The Hitting Zone
chapter-1058

The rest of the weekend flew by. There wasn't much time left. We saw Zeke play in another game, and in this one he did much better yet suffered a loss. Jeremy also did the opposite of yesterday. He performed better at the plate and the team won in good fashion.

We got home late Sunday evening and found Kyle and Grampa watching a movie in the living room. Well. Sort of. Grampa was mostly doing the watching while Kyle's eyes were glued on his phone.

"Did you boys have a good weekend?" Grampa turned the TV off and slowly got up.

"A great weekend!" Noah told him. He recalled the whole thing from our win on Friday to Jeremy winning earlier before we came home. He didn't miss a detail.

When it came to me being named to the roster, Grampa slapped me on the back and Kyle jumped up from the couch.

"Shouldn't we celebrate or something?" Kyle asked, looking to his parents who were cleaning up their office a little bit.

"We should probably wait to find out about Noah's situation." Dave piped in. "If he makes it, it would be weird to hold two different celebrations."

"Can we not tell anyone else about me making it?" I asked, trying to sound firm but it sounded more like a question.

"Why? Thinking about backing out?" Dave squinted at me.

I rolled my eyes, a little frustrated. "No. I said I would try. I just don't want to draw more attention to myself."

"You know it'll come out eventually, right?" Noah shrugged. "Who cares if everyone knows? It's good news! They think you're the best around."

"He is the best around." Kyle corrected with a smirk. "The only player that's better than him in the state is in the south."

Noah's head snapped in Kyle's direction. "What! Jake moved up?"

Kyle shook his phone with a smile. "He's not the only one."

"Damn!" Dave reached out and snatched the phone away. "I thought you were just texting Marie." He opened up the app that Kyle had in his history and started to scroll. "All three lists were updated! County, state, and nation!"

"Let me see! LET ME SEE!" Noah nearly tackled Dave to the ground.

I just looked at Kyle, feeling lightheaded. "I'm...I'm number two? In the state?"

He grinned. "You sure are! Mr. Cameron called the house to try to interview you yesterday, but I-" He looked a little guilty. "I told him you guys were at the tryout for the regional team. Sorry. Didn't know we were keeping it a secret."

"No, that's okay." I told him. "I just don't want everyone to know that I already made the team. It's no secret that Noah had wanted us to tryout. We can just say we both moved on to round two."

"That's still pretty big news." Kyle said. "I think you just have to face it, you're a big name in high school baseball. Colleges are sending letters and pamphlets by the hundreds now. Next year, you'll probably get calls from colleges."

I groaned, went to a wall, and let my head fall against it.

"Jake!" Mom caught me in the action and immediately came over. She turned me around and looked at my forehead, rubbing it with her thumb. "I already worry a lot about you boys when you're on the field. Can you try not to hurt yourselves at home?" Her voice got sharper as she looked at Noah and Dave who were still messing around in the living room.

Dave ultimately won, being taller and bigger. He held the phone over his head. "We'll do it in order, stop fighting for it." He grinned at Mom. "You should call Dad over for a second as I read the new rankings."

Mom agreed and went to pull Dad out of the office. Everyone got resettled in the living room, finding somewhere to sit as Dave stood in the center, ready to start making the announcements. Dramatically, of course.

"Mom, Dad." He addressed them with fake seriousness. "Let me congratulate you two on having four sons in the top twenty of baseball players in the county. Number one, still our very own Jake Atkins." Noah clapped until I threw a pillow at him. "Number three, Kyle Atkins. Number five, your favorite son, me. Number nineteen, Noah Atkins."

Mom, Dad, and Grampa actually started to clap too.

"Im very proud of you boys." Mom smiled. "You all have had a great season so far."

"Save the compliments until the end, ma'am." Dave cleared his throat. "Moving to the state level. All four boys have made progress."

Noah jumped up and started to bounce around. "Progress?! It means I'm on the list! I've made the list?!"

Kyle threw his pillow at Noah too. "Shut up. We'll be here forever if you keep interrupting."

"Says the guy who already knows." Noah rolled his eyes, but ultimately calmed down. Sort of. His legs still bounced up and down, excited.

I felt excited for him too. He didn't make the list for top 100 in the state before.

"Jake is at number two! Only losing to a senior pitcher in SoCal." Dave announced. "I moved to twenty-eight. And Noah has made his debut on the list, barely holding onto the edge, at ninety-nine!"

Kyle jumped up. "You skipped me." He snatched his phone away. "You've lost your announcement privileges." He took his phone to Mom first. "Look where I'm at Mom. Number ten! In the whole state!"

"Wow. Congratulations!" Mom clapped.

"He only jumped up three places." Dave snickered. "I moved up five."

"I'm on the list!" Noah yelled over everyone else.

"Okay, okay. We're very happy for all of you." Dad tried to take over. "Let's wrap it up and hear about the final list. You boys still need to check your homework, shower, and get to bed. Tomorrow is a school day with a game." He reminded.

"Jake climbed a few places to get seventeenth in the nation." Kyle went over the list. "He's the only sophomore in the top twenty-five. Freakin' awesome." He held out his fist to me and I bumped it. "I had the biggest jump, getting to 112th. Dave merely made the top 500, getting to 487th. Noah is still not there."

That immediately put a damper on Noah's mood. "I've still got a ways to go. Next year, I'll be on that list. Making the state's top 100 as a sophomore is a good start."

"How do you know your jump is bigger than mine?" Dave started to bicker with Kyle. "I could have been in the thousands for all you know."

"You think you're that bad?" Kyle laughed. "Then don't get so mad when you have to sit the bench Thursday."

"You already had a go at Servite. It should be my turn."

"I did well. I can do it twice. Garret gets to see Porterville for the second time tomorrow."

Mom gave Dad a look. Dad got up and started to usher the twins to the stairs. "Let's go. Finish your night routine and get to bed. You have plenty of time to argue with one another tomorrow when you're in the bullpen."

"Daddd!" The twins groaned and complained simultaneously.