Super-sized Slugger (7 page)

With the “interview” over, the rest of the Orioles burst out laughing. Willie and Cody slapped hands and laughed too. For Cody, it had pretty much been a perfect day. But as he gathered up his stuff and said good-bye to his teammates, he had the eerie feeling that someone was watching him. Turning around, he saw Dante standing by the corner of the dugout, glowering at him.

“You think you're pretty funny, don't you, fat boy?” he said. He spit out a mouthful of sunflower seeds and nodded grimly. Without another word, he slung his equipment bag over his shoulder and stomped off into the twilight.

“What's his problem?” Willie said as they stared at the retreating figure.

“Apparently it's me,” Cody said. “Which makes it my problem too.”

Cody took two
dribbles to his right, until he was almost behind the basket, and then he put up a fifteen-foot rainbow while nearly brushing against the garage door. He held his follow-through with his right hand extended high in the air, like the best shooters in the NBA and college.
Swish
. He grinned, retrieved the ball, and fired a bounce pass to Jessica.

“No way you'll make that shot,” he said. “You don't have that kind of talent.”

Jessica snorted and waved dismissively. “Are you kidding?” she said, dribbling over to where Cody had let the ball fly. “I make this shot in my sleep.”

She took a deep breath and launched a jumper. The ball clanged noisily off the front of the rim and rolled into the hedge. They both looked at each other and laughed.

They were playing H-O-R-S-E in Jessica's driveway, one day after the Orioles' big win over the Tigers, and she was down to her last letter. One more miss and Cody would be the winner.

“This is where I excel,” Cody said, dribbling out to the top of the key. “Nailing down the win. Hitting the tough shot. Putting unbelievable pressure on my opponent.”

Jessica rolled her eyes. “I know one thing,” she said. “You're putting unbelievable pressure on your mouth with your lips flapping like that.”

Both of them were pretty good at trash talk. That was half the fun of the game, seeing if you could get under the other player's skin or make them laugh to throw off their shot.

Cody dribbled between his legs and put up a seventeen-footer.
Swish
. Jessica groaned as she retrieved the ball.

“I can't believe how lucky you are,” she said.

“Luck has nothing to do with it,” Cody said. “It's all about natural athletic ability. And an incredible laserlike focus. Not to mention a burning will to win.”

“Puh-leeze,” Jessica said, blowing a stray lock of hair out of her eyes as she readied to shoot. “Now you're making me nauseous.”

This time her shot bounced off the back of the rim and caromed into Mrs. Hoffman's flower bed.

Cody shouted, “Yessss!” pumped his fist, and danced wildly around the driveway.

“Well,” Jessica said, shaking her head, “at least you're a classy winner. At least you're not rubbing it in.”

“It's hard to be humble when you're me,” Cody said, nodding and holding his arms aloft, as if acknowledging the roars of a crowd. “Someone who wants the ball in pressure situations. Someone with ice water in his veins.”

“There must be at least one sports cliché you haven't used this afternoon,” Jessica said. “But I sure can't think of it.”

“Admit it. The chunkster's got game,” Cody said.

“You're not the chunkster anymore,” Jessica said. “Looks like you lost a few pounds, Wisconsin Boy.”

Cody felt himself blush and hoped Jessica didn't notice. They kept shooting baskets even after the game was over, enjoying the last of the warm afternoon sun. They talked about school and Cody's baseball team and Jessica's softball team and her karate lessons.

“Been meaning to ask,” Jessica said. “What's going on with Dante? Is he still bothering you?”

Now Cody wore a pained look. “You had to bring him up, huh?” he said. “And here we were having such a good time.”

“Sorry,” Jessica said. “Guess the answer is yes.”

“Dante still wants to punch my lights out, if that's what you mean,” Cody said. “He's still as friendly as a crocodile.”

Quickly, he filled her in on the events of the previous day, including the older boy's sarcastic comment about Cody's mock interview with Willie and the semi-threat he had made after the Orioles win.

