“Hello?”

  “It’s me,” Sue said hurriedly. “Okay, I called Karen, Nina, Beth, and Laurie — they’re all still on the team, and so am I. They’re gonna check with everybody else, just to make sure.”

  “Great,” Kelly said miserably. “So I’m the only one who’s off the team?”

  “It’s got to be a mistake,” Sue assured her. “Did you tell your mom?”

  “I didn’t get a chance,” Kelly explained. “She’s out with this new dorky guy she’s seeing. Ugh.”

  “I know exactly what you mean,” Sue commiserated. “My mom has the worst taste in guys. You’d think she’d let go of it by now. I mean, she’s forty years old, for goodness’ sake. But no, every once in a while she forgets and starts dating some new loser. It’s always the same thing. The last guy was this airline pilot? Turned out he had a girlfriend in each of six different cities. Can you believe it?”

  Kelly couldn’t help laughing. Sue was such a hoot.

  “Anyway, don’t worry, they’ll break up before you know it,” Sue assured her. “Nobody wants to go out with a lady who’s got a kid.”

  “You should have seen the phony smile he gave me,” Kelly told her.

  “I can just picture it,” Sue said. “Anyhow, listen, about the team — it’s some stupid mistake, I’m sure of it. I’ll bet if you just call the commissioner and explain, he’ll put you back on the team. Just tell him that —”

  “Yeah, right,” Kelly interrupted her. “Have you forgotten who the commissioner is?”

  “Huh?”

  “He’s Lacey Jenkins’s dad.”

  “Oh. Oops…”

  Lacey, as Sue well knew, was Kelly’s worst enemy.

  “You’ve got to forgive and forget your feud with her,” Sue advised sagely. “After all, it wasn’t your fault that Billy O’Donnell liked you better than her.”

  “Yeah, tell that to Lacey,” Kelly said, smirking.

  “Besides, it’s ancient history! That was back in sixth grade, for goodness’ sake!”

  Kelly sighed impatiently. “I can forgive all I want,” she said. “But Lacey is not going to let her dad do me any favors. I’m telling you, Susie. It’s a no-go.”

  “Well, you can at least try,” Sue insisted. “What have you got to lose?”

  “Okay, okay,” Kelly said, giving in reluctantly. “I’ll try talking with her tomorrow at school — even though she hasn’t said a kind word to me in a year and a half.”

  “That’s the girl,” Sue said encouragingly. “You’ll be surprised what a little friendliness can accomplish.”

  “You’re right,” Kelly shot back. “I will be surprised.”

  “Hey,” Sue said, “you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”

  “Hmm …where have I heard that before?” Kelly said, grinning in spite of herself.

  She felt much better after she hung up with Sue, but soon the sense of dread returned. She found herself, as she often did in her weakest, lowest moments, punching in her dad’s number on the memory dial.

  The phone rang …and rang …and rang. Not that Kelly was surprised. Her dad was almost never home when she called him. And although she knew he had an answering machine — he was always leaving funny messages on it that cracked her up — as often as not, he forgot to turn the machine on.

  She hung up, sighing deeply. It was no use. She was just going to have to live through the rest of this night with the great lump of worry in her stomach. Kelly felt worse than she had in years.

  Oh well, she thought, shuffling into the living room and flipping on the TV, maybe tomorrow will be better. At least it can’t be worse.

  But it was worse. Much worse. Kelly tracked down Lacey Jenkins in the cafeteria during lunch period. Lacey was at her usual table, with all the other popular, snobby kids Kelly hated. Fair was fair — they didn’t like her much, either. Kelly wasn’t surprised they held a low opinion of her after listening to Lacey trash her day after day. They sneered at her now as she approached with her heart in her throat.

  “Um, hi, Lacey,” Kelly said in a low voice.

  Lacey looked at her, stunned, blinking rapidly. “Kelly Conroy?” she said, pronouncing the name like it was some deadly disease or some disgusting, slimy thing. “What are you doing here?”

  “I, um…” Kelly felt her throat tightening. Suddenly, her knees were all rubbery, and she wanted to turn tail and run — or, at least, sink into the floor. “I just wanted to say hi,” she mumbled lamely.

