Read Online A Whole New Ball Game by Belle Payton - Free Book Online Page A

group.
    Alex finally found her voice. “Yeah, but Ididn’t do anything that involved any actual moving. I’m a total klutz athletically,” she said. “I think ‘ungainly’ is a good word to describe me.”
    Corey laughed. Alex noticed her sister scowl. What was her problem with Corey?
    â€œAva’s the athlete,” Alex continued loyally, smiling at her sister. “She’s awesome at any sport she tries.”
    Jack grinned at Ava.
    Ava glared at Corey.
    Corey was hanging on every word Alex said.
    Alex sniffed and turned away from Jack.
    Then Emily and Rosa steered the conversation toward school and teachers and classes, and Corey and Jack went to join another group of boys a couple of bleacher sections away. As they headed off, Corey glanced back and almost smashed into a stair railing, catching himself just in time. Alex giggled and then joined the animated conversation with her new friends. Ava, as usual when around new people, was pretty quiet, only speaking when someone asked her a question. Alex tried bringing her into the conversation, but it seemed like Ava’s mind was elsewhere. After a while, Alex heard their father calling.
    â€œGirls! Time to head home!”
    Alex exchanged phone numbers with the other girls. Ava had forgotten her phone again.
    They followed their dad and Tommy toward the car a few minutes later. “Jack’s great, huh?” Ava said when they were in the backseat (shotgun rules didn’t apply after practice; Tommy automatically got the front).
    Alex shrugged. “He’s okay. How much do you really like like him?” She knew she should say something to her sister about how she’d seen him in the mall that day with the blond girl; how she was 98 percent sure she was his girlfriend. She just couldn’t bring herself to deflate Ava’s first crush in their new town.
    Ava reddened. “I never said I like liked him. We just played basketball, that’s all.”
    â€œOkay,” said Alex, deciding to let it drop. “So, what’d you think of Corey?”
    â€œOh. Corey. Yeah. He’s okay,” said Ava.
    â€œYou don’t think he’s supercute?”
    Ava shrugged.
    They were silent for a few minutes, and then Ava blurted out, “You weren’t too friendly to Jack.”
    Alex shrugged. “He’s fine,” she said carefully. She didn’t know what to say! “He just . . . well,he strikes me as a little inappropriate for you.”
    Ava’s eyes narrowed. “Inappropriate? You sound like a teacher, Al. I’m not saying this because I like Jack or anything. I don’t. But you were turning your back to him and practically ignoring everything he said. Do you think he’s inappropriate because he isn’t on the middle school football team, like Corey? Or part of student government? Or just because he’s not cool enough?”
    Alex was outraged. “No! I never implied that! I just think he—he lacks character. Anyway, you weren’t especially friendly to Corey. What was that about?”
    Ava shrugged again.
    â€œMaybe you like him?” accused Alex.
    Ava’s eyes widened with horror. “Him? Ew! No!”
    Alex’s eyes flashed with anger. She thought again about telling Ava that the guy she liked was a double-crossing two-timer. “Scoundrel” was a good word for him. But this time she chose not to out of anger.
    By the time they got home, neither girl was speaking to the other.
    Again.

CHAPTER
NINE
    On Saturday afternoon Tommy came home early from practice.
    â€œIs everything okay?” Mrs. Sackett asked him worriedly. “You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”
    â€œEverything’s fine,” said Tommy. “We had baseline concussion testing today—just a bunch of computer questions that measure our processing speed and reaction time in case we ever get a concussion.”
    Mrs. Sacket looked