The Hitting Zone

When we got home, the dining room had completely transformed. It used to be clean, and well organized, yet now it looks like a tornado of papers went by. The adults had papers on every available surface of the dining room table, and had even pinned some to the walls. And the amount of adults had doubled. Mr. Duncan showed up and Coach had beaten us home after pizza. The final member was introduced as George Pickens, the Atkins family attorney.

Mr. Pickens sat quietly beside Dr. Moore and listened to his medical jargon regarding me and my issues. He looked like a grampa on the brink of retirement, but he gave off the vibe of someone that shouldn't be messed with.

Mr. Duncan hovered over me. "Are you alright, Jake? I've heard everything from Mary and Wayne, however, I'm still worried."

I shrugged. I'm fine now, I guess. The Atkins seemed to have everything covered.

Noah stepped in front of me. "Nope. He's not okay. Even I'm not okay. We should stay home from school tomorrow in case that woman comes after him or something."

I froze. I didn't even think of school tomorrow. What are we going to do? I looked up at Mr. Duncan, worried.

"You'll be going to school tomorrow." Mrs. Atkins jumped in and declared. "There's no reason for my kids to put their education on hold, in fear of getting in trouble with a school counselor. George has already contacted the school board on our behalf and got that woman placed on paid administrative leave. For now. Soon we'll have her out on her butt." She narrowed her eyes at Noah. "So go do your homework."

"Busted." Noah mumbled before dragging himself upstairs. I followed. "I really thought I'd be able to get us the day off. Mom is too quick."

I shrugged. As long as Mrs. Golladay isn't there to harass me, then I don't care.

"Don't act so nonchalant." Noah instructed as we walked into our room. "Tomorrow, not only do we get back to classes, but practice. We got today off so we'll have to work twice as hard tomorrow. Zeke might even make us stay late since we won't be playing in Saturday's game. Then Sunday night be even tougher."

I frowned. "Zeke owes us batting cages on Sunday. He promised."

Noah brightened up. "Right! Good! Excellent! Tomorrow will probably be the worst of it." He pulled out his homework and I followed suit.

We spent the rest of the night finishing our homework and getting ready for tomorrow.

Friday. The kitchen was still a mess for breakfast so Mrs. Atkins let us eat in the living room before sending us off, with promises of talking to the school board and having answers by the end of the day. Then Zeke drove us to school and Mr. Miller met us by the fields.

"Doing alright?" Mr. Miller asked as he drove me and Noah up to the building.

I nodded. But then realized he couldn't see me behind him, so I cleared my throat and forced out a, "Yes."

"Good. Next time you run into trouble, run to the field. You can find me there, working on the field. You won't have to talk or anything. Just know that you can relax in the dugout or exert some of that excess energy around the field." He let us off and waved as he drove back.

"He's right." Noah tugged his backpack up a little higher. "Next time you feel like you have to run, either from a bad or scary situation, or even from your own feelings, go to the field. That way we know where to look. I was really scared and nervous when you didn't show up to class. I had texted the twins. Zeke. Mom and Dad. No one knew." He scrunched up his nose. "I know they said your mom was locked up but I still got nervous that she came after you."

I flinched at the thought. Then vehemently shook my head. "Mr. Duncan promised me that she won't be out."

Noah gave me a tight smile. "Good." He then threw an arm around my shoulder and dragged me to his locker. "Let's grab our books before class."

We got a move on and started our school day, following the normal pattern, and came across no surprises or obstructions. The morning flew by and turned into afternoon practice. The whole team warmed up together with the exception of Jason, who still sat on the bench resting his injury.

"Gather up." Coach commanded right after warmups. We circled around him and took a knee. "I know we had a bit of distraction yesterday." I scrunched down, trying to make myself disappear. "But that's life. You can't turn around and change the past, but you can work twice as hard in the present, to change the future." He looked down at me and Noah. "Did Zeke tells you the consequences of missing yesterday's practice?"

Noah sadly nodded and I mimicked his actions. "Benched for the game."

The team let out whispers and murmurs immediately. I felt even more put on the spot.

"Are you trying to lose the game on purpose coach?" An angry voice raised above the others. The team quieted down and all eyes went to John Roberts...the original starting second baseman.

"What was that, Roberts?" Coach faced him head on.

John stood up. "Supposedly these two freshmen are good enough to replace me and Daniel. But now that they're having a fight with the school, you're benching them? Isn't that suspicious? Are you trying to lose to prove a point that we need them?" My jaw dropped. I've never heard John speak so much and he was surprisingly not well-mannered like I thought.

Coach took off his baseball cap, and looked around at us players. "How many of you think I'm doing this to punish the school and not the freshmen?" A few hands went up, excluding the twins, Zeke, Garret, and Jordan. Even Kelvin's hand went up. Coach's eyes narrowed and went back to John. "I've stated the rules before, that if you miss a practice between games, you will sit the very next game. If you can't put full effort in, then you obviously need the rest." He looked around at the players that have raised their hands. "As for purposely throwing a game? That isn't my style. And if that's your style, then you can get the hell off my team."

The atmosphere was tense and heavy.

"Garret will be on the mound. Zeke will still be cleanup. If you don't believe you can win without some freshmen, then I don't need you on my team." His eyes came back to me and Noah. "And if we don't win without the freshmen, they'll be shouldering the blame. 100 laps. Each."

Noah jumped up. "Coach!" He protested. "That's not fair! We didn't have a say in the matter!"

Coach glared down. "You did." His eyes shift to mine. "You both did. Instead of following rules, you deserted them and treated them as guidelines. That's not how the real world works. You put yourselves before your team and teammates and these are the consequences." His lips turned up into an evil grin. "You better hope this team wins tomorrow or I know what you'll be doing on Sunday."

He was definitely talking about running laps and not going to the cages. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to stay calm. Just gotta have faith in this team. They can win without us. My brows furrowed. Wait. They can win without us? I didn't really like the sound of that thought....almost as much as I hate the idea of losing.