Pinch Hit by Tim Green Page A

same time acting like he couldn’t believe how poor his practice was. When the outfielders who’d been working their bats switched over to the field, Trevor and his group began to work on their offense. Trevor went through a series of drills, swinging bats and sometimes even broomsticks at not only baseballs but a ball on a rope and Ping-Pong-ball-sized Wiffle balls. Again, Trevor felt proud of how well he connected with almost everything he swung at, but he was more careful this time not to act too joyful.
    Practice ended with everyone taking turns hitting against a live defense. Each batter got three at bats with ten pitches each. If you hit it, you ran and took as much as you could get from the defense. Coach Sharp had a scoring system based on hits, strikes, and balls. The winner would get a bag of M&M’s, not a huge prize but something fun that Trevor was eager to win.
    Trevor got to go first. He removed the bat from Sam’s bag and approached the plate. He was almost there before he realized he’d be batting against Klum. With everything that had been running through his mind and his struggle to perform, Trevor had forgotten about Klum and his promise of revenge. He had also been too busy to worm the information out of anyone about Brian Leonard and discover what horror Klum had committed. But Trevor pushed all that from his mind. He was more worried about hitting the ball as well as Sam, who was the team’s best batter, to keep Coach Sharp from suspecting anything more than he already did.
    Trevor swung a few times, getting his groove, then stepped into the batter’s box, crouching and cocking his bat back. He forced himself to look confident, even bold, despite the tremor in his upper lip.
    Klum smirked from the mound, wound up, and threw a screaming fastball … right at Trevor’s face.

31
SAM
    Sam scratched his ear. “What’s the agent’s name again?”
    â€œStu Lisson.” McKenna took Trevor’s phone from Sam and punched up Stu’s number on the speed dial without hitting Send. “Same as mine. That’s how we met, remember? I heard Trevor tell you that.”
    â€œYou mean that’s how you and Trevor met.”
    â€œRight, but now you’re him, so we met through our agent at a cast party for Miley Cyrus. Here.”
    Sam took the phone. “And what do I say? I mean, how does Trevor talk to this guy?”
    â€œThey’re buddies. Stu knows everyone inside the business. Trevor’s dad picked him, but Trevor loves him, so just be nice.”
    â€œSo, like, ‘Hey, Mr. Lisson—’”
    â€œHey, Stu ; Trevor calls him Stu. I call him Stu. Everyone calls him Stu.”
    â€œSo, ‘Hey, Stu, I’ve got this script you’ve got to see. I’m behind it, and I want to see if you can get someone to make it’? Is that all I say?”
    McKenna seemed to be weighing his words. “I think you say it a little more forcefully, and you tell Stu he’s going to love it and you know it’s going to be a blockbuster. Tell him you’re behind it. Let me ask you, is there a girl my age in Dark Cellar ?”
    â€œYes, the daughter. It’s a great part. She’s the only one who lives.”
    â€œPerfect. Tell him you know McKenna loves it and that she’s dying to play the daughter. Say it like you’ve got a thing for me.”
    â€œA thing?”
    â€œYou know, like if Trevor liked me, if he cared, and wanted to make me happy.”
    Sam didn’t think before he spoke. “Does he?”
    McKenna shook her head. “Not really. Not like that. I mean, we’re friends.”
    â€œBut you wanted him to have a ‘thing’ for you?”
    â€œI don’t know. Maybe. Not anymore.” McKenna let her words hang in the air like big soap bubbles.
    Sam felt his face heat up. He looked away, afraid to ask if the reason was him, even though he dared to dream it was. He