The ceremony continued with a couple of more speeches and then finally they started to call the names. Zeke was up near the top thanks to his last name starting with the letter 'a'. It seemed like all parents were adamant about taking pictures of their kids receiving their diplomas even though there was a professional photographer doing so already.
Zeke wasn't the only name I knew though. There were players from the team that were also graduating. Kelvin Bender. Alex Farrell. Troy Hardman. Mahki Holstrom. Ryan Lewiki. James Lohr. Even players who didn't finish the season with us: Chris Ludwick. John Roberts. Jordan Sanders. Those three names shook me to the core. It was a long season. Chris getting kicked from the team. Jordan quitting the team. And John...he lost his position thanks to me. I felt a sense of guilt. All three had some kind of connection to me. I probably ruined their senior year.
"Hey, what's got you feeling so down?" Noah asked me as the names continued to get called.
I shrugged and leaned back.
Noah eyed me, but didn't say anything.
Julian Wilson was the last name I recognized. I leaned towards Noah. "You think Andy is here?"
Noah nodded. "I don't see why not? I'm sure we'll run into him as Mom takes a million pictures of Zeke with all his friends."
I nodded in understanding. Mom brought a real camera with her today and hasn't set it down once. She probably took a picture of every step Zeke took during his walk to grab his diploma and the walk back to his seat.
At the end of the ceremony, the seniors stood up and threw the caps into the air. It felt something out of a movie. What movies don't show though, is the seniors trying to find the caps they threw up in the air. I laughed with Noah, as did some of the crowd.
The stands started to clear as families went to go find their graduate. We weren't any different. We moved a little slower for the sake of Grampa and Gramma. Zeke found us rather quickly and was pulled into a bear hug by his mom.
He didn't mind one bit and return the hug graciously. He then moved on to his Gramma. Then shook hands with his grandfather and dad. Then came the twins. They simply gave him a clap on the shoulder, before tackling him. Noah was quick to join.
Their mom took pictures generously.
"C'mon Jake!" Noah yelled for me. "Jump up! We can take him down!"
I laughed, but shook my head.
Zeke managed to shake them off and fixed his gown. He put on his cap and smiled. "You guys never change."
"Let's start getting some formal shots before you guys start fighting." Mom lifted her camera. "Zeke, stand with your grandparents."
Zeke followed her instructions, standing between his gramma and grampa, all three smiling for the camera. Then she had us join in. Then just us boys. She recruited another mom to take family pictures of all of us.
As the lady handed back the camera she smiled and said. "You have a beautiful family. They all look like you. Even though the youngest has all recessive genes, he still smiles like the rest of you."
"Thank you." Mom said politely before coming back to our group.
"You hear that Jake?" Dave laughed. "You look like us."
Kyle laughed too. "We must be rubbing off on him. I can't believe that lady thinks you have all recessive genes. That's a bit much."
"I don't think it was a big deal." Noah shrugged. "Jake's one of us. Who cares about looks?"
"It's just a funny thing to say." Dave explained. "Normal people don't make remarks about the children that stand out. It's normal to say your children look like you, but it's weird to tell someone that one has all recessive genes."
"Right." Kyle laughed some more. "What if Jake was an illegitimate child? It's just a weird thing to say to strangers."
"Okay, boys, she didn't mean any harm by it. Let it go." Mom instructed. "Zeke, why don't you find some of your friends so I can get a few more shots?"
Zeke nodded. He pulled a few nearby graduates and they obediently smiled for the pictures. It made for a bigger crowd as the parents of those kids wanted to take pictures too.
Noah and I backed up out of the way, while the twins went to congratulate some of the seniors they knew. Especially the senior pitchers since they were a tight knit group in the bullpen.
"Man, three more years and this will be us." Noah commented as he looked around. We were surrounded by laughing graduates, proud parents, and just overall happiness. "I wonder if I'll get to do a speech too like Zeke."
I shrugged. "Probably."
Noah looked at me. "You really think so?"
I nodded. "You're a lot like Zeke. Except...friendlier?"
Noah laughed. "Oh my! I'm going to tell Zeke you said that!"
I shook my head, but in motion I spotted a familiar face. Andy. "Hey, look." I pointed for Noah.
Noah spotted Andy too. "Let's go over." He led the way to Andy, who was looking down at his phone, standing by himself. "Hey Andy! Where's Julian?"
Andy glanced up from his phone. Seeing us, he put his phone away; an improvement from our first meeting. He pointed at a bigger crowd. "Taking pics with friends. Mom and Dad went with."
Noah nodded. "Same. We did family pictures first and then were told to scram."
I made a face at him. "We weren't told to scram."
Noah laughed. "I'm just joking." He looked at Andy. "Too bad we couldn't play softball tonight. Tuesday was really fun."
"Yea." He agreed.
The conversation stalled, but Noah wasn't one to give up. "I heard from Julian that you tried out for WBC."
"Julian talks about me?" Andy tilted his head, looking at us with an undetermined expression.
Noah shrugged. "I mean...he doesn't avoid talking about you?" He laughed. "We mostly talk about baseball, but when I was talking about missing the WBC tryouts, he brought you up. He said you asked your parents if they could afford it."
Andy made a face, displeased. "Yea...they said no if you couldn't tell."
Noah grinned. "Yea, but I'm happy to hear that. You wouldn't be able to play with us if they had said yes."
Andy looked at Noah in disbelief, showing more emotion in this short conversation than the last few times we've met. "You do realize that isn't a good thing, right?"
Noah waved his hand around. "Don't worry about it. You don't want to play with those snobs anyways. Playing softball may be for fun, but now you have free time to train with us. Tell me...what sounds like a better group to practice with: four to six varsity players or a group of guys that barely made the freshman team?"
Andy's lips twitched. "I'm guessing you don't get along with them."
"Understatement." I commented.
"It's a non-issue now. All in the past." Noah remarked. "But if you're interested in knowing what practicing with varsity players feel like, you and Julian can come over tomorrow morning."
"What will we be doing?" He asked, curious.
"Endurance training and weight lifting." Noah said with an odd smile. "It'll be fun."
I made a face at him. What a liar.
"What time?" Andy asked.
"Hmm. Best if you come bright and early. Like 6am."
His jaw dropped. "Why so early?"
"Early bird gets the worm." Noah grinned.
I shook my head at him, but neither of them paid any attention to me.
