The Hitting Zone
chapter-1112

By the end of practice, not only did we have a pitcher set to start, but Coach had the info on our next opponent. Gridley High School. They had a good season, only two losses so far and they won their quarterfinal game 3-2.

"Were they the underdog or favorites?" Kyle asked.

"Does it matter?" Noah rolled his eyes.

"I just want to know." Kyle looked to Coach.

Coach checked his phone. "Underdog but like Noah suggested, shouldn't matter much. I'll send you and Mitchell an email about players to pay attention to and what pitches might be best where and when."

"Sure. I'll look it over tonight." He looked to Mitchell. "Want to come over to my house tomorrow morning?"

"Yea, I'll come over around nine or so." Mitchell stood up with his bag and started to leave like the rest of the team.

"I'm surprised you don't want to hang out with Marie tomorrow." Noah snickered.

"I'll see her tonight and tomorrow night. Maybe go over for Sunday dinner." Kyle answered.

"Tonight?" I said, surprised. "The girls don't get back until later."

"We'll have an ice cream date after dinner. Duh." Kyle said.

"Oh." I thought about it. "With or without Kaylee?"

It was Kyle's turn to think about it.

"Without." Alisha answered as she passed by. "Kaylee is coming over to my place tonight. My mom and I are picking her up from the school parking lot when she gets back." She looked at Noah. "Want to come over tomorrow for a swim? It's starting to warm up."

"Will you care if we're already sweaty and gross?" Noah asked.

"Nope." She smiled and waved. "Text you later."

I looked at Noah. "Sweaty? Aren't we just going to the cages?"

"Why not work out some before taking a dip? Then cages after?" Noah threw out his idea.

I sighed. "Okay." It sounded fair.

Later that night as we prepared for bed, Kyle was looking over the info Coach had sent him. He and Dave were talking it over. Even though Dave was bitter that he didn't have the start, he still gave Kyle ideas on how he should face this team.

"Ah! Oh! Jake!" Noah started to shout as he left the bathroom and came into the room. "Look! Look! I thought I heard of Gridley before!" He put his phone in my face.

I was looking at the Instagram profile of a familiar face. I tried to recall and with the help of the username, I came up with the name, Adam. From the Stanford camp last summer. We had basically spent a week playing and eating together. "Oh."

"Oh?" Noah repeated. "Is that all you can say?"

I shrugged. "I'm happy to see him?"

Noah rolled his eyes. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"I guess so?"

"Stop keeping us in suspense." Kyle ordered.

"Yea. What are you trying to say?" Dave added.

"This guy, Adam. We met at the Stanford camp last summer. His school was just promoted to division three last year. Now they're already in the playoffs for division three? That's a big jump." Noah explained.

"It is." Kyle agreed. He turned back to his computer and started to go over the info again.

I looked at Noah. "Hey, do you think they'll pitch to me then?"

"Hard to say." Noah sighed. He looked at his phone. "Guess we could ask."

"You mean antagonize." Dave corrected.

"Too bad Adam isn't a pitcher." Noah mumbled as he started to type. "Then antagonizing might work." He chuckled. "It'd be nice if I could goad others into pitching to Jake seriously."

"I would pitch to you, Jake." Dave told me.

"Do you want to tomorrow?" I asked.

His lips twitched. "Maybe after playoffs. Let's not mess around too much before these last two games."

"Okay." I laid back down.

Saturday, everyone had let me sleep in and I didn't wake up until Mitchell rang the doorbell. The twins took him out to the backyard almost immediately barely listening to Noah's reminder to not hurt themselves.

Mom and Dad were out working so breakfast was kept simple. I finished eating and changed into workout clothes. I thought we would have to walk to the park to play and practice fielding, but Grampa offered to drive. He sat and watched, occasionally helping to pick up a stray baseball or two. He was also the one to drive us to Alisha's and promised to get us afterwards so we could go to the cages.

"Hey guys." Alisha greeted us. She raised an eyebrow at our messy appearances. "Did you guys come straight from the fields? Did you even bring swimsuits?"

"Yea, we've brought them." Noah patted his bag. "Just gonna change into them here. You have towels we can use, right?"

"Sure! I'll go get them while you guys change. Meet you guys out back?"

"Yea we know where to go." Noah confirmed.

Alisha left us alone and we got our trunks out of our respective bags. Noah changed into his first and I went second. I frowned at my reflection, not liking the way I looked. I wasn't as defined as Noah and my skin tone wasn't all one color. I tanned more easily than him and the Atkins family, so I felt like I looked funny. Even if my scars didn't stand out so much, I felt like I could point out every single one.

"Come on, Jake, hurry up." Noah urged me.

I came out in just the trunks.

"No shirt today?" Noah asked.

I pursed my lips. "I want to even out my tan."

Noah laughed. "It's not even that bad. Yet. In the summer though...you'll be rocking the farmer's tan again."

We headed for Alisha's backyard, seeing her and Kaylee sitting on the pool's edge. Noah took off sprinting and then did a cannonball into the pool, splashing the girls intentionally.

Alisha and Kaylee let their complaints be known. I sat on the edge for a second, but felt awkward so I went in and stood so I could face all three of them, forming a square of sorts.

Noah splashed me as I got closer. "There. Now isn't it fair?"

"How? Jake was already getting in." Kaylee rolled her eyes and kicked her foot out to splash at Noah.

"You're so cranky." Noah remarked. "I thought Dave said that you guys won last night. What's up with you?"

Kaylee shot him a glare before randomly sliding in completely under the water. She held her breath for a straight minute before coming back up.

"Needed to cool down?" Noah raised an eyebrow.

"I heard from the last of the boarding schools I was looking into. No scholarships offered anywhere. I'm moving down south this summer."

"Wow. That sucks."

I nodded in agreement. I could leave my old life behind easily with a move but it's got to be harder for Kaylee. "Do you know when?"

"No definitive date yet as they look at selling our house here and buying something new down there." Kaylee started to float on her back, forcing us out of her way.

Alisha slid in the pool too. "I'm still team move in with me and my parents."

"Ha." Kaylee stopped floating and stood up in the pool. "In my dreams. No way my parents go for that. I just have two years until college and I'm running off. Not looking back."

"What colleges are you interested in?" Alisha looked thoughtfully at her. "Maybe we'll go to the same place in the future."

"Probably somewhere back up north in defiance of them." Kaylee said. "They'll probably want me to try to make the team at UCLA with Marie. But I won't even try."

"Why don't you just go across the country then? Be more dramatic about it." Noah suggested.

"I don't want to be miserable myself." Kaylee told him. "I don't know. I guess it'll depend on even if I get good enough to play in college. Then if I'm good enough for a scholarship because I wouldn't put it past my parents to threaten me to not be willing to pay for my college."

"I'll loan you money to go." Noah said nonchalantly.

"What money do you have to pay for college?" She scoffed.

"My signing bonus from getting drafted." Noah said confidently.

She splashed him. "Sure."

We chilled out after Kaylee's disheartening news about moving but it wasn't all bad. Alisha ordered pizza for lunch and we ate by the poolside. I had long forgotten about how awkward I felt about my body and no one brought up my scars or tan lines. Kaylee and Alisha decided to tag along for the cages and arcade, catching a ride with us and extending the fun we were having.

On Sunday, we didn't do so many activities, choosing to watch baseball at home instead. We watched the A's win with a little help from Jeremy and a lot of help from Maberry. We didn't get to see any of Zeke's games in Utah, but we heard his team swept the series. Both of their teams were doing well. Jeremy was on a strong start and Zeke was looking for a strong finish before his playoffs began in June.