The Hitting Zone

The day passed by without much hassle. Lunch was only me and Noah outside; his brothers must have stayed with their friends elsewhere. Noah just chatted away about baseball and his favorite players, filling up the silence that I leave. Occasionally he would require me to nod yes or shake my head no, but it was very relaxing. I did start to wonder what his real friends think about him ditching them, just to hang out with me, but again, no one ever approached us.

After lunch and a stop by his locker, he walked me to my math class and left me in the care of his twin brothers. Who, once again, had me fill out some problems for them. I did make sure to solve the problems step-by-step just in case they'll have to study it before a test or something. They weren't very rambunctious in class, and they let me solve the problems in peace, so I really didn't mind. They even walked me to Noah's locker afterwards.

When it came to practice, I got changed in the bathroom again. Noah looked at me funny, but he didn't say anything which I appreciate. The scars aren't crazy visible like they were early on, but I didn't need any more pity than I already get.

When the whole team gathered in the dugout, the head coach demanded our attention. "Boys. This is Jake Hollander. He's officially on the team. Great with the bat, but doesn't know much when it comes to the game. I expect all of you to lend a hand when needed. Don't crowd Jake and overwhelm him with nonsense. Introduce yourselves one at a time throughout the week."

"Wow. Mom must have called him and told him what's up. Look how nice he's being to you." Noah whispered.

"Noah. Ten laps after warmup." Coach hollered. The guys all laughed, especially the twins.

Noah frowned. "But-"

"No buts." Zeke came close. "Talking back will be an extra five laps. You know talking while coach is talking is ten laps. Being close with Jake doesn't grant you exceptions." He glanced at me. "If you don't understand something, you'll ask afterwards."

I nodded urgently. Noah looked like he was going to start talking again so I grabbed his arm. He pouted, but was able to hold himself back.

Zeke nodded, satisfied. He looked around the team. "Jake is a special case, but we'll treat him as normal as possible."

Coach agreed. "After the trainer gets him up to speed and he can steadily keep up, he will practice at the same pace as everyone else." He jerked a thumb towards the field. "Get going. Warmups."

The team hustled out of the dugout. We did the same warmup as yesterday so I didn't need to look to Noah for constant guidance. Which was good, because he was frowning and didn't talk at all. We went through the whole warmup and passed the ball back and forth without talking. As soon as coach called us in, he took off to do his laps.

I stood there, confused on what to do. It was weird that Noah would be so quiet. I didn't think he would take so much offense to Zeke and Coach telling him to run.

"Jake? You joining us or did you want to run laps like Noah?" Coach asked. He stood with the whole team staring at me.

I dropped my glove and took off after Noah. I rather run two miles again than be left with a bunch of strangers. Contrary to my thought of catching up to him, he caught up to me on his second lap while I was still on the first. Damn. He runs fast.

"Jake?" Noah slowed to my pace, not sounding out of breath at all. "What are you doing? Is Zeke making you run laps too?"

"I. Chose. To." I gasped out, already tired from the short sprint.

"Idiot. Why would you do that? The trainer should be here soon, to come up with a program for you to follow."

"You. Were. Upset." I stuttered stepped, then fix my stride length.

"Stupid. Not at you. I just don't like how Zeke bullies me sometimes. Him and coach. There were other players whispering too. They only like to come up with punishments almost every practice for me. Dad says it's because they want me to be a better player. But it still gets to me sometimes, ya know?"

I nodded. Even though I was having trouble comprehending as I struggled on our laps.

Noah became his usual talkative self as he ranted about how hard Zeke is on him. He didn't even make the twins run as much as him. He was able to keep ranting for the rest of the run, all the way back to the dugout.

As we drank our water and I caught my breath, Mr. Miller approached us with an average looking man by his side. "Jake, this is Andrew Vishnevsky, the school's athletic trainer. You'll be under his care for now."