The Hitting Zone

Zeke was back to his usual self, and was in a better mood after having some fun at the softball field. We got back to the house for dinner, just in time to hear Mom exclaim how nice the house looked. She had nothing but praises for the twins' hard work all afternoon.

"It was the least we could do." Dave shrugged, not willing to look at Zeke.

Dad smiled and gave a nod. "Good work. It's always a nice feeling to come home to a clean house."

"Sure." Kyle replied simply. He looked at Noah. "How was the game?"

"Fun!" Noah started to tell everyone about the softball game and how fast he was able to run around the bases thanks to the shorter distances.

It was our last dinner with the twins before they would leave for their camp so Mom had prepared some cookies for everyone. Dinner had a different tone than lunch did. It was for the better. Mom and Dad decided they would both take the twins to the airport in the morning and stay to have lunch with their friends in the city. They would be home for dinner.

Wednesday morning came, but this time the twins didn't participate in our endurance training and weightlifting. They were doing some last minute packing, making sure they had enough clothes and that they remembered all their baseball stuff, including hats and belts.

"Later gator." Dave pulled Noah into a weak chokehold and gave his head a fierce rubbing. Then let go and patted me on the head.

"See you guys next week!" Kyle flexed his dominant arm. "I'll come back a changed man."

Noah snorted.

We watched as the twins loaded up the car and soon their parents got in the front, with Dad being the driver. I lifted a hand to wave, but put it down when I realized Noah and Zeke weren't waving. We watched Dad's car disappear before loading up into the family car to head to school.

Zeke went to the library and we went to our Spanish class. We found a depressed Mitchell laying his head on the table.

Noah's lips twitched. "What's wrong with you? It's only the third day of summer school."

He turned his head to glare at him. "The twins won't be back until next week..."

Noah shrugged. "I told you that they'll be gone a lot of the summer. Nothing I can do about it."

Mitchell was clearly depressed. "I missed out on catching their pitches."

"There's always next week." Noah patted him on the shoulder after sitting at his desk.

I sat at mine.

Mrs. Lorenz came in and started class right on time.

After three hours of another language, we were finally out. Mitchell came out of his depressed state of mind after reassurance from Noah that the twins couldn't wait to use him. Surprisingly, he was more than satisfied with that. He went to his pickup spot and we went to the library. Zeke came out with perfect timing, not letting us wait for even a second.

As we got in the car, there was a strange kind of calm hovering over us. I didn't realize what was wrong until we walked into an empty house. No one was home.

"A week of peace and quiet." Noah mumbled, not sounding as happy as usual.

"I'll heat up some leftovers for lunch. You two take some time to study." Zeke instructed. "Don't you have tests every Thursday?"

"Yea..." Noah and I both sat down. We pulled out our books and started to review what we had learned so far.

Zeke prepared lunch and set it on the table for us. We pushed our books aside and started to eat. In silence.

"What'd you do in Spanish today?" Zeke asked. That's when I realized that Noah didn't talk a mile a minute today about everything that had happened.

Noah shrugged. "Just learned some Spanish. Mrs. Lorenz is nice and easygoing. She'll probably hold a small review tomorrow before the test."

Zeke looked to me.

I nodded in agreement. "What he said."

"You guys didn't talk to Mitchell today?"

Noah nodded. "We did. But all he talked about was the twins and pitching. So boring. If he's so desperate, he should call up Garret or something."

"Isn't Garret doing camps too?" I pointed out.

Zeke nodded. "Plus it's a two for one deal if Mitchell reaches out to the twins instead. Well, they'll be back next week." He finished his lunch and went to put his dirty dishes in the sink. He came back to us. "Do you two want to go to the cages today? We don't have anything planned."

Noah started to nod. "Yes! Let's go! I'll ask Andy if him and Julian want to come. That'll make it more livelier."

My lips thinned. I couldn't see how. Julian and Andy were both very mellow and low key. Neither of them fought or got loud. Even when we were having fun in the softball games. They laughed along, but couldn't compare to Noah.

We finished eating as well and put our dishes away. Noah sent Andy a text before going upstairs to change. I followed along. The more comfortable I was with Noah, the less self-conscious I felt about my scars. I honestly wouldn't have realized I had changed in the same room as him if it wasn't for the fact that he was staring at me when I pulled the shirt over my head.

"I forgot to ask Mom about some scar-healing cream or something." Noah mumbled, eyes on me.

"Oh..." I looked down at my clothed body.

"Not because you're ugly." Noah quickly reassured me. "I just want you to be more comfortable. Like changing in the locker room next season without stressing."

"Oh." I nodded, feeling better. "I would like that."

"I'll ask Mom at dinner."

"Thanks." I paused. "Maybe I should do it myself?"

Noah clapped me on the shoulder. "Good for you! But, if you get nervous, just look to me and I'll take over. I promise Mom and Dad will be more than happy to help. You're one of us now."

'One of us.' I really hope so. I smiled happily as we moved downstairs to join Zeke. He drove us to the cages with our baseball bags. He was going to buy us coins, but Noah pulled out a bag full of them from when Jeremy took us a few weeks ago.

"I don't want Julian and Andy to feel like they need to buy some tokens." Noah said, considerate of the fact that the Wilson brothers weren't given a whole lot of money. "I figured if they know these are from Jeremy, they'll be more than willing to accept."

I nodded. "Okay with me."

Zeke's eyes narrowed. "Why aren't you this considerate to my wallet?"

Noah turned sheepish. "Well...this is more like an emergency stash for when you're not around or if you're mad at us."

Julian and Andy showed up in time so Noah was saved from an interrogation from Zeke. Sure enough, they were relieved we had so many coins from Jeremy. Andy even asked a few questions about being related to Jeremy, but there wasn't much I could tell him unless he wanted to know about my messed up childhood.