The Hitting Zone

Spending Friday evening at the busy mall was far from what I had imagined for myself just over a year ago. We ate to our heart's content and then watched a movie in a packed theater. I was able to laugh with everyone else and felt one step closer to being a normal teenager like Noah and them.

Zeke allowed Dave to drive us home and even gave him some pointers for driving out at night. A relaxed atmosphere like this made me forget what we had gone to the mall for in the first place.

As soon as Noah and I went to our room to get ready for bed though, he pulled out the bag that held Alisha's present. He pulled out a white bottle and tossed it at me, grinning. "I hid this in my pocket when leaving the store. I was so scared he was going to see me slip it in the bag when I got to the car. Luckily I distracted him by talking about Kyle's camping trip."

I read the bottle. "Instant color?" I kept reading. "Pink? Semi-permanent?" I looked up at Noah. "You want to dye their hair??"

Noah grinned and leaned against the door. "It's a good idea, isn't it?"

Uhhh. "Are your parents going to get mad?"

"No way. If they don't like it, they can just get hair cuts. It's not like it'll be super pink." He explained. "Their hair isn't bleached and because we aren't doing it the 'right' way, it should be more like a tinge of pink."

"Oh." I relaxed. "Okay, but how are we going to do this?"

"Zeke and them share the shower, right? They also share the soaps and stuf. Zeke just has to shower before them, empty out a bottle and then fill it up with this one."

"Wow. Sounds like it'll work." I gave him the bottle back. Then glanced at the bag of headbands. "Are you going to wrap those for Alisha's party?"

"Yea." He walked to his desk, placing them in a drawer, hiding the bottle as well. "I'll put them in a bag closer to the party day. I might lose it or forget it if I do it now." He looked at me. "Good thinking with that, by the way. Definitely threw Dave for a loop! He would have never known it was a cover."

I scratched my nose, wondering if I should tell Noah that it wasn't just a cover. Alisha really wanted a gift from him.

"Jake?" Noah asked. "What are you thinking about?"

I shook my head and went to grab my pjs. "Just about the party."

"It'll be fun!" He grabbed his pjs too. "You know...that would be a good time to pass out Jeremy's autograph to everyone. Kind of like a party favor."

"Party favor?" I questioned, not understanding.

"Yea. It's a small return gift for party guests. Kind of like a thanks for coming present?" He explained. "It was fun when we were kids. Now it'd be cool to see you pass them out."

"Even though it's not my party?" I asked.

Noah waved his hand as if to swat my worry away. "Don't worry. I'm sure Alisha would love it too. The hard part would be getting the autographs. There's so many kids in our grade. I can't see Jeremy signing that many autographs."

Ah. I went to my backpack and pulled out a notebook. I turned to an empty page and started to make a list like Dr. Moore suggested. "I'll ask him on Sunday." I wrote it down. Then wrote a few more things I wanted to ask or talk about.

Noah looked over my shoulder. "Don't forget to ask about Rose. You could have a sister-in-law soon if they're dating." I added it to the list.

We stayed up later in the night coming up with things I could and probably should talk to Jeremy about. Nothing hardcore or brought up bad memories. Just maybe everything you should know about your brother. Like his birthday? Why he went pro instead of going to college? His high school baseball experience. The list went on.

When we stopped to take a break and change into our pajamas, we realized that the house was silent. Everyone was already asleep. We moved like mice in the night, trying to keep it down as we really prepared for bed this time.

"Goodnight, Jake." Noah yawned, turning the light off.

"Night." I mumbled, passing out in seconds.

It felt like I merely blinked before incessant knocking at the door made me opened my eyes. Light was leaking into the room, telling me that I really did sleep.

"What??" Noah groaned from his bed.

We were both sitting up now, our blurry eyes looking at Zeke, who was still knocking.

"Rise and shine." Zeke's greeting sounded like a demand, making me shiver.

"What are you doing..?" Noah squinted at his eldest brother. "It's like 7am. Is there an emergency or something?"

Zeke kept up the knocking. "I can stand here all day. Get up, get some workout clothes on and don't forget your running shoes."

I did what I was told, getting out of bed. I took my clothes to the bathroom to change in private. When I came back, Noah was still in bed, arguing with Zeke.

"It's the weekend!" Noah complained. "We can start training when summer starts."

Zeke looked down at this troublesome brother of his, stopping with the knocking. He folded his arms across his chest. "Do you think if you keep being rebellious like this, that I would just go away? It's either my way, or the highway."

Noah flopped over in his bed. "I'm going back to sleep."

"Fine. You're just proving to Mom that you won't be able to listen to me over summer break." Zeke replied. "She won't be able to trust you to be here with me so you'll have to go with her to the twins school stuff. Not only that, I might as well not play softball with you."

Noah sat back up. "What? Why are you going this far? I just want to sleep in on a Saturday."

"It's called discipline." Zeke shot back. "I don't want to watch a disobedient brother all summer. If you don't want to do this, just say so. I can go somewhere else to train for the summer."

"I'm moving! I'm moving!" Noah rolled out of bed. "I'm having breakfast first though!" He hopped around, trying to find some clothes to wear.

I put on my running shoes in silence, kind of scared of Zeke right now. He has always been strict, but he usually didn't threaten. I glanced at him and caught him slightly smiling at the fumbling Noah.

He caught me looking and dropped the smile. "Two bananas for first breakfast. Then we'll run. After weights, you can have a second breakfast."

"We're not even playing baseball..?" Noah was distressed as he changed and got his running shoes on.

"Just playing baseball isn't enough." Zeke lectured. "You need strength, endurance, and a tough mentality. Do you want your spot stolen when the fall comes around? Do you think a softball league can really keep you in shape?"

"A little rest never hurt anyone." Noah mumbled.

"We'll train today and tomorrow. Then next weekend. As soon as summer break starts, it'll be Monday to Friday, rest on Saturday and Sunday. There's plenty of time to rest."

For some reason, I don't think the summer will be as fun and as easygoing as I first thought.