The Hitting Zone

"What do you want to talk about softball for?" Alisha asked, smiling. She glanced down at what Noah was holding. "Is it a softball?"

Noah laughed, looking a little awkward. It made me grin. "No...uh, I actually brought you a gift." He handed it to her. "It's nothing much. I was getting something else, and-"

"Thanks!" Alisha smiled and accepted the present, not willing to hear Noah's excuses. I figured she wanted to believe the gift was more genuine. It would suck if she knew it was just a cover for him to get pink dye for the twins. Alisha looked at me. "Is that box for me too?"

I shrugged. "You can have one. Jeremy signed baseball cards for everyone."

"Oh! Cool!" Alisha gripped the gift from Noah. "I'm going to go put this in my room real quick. Then I can show you were to put that box."

"Okay, we'll wait." Noah told her.

Alisha sprinted back up the stairs, then immediately came back down within a minute. It was obvious she didn't open up Noah's gift when she went up. Interesting.

"Follow me!" Alisha took the small box out of my hands and took the lead. We followed her to the backyard where our classmates had gathered. It was already packed with forty plus kids. It was good that she had such a big house and yard, but with this many people, it felt small.

Alisha lifted the box in the air. "Hey! Listen up!"

The other teens actually listened, getting quiet and looking our way. I shifted more behind Alisha and Noah.

"Most of you guys know Jake." Alisha tilted her head at me. I turned red. "Well, as promised, he asked Jeremy Patterson for his autograph. So in this box is autographed baseball cards. Take only one to make sure everyone can get one."

"Really?!"

"WOW!"

"I want one!"

The ones closest to us started to approach.

Alisha placed the box on a side table next to a speaker. "I'll leave it here! There's enough for everyone so don't rush or make a mess." She then led us away as most of the kids started to line up to get a baseball card.

We went towards the grill area and started to make a plate of food. Noah was somehow hungry even though we had a big breakfast this morning. He filled his plate with a hotdog and a cheeseburger, grabbing two bags of chips. Alisha and I took half that amount.

Alisha took us to a smaller table in the corner of the yard. "Here. This way Jake won't feel so nervous."

I smiled, thankful for such a considerate friend. We sat down and started to eat.

"Looks like those cards are a hit." Alisha said between bites, eyeing the teens lining up to get one. "How long did it take him to sign so many?"

I shrugged. "He said he did it on a flight so not long, I guess."

"It's not like he had to do thousands." Noah pointed out. "We maybe have a few hundred kids in our grade." He looked at Alisha. "Did you invite everyone?"

Alisha shook her head. "No way. My house isn't that big. There's only a hundred or so invitations."

A hundred? I coughed. "That's a lot."

Alisha laughed. "More than that came to your championship game. You're going to be okay. Plus, you know some of them. I didn't invite anyone in a different grade."

"That's too bad." Noah said. "It would have been nice to invite Andy and KJ. We played some baseball with Andy today and it was weird to tell him that we were going to your party. And he's not invited."

Alisha laughed. "Well, maybe I can host some softball team parties. I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind. It'd be weird with Mr. Miller and Stu though."

"They can just hang out with your parents." Noah pointed out.

Their conversation flowed easily, with the occasional laugh. Noah told her all about this morning; going on a run with the Wilson brothers, playing 'over the line', and how Zeke was going to a grad nite party at the beach with the other seniors.

"Wouldn't it be cool if we crashed it..?" Alisha smiled deviously.

Noah grinned. "I like the way you're thinking. The twins would definitely be in too."

"I don't think we should..." I interjected. "Zeke would be mad. I don't want to start the summer off by getting in trouble."

"True." Noah sighed. "What a good missed opportunity."

"Hey Alisha!" A girl called out from the pool area. "Are you going to get in the pool with us?"

Alisha got up and right before our very eyes, took off the sundress she was wearing, revealing a two-piece yellow bathing suit.

I blushed and looked away.

"You guys want to come too? You can just sit on the edge and put your feet in." Alisha spoke to us.

"I would, but I promised Jake we wouldn't go near the water." Noah said plainly. He was also looking slightly embarrassed.

"Alisha!!" The girl called again.

"Coming!" She yelled back. She placed the dress on the seat. "Watch this for me." Then she took off sprinting. We watched as she ran to the pool, jumped, and cannon balled into the water, making everyone in the vicinity wet.

"Cannon ball!" A guy sprinting in too and followed her jump. He wasn't the only one. A couple of guys and girls all started to jump in the pool, spraying water everywhere.

"I didn't think Alisha was wearing a bathing suit underneath her dress." Noah said, eyes on the pool. "I almost had a heart attack. Like why was she undressing?"

I let out a small laugh.

Noah turned to me and gave a small shove. "Shut up. I saw you turn red like a tomato."

"Jake gets red in the face for almost any reason." Kaylee said arriving at the small table. She smirked at Noah. "Having trouble controlling your hormones?"

Noah turned red.

"See? You guys turn red at anything." Kaylee grinned and sat down with a plate of food.

I laughed.

Kaylee continued. "I'm bummed I didn't catch Alisha before she went off to the pool. I wanted to wish her a happy birthday. Life of a social butterfly."

"She'll come back." I told her somewhat confidently. Noah was still over here so of course I had reason to believe that she would come back.

Kaylee shrugged. "Who knows. There are a lot of people here. She'll probably try to talk to every single one." She glanced at Noah. "Kind of like someone else I know."

Noah shook his head. "I'm not a social butterfly. I only hang out with Jake."

Kaylee looked my way. "Jake? Anything you want to say?"

I scratched my nose. "I don't know. I feel like Noah knows everyone. Does that count as being social?"

"No!" Noah said.

"Yes." Kaylee said at the same time.

"Knowing names doesn't mean that I'm a social butterfly. It's called being polite." Noah refuted.

"Are you calling Jake impolite then?" Kaylee asked.

Noah looked like he was in trouble. "It's different."

"Is it though?" Kaylee laughed.

"Noah!" One of the kids from our Spanish class jogged up to us, only in swim trunks, soaking wet from the pool. "Want to join in a game of pool volleyball?"

"Social butterfly." Kaylee whispered.

Noah shook his head. "No thanks. I'm good over here."

"Okay! Join us when you want." He ran back to the pool and jumped in.

"Are you babysitting Jake?" Kaylee asked. "Why didn't you go play?"

Noah glanced at me then at Kaylee. "Because I don't want to."

Kaylee raised an eyebrow.