“I'm not afraid of him,” Cody said, plopping down on the Hoffman's lawn. He glanced sheepishly at Jessica. “Okay, I'm a
little
afraid. Guess I have to stand up to him, though. Unless I hire you to be my security detail.”

“You can't afford my rates,” Jessica said, spinning and delivering a kick to an imaginary foe. Then she grinned. “I start at five hundred bucks an hour. But since we're friends, I'd cut you a break. Only four ninety-nine.”

“Gee, thanks,” Cody said. But even that little joke couldn't cheer him up. “Why does he hate me so much, anyway?”

“Not sure,” Jessica said, sitting down next to him. “But he's an angry kid. I hear he lives with his mom, who works all hours. His brothers are always pushing him around. All they do is skip school and hang out in the park bothering people. I'm surprised Dante still plays baseball—maybe it's to get away from them.”

She pulled up a tuft of grass and idly tossed it in the air.

“My advice, Wisconsin Boy,” she continued, “is to just stay away from him. You don't want to get into a fight with him. He's bigger than you, he's older than you…”

Her voice trailed off, then she shook her head emphatically. “I don't think that would go too well for the Orioles' newest relief pitcher,” she added. “Maybe Dante'll get bored with you and start picking on someone else.”

It reminded Cody of the conversation he'd had at lunch earlier that day with Willie, Jordy, and Connor. Weeks ago, Cody had confided in them about the trouble he'd been having with Dante. But when he'd sat down with them today and told them he was tired of being bullied and was thinking of confronting Dante to make it stop, they had all looked at him as if he'd lost his mind.

“Dude, he'll pound you like a bad piece of meat,” Jordy had said.

“Break you into little pieces,” Connor had added.

“Yeah,” Willie had said, “then break
those
little pieces into little pieces.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Cody had said glumly, taking a bite of his sandwich.

“Plus, don't forget the Rottweiler Twins,” Jordy had added. “Even if, by some miracle, you manage to get Dante to back down, he'll sic his crazy brothers on you.”

But sitting here now with Jessica, as twilight descended and the first chirping of crickets could be heard, Cody had already made up his mind. It was time to stand up to the big guy.

“I have a plan.…” Cody said now. Jessica was sitting with her knees curled under her chin, rocking back and forth, and now she looked up.

“Actually, it's something my dad thought up,” Cody continued. “And by the way? It's designed to help me
not
get my butt whipped.”

He explained the plan to Jessica exactly as it had been explained to him, beginning with the three sentences his dad had scribbled on the napkin in the restaurant near Camden Yards.

When he was through, Jessica was silent. She sat there with her brow furrowed, looking off into the distance, as if considering all the ramifications of what Cody had just proposed.

Well, he thought, at least she's not doubled over with laughter. At least she didn't blurt out, “Wow, that might be the stupidest thing I ever heard!” That was encouraging—sort of.

Finally, Jessica nodded almost imperceptibly. “You know,” she said, “it just might work. In fact, seeing how Dante reacted when I kicked him with all the kids watching, I'd say it
will
work.”

Hearing this, Cody felt relieved. The two of them climbed to their feet and exchanged a fist bump.

“When will you try out this so-called plan?” Jessica asked.

“Tomorrow,” Cody said. “Right after school. I've put it off long enough.”

Cody awoke before
dawn the next morning, unable to get back to sleep. He had tossed and turned for much of the night, finding it nearly impossible to shut off his brain as dozens of different “what if” scenarios ran through his head.

What if this crazy plan of his dad's didn't work? What if all it did was make Dante even angrier? What if the big guy decided to whack him like a piñata right then and there? Good luck sending up a Bat-Signal to Jessica.

No, in a cruel bit of irony, Jessica would be at her karate class by 2:45. And what could she do even if she knew Cody was getting pummeled? Raise her hand and say, “Sensei, may I be excused to go save my not-so-chubby friend from Milwaukee again?”

Not so chubby—that doesn't sound bad, Cody thought. Even in his wired state, it made him smile.

