Page 18 of The Strike Zone

Who’d left their shower shoesinthe shower?

The video was posted yesterday, and even for the start of the season, there’d been incredible engagement. We’d had nearly three million views in twenty-four hours, and over five thousand comments. (It was widely agreed the shower shoes belonged to Ace Watson.)

“Happy to hear it. I look forward to seeing the results,” Ava replied with a smile, her eyes quickly flicking to Lowe before focusing back on me. “Keep up the good work, Scout. You have great ideas, and your work during preseason was excellent.”

“Thank you.”

“Anyway, I”—she gestured over to Lowe—“we, wanted to discuss a new opportunity with you. We’re creating an overarching Lions social brand, which includes the Jungle Kings—the Triple-A team out in White Plains. Penn Shepherd wants consistency, and we believe it’s key for audience reach and strengthening our fan base. One of the roles will be a social manager who can create a strategy for each of our channels and lead a small team, reporting to Tim Chang, the VP of comms over in White Plains. We’ve been impressed by your work over the last year with the Lions and think it would be a great step up for you. I’ll get HR to send the job description over, and the post will be announced externally next month. But we’d like you to apply.”

My brows shot up, my already clammy palms became even sweatier. I didn’t know what this meeting was about, or how it would go, but it hadn’t beenthis.A new job.

“Oh wow, that’s—thank you. Thank you for thinking of me. I’m honored.”

“You know the brand, you work hard, your ideas are inventive and creative. We’d be silly not to include you,” Ava replied as she stood, indicating the end of the meeting. She meant it when she said she wouldn’t keep me long.

Please don’t ask me any questions, please don’t ask me any questions.

My brain was whirring too fast to come up with answers, I only just remembered how to stand up, put one foot in front of the other, and make my way to the door.

Lowe followed close behind. “This is a great opportunity for you, Scout. I hope you don’t need to think too hard about applying.”

“No, no, ma’am,” I stuttered, certain it was the first time I’d ever heard her say my name, and before ten minutes ago I hadn’t even realized she knew who I was. “Thank you, again.”

I barely took a step out of the office when Alice rushed over. If the meeting room wasn’t made of glass, there’s no way she wouldn’t have been pressing her ear to the door. As it was, I found myself yanked back over to the elevator banks and out of sight.

“What was that about?” she asked, rapidly pressing the button for it to arrive. “You looked so nervous. Why was Lowe Slater in there?”

“Did I?”

“Yeah, you were doing that thing you do where you rub your hands together. I thought you were getting fired. Tell me you didn’t get fired. Do we have to pack up boxes?”

“I didn’t get fired.” I crossed my arms over my chest, ramming my palms into my armpits, which were still kind of nervously sweaty.

“Then why’d you look so nervous?”

“I’ve never been called in like that before,” I replied, stepping into the elevator as the doors opened, and hitting the button for the ground floor. “But they’re creating a new overarching Lions brand to include the Jungle Kings. They want me to apply for a role in it. Social manager for all the channels.”

“No way!” Alice’s eyes widened. “That’s awesome, babe. Do you want to apply?”

I shrugged. “I guess. I literally found out about it two minutes ago. Once I get the job description, I’ll check it out. I’d get more responsibility. It could be great.”

“You should totally apply,” she replied as we reached the ground floor. “When you get the paperwork, we’ll go through it. Hey, do we have plans for after the game tomorrow?”

“Don’t think so. You wanna go out?”

“Yeah, not a late one though. I’m still hungover from last week.”

I was about to reply that it was unsurprising given what she’d drunk last week, when I realized I stepped out alone. “What are you doing?”

“Going back to my desk. I only rode down with you to find out what the meeting was about.”

For the first time since I got called into Ava’s office, I laughed. “Of course you did.”

“Keep up the good work, hot stuff,” she yelled through the narrowly closing gap. “See you at lunch.”

I bit down on my grin, thankful—for once—there was no one around to hear her, and made my way out of the building to where the guys were setting up, waving to Pablo as I passed the desk.

A sharp breeze hit me as I walked outside, and I cursed myself for leaving my sweater on my chair upstairs. It looked way warmer from the windows.

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