The Hitting Zone
chapter-703

Monday morning rolled around and the family was gathered once more around the table. The twins, Noah, and I were all dressed for a day of baseball. Mom and Dad were dressed for work. And Zeke...was still in pajamas. It was a novel sight.

"Are you going to drive us to camp in your pajamas..?" Noah asked, really surprised.

I ate my eggs in silence.

"Why would he take us?" Dave asked.

"Yea, we can drive." Kyle added.

Noah made a face of disgust before looking at Zeke. "You aren't going to come? Play a little? Maybe coach like you did for the Stanford camp?"

Zeke shook his head.

Noah squinted. "Then...what are you going to do?"

Zeke shrugged. "Enjoy my last few days of summer break. Pick out my fall classes. Get a jump on my school reading. Might go on a jog to the beach."

Noah kept blinking like he couldn't recognize his brother anymore.

"Hurry up and eat." Kyle told Noah. "Otherwise you'll be running to practice."

"Kyle." Mom warned.

Breakfast was finished and we started to pack up the car minus one bag and minus one brother. Zeke watched as we loaded everything.

"Oh wait. I wanted to bring my new batting gloves." Noah hurried back into the house.

I glanced at Zeke. He caught me looking and waved me over. Seeing the twins arguing about who was going to drive us to practice, I went over to Zeke silently.

Zeke put his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. "Make sure Noah stays out of trouble. No fights."

I frowned. "You think he would fight?"

Zeke glanced at the door Noah went through. "I think a few of the guys know how to get under Noah's skin."

"Then why aren't you coming with us?" My frown deepened. "I'm sure Coach would like having you to help out. Plus, you're the captain."

Zeke shook his head. A small smile played on his lips. "I'm no longer your captain. It's a new season. I need to let the other guys have a chance to stand out and take on the leadership roles. I won't be around to keep Noah in check during the regular season. If he loses his cool against those guys, then try to keep him at bay. You don't want him to lose his varsity spot over a temper tantrum."

"Can we still beat them during scrimmages?" I asked. "That's what Noah said we should do. I don't want him to get in trouble though."

Zeke grinned. "That's just playing the game. Go ahead. Show them your best." He turned serious. "As long as Noah can play seriously and doesn't fool around, I think he has a considerable chance at being a captain in the future. He can't do that if he's fighting his future teammates."

"He won't fight. Physically." I said resolutely. "Noah wouldn't do that."

Zeke squeezed my shoulder. "Be careful on the field too. There are other ways to hurt players besides hitting them."

I nodded.

He let go. "I'll meet up with you guys at lunch." He nodded and took a step back.

"Okay." I went back to the car where the twins just agreed that Kyle would get to drive us to the camp while Dave would be driving us home. I told them about Zeke wanting to have lunch with us and they started talking about where to eat during our hour break.

A few minutes later Noah came running out of the house. He didn't even glance at Zeke as he got into the car.

"You have everything?" Dave asked, glancing back at us.

Noah held out his empty hands. "I must have put it in my bag already."

Kyle put the car in drive and we were on our way to school.

I glanced at Noah, suspicious. What took him so long inside if he didn't need to grab his batting gloves?

Noah didn't pay any attention to my staring and looked out the window, giving off a lonely vibe.

Kyle pulled into the school parking lot, which surprisingly had a lot of cars considering it was still summer break. We got out and grabbed our bags. I had the intention to head down to our field, but I was told otherwise.

"We do drills practice on the freshman field." Dave explained. "It has more space because the outfield is a soccer field. Plus, why would we let amateurs ruin our varsity field? It belongs to state champions. Not to some chumps who can't even make the freshman team."

Kyle pulled away from the three of us. "I'm going to stop at the softball field for a second. You guys go on ahead of me." He diverted from the straight path, waving as he left.

"He's got a problem." Dave sighed dramatically. "In love, out of love. Just pick one and stick with it. Geez." He glanced at the unusually quiet Noah. "You okay?"

Noah gave a nod. "Yea."

Dave lifted his eyebrows. He gave me a look then looked around the field that we had entered. To the right was the baseball field, and to the left was the outfield/soccer field. Players were scattered about from the dugouts, all along the fence.

Dave spotted Garret and a few other pitchers. "I'm going over there with them. You guys coming or not?"

I was about to nod and follow, but Noah grabbed my arm. "No. You guys will probably be doing different drills. We'll put our bags elsewhere."

Dave shrugged. "Alright. Point Kyle our way if you see him." He turned and headed for the pitchers.

I looked at Noah. "You don't want to stay with Garret and them? It's not just pitchers over there." It was made up of returning varsity players too.

Noah looked me in the eye. "I heard what Zeke told you."

I felt an odd sense of guilt before I realized that I didn't do anything wrong. I slowly nodded. "He was worried you might fight, but I told him you didn't plan on it."

Noah pulled me further down the foul line to an open spot. "I understand why he didn't want to come. He thinks I would rely on him to solve my problems. But, I wouldn't. I do hold some resentment to those trash guys, but I wouldn't put my baseball career at stake."

I nodded along, not sure where he was going with this.

We put our bags down, then sat down ourselves so we could put on our cleats.

Noah was quicker than me by a second. "Jake?"

I looked up as I tied my cleats.

"Do you think I can really be a captain? Like Zeke said?" He asked, seriousness written all over his face.

I nodded almost immediately. "Of course!" Noah was the most supportive person I knew. On and off the field. He also didn't believe in giving up. He cares the most and works the hardest. He was similar to Zeke, but had his own style.

Noah leaned forward and lowered his voice. "But do you think I can be captain this year?"

I blinked, remembering when the boys talked about who could be a possible captain this year. Noah wasn't really on that list. He would only be a sophomore.