Chapter 36: Home Run!
Haru stepped up to the box with the bat in his hands. "Batter ready?" The teacher shouted. Haru nodded his head. He looked back at the pitcher as the ball came flying toward him. He brought the bat back and swung as hard as he could.
There was a slight after image as the bat moved toward the ball and then a crack echoed out as it made contact. The ball flew high into the sky as pieces of wood rained down. Haru looked back down to his hands. The bat he was holding had spilt in half. The top end had completely vanished creating splinters on the grass in front of him.
There was a long pause as the teacher tried his best to follow the ball with his eyes. He looked far into the distance as the ball dropped into a cluster of trees outside of the field. He blew his whistle. "Home run!" He shouted as he turned back to see Haru holding half of the bat.
"What...? How did that happen? We bought new bats at the start of the year. We barely used them." He said as he looked down at the wood chippings littering the grass. Haru shrugged. I didn't know I would hit it so hard. He shook his arms out a little bit. He wasn't expecting the result of his breakthrough to be so big.
"You! Go run back and bring a new bat!" The teacher shouted to one of the students who had already started to run before he could finish his sentence. A few minutes went by before Yunxu walked over to Haru. "Are you sure you haven't played baseball before? You hit it with so much force the bat exploded." He questioned Haru.
"No, I haven't played before. I guess it's just beginners luck. And I bet the bat already had a crack in it from everyone else swinging it around." He said as he walked to the teacher and handed him the remaining part of the bat. "Why are you giving this to me? Go and throw it in the trash it isn't any use like this." He handed it back to Haru.
Haru walked over to the trash can whilst trying to avoid any more questions. Why couldn't he just accept that I haven't played before? He put the bat in the trash as the boy from earlier came running over carrying another bat. "I got it, Sir!" He shouted as he handed it to the next person in line. Haru walked to the back and waited for his turn once again.
He stepped up to the batter's box for the second time and felt the weight of the bat. It was a bit lighter than the one before so he would have to be a lot more gentler with it. He held out the bat as he signalled he was ready with a nod of his head.
The ball came flying toward him. He waited for a few seconds as the ball came closer and closer. It looked like it was moving slowly. He held up the bat and swung it toward the ball with the same speed that the ball seemed to move.
There was a deep sound as the ball compressed and shot out of the field once again. It flew further than the last and looked like it had made it out to the front of the school. It just goes to show that strength isn't everything. He thought to himself as he began to run around the bases and made it back to home base. The whistle blew out once again. "Home run!" The teacher shouted once again. Haru's team began to cheer as the final whistle sounded.
It was his first game of baseball and not only did they win but he scored to home runs. That was an impressive feat for anyone let alone a beginner. "Are you sure you don't want to join the team? We could use someone like you. Not only good in the field but also an excellent batter." The teacher said to Haru as they made their way back inside.
"I really don't have the time. He then made his way back into the changing room. "What is your problem!? You don't think anyone actually believes your lies, do you!? How are you going to say you have never played baseball? Was it all just to embarrass me!? I'm supposed to be the star player, not some no name like you!" The gorilla looking boy screamed as he pushed Haru against the door. The rest of the people in the room all began to chant "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
"Believe whatever you want to. It doesn't bother me." Haru pushed him slightly on his shoulder. The gorilla boy stumbled back and tripped on the floor. The chants became louder as he stood back up. He brought his hand back and tried to punch Haru. But he was way too slow. Haru moved his head out of the way as the door came open. The sound of knuckles hitting flesh rung out through the room as many of the students began to gasp.
Haru turned to see the teacher stood in the doorway with gorilla boy's hand against his face. Gorilla boy froze in shock as his hand was slowly twisted back. He screamed in pain as he dropped down to his knees. "I don't care who you tried to hit or why. This was the biggest mistake you will ever make." The teacher said as he grabbed his wrist and pulled him out into the corridor.
Everyone went silent and pressed up against the door to hear the commotion. "How dare you even think about hitting a person here! You already know you are here on a condition! Just wait until the principal finds out!" The teacher began ranting at the gorilla boy. Haru didn't want to pay much attention so he carried on getting changed and then walked out into the corridor.