  Lacey snorted. “Yeah, right,” she said, sharing a skeptical laugh with her friends. “Just a friendly gesture, right?”

  Kelly tried to smile, but her lips quivered, and she knew it must have looked more like a grimace, so she gave up.

  “Just what is it you want?” Lacey challenged her. “That’s the only reason you’d ever come over to me and say hi. So you might as well come out and ask me, so I can say no and get it over with.”

  “Um, no, you’re wrong,” Kelly lied. She was trapped, and she knew it — beaten before she’d even got started. “I just thought, let bygones be bygones, and like that….”

  “Well, aren’t you little Mother Teresa?” Lacey quipped, sending her friends into sniggering fits. “Saint Kelly Conroy. Who do you think you are, anyway?” She turned her back to Kelly, and everyone at the table followed suit.

  There was nothing for Kelly to do but back away and get out of there, so that’s what she did. If she’d had a tail at that moment, it would have been between her legs as she skulked away.

  Kelly kept walking until she was clear out of the cafeteria. She didn’t want to talk to anybody while she was this shaky. She was afraid if she did, she’d burst into tears and embarrass herself. She made her way into the empty auditorium, where she sat down in the back row and composed herself, waiting for her next class, study hall.

  Karen Haynes came in after a few minutes and saw her sitting there. “Kel!” she cried. Coming right over and sitting down next to Kelly, she gave her a big, tight hug. Kelly, as she was afraid she would, burst into bitter sobs.

  “Don’t worry, kid,” Karen assured her, rocking Kelly in her arms. “It’s obviously just a simple mistake. A clerical error, like they say. I’m sure if you have your mom call the commissioner, he’ll change you back. I mean, friendship is what softball league is supposed to be all about, right? Why would any grown-up want to break a kid’s heart by separating her from her best friends? That would be so demented!”

  Kelly wiped her eyes and gave Karen a broken, trembling smile before hugging her again, even tighter this time. Maybe Karen was right, she thought, daring to nurture some fragile hope. Lacey’s father couldn’t possibly be as mean as his daughter was. Maybe he didn’t even know about the feud between her and Kelly.

  Still, Kelly wasn’t going to let her hopes get raised too high. In her experience, grown-ups didn’t understand much about what kids wanted and why. You’d think they’d never been kids themselves.

  3

  Kelly got home from school before three-thirty, so she had to wait two whole hours before her mom got home. It was the slowest two hours in world history. She got all her homework done, although most of it was probably wrong, considering how hard it was to concentrate. The whole time, the TV blared music videos in the background. It distracted her, but it also kept her mind off her misery, so she made no move to turn it off.

  By five o’clock, Kelly was going stir crazy. She knew her mom didn’t like her to fill up on snacks right before dinner, but she couldn’t help herself. She dove into the chips and salsa, and when they were gone, she made herself a plate of fruit, cheese, and crackers. At five-twenty, she started cleaning it all up so her mom wouldn’t notice. Tonight, when Kelly said she wasn’t hungry and didn’t want any mashed potatoes or broccoli, she’d tell her mom it was because she was upset over the softball team. Well, it’s true, isn’t it? she thought.

  Her mom didn’t pull into the driveway until nearly six, and by that time Kelly was beside herself. “Hi, Mom!” she yelled, rushing out the door to give her a big hug.

  “Well! Isn’t this a nice greeting?” Her mom looked beautiful, Kelly noticed. Deep happiness seemed to well up out of her, beaming out of her sparkling blue eyes.

  “I love you, Mom,” Kelly said, trying not to show how upset she was.

  “I love you, too, sweetie,” her mom replied. Freeing herself from her daughter’s grip, Mrs. Conroy went into the house and took off her trench coat. “Oh, I had such a fantastic day today!” she cooed. “Do you want to hear all about it?”

  “Um …sure,” Kelly said. She needed to ask her mom about calling the commissioner, but she figured it was better to wait for the right moment to ask for the favor.

  “Well, I got to my desk, and there were two dozen long-stemmed roses on it, guess from who!”

  “Uh …Ken?”

  “Yes! Isn’t that so romantic?”

  Kelly suddenly felt the need to blow chunks. This was totally gross. Her mom was all gooey over this corny guy Ken, and all because he made goo-goo eyes at her and gave her flowers!

