All morning Michael had been distracted. The image of Reyanna emerging from Jason’s room kept replaying in his head along with the rest of the mornings events. Everything that was done, and said, just kept replaying in his mind like a movie stuck on repeat on that particular frame. The main thing that was bothering him was what Reyanna had said to him just minutes before he had left the room. “What I do or don’t tell you, and who I do or don’t go to for help is no longer your concern.” That was probably the coldest thing she had ever said to him. Asking him not to be concerned about her, not to care, was like asking him not to breathe. It wasn’t something he chose to do, it’s just what he did. He cared about her, whether they were together at the moment or not. He had always concerned himself with her well-being even when they were just friends in Ms. Totten’s fourth grade class. It’s why their relationship worked so well, because they were friends first, or at least that’s what he had thought.
Michael thought back to the summer of graduation when he, Reyanna and the rest of the gang had decided to go to Dog River Pak. He had let Michelle and Jason go on ahead of them so that he could talk to Reyanna in private. He remembered the conversation like it had just happened yesterday. They were talking about plans for college and all the paperwork they had to fill out for the NCAA before they could even start practicing, when Michael had surprised her with a promise ring. Even though they had only really been dating officially for almost two months, Michael felt that it was the perfect time with them both having just graduated and going off to college.
All of their friends at school thought he was crazy for giving her a ring after they had only been dating for a month and a half, but Michelle, Jason, Riley, and Austin understood exactly where he was coming from. He had known Reyanna since the fourth grade. They had practically grown up together, and when Reyanna wasn’t hanging with Michelle, she was with Michael. Their parents always thought that they were so cute, and would end up together someday, and often times always joked saying, “I wouldn’t be surprised if you two got married someday”. One day when he came home from Ms. Totten’s class, he asked his mom what it meant to be married, and she told him that, “When you marry someone, you basically promise to be their best friend for life. To always care for them, make them feel better when they’re feeling sad, always have their back even when nobody else does, and promise to be there for them even when they don’t want you to be at the moment.” In the mind of a ten year old, Michael figured why wait until they were old when he was already doing that now, and so one day at recess he asked Reyanna to “marry” him. When he told her what his mom had told him about marriage she agreed, and, taking the ring out of a cracker jack box Michelle was snacking on, Reyanna and Michael were “married”.
Their parents thought it was the cutest and funniest thing ever, and after explaining to the two “newly-weds” why they couldn’t get married at the age of ten, they finally decided to “annul” the marriage. He wasn’t sure what made him think about that day at the time, but it ended up leading him into a jewelry store where he saw this beautiful ring that looked like an upgraded version of the cracker jack ring he gave to Reyanna in the fourth grade. When he saw it he just knew he had to get it for her and after working extra hours at his part-time job, doing random odd jobs for some extra cash, and telling the sales clerk the story (who was a sucker for a good romance story), he was able to get the ring.
When he gave it to Reyanna she was shocked at first, but when she saw the ring, and saw that it was exactly like the one from the fourth grade, she understood what Michael was doing and accepted the ring. The same thing he had told her that day on the playground was the same thing he told her when he gave her the ring, and some other things too. It was a long time coming for the both of them, and so far he had always made good on his promise. So he just couldn’t understand why she would say that to him, or what had happened in their relationship to cause her to pull away the way she had. He knew something was going on with her. Riley had told him that her parents were arguing a lot lately, but he knew it was more to it than that and he intended to keep his promise, even if she didn’t want him to.
Michael hadn’t been able to focus in any of his classes that morning, but he was hoping taking a few swings at practice would help relax him and take his mind off things. No matter what was going on in his life, whether it was classes, his family, or his relationship, he knew baseball was the one thing he could turn to, to provide him clarity. It was the one constant in his life that he knew he could rely on. Without it, he didn’t know if he would be able to survive this year. “Yo Turner, you hitting the batting cages,” yelled Carlos, one of his teammates? “Yeah in a minute. Coach said he wanted to speak with me about something,” said Michael as he put his bag in his locker. “You know what, coach can wait, I need to blow off some steam.” “That a boy,” said Carlos,” I’ll tell the guys to crank it up a notch.”
Michael walked into the cage, bat in hand, with a calmness that fell on him. It didn’t matter what was going on in his life, once he walked through that gate all the craziness and worries in his life just washed away and it brought about a sudden peace and calmness around him. The smell of freshly cut grass was in the air from the baseball diamond, and the cool touch of the baseball bat in his hands invigorated him. This was a negativity-free zone, and he was ready to let it all out in the cage.
“Ready Turner,” said Carlos standing by the ball shooter. “Ready,” said Michael as he took his stance. He loosened his grip on the neck of the bat and relaxed his muscles. He was focused and ready. “TURNER!” yelled Coach Zakowski. Michael jumped up and swiveled around to the direction of the voice, back facing the machine. “Yes coach,” said Michael. “Didn’t I tell you to come to my office first thing?” “Well technically coach, you didn’t say first thing,” said Michael, and at that moment the baseball launched out of the machine and hit Michael in the back. “SHIT!” exclaimed Michael as he dropped to one knee in pain. “Serves you right for being a smartass. Now get over here kid, we have a situation,” said Coach as he started walking towards his office.
