The Hitting Zone

Marie started to talk about their practice and what they had worked on. "None of the freshmen stand out. We really need more power hitters."

Noah looked to Kaylee. "Become a power hitter."

Before Kaylee said anything, Marie scoffed. "With her small frame? I don't think it's possible."

Noah frowned. "Jake has a small frame, even shorter than her. Nothing is impossible."

Kaylee looked to Noah. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

The conversation had successfully shifted away from Kyle, making him relieved. But I could tell Zeke wasn't fooled. His eyes had narrowed at Kyle and only shifted to Marie out of politeness. He had definitely noticed something weird among us.

Feeling like the weakest link, I kept my eyes and focus on my food. When lunch came to an end, I was worried that Zeke might pull me aside, but nothing happened. He packed up the stuff that had to go home with him and left.

The rest of us went down to the fields. Kaylee and Marie split off first. Surprisingly Kyle didn't spend a few extra minutes with Marie and chose to come to the field with us.

"What do you get to do during the scrimmages?" I heard Noah ask Alisha. Me and the twins turned to her to see what she would say.

She grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Ah! Come on!" Noah said, getting closer.

She blushed before shrugging. "All I do is take notes for Coach Wilcox. Nothing special. Occasionally he'll tell me what to look for when watching a game, but it's not like I understand everything."

"Have you taken any notes on us?" Dave asked.

She glanced at Kyle. "Just Kyle. Quite a few notes on Kyle. Especially this morning's lap times."

Kyle frowned. "That's not anything relevant to my pitching."

Alisha laughed. "Not all notes I take are relevant to baseball. Sometimes Coach just has me write random numbers and letters, or phrases."

"Phrases? Like what?" Noah asked, curious.

She shrugged again. "Nothing really stands out. Plus, I don't know if Coach wants to keep this a secret from you guys or not. I just rather not say."

We reached the field and found six posters tied to the fence. Names of players and coaches filled them, hinting that these would be the teams for the afternoon. Noah immediately went over, leaving the rest of us behind.

Dave put his bag down and sat beside it. "He'll probably find out what team we're on and tell us what field to go to."

Kyle sat down with him.

I looked at the crowd of players trying to see their names on the posters, then chose to sit down too.

"Guess I'll go over to Coach." Alisha said. She waved. "See ya guys."

"Yep."

"Yea."

"Bye." I lifted my hand.

Noah came back with a small frown.

"What's up?" Dave asked, looking up at him.

Noah pouted. "You three are on the same team."

"Wow. Really?" Kyle got up. "Which field?"

"The freshmen field." Noah smirked. "At least I get to play on the varsity field."

Dave leaned against his bag, not impressed or even slightly happy. "Lame. Stuck on the freshman field with a small dugout and even smaller bullpen. The injustice."

"You've got Jake on your team." Noah pointed out.

Dave sighed. "That doesn't mean much when we don't get to pitch." He looked to Kyle. "We can workout in the bullpen together. I'll catch your pitches if you catch mine?"

Kyle nodded. "Yea, sounds good."

I looked up to Noah. "Who's the coach?"

"Miller."

I sighed with relief.

"Don't worry, Coach is still looking out for you." Noah gave me a reassuring nod. "He put a few familiar guys on your team like Andy and Sean. You don't have Austin on your team. Neither do I."

"Pshh." Dave scoffed, standing up too. "I can't imagine Coach ever putting that a-hole on our teams. He probably wants to try to keep us separated so we don't get into any fights."

Made sense. Things have been tense between Noah and Austin since before I moved in with the Atkins. It feels like the tension only keeps building. Coach is probably expecting one of them to explode like a volcano. At least he could count on me to not get into a fight.

I got up and asked Noah, "Are either of our teams facing him?"

Noah shook his head. "Nope. Completely staying away from us. Tomorrow might be different, so it's something to keep an eye on." He gripped his bag a little tighter. "I've got to head down to the varsity field so I'll meet you guys at the car afterwards."

"Later." Dave waved.

"Good luck." I told him.

"Don't suck." Kyle smirked.

Noah rolled his eyes, leaving with the crowd of players that were also heading down to the lower fields.

The three of us didn't have to go far since we were already next to the freshmen field. We just went closer to the dugouts to try and figure out which one was ours.

Mr. Miller was standing in front of the dugout on the first base side.

"I want to bat before Jake!" Sean raised his hand in front of Mr. Miller.

Mr. Miller laughed. "Who says you're going to start? Or that Jake will even start?"

I was stunned. "I don't get to play today?"

Mr. Miller replied. "You do. I was joking. Probably not the whole game today so we can get some more looks at the others, but I'll let you have a couple of at-bats."

"Please let me go before him!" Sean begged.

"You just want to stack your runs scored stat." Kyle pushed him towards the dugout. "Stop being so desperate and go get ready."

Sean acted like a kicked puppy, going back to the dugout with a pout.

Kyle looked to Mr. Miller. "Dave and I were going to pitch to one another in the bullpen. Unless you want us on the mound?"

Mr. Miller shook his head. "Nope, no need. You can go play in the bullpen after warmups. Give the guys a sense of unity even if you're not playing in the game."

"Sure." Dave nodded. Him and Kyle dropped their bags in front of the dugout and started to change into their cleats. Dave saw me wavering. "What's up, Jake?"

I glanced to the dugout where a lot of strangers were. "Should I put my bag in there or just wait out here?"

"Just leave it here for now. You can take it in after warmups." Kyle said. "Andy should be here soon."

I put my bag down and changed my shoes to cleats.

"Be careful not to slide in the game." Dave reminded me of my bare legs. "Not just when you're running the bases, but when you field too. You don't want an abrasion or anything. Those hurt like no other. Especially if the dirt gets embedded inside your skin."

I grimaced.

"Don't make him nervous." Kyle tossed his glove into Dave's face.

"I was just warning him." Dave threw the glove back.

Hearing them bicker calmed some of the anxiety I felt being with another set of players. Andy would be here and Sean was okay too. I honestly wouldn't feel so uncomfortable if it weren't for the looks I was getting from the other sophomores. This team may not have Austin on it, but it definitely had his friends. And any friend of Austin was automatically not a friend of mine.