The Hitting Zone

Our first hurdle came sooner than I thought.

Noah had sent Kaylee a text to meet up for lunch at school on Monday, but she didn't reply. I had a bad feeling, but Noah the optimist still suggested we try to find her at lunch.

So instead of eating at our table like normal, we started to wander the quad and looked for her. Noah asked someone he knew if they had seen her around today, and we were pointed in the right direction. A bench under a shady tree.

There, a group of girl's sat at a bench, talking and laughing. I recognized some from our classes, but not all. Kaylee was the only one I really knew.

"Kaylee!" Noah waved.

The girls went quiet and looked at us. Feeling shy, and just a little intimidated, I took a step behind Noah.

Kaylee frowned at the sight of us, making me uncomfortable. She stepped away from the group of girls and came over. "What do you want?"

I shrunk back.

Noah blinked in surprise. "Didn't you get my text? I wanted to talk to you about something."

Kaylee folded her arms across her chest. "I thought that you would get the hint when I didn't reply. I don't want to talk to you."

"What? Why not?"

"Dude. Your brother dumped my sister. Without warning. Did you think we could still be cool?" She rolled her eyes.

"But he is him and I am me." Noah argued. "We can still be friends."

Kaylee looked at us in disbelief. "And have my sister be mad at me too? I don't think you realize what it means to be dumped. How it feels. My sister still cries every day."

I tugged at Noah's shirt, trying to signal to him that we should leave.

Noah didn't budge. "That's not my fault though. Kyle isn't exactly in our good books either. He's been weird for the last few weeks. A complete psycho. He's super adamant about going to some expensive pitchers camp in Texas."

"Good for him." She said sarcastically. She turned her back on us. "Anyways, I have nothing to say to you. Get lost." She went back to her group.

Noah clenched his fists and looked like he was going to follow her, but I grabbed his arm. He looked at me.

I shook my head. "She doesn't want to talk to us. Come on." I gave a tug. We headed to our table and sat down, pulling out our lunches.

"I can't believe she would just push us away like that." Noah huffed, opening his bag of cookies first.

"I can." I shrugged.

"What do you mean?" Noah said between bites.

I pulled out a sandwich. "Well, your brother hurt her sister's feelings. Wouldn't you be mad at someone who hurt Kyle's feelings?"

"No." Noah answered.

I gave him a look of disbelief.

"Okay, fine." Noah conceded. "I might be upset on his behalf too." He sighed. "Dang it. Stupid Kyle. Guess we'll skip to step two, asking the team."

I nodded as I ate my sandwich.

***

"You look like you're in a bad mood." Dave commented on Noah's face as we showed up in the dugout after school.

Noah's frown was prominent. And unwavering. "Shut up."

"Ohhh. He's in a really bad mood." Kyle added, standing beside Dave. Only half the team was in the dugout so we were still waiting for the rest.

"All because of you." Noah's frown turned into a glare at Kyle. He kept his eyes on his older brother who had unknowingly sabotaged our plans for getting a softball pitcher.

"What did I do?" Kyle asked, confused.

"You broke up with Marie." Noah groaned.

Kyle stiffened up. "What does that have to do with you? She's not giving you a hard time, is she?"

"No. I just want Kaylee to join my softball team, but now it's impossible. She won't even hear me out." Noah sighed.

"Wait. You're playing on a softball team..?" Sean, who just entered, paused by us.

"Yes!" Noah jumped up. "It's a six-week long adult softball league. Do you want to join? Are you interested?"

Sean laughed. "No way. I'm going to Arizona to visit my grandparents. I'm just surprised that you're going to play softball. That doesn't sound like you."

Noah lost some of his zeal. "Well...I missed tryouts for the Watsonville Baseball Club."

It was Sean's turn to be surprised. "That shouldn't be a big deal, right? You, and Jake, could probably join whenever you want. You're both so good. And you're on varsity. Wouldn't they..." He trailed off as he saw Noah's face darken.

Dave patted Sean's shoulder. "It's politics. Noah found this softball league to join though. Him, Jake, and Zeke are going to make a team. Noah's going to ask the team if anyone's free to join when everyone gets here."

Sean looked apologetic. "I would join, but I already have plans. My grandparents are expecting me."

"It's okay." Noah told him, flashing a weak smile. "If you know any potential players, let me know. We're really looking for players over the age of 18. We need three. Well, we have Zeke, so really the number is two."

"Ten players to make the team whole." I reminded him.

"Yea, yea." Noah sighed.

The twins went off with Sean as more players walked into the dugout, filling it up. I felt a little nostalgic seeing everyone in here again. Things would be different next year and it made me a little sick to my stomach.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, except the coaches, Noah jumped up and moved to stand in the center. "Hey! Guys! Can I have a second?"

The nonsensical chatter slowed and came to a stop when the guys realized that Noah looked serious.

Noah nodded his thanks. "Since we're all here, I wanted to see if anyone was free for the next month to join an adult softball team with me, Jake, and Zeke?"

"That team sounds stacked already." Bryce laughed.

Brian shook his head. "Maybe to us. But Noah said, adult. They're going to go up against a wide variety of adults. There could be work teams, retired old people teams, or even ex-college friends that just like to dominate on the small scale."

Brian stole everyone's attention with that statement. All at once the team started to talk about the adult softball league, but not specifically about the team we were trying to put together.

"Aren't you boys a little too rowdy for a Monday?" Mr. Miller showed up first. The other coaches were right behind him. Their appearance made the team straighten up and quiet down.

Noah used this opportunity to speak up again. "So if anyone is free for the next six weeks and want to play, let me or Zeke know. We need to get ten players by Sunday." He came back to me and sat down.

Mr. Miller looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

Coach Wilcox took the lead. "I bet you all are wondering why I called you down today."

There were some nods.

"First off, I want to remind my returning varsity players that they should take the summer seriously and not to slack off in their training. Just because you were on varsity this year, doesn't mean you get a free pass next season. I have no problem moving players up and down as I please."

The dugout became more solemn.

Coach cracked a smile. "Now that you guys know that has been stated, let me move on to the next announcement. On a much lighter note, I've been contacted by the CIF organizers. With our win, we have also been granted the privilege of going to an Oakland A's game. For free." The team got loud as everyone started to talk at once. "AND." Coach raised his voice, making everyone pause. "And, we'll be able to go on the field for a short ceremony before the game starts."

"So cool!"

"Yes!!"

"Awe man, I wanted to go to a Giants game instead."

"Will we get to meet any of the players?"

The last question made me nervous as a few pair of eyes drifted my way.

Noah nudged me. "Do you think your brother knows? Will he come and meet us on the field?"

Seeing as Noah didn't speak in a low voice, almost everyone heard him. I swallowed hard, feeling uncomfortable with the looks.

"I can ask..?" I volunteered.

The team went even crazier talking about a chance to meet Jeremy Patterson, a star in the MLB. It was surreal to hear everyone say his name and talk about him with awe in their voices. Jeremy is a great player. It makes sense that everyone wants to meet him.