"What should I do with my clothes? I don't have a locker yet." He interrupted the teacher's rant at the gorilla boy. "You don't have a locker? Okay come with me we can sort that out."
"And you! Go to the principles office immediately!" The teacher shouted at the gorilla boy as he walked down to the office with Haru. He fidgeted around inside a drawer for a few seconds before pulling out a small brass key with a piece of plastic hanging from the bottom of it. "Here it is. You were supposed to get everything given to you yesterday but I guess it was a bit unreasonable to expect everything to be sorted out in one day since you still have to get used to the place first.
Haru took the key and looked at it for a second. 178 that was the locker number he was assigned. He walked to the main entrance of the school and began to look for his locker. It took him a few minutes as the lockers were randomly placed without being in number order but he finally found it and put his clothes inside it before going to his next class.
The rest of the day was less exciting. He had three more classes but knew nobody in them. He went to each class after struggling to find them for a while and then explained to all of the teachers that he was a new student and was still having trouble navigating. They all seemed to understand and were pretty forgiving. He made his way outside after the final bell rang out.
All of the students began to make their way out to the front of the school. There were buses all lined up waiting for students along with hundreds of cars. Haru looked around for a while. Zen's driver was nowhere to be seen. He waited for a few minutes before his phone vibrated in his pocket.
"Sorry, I'm heading to a business meeting my driver won't be able to pick you up. You will have to make your own way back." The text message read. God damn it Zen. You could have left that in your note too. Haru thought as he walked out of the front gate and passed the people getting into their cars.
His phone vibrated once again. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked down. There was a picture attachment. He opened the message and saw a picture of himself looking aimlessly for Zen's driver. "You look lost. Do you need a ride?" It was from Suyin. Haru looked back to the cars and saw Suyin wave to him as a black car pulled up beside him.
"Hey, My dad told me that you would need a ride home today. Get in." She reached over and opened the door. "Are you sure it's okay?" Haru hesitated for a moment as he felt the stares of many of his classmates behind him. "Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" She looked confused and looked outside to the people who began to stare. "Oh, That's why. Don't tell me you're embarrassed?" She tried to make fun of him as he bent down and pushed her back to the other side of the car and sat down beside her.
He closed the door and put his arm around her shoulder. "Embarrassed? Not at all." Suyin was caught off guard. Her face slowly turned red. Her heart rate began to increase and she became extremely nervous. She turned her head toward the window to hide it.
"Hands off." The driver called out from the front. Haru looked into the rear facing mirror and saw the man was staring at him. "Okay. The fun's over..." He said with a grin as he took his arm away. The car set off and Suyin sat awkwardly as she stared out of the window whilst trying to calm herself down. It wasn't long before the car rolled up the gate.
A security guard came out and knocked on the driver's window. "What business do you have here?" It was a different guard from last time. "I'm dropping off someone." The driver said confused. "And do you have a key card!?" The guard was starting to get frustrated.
Haru leaned forward and handed his key card to the guard from the back seat. "The Hao residence... I'm so sorry!" The guard said as he read the information on the card. He handed it back immediately and ran over to open the gate himself.
"Sorry about that. He must be a new guard. I haven't seen him before." Haru apologized to the driver but he didn't seem to care as he carried on driving.
Suyin looked back at Haru for the first time in twenty minutes. "Why do you have guards to an empty road? I didn't see them last night. It must have been too dark. Haru laughed. "Just keep looking out of the window."
The car slowly drove down the road as the magnificently built mansions came into view. Suyin was bewildered at all the many different styled houses as they rolled down to the main attraction of the road. The reached Zen's house.
"I swear it didn't look this amazing last night!" She said excitedly as the gate opened and the car pulled up to the front door. "Well, it was dark last night. There wasn't much to see." Haru said as he laughed at her reaction. He was guessing that the place she lived in was also pretty amazing since her family had personal drivers. "Do you want to come in for a bit?" He asked as he opened the door.
Suyin thought for a minute before the driver interrupted. "I was ordered not to let you go anywhere with this boy. I'm sorry miss." He locked the doors and sped off back down the road. Haru laughed. That must be Mr. Jiang's way of saying "Stay away from my daughter." Haru laughed as he walked inside.