My New Team by Krystle Howard

Author:Krystle Howard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2014-07-31T16:00:00+00:00

Soon they dug into the pizza. Rhino was on his second slice when C.J. spoke up.

“So, who is that kid?” C.J. asked.

Rhino knew which kid C.J. meant. “Dylan,” Rhino mumbled. “He’s a pain.”

“I’ve seen him around,” C.J. said. “He’s always by himself. Doesn’t he have any friends?”

Rhino wasn’t sure. He assumed Dylan had a few friends somewhere, but he couldn’t think of any. “He picks on everybody,” Rhino said. “I don’t know why anyone would want to be his friend.”

“You can just ignore him,” C.J. said.

“He’s hard to ignore,” Rhino replied. “He’s always saying things at school or at practice. He made me mad when I was batting.”

“You have to tune that out,” Grandpa said. “Concentrate on the pitcher. There will always be people trying to distract you or intimidate you when you’re batting.”

“Some people are poor sports,” C.J. said. “I had to deal with that, too.”

“How did you do it?” Rhino asked.

“Like Grandpa said, you tune it out.” C.J. smiled. “The best way to shut them up is to get a hit.”

Rhino nodded. Hitting that double had helped. But Dylan had been just as mean after.

“There’s one other thing to remember,” C.J. said. “Sometimes you can turn an enemy into a friend. It isn’t easy, but I’ve done it. Some kids just don’t know how to start.”

Rhino looked at the pizza crust in his hand. He didn’t want to be friends with Dylan. Why should he even try?

“Do you know what position you’ll be playing?” Grandpa asked.

“Not yet,” Rhino said. “I did pretty well in center field. Then Coach had me try third base. I didn’t like that very much.”

“At your age you should try all of the positions,” Grandpa said. “You never know which one will suit you.”

“Your coach will figure out where you’ll do best,” C.J. said. “You’ve got a strong arm so he might keep you at third base.”

“I hope not.” It was a long throw from third base to first. Plus, he’d have to field some hot grounders. “I like the outfield,” he said. He would certainly make some errors at third base. Dylan would hound him about that. “You need a strong arm out in center field, too.”

“The number one rule is to have fun,” Grandpa said. “Number two is to play hard and learn the game.”

Number three is to ignore Dylan, Rhino thought. That would be the toughest rule of all.

C.J. slid his arm toward Rhino and brought his fist against his brother’s hand. “Hang in there,” he said. “Be yourself.”

Who else could Rhino be? He wasn’t sure what C.J. meant. But he felt a lot better, anyway.

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