Hard Hitter Flashbacks

September 2003

It was the second week of the sixth grade, and the first year of middle school. All the kids were getting used to having multiple classrooms and different faces in each class, rather than one room like they’d gotten used to in elementary school. It was also Quinn’s first time in an all-boys gym class, and he had to admit he missed having Rae to be competitive with.

“Quinn!” A voice called from behind him as he made his way into the locker room after class. Quinn turned to see a rosy-cheeked boy with light brown, curly hair jogging to catch up with him. He recognized the boy as Jett Miller, one of the kids who had come from a different elementary school than Quinn and Rae. Next to him was a lanky black boy with short hair. He was pretty sure  Chris Watson, he was pretty sure was his name. The two were obviously close friends, Quinn had noticed the previous week, as they were always together in class and Quinn had seen them in the halls together between classes, too.

Quinn halted and waited for the boys to catch up to him, “What’s up?”

“Hey, we had a question for you,” Jett said, wiping sweat from his brow. They’d done a lot of running and different calisthenics that day in class; a sort of fitness assessment. “Me and Chris were thinking about playing some ball after school. Think you’d be interested?”

“We’d like to get a group of guys together for football or baseball…whatever. But three is still better than just the two of us,” Chris added, “And sometimes my little brother joins. He’s kinda young, but he’s not bad.”

“Gavin, my older brother, will play sometimes, too,” said Jett. The three of them had continued into the locker room and were now getting into their clean clothes.

“You guys want me to join you?” Quinn asked. He was definitely interested. This was the sort of thing he and Rae did all the time and, Chris was right, three or four sounded more entertaining than just the two of them.

Although they were part of the middle school, sixth graders weren’t permitted to join school teams. Quinn had relied on locally sponsored travel teams to play baseball, and would have to for another year. He enjoyed playing on the teams, but always felt like a burden on the DeRoses who would go out of their way to not only pay his playing fees, but would also arrange some sort of transportation for him to his games and tournaments. Sometimes, if the weekend didn’t conflict with Rae’s soccer games, Mr. DeRose would give him a ride, bringing Rae along, and they’d stay to watch his games and cheer him on. They always did way too much for him.

“Sure, why not?” Jett said, “I know we’re still only in our assessment phase of the year, but I’m guessing you play sports.”

“Baseball, mostly. But I’ll play whatever,” Quinn replied. He instantly thought of Rae and knew she would be all over this idea. Not to mention, it would make up for no longer sharing a gym class with her. “Do you mind if I bring someone? My friend Rae would probably like to join us.”

“Heck yeah!” Jett looked up from where he was slipping his shoes on, “The more players we get, the better. Maybe we’ll have enough guys for a real game one of these days.”

Quinn paused for a moment, mouth open, ready to explain that Rae was, in fact, not a guy. Instead, he grinned slyly to himself and decided it might be more fun to let these guys find out for themselves. He didn’t want them saying she couldn’t play just because she was a girl; she was just as good at most sports as any boy anyway.

“Cool,” Quinn stood up, fully dressed in his school clothes, “I’ll let Rae know. We’ll think about others who can join us, too. Where are we meeting?”

The boys agreed to meet at the park around 4:30 to play football. Quinn and Rae played frequently, and she was actually pretty dang good. The first time she suggested they play football, he figured she meant touch or flag football, but when she told him tackles were okay, he’d been hesitant. Of course, it was rare that he actually caught her to tackle her, but quickly learned there was something fun about tackling her to the ground and pinning her down.

The next class was their last of the day, which he shared with Rae. In the back of their math class, Quinn told her about the plans he’d made for them to play football with a couple guys from his gym class and she had been stoked. She said they’d get picked up from school and could rush back to her house to get changed, then head to the park. It was too far for them to ride bikes and get there on time, but if one of her parents weren’t around to give them a ride, they could still get a driver. Four years of friendship and he still wasn’t used to the fact that Rae had maids and chauffeurs available.

It wasn’t surprising that both Margaux and Charlie were at work when they got back to her house. Rae let the driver, Harris, know that they were just running inside to change and then would be back out. Quinn ran up to the spare room that was slowly becoming his bedroom and grabbed a shirt with its sides cut out and basketball shorts out of his drawers. He waited by the front door for Rae, who ran down the stairs in a pair of black joggers, a cropped Detroit Tigers t-shirt, and one of Quinn’s baseball hats flipped backwards over her French-braided pigtails.

“Your dad would make you put a real shirt on,” Quinn said, noting the two or three inches of Rae’s stomach showing.

“I can see your nipples,” Rae retorted. “How is that okay, but my belly button isn’t?” Quinn snorted and shook his head, conceding that she had a good point, and they ran out to the waiting car.