“Close the door kid,” said coach as he went to sit behind his desk. Coach Zakowski was a tall white man in his mid-forties with brown hair and an average physique. It was obvious that he used to be an athlete back in the day, but time and beer had finally caught up with him. “Take a seat Turner, and tell me what the hell is going on with you,” said the coach with a serious look on his face. “Uhh, what do you mean coach,” said Michael with a look of confusion. “I mean what the hell is going on with you Turner. Your grades are ass, your teacher’s tell me that when you actually do show up to class you’re not there mentally, in the past month you’ve gotten cited for underage drinking and possession of marijuana…” “Coach the weed wasn’t even mine, somebody crashed the party and decided to hot box in my bathroom. I don’t even know how they got in my room because when I was passed out drunk on the bed sleeping I had locked the door,” interjected Michael. “Yeah and that’s why your ass isn’t dealing with a legal action right now. Luckily the officer on call is an old friend of mine and I was able to pull some strings to get you that community service.”
“Wait that’s what that was for,” said Michael, “I thought we were just doing that because you wanted us to give back to the community.” “The hell,” said Coach, “you think if I wanted to find a way to give back to the community I would choose picking up trash on the side of the road? You’ve got to be kidding me! Wake up kid where’s your common sense? You were the only one out there aside from Vasquez.” “Hmm, I guess I did think it was weird that we were the only ones that showed up that morning but it was too early for me to process anything.” “Michael you’re a great kid and an exceptional athlete. But lately your poor decisions have been getting me some serious heat from the athletic director’s office, who has made it very clear that he wants me to just cut you from the team. According to him you’re more of a risk than an asset.” “What!! Coach you can’t cut me from the team! Baseball is the only constant I have in my life right now,” exclaimed Michael as he jumped up from the chair he was sitting in, pain shooting in his back where he had just gotten hit with the baseball.
“Calm down son, I didn’t say I was going to. Luckily for you Dr. Erickson is a good friend of mine, and still owes me a couple of favors. I told him to reconsider and to give you a chance to get yourself together and prove yourself. As of today you’re on probation and you’re not allowed to come to practice for two weeks. This should give you plenty of extra time to study and pull up your grades. Now you’re not allowed to practice with the team but you still have access to the training facility and the field, and I’ll stay an extra hour after official practice in case you need to talk or, whatever. Are we understood?”
Michael couldn’t believe what he was hearing. With everything going on in his life he always knew he could rely on baseball as being the one constant in his life. Now he was about to lose that too! “Yeah coach, I understand,” said Michael as he slowly got up from the chair, wincing in pain. “Go see a trainer about your back,” said Coach, “and then grab your stuff and head out. Practice is about to start and you can’t be here right now. I’m sorry Michael, but it’s the best thing I could do for you given the circumstances.” “No it’s cool Coach I appreciate what you did really. I promise I’ll pull my grades up,” said Michael. “I know it kid, I believe you can. Unlike the rest of these knuckleheads you have a good head on your shoulders and a bright future ahead of you that could have nothing to do with baseball. You’re just going through a rough spot right now, and everyone does at some point in their life. Just remember though, no more screw ups on or off campus. If the Director gets wind of you even slipping up once he’ll pull your scholarship and have you off the team faster than you can say strike one.” "Don’t worry coach, I’ll be back in the cages before you know it,” Michael said with a forced smile as he left the office, but deep inside he felt broken. First Reyanna, and now this. He looked at the grade sheet his Coach had given him:
Michael B. Turner: Midterm Progress Report
Class Credits Grade
Intro to Statistics 3 81
Chemistry 1101 3 70
World History 3 55
Healthful Living 3 42
Intro to Sociology 3 65
"Damn,” thought Michael as he looked at his midterm grades. The only classes he was passing was Statistics and Chemistry, and he was one point away from getting a D in Chemistry. “I knew my grades were slipping but I didn’t realize it was this bad. And it’s mostly because I just haven’t been going to class.” He knew there was nothing he could do about the situation with Reyanna right now, but his grades were something he could get a handle on. It was going to be a lot of work but he knew it could be done. Not to mention it would be a good distraction from Jason and Reyanna since that meant he would be spending a lot of time at the library and the tutoring hall. “Alright first let me get my back looked at and then I can head over to the Chem building and see how I can bring my grade up.” Michael looked on the chart to see who was working today. “Perfect, just the person I need to speak with,” he thought as he walked up towards the front desk. He grabbed a clipboard and filled out his information, handed it back to the secretary, and proceeded to walk into the room.
He placed his bag in a nearby chair and sat on the examining table (which was really just an old massage table with a sanitary cloth on it) waiting for the physical trainer to come in. He started to think about which teachers he could talk to first so he could work on pulling up his grades, and also how he could prove himself to the Director of Athletics that he wasn’t a risk to the team, but deserved to be here on scholarship. “What the hell did you do this time Turner,” said a familiar voice. Michael turned his head towards the doorway in the direction the voice was coming from and gave a big smile. “Nice to see you too sis,” he said, as he saw Michelle standing in the doorway.
YOU ARE READING
Through Thick & Thin
General FictionSix long time friends, six different stories, but one goal. To become successful adults and graduate college with their friendships and lives intact. This may prove to be challenging though as college is way more different than what they thought. As...
