The Hitting Zone

I met up with Noah at our lockers on our break and switched books before finding somewhere to eat our snacks that Mom had packed us. After the fifteen minute break, Noah and I went our separate ways again. I had calculus with the twins.

There was no anxiety when it came to this class. Besides having the twins with me, I also already knew the math teacher, Mr. Petrus. He was the same old man from last semester. A former foster kid himself and an avid watcher of our home games. I gave him a smile as I walked in and found the twins at our old table.

"How's your day going?" Dave asked as I sat down.

I shrugged. "Okay. I have Sean and Mitchell in my Spanish III class so I know someone in every class."

"We don't have that problem." Dave laughed.

I frowned. "Why do you and Kyle have every class together when I'm not allowed to share every class with Noah?"

"Because we're identical twins." Kyle answered. "We may or may not have history of going to each other's classes in middle school."

"I'm better at science and math while Kyle is better at art and English." Dave said. "Less so now. Now, we're pretty much even."

Kyle nodded in agreement.

The twins were past their argument from the weekend so sitting between them for the next hour wasn't so bad.

After calculus, I went back to my locker again to switch books. Noah also showed up to do the same.

"Hey, Noah. Hey, Jake." Alisha found us just as we were about to part ways again.

Noah nodded. "Hey. Here to grab Jake?"

Alisha nodded. "I thought it would be better if we walked into class together instead of meeting there. Less stress."

I smiled, thankful for her thoughtfulness. I had geography next with Alisha. No Noah again.

Noah waved. "See ya at lunch."

I waved back.

Alisha talked the whole way to class and only paused to greet her friends that she saw in the halls. She got more animated when she saw familiar faces in our class; dragging me to sit with her and her friends. It was weird to be a part of a group but not actually part of the group. Alisha made sure to include me, but I didn't say much with her friends around.

After class she walked me back to my locker and spoke with Noah for a little bit, even inviting us to eat with her and her friends. Noah glanced my way before refusing. We went to our normal table and ate by ourselves like usual. We talked about the classes we didn't share together until the bell went off.

Our last two classes of the day, we had together. We had cooking together with both Alisha and Kaylee. The tables were grouped for six so we were able to sit together with two others joining us. The last class was English and I only had it with Noah. After the school day ended, it was time for practice.

We walked down to the car and met up with the twins to grab our bags. I followed them down to our club room by the varsity field.

"Are we allowed to use this?" I asked. It wasn't like the teams have been picked yet.

"Yea, anyone can use this room to get changed." Dave said. "It's just that most use the normal locker room since that's where their lockers are. We have our car to store our backpacks, but they have to lock theirs up."

"Oh." I nodded. That made sense.

I had worn a t-shirt that I could play in so I only had to change into baseball shorts so I could move more freely during practice.

"Wow. You didn't go to the bathroom to change." Kyle commented after I pulled up more shorts.

I felt my face heat up.

"Why are you watching him get dressed? Weirdo." Dave threw something at Kyle, starting a small fight.

"If I had to change shirts...I probably would have gone to the bathroom." I told them honestly. I wasn't very conscious of my scars on my legs. They aren't too bad. It's the ones on my whole torso that make me stand out.

"Maybe after another laser treatment or two, you won't even think about it." Noah clapped me on the shoulder. "Let's go play some ball."

"Coach said to meet up on the JV field." Dave reminded us.

Leaving the way we came in, we rounded our field and walked over to the JV field, where players were already gathering. At 3pm Coach came down with his staff of coaches and had us gather around.

"I'm Coach Wilcox." He started with his name. "Most of you attended the summer camp, but if you were unable to then that's okay too. You'll have the next couple of months to prove to me that you belong to our program. We are missing a few players due to the fall sports they may participate in like football and water polo. That doesn't mean they won't make the teams, it just means you have more of an opportunity to show me what you got."

I looked around and noticed that there were significantly less players.

"Monday to Thursday, 3pm to 5pm, we'll work on skills. I'll divide the groups up, usually by position, and send you off with the different coaches." He continued. "On Fridays, I'll have different teams put together for scrimmages. With less players present, we'll do four teams but might need some pitchers to play on the field."

Someone raised their hand.

"Yes?" Coach looked to him.

"For those playing other sports, will they have a separate tryout?" The player asked.

Coach nodded. "I'll have something posted closer to the roster selection dates, asking them to come to the afternoon practices, where I'll watch them more closely."

"Over the summer camp, you said if we strike out Jake Atkins, we automatically get to be on varsity." Someone else spoke up. "Does that still hold up?"

Coach chuckled. "Most definitely."

Noah nudged me with a grin as the players started to whisper and mumble among themselves. I tried to make my presence as small as possible.

"Any kind of strikeout? Like can it be swinging, looking, or off a foul tip?"

Coach nodded. "Anything." He grinned. "Just a small reminder for those who don't know Jake. He's our batting champion and the best freshman in all of CIF. He has maybe struck out two or three times over the course of thirty games."

I blushed as more and more players looked my way.

Dave gave me a nudge. "Help a brother out. Let me get you one time."

Kyle threw himself at me and pulled me into a light headlock. "C'mon, Bambi. Show us some sibling love."

I laughed, slightly helpless. "Do you really need me to?"

The twins were starters in the rotation. Not that far behind Garret in skill. I don't think they need me to cheat and give them a freebie.

Kyle laughed. "Nah, but it would be cool to say. And cool to claim. I can go around telling people that I was able to strike out the best batter on my team, in the league, and in the division. Probably even the whole state."

"Jake will probably be listed in the rankings when the new season starts." Dave said thoughtfully. "He's probably even going to be higher than us." He looked disgusted. "We finally get rid of Zeke and now have to live in another brother's shadow. Unbelievable."

I smiled at their jokes, happy to hear 'brother' over and over again.