  “Well, that was just the beginning,” her mom went on, breezing into the kitchen and beginning to prepare food for dinner. “There were half a dozen e-mails from him on my computer. I did tell you he works in the office with me, right?”

  “Uh, yeah….”

  “And the most amazing thing is that he’s been there over a year, and we’ve barely looked at each other all that time. And now all of a sudden, wham! Isn’t that amazing?”

  “Amazing,” Kelly repeated wanly. Eeuw — her mom was actually in love! She was acting like one of Kelly’s middle school buddies. Kelly felt embarrassed for her.

  “Well, then he came by my cubicle and whisked me off to lunch at this cute little bistro, and he told me — get this — he told me last night was the most wonderful time he’d had in years! Years! Oh, Kelly, I don’t know when I’ve been this happy. Not since you were a very little girl, I can tell you. Oh, I hope you like him!” she said, suddenly worried.

  Kelly tried to paste a smile on her face. “I guess he’s okay,” she said. What she wanted to say, but couldn’t, was, “He’s not as nice as Dad. How could you even look at another guy, when Dad’s so fun, and handsome, and …and…”

  But Kelly knew why her dad wasn’t around anymore.

  No wonder her mother liked Ken, with all the attention he was showering on her. Still, it was pathetic, Kelly thought. Who was this guy, anyway? Mom didn’t even know him that well, and here she was, all gaga.

  Kelly was so angry she could barely contain herself. She wanted to tell her mom to wake up and smell the coffee. She wasn’t a girl anymore, so it was time to stop acting like one, for Pete’s sake!

  But she couldn’t really say that. She didn’t want to get on her mom’s bad side — not tonight, at least. Not until her mom called the commissioner and got this awful mistake straightened out.

  Kelly excused herself to go wash up for dinner. She needed to chill, no doubt about it. She went to the bathroom and doused her face and hands with cold water, taking deep breaths and looking at herself in the mirror. She had the same strawberry-blonde hair and blue eyes as her mom, but with the frown on her face and the redness in her eyes from all the crying she’d been doing, she looked like the older of the two.

  Kelly stayed there, working on looking neutral, until she was satisfied she didn’t seem upset. Then she went down to dinner. She sat opposite her mom at the table as always, but just pushed her food around with her fork, not eating anything.

  “What’s the matter, honey?” her mom finally said; noticing for the first time that all might not be well with Kelly. “Is something bothering you?”

  “I got put on the wrong softball team,” Kelly told her.

  “Oh, no!” her mom gasped. “You mean, you’re not with Karen, or Sue?”

  “Nope. None of them.”

  “But that’s terrible! Oh, honey, I feel so bad for you. No wonder you aren’t hungry!”

  Looking down at her plate, Kelly pushed it slowly away from her.

  “Oh, sweetie, I know how you must feel,” her mom said, reaching out and taking Kelly’s hand. “Life is full of little disappointments like this —”

  “Little disappointments?” Kelly repeated, aghast. She jerked her hand free. “Don’t you understand? My life is over!”

  “Now, now,” her mom said reassuringly. “Don’t be like that. You’ll make new friends on your new team —”

  “I don’t want new friends!” Kelly shouted, bolting to her feet. “I don’t want a new team! I want my old friends, on my old team!”

  “Well, honey, sometimes we can’t have things the way we want them —”

  “Why not?” Kelly demanded, stamping her foot angrily. This was not coming out the way she’d intended it to, but it was too late now. “You could do something about it if you wanted to!” she insisted.

  “What? What can I do, baby?” her mom asked.

  “Call the commissioner and tell him you want me on the Devil Rays,” Kelly said.

  “I — well, I …I suppose I could call him, if it will make you happy. But I doubt —”

  “Just call him, okay?” Kelly interrupted her. “I have to get back on my team! I have to!”

  “All right,” her mom sighed. “What’s the number?” Pushing her chair back, she got up and went to the phone.

  Kelly ran to her school student directory and looked up Lacey’s number. She read it off to her mom, who punched it in. Kelly stood leaning against the kitchen island, not taking her eyes off her mom.

