The Hitting Zone

We had loaded up and hit the road. Only driving fifteen minutes before pulling into a country club, surrounded by a golf course. There were tall palm trees all along the winding driveway that took us down to a relatively large parking lot. Mr. Atkins parked and we all got out.

"Looks like we're late." Mrs. Atkins sighed.

"Fashionably late." Dave corrected while buttoning his jacket buttons. He glanced down at me and caught my questionable look. "Button your jacket. It's only supposed to be unbutton when you sit down."

I quickly button the jacket together.

Noah rolled his eyes. "Just do what makes you comfortable." He put his hands in his pockets, leaving the jacket undone. "I think I look good just like this."

"Twerp." Kyle gave Noah a shove behind, making him stumble.

"Mom!" Noah complained.

"Kyle, please behave and stop picking on your brother." She held a hand to her head. "All of you be on your best behavior."

Dave elbowed Zeke. "You hear that, Zeke?? Best behavior from you."

Noah laughed. "What would that even be like from Zeke? It's not like he has a bad behavior."

"It means he has to smile more." Dave answered.

"It wouldn't hurt." Mrs. Atkins sighed.

Zeke's lips twitched.

"I'm kidding." Mrs. Atkins told him, laughing. "Just try not to break anything. I feel like whenever we leave the house, one of you will cause some kind of trouble."

"It's a celebration, Mom." Noah said. "What trouble could we get in?"

We reached the building. Familiar faces were walking in, and I recognized some of them from the lower-leveled teams. They came with a parent or two, some even brought their grandparents.

"Hey, kiddos!" Garret threw his arms around each twin, pulling them in tight. "Ready to see who won 'king of the hill'??"

"It's me this year. For sure." Dave threw Garret's arm off.

"You? You had two different injuries this year." Kyle snorted, getting rid of Garret's arm too.

"Guess that leaves me as the winner again." Garret beamed. He noticed the rest of us. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Atkins."

"Hello, Garret." Mrs. Atkins smiled at him. "Are your parents already inside?"

"Yes ma'am. I already told them to save two seats for you two." He jerked his thumb to the biggest room in the building.

"Thank you." Mr. Atkins nodded and walked with his wife to the banquet room. "You boys be good. And come in when they say to come in."

"Yea, Dad."

"Sure, Dad."

"Whatever you say, Dad."

Mr. Atkins could only shake his head. Him and Mrs. Atkins left us alone with Garret. Though we weren't the only ones to stay in the long entryway. Other baseball players had gathered and were in smaller groups, chatting.

"What was with your instagram stories last night?" Garret asked towards the twins. "Did you all go to the A's game last night? There were like twenty different pictures posted. You guys might as well recorded the whole game, geez."

Dave looked to me, unsure how much to say.

"Jake's brother invited us." Noah spoke up. "It was fun."

Garret's eyes widened. He looked down at me. "No joke?"

"Uh, no joke..." I said in a low voice. It wasn't like I was hiding from the fact that Jeremy was my brother. And Garret was a friend. To all of us. He was nice enough to even do the midseason tryout with me to keep me company. It wouldn't be nice to lie to him. "It was a surprise."

Garret's jaw dropped. "Wow. I can't believe I know someone who knows someone in the big leagues. And on my favorite team, no less." He sighed. "You have to take me next time, okay?"

None of the Atkins spoke up this time around. They all waited for me to answer him. I cleared my throat. "Sure. Maybe. I'll have to talk to him."

"Don't feel pressured on my behalf." Garret waved his arms. "Just if there's an opportunity next time, it'd be cool."

I nodded slowly.

The conversation shifted to how the A's won last night and how good they were looking overall despite the loss of Maberry to injury. I listened, learning more about Jeremy and his team in the process.

Guys from our team came and went, greeting us along the way. Once a coach determined that 99% of the players were present, they started to usher us into the banquet room. There were 20+ circular tables, filling up the room and making it hard to move around. All the back tables were filled with adults and parents and other family members.

"We're over here." Dave led the way, squeezing to a front and center table. On a centerpiece, there was a laminated card that stated, 'VARSITY'.

Feeling more than a few pairs of eyes on me, I quickly sat down, trying to not draw attention to myself. Each table sat down, so ours filled up quick with me, Garret and all the Atkins. Julian, Mahki, Kelvin and Alex filled up the empty seats in a blink.

It took time for everyone to get seated at their proper tables, with all the teams being divided up. As everyone got settled, Coach stood up from the coaches table and walked to the podium, front and center, just feet away from our table.

Everyone quieted down as they saw the head coach of the baseball program waiting. When it got silent enough, Coach spoke into the small microphone attached the podium. "Welcome everybody. I'm happy that most of the players and their family could make it tonight. This evening we will be honoring all three levels of our baseball program and recognize the select few, who made astounding contributions to their teams."

A lot of the parents clapped energetically.

"Why are you so embarrassed?" Noah whispered. "They haven't even called your name yet."

"There's so many." I gulped. "So many people in here."

Noah looked worried. "If you need a break, let me know. We can go walk in the hall and even step outside for some fresh air."

"I'm fine." For now.

"First, I'm going to let the friendly staff bring out the food to fill you up." Coach continued to speak to everyone. "I will ask that everyone stay seated for the dinner and for the ceremony. There will be plenty of time afterwards for everyone else to get together." He directed this to us at the players tables. "After everyone finished dinner, we'll have Coach Ryan from the freshman team come forward to honor his players. Followed by Coach Holman from the JV team. I'll wrap it up with our varsity boys and then the formal part of the evening will be over. Thank you." He walked back to his seat amid polite clapping from the parents.

With that, the waiters along the way stepped up and started to fill the glasses at the table with water.

Noah made a face. "Is water our only option?"

"Deal with it." Zeke told him before sipping from his glass.

"We don't go to a fancy private school." Dave chuckled. "This is the best we can afford out of our team budget. I think the parents even have to chip in a little more to help cover the costs."

Kyle frowned.

Noah sighed. "Oh well. It's fine."

After five minutes, the waiters started coming in with plates of food, serving the adults in the back first.