All morning in school, he could barely pay attention. In Ms. Wratched's science class, he completely zoned out. Part of that had to do with Ms. Wratched, who spoke in a low, droning monotone and who had been deemed the Most Boring Teacher Ever by much of the eighth grade. But part of it was Cody's out-of-control imagination, which kept picturing Dante's fist crashing into his face like some kind of killer asteroid.

At lunch, Cody plopped down next to Jordy, Connor, and Willie at their usual table.

“I have an announcement,” Cody said, rustling through his lunch bag. “Today is D-day. And you know who the D stands for.”

Three pairs of eyebrows shot up at once.

“Dude, didn't we go over this?” Jordy said. “Didn't we say he'll pound you like a—”

“Bad piece of meat. I know, I know…” Cody said. He shook his head firmly. “It's still D-day.”

His three friends looked at one another with alarm.

“Will you talk to the boy?” Willie said to Connor. “Tell him he's not just walking into the jaws of death, he's sprinting?”

Connor started to speak, but Cody held up a hand.

“I don't intend to get my butt whupped,” he said. “Sure, it
could
happen. But I'm hoping to use psychology.”

“Psychology,” Willie repeated. He looked incredulously at Jordy and Connor, then back to Cody. “How about if Dante uses physics? Such as Newton's Third Law: for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction? Like, you come near him and he punches your lights out?”

Cody gulped. But he tried to keep his voice even.

“I think I'll be okay,” he said, taking a bite of an apple. “Besides, look what I'm eating now instead of cookies. Getting in fighting shape!”

Hearing himself talk so boldly about a showdown with Dante, Cody felt like the proverbial kid whistling past a graveyard. But there was no sense getting into the details of his plan right now. Or when he would execute it. His buddies wouldn't understand. Or they'd think he was nuts and try to talk him out of it.

Soon the conversation shifted away from Dante to a new video game,
Wipeout on 64th St.
, where the hero surfer navigated his board through a grim urban obstacle course filled with menacing villains. Cody sighed and looked out the window. Even though it was a warm sunny day, he felt a shiver go through him. Wish the only thing I had to worry about was video game bad guys, he thought. At that moment, he felt like the loneliest kid on the planet.

The rest of the afternoon seemed to crawl by even more slowly than the morning had. Social studies was Cody's favorite subject. But when Miss Brock stood in front of the class and said, “Who can name three ways the people of sub-Saharan Africa have adapted to their environment?” Cody's mind was a blank. As he glanced at the clock on the wall, he could feel himself getting more and more nervous. He noticed his legs were jiggling furiously too.

When the final bell rang at 2:30, he weaved through the crowded hallways to his locker, then joined the rest of the kids pouring out the front doors into the bright sunshine. But instead of veering off to catch his bus as he usually did, he crossed the street and headed for the grassy knoll on the other side.

Up ahead, he saw a knot of kids chattering away excitedly as they said good-bye to friends before beginning the walk home. Cody's school bus passed here every afternoon, and he knew this was the route Dante took too, often accompanied by one or two of his thuggish friends.

Seconds later, he spotted Dante, with his head down, checking his cell phone. Technically, you weren't allowed to use your cell anywhere on school property. But Cody knew the big guy didn't worry about little things like rules and regulations.

When Dante looked up and saw Cody walking toward him, he seemed surprised. Then he flashed his trademark sneer.

“Fat boy!” he said. “What are you doing here? And where's your bodyguard? You give her the day off?”

The two older kids with Dante laughed nervously. Cody sensed they seemed unsure of exactly what their leader was referring to but apparently felt obligated to react to his sarcasm.

“You're even dumber than I thought, coming over here,” Dante continued, his voice louder now. Hearing this, a few of the kids who had been walking up ahead turned around, sensing some sort of trouble that might turn into their afternoon entertainment.

Slowly, Dante peeled off his backpack and flung it dramatically to the ground. “I've been waiting for this,” he said, balling his fists and taking a step forward.

