Next thing you knew, he’d be moving in with them and thinking he was her father and had
a right to boss her around. Well, not if she could help it! Kelly decided then and there that she would do what she could
to sabotage her mother’s budding romance, for her mom’s sake as well as her own.
She picked up the phone extension and punchedin her father’s number. Lo and behold, he actually picked up the phone!
“Hello?”
“Daddy, it’s me.”
“Sugarplum! It’s so great to hear your voice!”
“You too, Daddy.”
“What’s the matter, sugar? You sound upset.”
“I am, kind of.”
“Well, what is it? You know you can tell me.”
“Well …I’m not so sure this time….” Kelly let her voice trail off, just to make him curious.
“Hey, Kel. Didn’t I always tell you you could count on me?”
“Well, yes….” He’d told her, all right. But every time she’d done it, he’d let her down.
“Come on, tell me. There’s nothing so terrible that we can’t work it out together.”
“Okay,” Kelly said, figuring he was ready to hear it now. “There are two things, actually. First of all, they put me on the
wrong softball team.”
“What? The idiots!”
“I know. All my friends are on my old team, and it’s an awesome team, too. So they decided to break up the team, and they
put me on this team of sixth-grade losers!”
“Okay, okay, back up,” her dad said. “Who made this decision?”
“The commissioner. And he’s the father of this girl who hates me.”
“Well, don’t worry about a thing. I’ll have a little talk with the guy, and then let’s see what he says.”
“Thanks, Daddy,” Kelly said, a smile playing on her lips. “I asked Mommy to call him, but she didn’t really try to convince
him.”
“Your mom’s not exactly tough when it comes to things like this,” her dad said in a forgiving, affectionate tone. Kelly could
tell he still missed her, still loved her, even though she’d divorced him. “Okay, so that little problem’s taken care of.
What else is bothering you?”
Kelly cleared her throat. “Well,” she said, “actually, it’s about Mom. She’s …well, she’s got this new boyfriend….”
There was a black silence on the other end of the line. “Oh?” her dad finally said, trying to sound casual and cover the obvious
jealousy in his voice.
“Yeah. His name’s Ken, and he’s a total jerk. But Mom seems wild about him.”
“Ken, huh?” Her dad’s voice was thick with anger and frustration.
“He tries to act like he’s my father or something,” Kelly told him. “But I let him know he wasn’t.”
“Good girl,” her dad told her. “Well, don’t worry. Your mom’s not stupid. If this guy’s half the jerk you say he is, she’ll
figure it out soon enough.”
“I don’t know,” Kelly said tauntingly. “She seems pretty gaga, if you ask me….”
“She does, huh? Well, I’ll have a little talk with her, too.”
“Thanks, Daddy. I knew I could count on you.” Kelly hung up, feeling very naughty, but not sorry. She knew she’d tossed a
bomb. Now it was just a matter of waiting for it to go off.
5
K elly was feeling more upbeat the next morning when Sue Jeffers and Karen Haynes caught up to her at her locker before school.
“Well?” Sue asked, breathless. “Any progress?”
“Mmm …not yet,” Kelly said, smiling mysteriously.
“You know, today’s our first practice. We start playing games next week,” Karen said.
“Are you gonna get switched or aren’t you?” Sue asked. “Because if you aren’t, Beth Parks wants to play first base.”
“Beth? She’s an outfielder,” Kelly moaned. “She’s not used to taking ground balls.”
“Oh, and Laurie is gonna pitch,” Karen said. “She went to this clinic over the winter and learned how to pitch windmill.”
Kelly felt a sharp pain in her side, a pang of lossand regret. “Don’t worry,” she said, a little too confidently. “My