At the park, Quinn spotted the boys waiting for them next to one of the open, grassy areas on the other side of the bike trail. Harris asked if they needed him to wait for them, and Rae asked him to come back in an hour and a half. They slipped out of the back seat of the bright white BMW and made their way toward Chris and Jett. Without thinking about it, Quinn slipped his arm around Rae’s shoulders. He suddenly remembered that he’d left out that Rae is a girl, and chewed his lip as he grinned at the ground, wondering what their reaction would be, or if they’d even think anything of it.

“Hey guys,” Quinn waved with his free hand.

“Your friend couldn’t make it?” Chris asked, greeting Quinn with a brief arm wrestle grip handshake.

“That’s all right, he brought a cheerleader,” said Jett, eyeing Rae up and down, “You didn’t tell us you had a girlfriend.”

Quinn attempted to bite back his smirk and the laugh that came with it when he saw Rae’s expression, both incredulous and a little offended. He had to hold a fist up to his mouth and actually bite his knuckles to hold in his laughter as she fixed her eyes on Jett.

“I’m sorry, a cheerleader?” Rae glared, hands on her hips. “Do you see any pom-poms?”

Jett opened his mouth to respond, but was only able to stutter a few syllables. Quinn’s shoulders were shaking with the effort to hold in his laughter.

“Come on, Rae, you’ve already got the belly shirt,” Quinn said with a smirk, “Get yourself a skirt and cheer the boys on, little lady.”

Rae snapped her head toward Quinn, glowering. She shoved him hard in his side, and his laughter finally burst out of him.

“Oh my God, Rae,” Quinn cackled, “Your face at being called a cheerleader is even better than when I call you Princess.”

“You’re Rae?” Jett questioned, brow furrowed as he checked Rae over again.

“Yeah, it’s Raelyn, but my mom’s the only one who actually calls me that,” said Rae, still glaring at Quinn as she shoved him again. “And this clown over here is not my boyfriend. We’re friends.”

“Did he tell you we’re playing football?” Jett asked.

“Yep.”

“We were going to just play like...normal football. Should we just do, like, touch football now? Or something?” Chris questioned.

“Touch football?” Jett looked concerned and lowered his voice as if to speak only to Chris, but was still loud enough for the group to hear when he said, “I don’t know, what if I touch her, ya know, boobies by accident?”

“Boobies?” Rae raised an eyebrow, amused. “Luckily, I really don’t have much in that department yet. But don’t go making modifications on my account. Tackle is fine. Seriously.”

“Rae’s not like a regular girl,” Quinn said, “She’s not afraid to play rough.”

“A regular girl? What’s that supposed to mean?” Rae snapped. “I’ve got a V where y'all have a P, don’t I?”

Both Chris and Jett chuckled at this, and Quinn smirked, pointing at her. “That. That’s what I mean. Regular girls don’t say things like that. Especially in front of boys.”

“What do you know about girls anyway?” Rae rolled her eyes, now letting a small grin tug at her lips.

“I know most of them wouldn’t be okay with playing tackle football against boys,” Quinn said.

“You’d have to catch me to tackle me,” said Rae, getting into his space and staring up at him. “So I’m not too worried about it.”

“That’s a lot of ego talking,” Quinn said, peering at her through narrowed eyes.

“It’s only ego talking if it’s not true,” Rae replied. She turned toward the other two boys watching their interaction. “Which one of you guys is on my team?”

“And which one of you wants to be on the winning team?” Quinn asked, not breaking eye contact from Rae.

“You’re going down, Quinn Casey,” Rae poked him in the chest.

“I’ll be on her team,” said Chris with a shrug. He was holding the football under one arm and tossed it into the air. “Let’s do this.”

Jett paused, panic in his eyes as he watched everyone get ready to start the game. “Wait! Wait…Oh, come on! Did you just do that so you don’t have to tackle the girl?” Jett shouted, realizing the position he was now in.

“Seriously, man, she doesn’t care,” Quinn assured him, slapping a hand to Jett’s shoulder. “If you can catch her, tackle her. Don’t hesitate.”

Throughout the game, Quinn managed to tackle Rae twice, and Jett almost did once. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, or that he hesitated, she was just too quick and slipped out from under him. Jett had lost all hesitation after Rae had taken him down and just barely stopped him from making a touchdown. Chris managed to go the whole game without being tackled at all, and seemed skilled in every position. He and Rae won the game, and with it, ultimate bragging rights over Quinn and Jett.

By the time Harris arrived to pick Quinn and Rae up, the four of them were covered in mud and grass stains, joking and tossing the football around. They made plans to get together again for another game, and the next day at school they met up between classes and during lunch. Chris and Jett quickly learned what Quinn had meant about Rae not being a ‘regular girl’ and, with very little persuasion, accepted her into their new group as one of the guys.

Did you absolutely live for the flashbacks in Hard Hitter? Find more of Quinn & Rae’s stories here, from the first time Quinn went to Rae’s house, completely convinced it was a palace, to more dramatic and funny moments that they experienced throughout high school.