Cody's heart was racing. His hands were sweating. He took a deep breath.

“Showtime,” he whispered to himself.

What happened next felt like one long blur.

“AAAGGGHHH!”
he shouted at the top of his lungs, running at Dante and getting inches from his face.

Then Cody began jerking his head back and forth and wagging his tongue and rolling his eyeballs. He threw himself to the ground, grunting and spinning in circles like a break-dancer before popping to his feet and hissing loudly.

Dante backed up, a look of confusion on his face. His two buddies watched, bug-eyed.

“Porker,” Dante said, “just what do you think you're do—”

Next Cody started drooling and stamping his feet to go along with the rest of his contortions.

“Throw in a bark or two,” his dad had said. So Cody barked and howled like some kind of unholy hound from the netherworld. Then he bared his teeth and raised his fingers like claws and growled ferociously.

I'll either win an Academy Award for this or get flattened in the next three seconds, he thought.

“Whoa!” he heard someone in the background say. And now the entire knot of kids seemed to gasp and take a step back.

Dante stood there, frozen. He stared ashen-faced at Cody for what seemed like thirty seconds. Then he slowly reached down and began feeling around for his backpack, his eyes never leaving Cody.

“Ohhh-kay, Parker,” he said softly. “I have to go now. Why don't you just—?”

“GRRRRR!”
Cody growled, giving him one more for good measure.

Dante jumped as if he'd just been shocked. He grabbed his backpack, stood up, and backed away. When he was about six feet away, he turned and ran, sprinting up the hill with his two henchmen in tow, the three of them glancing nervously over their shoulders.

Seeing that the show was over, the rest of the kids began drifting away. Cody slumped against a tree, trying to catch his breath. His heart was hammering in his chest, and his legs were shaking. How did the movie stars do it? This kind of intense acting was exhausting! Of course, the movie stars probably weren't worried about getting punched out by a cranky bully if they didn't nail the scene.

Then he heard someone running up behind him. Could it be Dante again? Had the big guy been playing possum? Cody whirled around.

It was Jessica.

“That was awesome!” she said, grinning.

Now it was Cody's turn to look shocked. But the shock quickly gave way to major embarrassment. Had she seen his whole crazy, saliva-spewing act? How uncool was that?

“What are
you
doing here?!” he asked.

Jessica shrugged. “Thought you might need help,” she said. “I'd miss ten more karate classes just to see that look on Dante's face again.”

They heard the sound of footsteps coming up the hill, and Willie, Jordy, and Connor came flying over the crest.

“Dude, where
were
you?” Willie said, gasping for breath.

“Yeah,” Jordy said. “We thought your little showdown with Dante would happen right outside school.”

“Kinda hard to have your back way up here on Mount Everest,” Connor said. “So, what happened?”

Jessica gave them a quick recap of the confrontation, complete with Cody's all-star impression of a disturbed person and Dante's wide-eyed flight, which caused everyone to laugh. Then she draped an arm around Cody and said, “You did real well, Wisconsin Boy.”

Cody could feel his face redden. But inside he felt proud.

“Wish I could take all the credit,” he said.

With that, he pulled an old, crumpled napkin out of his pants pocket and unfolded it until they could read the three sentences his dad had written:

Act like a crazy person. Bullies don't know how to handle crazy people. And they hate to be embarrassed in front of others.

Cody shook his head and smiled. By tomorrow word might be spreading throughout York Middle that the fat kid from Wisconsin was certifiably psycho. But if it kept Dante from terrorizing him, it was worth it, he thought.

Oh, Dante might still hate his guts. And the Rottweiler Twins might be lurking somewhere down the road. But Cody had a feeling Dante himself wouldn't be bothering him anymore.

It would sure be a nice change. And knowing his new friends cared so much about him made him feel even better.

“C'mon,” he said to the four of them. “I'll buy you an ice cream to celebrate.”

“Better make it frozen yogurt,” Jessica said, grinning and poking him in the belly. “The nonfat kind.”