The Hitting Zone
chapter-782

"That was brutal." Rhys groaned as he stretched right after getting out of the car.

"It wasn't that bad." Dave said, watching as Rhys cracked and popped. "Dude, are you okay? You sound like you're 80 years old already."

Rhys gave a weak laugh. "I'm just super sore and stiff. We started some small group workouts at school and yesterday was rough."

Noah looked up at Zeke. "Are you sore too?"

"No." Zeke answered simply.

"We aren't in the same groups." Rhys told Noah. "I obviously have to go with the pitchers. Zeke has it easy, just chilling in the outfield. So casual."

Zeke just shook his head and ignored him. He turned his back to us to wait for our parents.

"I bet Zeke does twice as much as you." Noah told Rhys, nonchalant.

Rhys faked a pout. "You're biased."

Noah shrugged. "Only because I know this is true. No one works harder than Zeke." He frowned. "I'm not even a close second."

Rhys reached out and tipped Noah's hat up. "Hey, keep your head up. Zeke had a three year head start on ya. I think it won't be long until you catch him."

Noah grinned.

In front of the gates, there were long lines and big groups waiting for the stadium to open. We waited too. We waited for Rose to show up and take us through a different passage. It was like a shortcut to save us the hassle of waiting outside the stadium and it allowed us to start eating early.

This time when the stadium filled up, there was plenty of Yankees fans. In fact, too many.

"Almost feels like an away game." Kyle said.

Dave sneered. "Hopefully the A's end it here. I'd love to see the Yankees fans cry."

The game had a rough start though. The starting pitcher gave up a three run homer and to make it worse, he got hurt. If that wasn't bad enough, the new pitcher gave up two more runs. That seemed to be the theme of the night: things continuously getting worse. Maberry and Jeremy were both held down at the plate, not getting any hits. The rest of the A's team wasn't much better. It was a long, tortuous, nine innings. The A's lost 0-7 and it was the Yankee fans that got to celebrate.

Noah cursed under his breath so his mom couldn't hear. But once we were back in the car with the guys, he let it all out. No one stopped him. None of us were happy about the result. Even Zeke had a frown the whole drive home.

I knew our feelings couldn't compare to Jeremy's. I sent him a message of condolence. I didn't have many losses I could compare it to, but one stuck out. The 0-10 loss to University Prep in the Foothill Classic. I also didn't pay well in that game, not getting a single hit.

The next morning I had a missed message from Jeremy.

Jeremy: Game six. We'll do it. I'll contact Wayne to see if you guys can come again. Probably won't be the same seats, but I can figure something out.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and reread his message. "Noah?"

"Yea?" Noah had just finished getting dressed and was tying his shoes so he could go down for breakfast.

I shoved my phone in front of his face, making him freeze. He snatched my phone from me and took off running. I followed after him.

"Dad! Dad!? Daddddd!" Noah hollered as he ran down the stairs.

"What's wrong??" Dad met us at the bottom of the stairs, looking us up and down like he expected us to have a missing limb.

"Is this true?! Can we go??!" Noah held my phone out to Dad.

Dad took the phone and looked at the text. His lips twitched. "This is what you were screaming for?"

"Whats going on?" Dave came out of the living room with Rhys.

Noah didn't answer. He just stared at Dad, not daring to blink.

"Jeremy invited us to the game tonight." I told him softly.

"Wow. Back to back playoff games?" Dave questioned. He looked to Dad. "Are we able to stay another night?"

"Mom and Dad would be okay with it." Rhys added.

Dad laughed and shook his head. "You boys...I already spoke with Jeremy." He looked at Rhys. "And your parents. They both agreed that you boys can go together, but us adults will sit this one out."

"You don't want to go?" I asked.

Dad looked at me. "Don't get me wrong, we like going. But, we would also like a night where our lives didn't revolve around baseball. We'll go have a nice dinner with Rhys's parents and wait here for you kids to come back."

"Yes!" Noah pumped his fists.

Dave and Rhys also looked excited. The two went to go find Kyle and Zeke to tell them the good news. Tonight's game would be a little bit earlier but we still had time to kill. Our parents allowed Rhys to take us sightseeing, spending the daylight hours by the bay. Zeke was good at keeping the time, making sure we left with enough time to sit through all that traffic again. I would have brought my homework if I knew I would be spending so much time in the car, just watching the clouds move in.

"Hey!" Rose greeted us in front of the stadium again. "Tough loss last night, huh?"

Noah held his head. "Please. Don't remind me."

She laughed. "Jeremy had the same sentiment. He's eager to put last night's loss behind him." She glanced at me. "Did he tell you that you guys won't have the same seats as last night?"

I nodded. "He said it might not be possible."

"Anywhere is fine for us." Zeke told her. "We're just happy to be here."

She grinned. "I'm happy to hear that. Follow me." She took us in the same way, but the paths changed. She stopped at the suite level and started to look for the right door.

Noah gulped. "We're going to be in a suite??"

Rose glanced back at us and grinned. "Yes. Jeremy has a friend that booked a suite. He asked if they could split it so he could get you six in."

"That still has to be crazy expensive." Rhys commented. "I'm starting to feel guilty. My dad could never do this for me and my friends."

"Jeremy makes more than your dad." Dave pointed out.

Rose stopped at one of the suites doors. "Alright. This is it." She opened it and revealed an empty room. "Looks like they're not here yet. You guys need me to stick around for introductions?"

"Do you know them?" Noah asked.

She nodded. "Yes, it's Jack Maberry's family. His wife, their kids, his brother, and his cousin. That's all I know of."

"Guess you can't be yelling at Maberry tonight." Kyle laughed at Noah's frozen expression. He looked at Rose. "You should have heard Noah last night. He had nothing nice to say about anyone in the game."

Noah looked guilty. "It's not my fault they played poorly."

Rose laughed and waved him off. "No offense taken. I felt the same way. Really. The A's were my team before Jeremy came up here. Now I'm really involved. They better win tonight. I can't stand watching a game seven."

"Same." Noah lamented.