I'm not really finding this fun.
I let my eyes wander around the whole field, looking for Noah to see how he was doing. I couldn't tell which group was what as everyone was moving everywhere.
"Pay attention!" A coach hollered at my group.
I straightened up and turned my eyes to the drill. Right. Can't get distracted. A few of the guys in the group sent me looks, but I tried my best to ignore it. If the worst thing they can do is give me dirty looks, then I'll survive. So far, no one has been outright mean or raised their hand at me. I just have to remember that, normally, people don't attack others. And it helps knowing that my coach doesn't allow us players to become physical with others without consequences.
"Begin." The other coach said, gripping his clipboard.
"Play's at first!"
He started to hit a few grounders to each of the infielders, then watched as they fielded the ball and threw to Garret. Occasionally they would have a few seconds of pause in between hits as the coaches discussed what to put on the clipboard.
After a few, the coach that was doing the recording would yell, "Switch!" And the infielders would move over with the second baseman getting in the back of the line.
Once I saw that it was that Kameron guy who would have to move to the end of the line, I shifted my body to cut in front of Tanner as stealthy as I could.
Tanner caught me inching forward, and laughed. Luckily, he didn't make a big deal out of it. He just took a bigger step back so it looked like he wanted me to go first. I can see why he and Garret got along. He was nice and understanding.
The coach was quick to make us work through the station. It didn't take long until it was my turn to take over third base. I took a deep breath and got set. No need to be too nervous. Just like fielding practice.
The coach started to hit the grounders. "Play at first!" He hit to the shortstop, but he had no problem fielding it. Then it was at me towards the baseline. I was able to cleanly pick it out of the dirt, transfer it to my right hand, then threw to Garret at first.
My throw bounced before it got to him, but he was able to get it out of the dirt, making me look okay. I felt my face get warm from embarrassment, but pushed on, with the reminder that I'm not a third baseman.
The coaches discussed while one marked the clipboard. Ah, so embarrassing.
Nothing was said before the next ball was hit. They didn't rag on me for having the ball hop or for not having a strong arm. We just moved on and tried double plays at second then to first. Fielding grounders wasn't as bad as the fly balls in the outfield, but it's not like I stood out.
If anything, I felt guilty. Owning a spot on the varsity team when it seemed like my whole group was better than me at fielding both grounders and fly balls.
We completed the whole rotation, making sure everyone got to play each infield position besides first base. Then the coaches told us to go get our bats and helmets on before going to the cage.
Garret and I split from the group as our bags were in the home team dugout. The others were using the visitors dugout.
"Hey, not a bad start." Garret tried to cheer me up as he saw me looking downcast. "You didn't make any errors."
"Sure, but I wasn't exactly outstanding. I bet all of them are wondering how the heck I got on the team. Or worse, they think that the Atkins are paying coach on the side." I frowned.
"If money could get them on the team, their parents would fork it over. Trust me. Everyone knows that money can't get you on the varsity team. Not with Coach Wilcox." Garret patted my head before going to his own bag to grab his gear.
"That trip though..." Kyle's laugh made me twitch. I glanced over and saw him coming over. "It was like slow motion. You realizing that you can't just backpedal all the time. And then you just turn and fell." He laughed harder. "I'm only sad that Zeke and Noah didn't see it."
I took off my hat and put on my helmet. "Yea, but everyone else saw it."
"Not everyone." He replied, still grinning. "Just every player that chose not to tryout because they don't think they're good enough. Oh. And your group. And those two coaches. And maybe any other wandering eyes from the other groups."
"And our whole pitching staff!" Bryce came over to rub it in. "We were just talking about how we have to worry now any time a fly ball goes your way." He laughed. "Hopefully Noah will come over and steal it away from you."
I had nothing to say to that. But...I looked at Bryce strangely. "You don't have to tryout even though you play outfield?"
Bryce gave me a funny look. "Why would I do that? I'm a pitcher first. I'm on the team as a pitcher. It'd be weird for me to compete when I don't have to."
I blinked. A few times. Then shot a glance down to where Garret was, talking to a few other pitchers. "Then why is Garret? He said he wanted to prove to Coach that he wanted to play in the outfield."
Bryce looked lost.
Kyle didn't. He just leaned in and lowered his voice. "Zeke spoke with Garret before running out there. Zeke probably asked if he could watch over you since you would feel extra nervous without Noah to comfort you." He leaned back. "I knew something was up as soon as Garret ran out there. He didn't even warm up. And it's not like Zeke to let players not warm up. So it definitely had something to do with you."
I felt extremely touched. The Atkins were the greatest family I've ever met. They always showed concern and consideration for my feelings and wellbeing.
"Too bad that couldn't stop you from falling over." Kyle added while chuckling. "You just face planted in the grass. I couldn't believe it."
Okay, maybe they weren't always concerned about my feelings. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my bat.
