Hit & Miss by Derek Jeter

Author:Derek Jeter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books

Chapter Nine

THE SWING DOCTOR

After shaking hands with the winning team, Derek looked for his parents in the stands. There they were, with Sharlee standing close to their mom, looking sad.

He hugged her but avoided her hurt-looking gaze, focusing instead on his father. “Dad,” he said with a pleading note in his voice, “will you take me to the batting cages after school tomorrow?”

“Hmm . . .” Mr. Jeter seemed to be thinking it over. “Tell me, Derek, how’d you do on that science test?”

“I got a ninety-two,” Derek said. “It was hard, too!”

“All right, all right,” Mr. Jeter said with a smile. “I guess ninety-two isn’t so bad.”

“Yessss!”

“How about you invite your new friend?” Mr. Jeter suggested. “And Vijay, too. Maybe they’d like to come along.”

“Sure!” Derek said excitedly, turning to see where Dave and Vijay were. Dave was alone at the end of the team bench and was about to leave. Derek knew the Mercedes would be around the corner, where no one could see it or connect it to Dave.

Derek felt sorry for him. Dave didn’t want anyone to know he was rich, but really, it was way too late for that. He’d have been better off just being who he was and giving the kids time to get to know him.

“Dave!” he called.

“Hey,” said Dave, looking as defeated as the rest of the Red Sox.

“Want to come with me and my dad to the batting cages? He’s great at fixing swings.”

“Sure! I could really use some work on mine!” Dave’s face brightened hopefully. “When?”

“After school tomorrow?”

“Great! I’ll just ask Chase, but I’m sure it’ll be okay. Meet you there?”

“Cool.” They high-fived, and Derek turned to find Vijay, who was standing with a bunch of the other kids, talking in low voices and glancing over at Dave, who was already walking away.

“Hey, Vij, want to come to the cages with me and my dad after school tomorrow? We can drive you.”

“Sure!” Vijay said instantly. “Definitely yes!”

“Dave’s going to come too, probably,” Derek added.

Suddenly Vijay’s expression changed. “Oh,” he said, looking away, over at the other kids nearby. It was almost like he wanted to make sure they weren’t listening. “Well . . . um, okay,” he said in a hushed voice. “Never mind the lift, though. I’ll ask my parents to drop me there.”

“Cool.”

Derek was confused. What was up with Vijay? It was the strangest thing—and it seemed to be connected to Dave . . . .

Whatever it was, Derek hoped it went away fast. Like, before their batting session the next afternoon.

• • •

Dave leaned back on his right foot, waiting for the ball machine to fling its next missile his way. When the ball shot out of the chute, he made sure to keep his swing level all the way through the strike zone.

“There you go! That’s right, like you’re chopping down a tree. Good! Swing down at it. Yeah. You see how you hit that one?”

Derek’s dad clapped his hands and patted Dave on the back as he left the cage and handed the bat to Derek.

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