The Hitting Zone

After getting the books, attendance, and writing a short introduction, the first hour was already gone. Mrs. Lorenz might have been laidback, but she also had a schedule. She went through the lesson plan for chapters one and two before letting us go for the day.

"Three hours of just Spanish is harder than I thought." Noah sighed as we walked to the spot Zeke had dropped us off at.

Mitchell joined us on the short walk. "How do you think I feel? I already took this class. This is round two for me."

Noah laughed. "Shouldn't it be easier on you then?"

Mitchell shrugged. "For right now. I remember a lot of the vocabulary so I have a head start." He sighed. "I wish I didn't fail it the first time though."

"How did you get to play baseball all spring if you weren't doing well?" Noah asked.

"I had a C for most of the semester. Then bombed the final. Did awful on a presentation after the championship game and I sunk to a D- which is just as good as a fail to my parents. Thankfully got A's in everything else so they didn't kill me."

Noah laughed. "That's rough." We stopped by the loading zone, waiting for our rides. "Are you playing baseball this summer?"

"Not real baseball." Mitchell explained. "I do some specialized catcher training three times a week in Santa Cruz."

"Oh! Fancy!" Noah exclaimed.

Mitchell chuckled. "It kind of is. My dad found it and after talking with the people that run the place, we think it's better for me than going to some kind of baseball camps."

"Because they focus solely on catchers?" Noah asked.

"Yep." He nodded. "Last year I went to a few camps and most of the time, got stuck doing bullpen work. So basically my parents paid money for me to sit under the blazing sun to catch baseballs."

Noah and I both made faces of disgust.

"Exactly!" He laughed. "It was the worst experience. But at this facility, I have a trainer and coach that come up with specialized training just for me. It's very individualized."

"Sounds like you're going to be improving even more this summer!" Noah told him, happy for him.

"I hope so." He made a face. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy I made the varsity team for the second half of the season, but...it was really boring. At least on JV, I got to play every game. Catching and hitting."

Noah nodded, understanding. "Well, at least things look good with Kelvin and Alex graduating."

"I think so too." He told us, smiling. "How about you guys? I remember you asking the team to join your adult softball team. Did you get enough players?"

Noah nodded. "We did! Started games last week. Won on Tuesday night. Had to forfeit on Thursday because of Zeke's graduation. And then won Saturday morning. It's very fun."

Mitchell shook his head. "I can't believe you convinced the captain to play softball. So strange. I wonder what the sports news would say if they found out he turned down the MLB to play some recreational softball?!" He laughed.

Noah grinned. "You know Zeke...that's not all he's doing. He's already started training us since the season ended. There are no off days with him."

Mitchell was surprised. "No joke?"

I nodded. "Every morning we run and lift weights."

Noah rubbed his stomach. "I have abs already."

Mitchell laughed. "Damn. That's rough. He must really want you guys to replace him next year. It's kind of reassuring knowing that he still wants this team to do well. Once a captain, always a captain."

Zeke's car pulled into the school's lot.

"Speak of the devil." Noah said.

Zeke pulled up to the curb and we got in the car. Noah waved to Mitchell. "See you tomorrow! Bye!"

Mitchell waved back and we left to go home. Noah talked the whole way, telling Zeke all about the class, how there's no homework, tests every Thursday, and then about Mitchell and his summer plans. Noah gladly repeated himself to the twins over lunch.

"Mitchell is around for the summer?" Kyle was interested. "Maybe we can throw a few sessions with him."

Noah made a face. "He purposely didn't go to any camps so he wouldn't have to throw any bullpen sessions."

"It's different." Kyle explained. "We're on the same team, plus, he's not paying me."

Dave laughed. "We should reach out to him and do a live session before we leave on Wednesday."

"First trip is Wednesday?" I asked, trying to think back to their elaborate summer trip.

"Yesss." Dave grinned. "The first camp is somewhere we've been before and it's awesome. The training, the coaches, the dorms, even the food. We've been going since we were 12."

"There's no reason to bug Mitchell then." Noah told him. "You guys leave in two days. You should be more focused on packing and endurance training. Won't it be shameful if you show up to the camp and get tired after just one day?"

Kyle rolled his eyes. "No. That's completely normal."

They started to bicker about inviting Mitchell to practice or not. Noah finally told them that he would ask Mitchell his opinion tomorrow during class.

"But then we only have that afternoon to play." Kyle sighed.

"This is something you should have thought of beforehand." Zeke spoke up. "Don't be dragging Mitchell around at the last minute. That's annoying. And if you were paying attention, you would know he has his own training to do. You guys have to get better at planning things."

"Noah gets to do things on a whim all the time." Dave pointed out.

"Noah is younger than you." Zeke replied. "You two are going to be in charge of Noah and Jake when school starts again. You better start shaping up."

"You hear that, Noah?" Kyle grinned evilly. "We get to be in charge."

"Ugh. Don't remind me." Noah groaned. He looked over at Zeke. "I think Mom will be putting me in charge the way these two behave."

Zeke cracked a smile. "I wouldn't be surprised if she paid for a referee to watch you all. A bunch of crazies." He was soon pelted by wadded-up napkins. He picked up all their trash and took it to the kitchen. He came back and looked at the twins. "If you guys want some real training, I can catch for you."

"Really?" They asked simultaneously in disbelief.

Zeke nodded. "As long as Noah and Jake get to go up against you both."

Dave made a face of disgust. "That's no longer a bullpen session, but a batting practice session." He pointed at me. "You have to bat blindfolded."

"That's impossible!" Noah rolled his eyes. "Stop being such a baby."

"It would be good practice..." Kyle mused. "Noah has gotten better and Jake is the best. I don't mind." He glanced at Dave. "Who's the scaredy-cat now?"

"I was merely joking." Dave defended himself. "I will obviously face them both with all seriousness."

"We'll go in an hour." Zeke declared. He looked at Noah and me. "You two go review some of your notes before changing into workout clothes. It's good to read your notes after a class. Help solidify those new knowledge points."

Noah frowned. "Why don't you go do it for your classes?"

"I already did." Zeke told him.

There's no winning against Zeke. We both sulked as we walked up the stairs after lunch, with the twins laughing as background noise. It soon came to a halt with Zeke's next command. "You two don't have lessons so you can clean up and do the dishes. Make sure to sweep up too."

Noah's frown turned into a more pleasant smile. Zeke really was fair.