The sun was nearly at its zenith when Skylar joined John, Hannah, and a bunch of others at a baseball diamond. Kickball was the name of the game; the main concept spelled right out in the name. It kept Skylar from needing to ask a ton of questions.
John was a pitcher, and he nodded to Skylar as they approached the plate for the first time. Having watched others, Skylar knew what to do, and they leaned more weight on their right foot in anticipation. John rolled the ball towards Skylar. They stuck their tongue out of the corner of their mouth, mimicking John's concentrated look. Dust billowed from the path of the ball.
When it was close enough Skylar swung their left leg back and forward. They may have put a tiny bit of extra power into it, as their team was losing, but the ball didn't even make it out of the infield.
It hit dead center in John's groin before bouncing back towards home plate. John dropped to his knees, curling in on himself with a grimace.
A lot of the guys put on a sympathy grimace and a collective "Ouch."
"John!" Skylar didn't run to first base, instead running over to him. "Are you okay?"
"In a minute." Strained words came out. "Or five." The wind picked up, whipping Skylar’s hair around their ears.
"Run Skylar! Time out wasn't called!" Skylar turned towards Hannah's voice, also seeing the catcher dashing towards them.
Up from the dirt in a blink Skylar left small dust clouds behind them as they ran towards first. The red ball passed them, the first baseman's hands slapping against it before they stepped on the base.
"Out!" The acting umpire yelled.
As Skylar trudged towards the bench they glanced at John. He had gotten to his feet, stooped, but grinning. "Nice play guys." He sounded better too.
"Hey Hannah, is John extra sensitive where the kickball hit him?" Skylar asked.
Hannah snorted. "All guys are sensitive there." She raised an eyebrow at Skylar. "Where did you grow up again?"
"Under a rock." It was both an Earth idiom to deflect attention and the truth. Skylar's nest had been under a rock, actually a boulder, but that was just a big rock.
"Funny." Hannah giggled before returning her gaze to the game. The wind continued to come in bursts, Skylar eventually borrowed a hair tie from Hannah. Sand swirled, trash blew onto the field, but the game continued.
“Let’s go Hannah!” Skylar shouted from third base. Two outs, final inning and the game was tied. “Kick that ball into the Balazaar Galaxy!”
John glanced over his shoulder at Skylar before rolling the kickball to Hannah. It bounced over a cup, dust exploding as it approached Hannah. Her foot slapped against it, and away the ball flew.
Skylar ran without looking back, spinning around the catcher and stepping on home plate.
“We win!” Skylar raised their hands in the air.
Word count: 495
