might be heading there too.”

It had taken awhile to understand the driving
laws in Texas, but Tommy and their mom had finally gotten the paperwork straightened out saying that it was legal for Tommy to drive his siblings.

The car ride there was quiet. After a few minutes, Tommy gave up trying to find a station that didn't play country. This time Alex had actually won the shotgun battle for the front passenger seat. They rode in silence until Alex finally cleared her throat and blurted out a question.

“How are things between you and Daddy?” she asked Tommy.

Ava perked up her ears.

Tommy drummed the wheel thoughtfully, as though trying to think of the best way to respond. “Things are okay, not great,” he said. “Some of the guys think Coach is being really harsh on a few players. Like PJ and Tyler. And even me,” he added grimly.

“Oh,” said Alex worriedly. “I thought things were better.”

In the backseat, Ava crossed her arms and sulked. She'd been concerned about their dad since they'd gotten to Texas. Why had it taken Alex so long to get a clue?

But she knew the answer to that. That was
the way Alex always was: quick to love everyone and see the bright side of everything. She was slow to acknowledge that a person might have ulterior motives and wasn't quite as nice as she thought. Alex liked everyone, and everyone liked Alex.

As they pulled into the parking lot, Tommy put the car in park and then took out his phone to check his texts. “A bunch of guys from the team are meeting up here,” he announced. “You girls okay staying awhile?”

“Yes!” said Alex quickly. “I just got a text from Emily. She said she's on her way here too. I guess a whole bunch of AMS kids come to this pool on Saturdays. Let's stay as long as possible.” Ava had to admire her sister. She was very good at sizing up the social landscape of a new place and strategically putting herself into the right situations. How had she known that this pool, which was across town from their neighborhood, was the place to see and be seen?
She probably
will
get herself elected class president,
Ava thought.

The girl at the front desk smiled at Tommy. Ava had noticed that girls did this a lot these days. Then the girl looked at the twins, and
realization dawned on her face. “Oh! Y'all must be the Sacketts, right?”

“Yeah,” said Tommy with a grin. “My twin sisters are a dead giveaway. How much do we owe you?”

“No charge for y'all,” she said, waving them through. “Women's locker room on the left, men's is straight ahead.”

“Thanks,” said Alex and Ava together.

“A girl could get used to this royal treatment,” Alex whispered to Ava as they headed into the locker room to change.

The swimming area was enormous. There were three different pools—one shallow wading pool full of little kids and their parents; another, directly in front of them, that looked like a tween and teen hangout; and a third that looked like an Olympic-size pool and was marked off with lanes. Serious swimmers were doing laps, and a swim practice was going on at the far end.

As Tommy headed off to find his teammates, the girls found two empty chairs and dragged them together. Then they laid out their towels. Alex settled into her chair and opened her magazine as Ava peeled off her T-shirt. Her mom had finally convinced her to buy a new bathing
suit, and she had to admit, she loved it. It was a sleek, silver, one-piece racer.

Alex, in contrast, had talked their mother into buying her two new suits. Today she was debuting a cute fluorescent-blue bikini with a retro-looking, forties-style halter top.

Ava had just gotten settled into her chair and closed her eyes when she heard Alex squeal.

“There's Emily!”

Alex sat up and waved wildly.

Ava opened one eye. Emily was waving back from the other side of the pool, beckoning to them. Or was it just to Alex? Ava was so accustomed to being friends with Alex's friends. It had always been convenient for quiet, reserved Ava, not having to make small talk and flit around at birthday parties. She usually liked Alex's friends just fine, and they her, but here it seemed like a whole new ball game. Ava hadn't spoken to Emily very much, so she couldn't really assume Emily already wanted to be her friend. Maybe she was just beckoning to Alex.

“Let's go over there,” said Alex excitedly.

“Now?” said Ava. “We just got settled here.”

“Ave,” said Alex in her most matter-of-fact
voice. “This is an important social opportunity for both of us.”

Ava sat up and swung her legs around to stand up. “You go ahead,” she said to Alex. “I just saw Coach Byron and his kids, Jamila and Shane—the ones we see at practice sometimes. I'm going to go say hi.”

“Okay,” said Alex. “I'll be over there.”

Ava sighed. Playing with younger kids seemed so much less complicated. She just didn't have the energy to delve into the Ashland Middle School social scene. Not yet.

As Alex made her way around the pool, she spotted a boy in the water. He had reddish hair, and he was hanging out at the side of the pool, talking with Emily and her friends, who were sitting on lounge chairs. Was it Corey? Her heart thudded. She could only see him from the back. Water streamed off his shoulders as he pulled himself effortlessly out of the pool and then stood up.

As she approached them, she silently thanked her mother for letting her buy this second
bathing suit. She knew she looked great in it.

Corey must have thought so too, because as soon as he caught sight of her he tripped backward over a lounge chair, barely catching himself before he fell into the pool.

Alex giggled. He was truly adorable. Her breath caught in her throat as she noticed how his bright-blue eyes seemed to glow, even from this far away.

“Hey!” he called to her.

“Hi!” she said brightly, addressing the group. She tried not to look at Corey too much, but her eyes seemed drawn to him.

“Don't you look cute as a bug!” said Emily, leaping up and hurrying over to Alex. She crooked her elbow through Alex's and led her to a free chair in the midst of the group. Alex could see Corey out of the corner of her eye as he headed over to a group of his friends and sat down. She was pretty sure he was still gawking at her.

“Where's that twin sister of yours?” asked Rosa, sitting up on one elbow and smiling at Alex.

Alex looked around. She spotted Ava in the kiddie pool, moving through the shallow end
with Jamila on her back and Shane chasing them. The kids were screaming with delight.

“Over there,” she said, smiling. “She's playing ‘shark attack' with those little kids.”

“Aw, how sweet,” said Annelise. “We were just heading to the snack bar,” she went on. “Want to come with us?”

“Oh, thanks, I'm fine for now,” Alex said. Then she wondered if that had been a mistake. Should she have agreed to go with them? Had she missed an important socializing opportunity? Or would this be the perfect chance to think of a reason to say something to Corey?

The three girls stood up. Emily smiled at Alex and tossed her a bottle of sunscreen. “Here, slather up,” she said. “You northerners need to get used to our Texas sun!”

As Alex was putting sunscreen on her legs, a shadow fell over her. She looked up. It was Corey. Gulp.

“How's it going?” he asked.

“Um, great.” She knew she had to say something, but her mind was totally blank.

“So how's your dad's team look?” Corey finally said.

Alex's heart sank. She knew nothing about
football and cared nothing about football. She couldn't carry on a conversation about it to save her life—not like Ava could. She would have to make a note to learn the game better. She could learn the players' names, that kind of thing. But for now, what should she say to Corey? She needed to come up with a standard response to this question, because it seemed to be the one everyone asked.

“Um, okay, I guess,” she managed.

Corey abruptly sat down next to her on the lounge chair. Her whole body stiffened—whether in thrilled excitement or pure terror, she had no clue.

“Sorry, that was a dumb question,” he said.

“No, it wasn't. It's just that I—”

“You've probably been asked that by every person in this whole town,” he said.

She smiled gratefully. “I do hear it a lot,” she admitted.

“I was just trying to make conversation. I'm not great at small talk.”

Inside, her stomach did a cautious little flip. Maybe he liked her, too!

“Well, you should really ask my sister that question,” she said. “She's really into our dad's
team. She even plays football herself. She was the star kicker at our school back in Massachusetts.”

“No kidding,” he said. “That's pretty cool. But you told me before you weren't that into sports, right?”