Page 19 of Baseball and Shifters

“Hey. No. Don’t do that.” Dallas puts her hand on Maya’s shoulder. “I love learning new things. And I love your excitement for sharing your knowledge. Don’t be embarrassed.”

“Really?” Maya looks at Dallas with hope-filled eyes.

“Hell, yeah! I think it’s awesome that you know so much about the school. Right girls?”

“Yeah. And to think you knew nothing about any of this just a few weeks ago,” Aubree says.

“I know who to come to if I ever need help researching anything,” I agree.

“Thanks guys.”

“So, where’s our seats?” Dallas backs up with a smile. “I’m ready to learn all about Baseball.”

“You guys are the best,” Maya sighs. “Come on, they’re over here. Best seats in the house.”

She leads us through the stadium down aisles like a woman on a mission until she stops right in front of the field.

“This is us.” She grins as she indicates our seats.

“Holy hell! Could you get any closer to the field?” Dallas gasps.

“I didn’t want to sit in some cozy press box. I want the full experience. I hope y’all don’t mind.”

“Are you kidding? This is awesome! Look there’s the team!” Dallas points to her right and sure enough, I can see a couple players in striking dark blue uniforms.

“That’s the home team dugout. One of the reasons why these are such good seats. You can see the entire field clearly from here and you’re so close to the players it’s like you’re part of the action. We might even catch a foul ball.”

“I’m sorry. What? The balls are going to come into the stands? We could gethit?” I cut off her rant about theawesomeseats.

Why would anyone think that’s a good thing?

“I mean… I hear the third baseman has never let a fly ball get past him, even a foul. So it’s unlikely.” She shrugs. “Unless the other team sucks and one of our guys hits a foul…”

“I think I would prefer the press box. Sounds safer,” I grumble.

“Oh, don’t be such a sourpuss. You need the whole fan experience anyway, remember? You can’t market to fans if you don’t understand what they want.”

“Why do you have to be so logical?” I groan dramatically.

“Because otherwise, you’d stay locked up in your room and come up with the worst marketing package and fail, then have to drop out and go back home to your awful dad. And I can’t let that happen.”

“Well, when you put it like that…”

We all laugh and take our seats as the announcer's voice booms out of the speakers surrounding the stands.

“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to Eldergrove Nightclaws Stadium! We couldn’t ask for better weather for opening day. Thank you Eldergrove for the phenomenal hospitality. I always love visiting this stadium. Just listen to that crowd. They’re electric!”

The crowd goes wild as they start the opening spiel.

“They sure are, Jim,” the second announcer agrees.

“Today is sure to be a close game with the Shadowpeak Predators hunting for a do-over on their last game against the Nightclaws.”

“That’s right, Jim. Last year, the Predators lost it all in a five to four crushing defeat by the Nightclaws.”

“But it’s a new year. New team. This is anyone’s game, Bill.”

“Things could go either way, that’s for sure. Without further ado, here are your twenty twenty-five Shadowpeak Predators!”

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