Perfect Catch Novels & Stories

“Warning me doesn’t make stepping on me acceptable!” They tried again. One, two, three. This time it worked. “Oh.” “There you go,” Vivian said. “This is easy.” Riley started looking pleased with herself. Then— “Wrong way.” “What?” “Riley, that’s the wrong—” “Oh.” “Ow!” “Sorry!” “Twice!” “Your feet are huge!” “Do not blame my feet!” Vivian pressed a hand to her forehead. “You’re trying too hard to follow him.”

I needed to run a counter-attack code against Matteo's offensive play. First, I made it look like I accidentally dropped the expensive fountain pen. The pen slipped right through my fingers and landed with a soft thud underneath the table, falling straight onto Matteo’s thin, flexible swim shorts! And do you want to guess exactly where it landed? Right at the coordinates of my millimetric, flawless geometric calculations! Oh my God, look at that coincidence—what an absolute, mind-boggling shocker!

Which kind of made the corner of my mouth tip up. They take their kick and it's wide. Now it's defense. The ball is punted and the opposing team goes in for the toss. The catcher grabs the ball and runs. Sarah jumps to tackle, but he's a solid kid and she bounces off him. He barely falters. She gets up and runs at him again. Lunging at his ankles, grabbing them and making him fall on his face. Not the greatest play, but it worked. He dropped the ball.

"Well I'm glad you called because I wanted to clarify things and inform you that I'm doing great and and remarried, so I don't think your request is going to be met. Sorry!" She cut the line.

I knew I sounded harsh right then, but I couldn't stop myself. I'd scored 626 on the National College Entrance Exam—200 points above the undergraduate cutoff—yet I couldn't get into college now. Nicole swayed where she stood, and her tears fell even harder. "Fi, don't blame Preston. I begged him… I was just too scared to lose you. Your grades are so good. Once you get to college, you'd definitely make new friends. I was afraid you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore…"

Every attack met empty air. He wasn't even trying. "You've gotten slower." Her eye twitched. "I literally just woke up." "Excuses." She gritted her teeth and charged again. He sidestepped effortlessly. She lost her footing. Strong fingers closed around her elbow before she hit the mat. For a split second... She stiffened. Bella's words flashed through her mind again. 'He's barely using you.' Why did he catch her? Why stop her from falling? Before she could make sense of it...he'd already let go. "Watch your footing."

I walked into the room, carrying the tray while keeping my expression steady. As I passed Jonathan, he didn't react at all. It was as if he didn't recognize me. I let out a quiet sigh of relief and moved to William. Just as I was about to set his cup down and leave he suddenly grabbed my wrist. With my heart pounding, I looked up to meet his intense gaze. "Charlotte." I looked down and tried to pull my hand back, but his grip tightened. Matthew spoke up, "Mr. Reed, why are you grabbing my employee? If you're looking for trouble, then it's best that you leave."

Tom stumbles, momentum throwing him off balance, and Flynn launches the ball in a tight spiral to Gideon downfield. The Perfect catch. I bite the inside of my cheek, trying to hide the smile tugging at my mouth. Around me, two of the younger players share a quick nod, like they’ve seen enough to believe this isn’t luck. Coach’s bark cuts through the field, an impressed look on his face “Again!” Flynn doesn’t gloat, doesn’t even look back at Tom. He just resets, attention already shifting to the next play. It shouldn’t get to me, this focus, this grace but it does, in a quiet, gnawing way.

It should be a downhill stroll at this point except for one major kick in the nuts—the last batter is the other team’s best hitter. I can tell the second I hear the crack of the bat that this is going to be a hard hit. I race to catch it, all of the adrenaline and focus I’ve been storing up propelling my body forward, faster than I thought I could run. Every thought of the past few months that I’ve used to motivate me comes racing along with me—Jane above everything else. I make a diving catch, snagging the ball.

said Mitko. I sent a powerful shot, at a difficult high angle. The ball went towards a corner of the walls, and there was no way any catcher could get it, but April lurched forward, her foot kicked against the building wall and literally bounced off into the air to catch it. "Wonderful!" roared Mitko. "Felik where you've been hiding these gems!? They're like ballerinas of baseball!" So the next Thursday - the first official round of the season, the Rejects was ready.