Beginning of the college life

Mark and Alex finished unpacking all of their bags, and put their clothes in the drawers provided in the rooms. The room was large for two people, and was one of the only rooms in the building with a washroom in the room itself, but sharing between two teens needed a lot of room, and by the time everything was unpacked, the room size felt just right. Mark changed into his pajamas and brushed his teeth as Alex did the same, then they both collapsed onto their beds and fell asleep.

Mark was woken up by a frantic Alex the next morning. Mark just lay there watching as Alex ran around the room putting his clothes on and brushing his teeth in the washroom before shouting "Mark get up, we're going to be late for the team meeting!" Hmm, team meeting. Why does that ring a bell?

_"_Oh shit!" Mark shouted as he bounded out of bed, and followed what Alex had just done. By the time Mark was completely ready, Alex had been waiting out in the hallway for five minutes. Mark came out of the room quickly and apologized to Alex "Sorry bud. I completely forgot to put the alarm on last night, I just fell asleep"

"No worries Mark, I forgot too, let's just hope we get there on time for the first baseball team meeting. We have to make a good first impression if we want playing time."

"Yeah, I understand. Let's go!" They both ran down the stairs, and out of the building. They were both so rushed, that they didn't have time for breakfast, so they just picked up some complimentary apples that were in a basket outside the residence. They ran and ate simultaneously until they reached the baseball diamond. They didn't know where it was initially, but luckily, the field was visible from the residence building, so they just followed the sight before them. When they arrived at the field, they got there a few minutes early, and were able to mix and mingle with the other players on the team, some who were returning, and some who were new like them. Mark met a couple of pitchers like him, and started to have a conversation with them, as Alex met a couple of position players like him, and went to go chat with them. Soon enough, the coach appeared and called everyone to silence. He introduced himself as the manager of the team, and introduced the different coaches to us. Since they already knew what positions they were playing, they branched of into two groups, one of pitchers, and the other of position players.

Mark went with his group of pitchers, and met the pitching coach. Every pitcher was asked about their preference between a starting pitcher or a reliever to start the year. Everyone was reminded that their roles could change on the team based on performance and need. Mark decided to be a starter, so that he could show off his skills more to the scouts that may be in attendance at games. In the end, there were four starters and eight relievers. The pitchers did some drills, and the pitching coach came around and asked each pitcher to throw every pitch they could throw competently, while he took notes. "Mark Miller" he called

"Yes! Over here" Mark waved to the coach, as he came over. "Hi there, nice to meet you!" Mark said as he shook the man's hand.

"Likewise! Now, if you would please show me all your competent pitches please."

"Yeah, of course. Who do I throw to?"

"Oh, you can throw to Bob here. He's our starting catcher, was a state all star, going into his draft year" the coach said proudly of Bob. Bob set up and Mark called out each pitch he was about to throw, so that Bob could set up to catch them. Mark threw all his pitches brilliantly to his pride, and to the satisfaction of the pitching coach. "Mark, I would get to know Bob over here. I'll let Billy the manager know that you'll be starting opening night for us." Mark was ecstatic, _opening night! Wow! Though that was only in a week _he thought. He was snapped out of his thoughts by Bob, who patted him on the back.

"That was a great performance there Mark, I'm looking forward to working with you out there bud."

"Thanks Bob, that means a lot"

"No problem. Practice is over, another one's tomorrow. We'll try you out against live pitching tomorrow."

"Sounds exciting! Thanks for the heads up". Mark walked up to Alex who it seemed had made a couple of friends. As they were getting ready to leave, Mark saw Alice chatting with the manager, in her cheerlead outfit. Mark remembered from what Sophie had told him, that there was a cheerleading tryout and practice as well, so that's why Alice had just come now. Mark wondered how Sophie had done. Alice caught his eye, smiled and gave him the thumbs up.

"Hey Mark! Let's go. I want to take a nap, and you have the key."

"Yeah sorry, let's go."