It was a beautiful day and the sun was shining. Last night’s rain had dried up and it seemed like it never rained before. Harry was watching the finals of the Blue Jays & The New York Yankees. He had invited Peter over to watch the game and eat popcorn that had been heated in the microwave. Harry’s mother was baking them some cookies. Harry had 2 tickets for the game but his father had gotten sick unfortunately.

Apparently, he had chewed on the end of a pen and digested the ink. Now he had taken some Pepto-Bismol and was lying in bed. The Blue Jays were down by 3 points & the New York Yankees were in the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Harry was disappointed in the Jays. Jeremy Accardo stepped up to bat. The pitcher pitched and Jeremy swung, Ironically Jeremy’s metal bat broke into 2 pieces! It was his lucky bat which he had been using for 3 years! It seemed that it had started to rust.

The game was getting more and more boring. Harry and Peter went to play outside. Both of them were 16 years old in the tenth grade. They both knew each other at the age of 5 and were both very good baseball players. Harry was much more skilled than Peter but Peter was still not that bad. Peter and Harry walked to the baseball diamond at their school. Peter started to pitch and Harry stood at bat. Peter was better at pitching and Harry at batting. They played silently. Peter and Harry were hyped. They couldn’t wait for the list on Monday for the baseball team.

On Monday afternoon, Harry and Peter both ran to the gym office. There it was, the list had been posted up! The first name on the list was Harry’s. Peter went down the list looking and searching for his name. It was the last name on the list. That day after school, they had met other students. There was a mean kid named Jimmy who always bossed people around. He tried to act cool. Once he put Peter’s dry clothes in the showers, and they had stayed in the water for 3 hours! Jimmy had other friends as well who made the team. Peter had seen him smoking cigarettes with his friends and obviously he was up to no good. Jimmy was older than Harry and Peter by 2 years. He paid no attention to what the coach said. The team’s first game was against St. Martins School.

As the day arrived for the game, Harry had scored 3 home runs & Peter struck out 5 batters. The Woodlands had won the game 7-4. As the weeks passed by, Woodlands won all their games. Jimmy was impressed by Harry’s batting & Harry was invited to Jimmy’s house to celebrate. That night, it was raining hard causing the baseball field to get wet. And for the first time in Harry’s life, he drank a beer or 2. The next day, Jimmy suggested Harry and his friends that they should go drink on the school bleachers. Ironically they got caught by the coach and suspended for the next game. Peter could not believe what had happened. In their third last game, Peter could not concentrate without Harry. They lost that game by 8-4. The next game after that, Harry was back on the team ashamed of what he had done. With Harry & Jimmy back they had beaten Apple Wood 15-8.