The Hitting Zone

Noah seemed more bothered by this than I was. I had just become numb to it. My brother didn't want me...I wasn't surprised that my uncle was the same. He dragged me to our room and plopped down at his desk, flipping open his laptop.

"What are you doing..?" I asked, standing by his side.

"Getting even." He opened the google search engine and started to type. "They want to claim no relation? I'd like to see them try." He was clicking on a link to a blog and then clicked the 'contact' tab.

"I don't know if this is a good idea." I said hesitantly. "Shouldn't we talk with your parents before doing anything rash? Mr. Duncan said that they're still trying to contact them to do a dna test. It's probably best if we just wait."

"Right!" He lit up. "They're not responding to child services. I should mention that!" He was typing a mile a minute.

Seeing that he couldn't be reasoned with, I just tried to keep up with what he was writing.

"From Anonymous: I have insider information that the state of California has been trying to reach the Patterson's to confirm the relationship between them and the victim. They've been dodging their obligation to their own blood. I don't know how anyone can think that they're in the right when there's a teenager all alone."

"But I'm not alone anymore." I interrupted.

"But you were." He pointed out. "How long did you spend in the hospital alone?"

"Hmm, six or seven months." I tried thinking back. "It's blurry one the beginning. I cracked my skull and had a severe concussion."

Noah finally paused. He swiveled to look at me. "You-you never talked about how bad it was before."

Feeling embarrassed, I backed up. I scratched my neck while tilting my head. "It's not...something...I like to talk about." I whispered. "Or think about."

"Jake." Noah stood up.

"I'm okay now, Noah." I gave him a tight smile. "I have you and your family. You all are the best people I've ever met. I've never felt so...wanted."

Noah sighed, glancing at the computer. "Maybe you're right; I shouldn't kick the hornets nest." He looked back at me. "I just don't like them getting away with treating you as a nonexistent entity. You're real. You have feelings."

I shrugged. "I don't feel much for them anymore. Maybe, if I didn't have you and your family, I would want to get to know them." I felt some pain in my chest. "I would have liked to know my dad. To know if he wanted me. To know if he's the same as them or as my mother or if he was completely different."

Noah snorted. "'The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.' Maybe Jeremy is just like him."

I shook my head. "I can't just say that. Not everyone is like their parents. Your dad isn't like his dad. Nor am I like my mom."

He frowned. "You know about Grampa?"

I was taken aback. "Uh...do you?"

Noah shook his head. "He's dead. Dad doesn't talk about it."

We stood in silence with our thoughts.

"What are you two doing?" Dave broke up the silence, while scaring us. We both jumped and Noah's hand hit his keyboard.

Noah's eyes widened as he looked at the screen. 'Congratulations on your submission.'

"No. No. Oh no. This can't be happening." Noah tried hitting the back button, but it was no use. His rant had been successfully submitted to the blog.

"What happened? What were you two doing?" Dave stepped closer, coming further into the room.

Noah immediately started pushing him away. "Nothing! What are you doing in here?? Weren't you talking with Zeke? Shouldn't you be copying Jake's math homework? Kyle already has it! Go!"

"Why are you acting so suspicious?" Dave raised an eyebrow.

"You guys are copying Jake's math homework?" A deeper voice asked from the hallway. Zeke appeared in the doorway. His eyes narrowed, looking at the three of us.

Dave flushed. "Nooo."

I looked away, feeling guilty.

"I'll just have to see what Kyle is doing then." Zeke turned and started walking away. Dave hurried to follow.

Noah smacked his own forehead. "Dang it! Why is nothing going right?!" He glanced at me. "C'mon, let's stop this first!" He ran after his brothers.

I was a little unwilling, but I know if they get caught with my work, I'll definitely get in trouble too.

"Noah was just kidding!" Dave tugged Zeke's shoulder. "We wouldn't cheat. Not in math anyways."

Zeke glanced down at him.

"Kidding! I'm kidding!" Dave rushed for say. "I know that cheating is wrong. And that we'd be in really big trouble with you, Mom and Dad, and the school, and Coach and whoever else!" Dave was practically shouting.

"Then you have nothing to hide." Zeke said, going into their giant room. "Hey, Kyle."