  “Hello?” her mom said into the phone. “I’m the mother of a girl in your softball league…. Thirteen…. Yes, her name is Kelly Conroy.”

  There was a long pause while her mom listened, her brow furrowing. Kelly wondered if the commissioner knew who she was from Lacey. She even wondered if he’d taken her off the Devil Rays just to get back at her for his daughter’s sake. It would have been the meanest move ever, but Kelly wouldn’t have put it past Lacey to ask.

  “Yes, well, it seems she’s been put on a new team this season, and she’s very unhappy. Yes, and so I was wondering if —”

  There was another long pause. Then, “Yes…. I see…. Well, of course…. I understand….”

  Kelly was growing frantic. She gestured wildly to her mom, trying to get her to be more forceful. But being forceful wasn’t in her mom’s nature, and obviously she was being thoroughly intimidated by Lacey’s dad. Kelly could hear his loud, gruff voice coming through the phone speaker.

  “Well, thank you, anyway. Yes…. Yes, I’ll tell her.” Her mom hung up the phone, then turned to Kelly with limpid eyes just brimming over with pity.

  “Don’t even say it!” Kelly screamed. “Don’t talk to me! Don’t talk to me ever again!” She grabbed a chair and shook it, then slammed it down on the floor.

  “Kelly!” her mom said sharply. “Don’t you even want to hear his reasons why?”

  “What’s the difference?” Kelly shot back. “He gave you a load of baloney, and you just stood there and took it! You didn’t even try to convince him!”

  “Of course I did!” her mom said weakly. “But the way he put it — he said they wanted more parity in the league — more equality between the teams, and that some of the teams, including yours, were too good, so they had to break them up to make things fairer. He said if he made an exception for you, he’d have to do it for everybody. So you see, it was hard to argue with him.”

  “Why? Why was it hard?” Kelly pressed her. “Aren’t you my mother? Whose side are you on, anyway?”

  “Yours, of course,” her mom said.

  “Yeah, right,” Kelly said bitterly, turning away. “You’re on nobody’s side but your own.” After throwing another chair to the floor, she ran up the stairs to her room and slammed the door behind her. Then she flung herself on her bed and wept bitterly, knowing that she’d never be a Devil Ray again.

  The next day, Kelly sleepwalked through school. Math was a blur of numbers and symbols, and in science lab she nearly caused an explosion when she dropped her test tube and it shattered over the Bunsen burner. But the lowest point in her day came during gym, when she was approached by a girl she’d noticed around but never spoken to before.

  The girl was pretty, with dark, shiny hair and dancing almond eyes. She was really good in gym, too. Kelly had noticed her doing the Project Adventure course. The girl seemed to have no fear of the rope apparatus and did the climbs faster than anyone else, pulling herself up and across the ceiling with powerful, athletic swings of her arms.

  “Hi,” the girl said. Kelly was sitting on the bleachers, trying to avoid being spotted by the gym teacher and forced to do the rope course. “I’m Allison Warheit. Everyone calls me Allie.”

  “Allie, huh? I’m Kelly,” Kelly said, shaking the girl’s outstretched hand.

  “You’re in seventh grade, right?” Allie asked.

  “Yeah. You?”

  “Sixth.”

  That explained why Kelly had never run across her. “So how come you’re in gym this period?” Kelly asked.

  “I got advanced P.E.,” Allie said.

  Kelly frowned. She’d never even heard of advanced P.E., never mind been asked to be in it. How had this sixth-grader managed to get it? “Oh,” she said, trying to act unimpressed.

  “Hey, I heard you’re on the Diamondbacks,” Allie said, flashing a brilliant smile. “Me too!”

  “Huh?” Kelly replied.

  “You led the league in homers last year.”

  “Uh, yeah, I did,” Kelly acknowledged.

  “Cool. That’s awesome that we’re teammates, huh?” Allie said, clearly delighted.

  “Yeah. Way cool,” Kelly said unenthusiastically. Not that Allie noticed. She jogged away, waving over her shoulder to Kelly. “See ya!”

  “Not if I see you first,” Kelly muttered under her breath.

  Great. It wasn’t bad enough that she wasn’t going to be on the mighty Devil Rays. Lacey Jenkins had gotten Kelly dumped onto a team full of sixth-graders!