The Hitting Zone

It was funny to talk about the twins making important decisions about their future the whole car ride home, only to find the two wrestling in the living room, acting very immature.

Mom put a hand to her head and looked away. "College? Them? What was I thinking?" She headed for the stairs. "Wayne, this one is all you."

Dad looked at the twins, who had to know that we were home, but were still wrestling. It was hard to tell who was winning when they were like this. Two identical people constantly on the move, trading positions and trading who had the power.

Dad sighed. "Isn't that enough?"

"No!" One of them shouted back, slapping one twin with the pillow.

I looked to Noah for help. "Who is who?"

Noah whispered. "Dave's in gray, Kyle's in blue." He named the color of their shirts, slowly backing up. "They're not stopping. Bad sign."

I didn't ask and backed up with him.

Dad's posture had changed when he realized the twins weren't stopping. He clapped twice. "That's enough. If you don't stop now, the both of you will be walking to school for the next month."

The twins reluctantly pulled away from one another, both sweating and breathing hard.

Dad crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Care to explain?"

"Dave ruined my date with Marie!" Kyle complained.

Dave scoffed. "You're so dramatic." He looked at Dad directly. "Kyle's just upset because I wouldn't give him some alone time. I already let them go to a movie alone and then they wanted to eat without me. That's a bit much."

Dad looked to Kyle.

Kyle rolled his eyes. "I said he could eat with us if Marie could invite one of her friends. Make it a double date. It would have been fine."

"I don't want to go on a date with any of her stupid friends." Dave said.

Dad glanced back at me and Noah. "Noah, you'll sleep in Dave's bed tonight. Dave will sleep in yours. Obviously none of us will be getting sleep tonight unless we separate them." He looked back to the twins. "Go to bed. If you're still both angry tomorrow morning, we'll talk it over some more."

"He's the one being unreasonable." Dave frowned. "Why should I give up my bed. Make him go."

"You're the one with the bad attitude. You can't get along with anyone." Kyle shot back.

"GO." Dad commanded.

Noah and I hurried away first. In our room, he hurried to change into pjs and left with a short, "See you in the morning, Jake."

I nodded.

Shortly after he left, Dave came in, dressed for bed. He looked at me. "Get in bed and I'll turn out the light."

I got under the covers and he turned out the light before getting into Noah's bed.

It was oddly quiet for the next couple of minutes. Just before drifting off, Dave woke me by clearing his throat. "I'm not actually that mad at Kyle. We were messing around and then I lost my cool for a second."

"Okay..." I answered.

"I don't want you to think that I go around fighting people." He sighed. "I know you have an aversion to physical violence so don't be mad at me."

I fought back a laugh. "I'm not mad." It didn't look like they were fighting for real. Just a very intense wrestling match.

"Was it sad saying goodbye to Zeke?" He asked.

I nodded in the dark. "Yea. Mom cried."

He chuckled. "That's why I chose not to go. Plus, goodbyes are too sad."

I nodded again. "It was pretty sad."

"Well, if I know Zeke, he'll be coming back all the time."

"Yea."

We drifted off to sleep. The next morning things between the twins were a little tense, but it gradually got better as the day went on. We spent some time with Gramma and Grampa before sending them off to the airport, and then prepared for school.

Monday morning, Mom did another big breakfast to celebrate the start of school. The twins fought over who would get to drive and when. And Noah talked about how excited he was to go to baseball practice everyday again.

Dave, winner of the morning argument and driver to school, parked in our old spot near the varsity field. Him and Kyle walked up to the school together while Noah and I waited for Mr. Miller to show up.

"Feels good to be back." Noah grinned, staring out at the varsity field.

My lips twitched. "Weren't you excited for school to get out for summer break?"

"Yea, because baseball was over." Noah explained. "But now...now we're preparing for a completely new season."

For Noah, life revolves around baseball.

Mr. Miller showed up in his golf cart and gave a small honk. "You two still being lazy and unwilling to walk up the hill?"

Noah laughed and sat in the front with him. "How else will I get to bug you in the mornings?"

I got in the back. "Thanks."

"Yea, yea." Mr. Miller started to drive us up and pointed at the new building by the basketball courts. "They just finished installing the new weight lifting gym. Heard Jeremy had a hand in hiring someone with the right credentials. Very legit."

"Jeremy did?" I asked.

Mr. Miller laughed. "Yep, with the stipulation that the baseball program has priority to pick their slot times first. The football coaches threw a small fit but AD Barber set them straight. If they don't like the rules, they can stick with the old equipment."

"Nice." Noah grinned. "I think the athletic director likes us the most. We're winners after all."

We talked a little more before having to actually head for our lockers. When doing the school registration, we had gotten all our books already and moved them to our new lockers in the sophomore hall. Since Noah and I have the same last name now, our lockers were right next to each other. Like the twins.

"Good morning. Hello. Welcome." Our first teacher of the day greeted everyone that walked in with a warm smile. She waved throughout the room. "Sit anywhere you like, but keep it to four per lab station."

Noah and I picked out an empty back corner to occupy, leaving one side of two stools open.

"We'll probably do more experiments in chemistry than we did in biology last year." Noah noted. He pushed his backpack over one of the empty spots across from him. "We should save a seat for Kaylee or she'll be mad."

I nodded. We already spoke with Kaylee and Alisha about our schedules to find out what we would have together. Kaylee would be in our chemistry class this semester, and then in our elective cooking class after lunch with Alisha.

Kaylee showed up barely a minute later and seemed genuinely surprised that Noah would save her a seat with his bag. "Thanks." She pushed his bag back to him.

"No problem." Noah replied. "Mrs. Langford seems pretty chill. I hope she lets us keep the seats that we picked."

The fourth empty seat was taken by a quiet girl that Kaylee called over. "This is Cassie." She told me directly, then glanced at Noah. "Need an intro?"

"Nah, we're all friends here." Noah smiled at Cassie. "We've had a few classes together, right?"

Cassie nodded politely without saying a word.