We three followed right behind him.

Kyle, who was sitting at a desk in their room, slowly turned to face us. He gulped, coughing a little bit like he was choking. "Yes?"

Zeke frowned. "Are you okay?"

Kyle nodded. He coughed and gasped for air a few more times. "Yea, just-" More coughing. "—swallowed some gum by accident. All your yelling scared me." He shot a glare at the three of us, focusing on Dave.

Dave scratched his head. "Ha. Ha." He forced out. "Zeke has the impression that we're cheating because of Noah's joke."

"We wouldn't cheat!" Kyle adamantly denied. "And Jake's only a freshman. How could he know more than us?" He lifted a paper notebook. "Look, I'm just finishing my math homework right now."

Zeke was still suspicious so he made his move to the desk. He picked up the notebook and looked it over. "You really showed your work. How...unlike you." His eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't be hiding Jake's homework somewhere would you?"

"Nope." Kyle got up. "Take a look! I'm gonna go downstairs for some water."

"Yea, me too." Dave added, following his twin to the hallway.

"It's almost dinner time after all." Noah said, tugging on my arm. "We should go downstairs and set the table before Mom and Dad get home."

All four of us gathered in the kitchen.

"That was a close one." Dave whispered. He glared at Noah. "You almost got all of killed up there. What's your problem?"

Noah shifted nervously. "I panicked, okay? I just made a mistake on the computer and didn't want you to see."

"What did you do?" Kyle asked, chugging some water.

Noah looked at me. I shrugged.

"Well, it shouldn't be a big deal. I just...sent a mean message about Patterson to a blog. But it was done anonymously!" Noah told them.

"Why would you do that?" Dave asked, surprised. "And why wouldn't you want me to see?"

Noah shrugged. "I felt guilty. I wasn't going to send it after talking it out with Jake, but you startled me. Now it's out there." He folded his arms and put on a mean face. "Jake's uncle also denied any relationship between Jake and Jeremy. It was messed up. I was angry."

"Well, it was sent anonymously, right?" Kyle asked. "So it probably won't gather too much attention. They probably get a few hundred messages a day." He patted Noah's shoulder. "Don't worry about it."

Noah nodded. Then he lowered his voice. "How could you let Zeke look for Jake's work? Are you hiding it in your pocket?"

Kyle turned red. "No way, I was scared he would ask me to empty my pockets. Zeke can be strict. So...as soon as I heard Dave's loud warning from the hall, I..." He blushed even harder. "I panicked."

"Hey! Don't copy me!" Noah said. "Really, where's Jake's homework?"

"..." Kyle kept quiet.

Dave's eyes widened, looking like two perfect circles. "You didn't!" He accused.

Kyle slowly nodded.

"I didn't get to copy it yet!" Dave rolled his eyes.

Kyle shrugged. "I finished copying. You can just look at mine at lunch time."

"But...where's mine?" I spoke up.

Kyle patted me on the head. "You can copy mine at lunch too."

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Why?" Noah pestered. "What did you do?"

Dave laughed as Kyle's face got even redder. He looked to make sure that Zeke wasn't downstairs yet. Then whispered. "Kyle wasn't choking on gum. He was choking on paper."

Noah's jaw dropped. "You ate his homework?"

What! "You ate my homework??" I looked incredulously at Kyle.

Kyle's face was the same shade as a tomato. "You know what, you're welcome. If it wasn't for my quick thinking, we would have been in trouble. All of us." He looked at Noah. "You too! Don't think you would be let off easy. You obviously knew about it the whole time."

Noah started to laugh. He got louder and louder. "I've heard of kids using the excuse that their dog ate their homework, but now-" He chuckled. "Jake can say that his brother ate his homework."

"Shhh." Kyle held a hand over Noah's mouth. "Shut it. Don't blow this a second time!"

I looked worriedly at Kyle. "Can you eat paper? Is that safe?"

Kyle shrugged helplessly. "No one ever died from eating one piece of paper. I'll be fine."

"Boys!!" A woman's voice called out. It was Mrs. Atkins. "We're home!"

All of us quickly ran to greet her at the door. Sometimes Mrs. Atkins was safer than Zeke.