The Hitting Zone
chapter-577

The rest of the week flew by with the focus on reviewing for finals. Oh, and with Kyle's complaints of still having colored hair. He was scared that his natural blonde was lost and had resigned himself to shaving his hair off before the summer camps.

Jeremy and I sent a few texts throughout the week, mostly talking about his games or how I was doing in school. He would be back in the area next week, but I would be busy with finals and our first softball game.

Friday after school, there was a sense of relief that there would be no more homework...kind of. The summer Spanish class was bound to have something for us to do after our classes. A class that would be from 9am to noon, Monday thru Thursday. It would start the week after finals, and go until our Stanford camp. It perfectly lined up with our softball schedule and made Mrs. Atkins feel relieved that we wouldn't be doing nothing this summer.

Friday night we celebrated the twins birthday at a steakhouse. I wanted to stick with soup, but was bullied into getting the steak. The kid's steak. It was okay, but not something I was interested in. Saturday morning, Zeke woke me and Noah up for our usual run and weight training before eating brunch.

Instead of going to The Cages, Zeke took us to the local park to run some fielding drills, claiming that we couldn't just focus on batting all the time. I think his statement was more for me than Noah. Same with the punishment run that came after every error made. Sunday morning followed the same routine, but after taking showers, we went to the pizza place nearby to meet with our teammates.

Zeke loaded up the shirts that had been delivered, and brought a stack of papers which were just a copy of the schedule and rules. We three showed up early, taking over one of the biggest tables in the corner. Zeke ordered some pizza and breadsticks, expecting that everyone would be okay with simple pepperoni.

The first to show up was Alisha...and her mom?

Alisha greeted us like normal before pointing at Zeke. "Mom, this is Zeke. You know, that boy who got drafted right out of high school, but is going to college instead. He's kind of like the captain coach for this."

Alisha's mom reached out to shake Zeke's hand. "Nice to meet you. I spoke with your mom about this fun team that you boys put together. I just wanted to meet you personally before I trust you with my daughter."

"Mooommm." Alisha rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'll make myself scarce." She smiled politely. "Text me when you're ready for pickup Alisha." She waved.

Alisha waved and sent her off. "She's just nosey. Don't mind her."

Noah shrugged. "I thought she was fine. If it was my mom, she'd be having a full blown conversation."

Alisha laughed and looked more settled after Noah's small reassurance.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Zeke's mouth upturn for just a short second. I would have missed it if I had blinked at the wrong time. I forget to ask him about this, yet now it was here in front of us. I didn't know what to say without being weird so I just looked away and waited for our next teammate.

It was Mr. Miller's familiar frame! Walking with another older man. Mr. Miller grinned as he greeted us and then introduced his friend. "This is Stuart Hastings. He and I have played on a few softball teams together."

Mr. Hastings nodded and gave a friendly smile. "Hello, hello. You kids can call me Stu."

Zeke shook his hand and introduced the rest of us. They sat together closer to Zeke and started to discuss what the rules were like and if it was similar to what they've seen before.

Julian was the next one to show up with his brother. He was definitely his brother, they shared similar features with the only difference being their age and maybe a few inches. They even had the same quiet personality. Julian patted him on the shoulder. "Introduce yourself."

"I'm Andy." He nodded before sitting down.

Julian sighed, then went over to Zeke and the two men.

Noah grinned at Andy. "Hey, man, I heard you're going to be a freshman next year."

"Yes." Andy answered, monotonously.

"Cool, cool. My name is Noah. This is Jake, and this is Alisha. We're going to be sophomores next year so if you need anything like help with classes, let us know." Noah wasn't discouraged by his silence. He had practice with me after all.

Andy just glanced at us then pulled out his phone. I guess he wasn't interested in conversation. That's okay. I understood. I pulled on Noah's sleeve to distract him.

The last two members showed up together too. I could see them exiting a familiar Volkswagen. Kaylee and her friend...

I turned to Noah. "What was Kaylee's friends name again?"

"KJ..?" Noah shrugged. "I just know that she's the only pitcher we really have."

Kaylee led her friend to our table. "Hey guys. What's up?"

Noah gestured to the empty seats. "Just waiting for the food. Take a seat. Zeke ordered enough for everyone. We'll pass out the shirts afterwards." He peeked at the girl next to Kaylee. She was slightly taller than Noah, which made her the tallest girl. She was very thin though, but not in a pretty way. More sickly looking. "Are you KJ? Pitcher?"

I glanced down at my own thin arms. Then at hers. I don't know who I felt worse for. Myself or her?

KJ gave a small nod and sat down with Kaylee. "Thanks for letting me play."

"No problem!" Noah said. "We found out that if my parents sponsor us, they get a tax deduction or whatever. They don't mind." He started to point everyone out, giving very short introductions.

The table got quiet as everyone tried to remember everyone else. After the short introductions, the food we ordered was brought out. It seemed to loosen everyone up as we passed around plates and napkins. Then everyone started to help themselves with the food in the center of the table. It was very civil, but mostly because everyone was talking into smaller groups. Kaylee and KJ. Mr. Miller and Stu. Alisha, Noah, and me. Zeke and Julian. Andy was the most quiet, just browsing his phone while slowly eating his pizza.

I lowered my head and whispered to Noah. "Is this...normal?" Everyone was so quiet. This wasn't anything like our baseball team where everyone knew each other and could hold a conversation.

Noah smiled in a relaxed manner. "Yep. Don't worry about it. Zeke has it handled. He has experience with this."

"With what?" I tilted my head.

"With getting the team to bond and get to know one another. Most teams have phases like this. Especially in little league when you have to play with kids you never met before." Noah explained. "Zeke will probably start after everyone eats and gets a little more comfortable."

I nodded, trusting them.