The Hitting Zone

Going up against the twins' pitching was fun. For me; not so much for them. Zeke pulled out some old catchers gear and really caught for them though. Noah explained to me that he used to play as their catcher when they were younger, that's where the gear came from. As we rotated to form different matchups, Zeke would occasionally give pointers to us. All of us. For me, it was about my feet positioning and using more of my core muscles. For Noah, it was about being more confident in his swing and trying not to pause or redirect. Zeke even helped the twins, pointing out flaws in their motion or helping them with their aim.

Zeke was amazing. He could be a coach. He knew everything. I was curious though...how could he help us so much? Who taught him all about baseball? When I pointed this out to Noah, he just shrugged. He didn't know either. It seemed like Zeke always knew what to do.

We spent the whole afternoon at the park, playing. Just another day I wish I could save in my memory bank. When we got home, Mom already had dinner on the table. We took our assigned seats and started to fill up our plates.

"Thanks, Mom!" Noah said first.

"Thank you, Mom." Dave followed.

"Yea, thanks." Kyle said.

"Thanks for dinner." Zeke gave his mom a smile.

Feeling like I belonged somewhere now, I swallowed a small lump in my throat and added, "Thank you for dinner, Mom."

Mom's smile was big and bright. "You're welcome. All of my boys." She focused on me and Noah. "How was class today?"

"It's okay." I told her.

Noah on the other hand, gave her a minute by minute description about who our teacher is, what we learned, how Mitchell was in our class, and so on. Not only did I live through this, it was now my third time hearing about it. I was thankful Dad was here to listen too, otherwise I might hear about it again.

After dinner was another round of showers. Noah originally wanted to go downstairs to watch tv with the twins and maybe see a few highlights, but when we walked past their room, we saw Zeke at his desk. He was completely focused on the book in front of him, taking his summer classes as serious as possible. On the first day too.

Noah backed up the way we came and I followed him to our room. He sat on his bed with our new Spanish textbook. "I'm just going to review some of the vocabulary before going to bed. We still have to wake up early tomorrow for the morning workout."

"Okay. Me too." I grabbed my book and sat up in my bed. I read over the vocab words for chapters one and two before falling asleep.

Tuesday morning, middle of June, and it was still too cold. I never thought I would miss where I used to live, but as I ran with a sweatshirt on, I started to reminisce of 'real summer' days. By the time I got back to the house I had warmed up, and threw my sweatshirt to the side before getting to work on the ab exercises and lifting weights.

After showers, breakfast, and a small amount of bickering with the twins, Zeke took us to school. This time he was showered too, and had even brought his backpack. It held books and his laptop, making it clear that he was going to do some studying at the high school.

After Noah asked him about it, Zeke explained to us: "I waste time driving you here and back, and then coming to pick you up and go back. This will allow me to dedicate more time for my classes. It's not like the twins need babysitting."

"Are you sure about that?" Noah scoffed.

Zeke cracked a smile as he parked the car. "They're not as unreliable as you think. Growing up isn't sudden, it's a process. Didn't they behave last Friday when hanging out with you two?"

"I guess." Noah slowly nodded.

We got out of the car with our backpacks and walked up to the school. Zeke split from us, going to the library as we went to our class.

Mitchell was already seated at the same table as yesterday, so we also sat in the same seats.

Noah told him about the twins wanting to use him for a bullpen session yesterday. "But I told them no for you."

"Why would you do that?!" Mitchell looked distressed and worried. "Do you hate me??"

Noah froze. "I thought you didn't like catching bullpen sessions? That's why you chose to do specialized training instead..?"

Mitchell sat at the edge of his chair, getting close to Noah. "That's because those camps didn't have any benefits. Just losses. Catching for your brothers is completely different. It's an opportunity!"

Noah made a face and looked to me. "Is it just me, or do you understand what he's saying?"

I shrugged. "Maybe he likes the practice?"

"Yes!" Mitchell pointed at me. "Practice! Just because I'm doing my own training doesn't mean I can just skip catching! Jake gets it!"

"I don't..." I told him honestly. "Can't anyone throw to you?"

Mitchell rolled his eyes. "Jake, would you rather hit off a tee or face a real pitcher?"

"Real pitcher." I answered.

"Exactly! And not just any pitcher, but varsity-leveled pitchers!" Mitchell was getting excited. "You guys probably can't see it because you're too close. Try to see from my perspective. A catcher trying to solidify his varsity position turns down an opportunity to catch for two of the best pitchers on the team."

"They're not that great..." Noah was skeptical.

Mitchell looked like he was on the verge of crying. "Noah, stop pretending. Our starting rotation is them and Garret for the majority of the time. If I can get in their good books and get some kind of relationship going, I have a good chance to be the starting catcher for next season."

I looked to Noah. "I get it now."

Noah sighed. "Yea, me too." He looked at Mitchell. "Okay, I'll tell them that you're interested. But you know...they're going to be gone most of the summer."

"That's okay! Just a few bullpen sessions so I can get a better understanding of what kind of pitchers they are. Kelvin and Alex got to work with them most of the time so I only really worked with the relievers to help them warm up."

"They aren't that good. Tell him, Jake." Noah repeated.

I nodded then shook my head. "They're good. At least, they're better than a few months ago?"

"I just don't see it." Noah sighed again.

"That's because you get to play against them all the time!" Mitchell grabbed Noah's shoulder and started to shake him. "You're probably accustomed to their pitching and quirks. They were first-team all-league! Even the coaches in the league think they're good!"

Noah laughed and brushed him off. "Okay, okay. I'll give you their cellphone numbers and you can just contact them anytime you want. And they can tell you when they're back in town and whatnot."

Mitchell pulled his cellphone out in a hurry.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Lorenz came into the classroom and started to teach us the next lesson, forcing Mitchell to put his cellphone away. As soon as class was over though, he started to pester Noah for their numbers. Noah complied.