“Billy, please see me after class.”

Those were the words of my English teacher, Mr. Cruz, after he finished the lesson. Naturally, the ooh’s of my fellow classmates did little to make me feel better. By the time the bell rang at 2:30, my heart was thudding in my chest. Ben gave me a sympathetic slap on the shoulder as I gathered up my books.

“See you later, man.”

“Yeah, see you.”

I sidled up to Mr. Cruz’s desk, which was (as usual) covered in a mound of ungraded assignments.

“You wanted to see me, sir?”

Mr. Cruz was a man I respected. He was a little absent-minded, sure, but he was the smartest guy I knew, and what I liked best about him was that you could ask him anything, anything at all, and he would answer your question with a thoughtful reply. I hoped that whatever he had to speak with me about was nothing bad.

“Yes. Billy, have you given college any thought?”

“Um, sure.”

“Well, I found out about a baseball scholarship today, one that you might be interested in…”