Zeke revealed a small smile. "I heard from Noah that you were taking a day off." I started to fidget, but he continued. "Same here. Figured we could spend our day together."
I was shocked.
Grampa was skeptical. "You have a random Wednesday off? No school? No practice? How did you make it home without a car?"
Zeke sat down next to Grampa, relaxing into the couch. "I borrowed Rhys's car. No practice today since we had a game yesterday. As for school, I can miss a class or two. Not all of them take attendance."
Grampa squinted at him. "Sounds like you were already prepared to take a mental health day of your own."
Zeke let out a short chuckle. "You've caught me."
My jaw dropped.
"Underestimated college baseball?" Grampa asked, smirking.
I was even more stunned.
Grampa looked to me. "You were too preoccupied last night. Zeke here didn't do so well in his own game last night."
I looked to Zeke, not totally believing Grampa. He and Noah were too much alike.
Only Zeke was straightforward. His lips twitched. "I'm bound to go hitless a time or two. I'm no batting champion. Why didn't you compliment me on my weekend instead? We got first. Beat all three teams."
Grampa rolled his eyes. "Always fishing for compliments." He put his hands on his knees and slowly stood up. "Jake hasn't had anything to eat in awhile. I'm going to make some oatmeal." He left me alone with Zeke.
"Did you really have a bad game yesterday?" I asked him, nervous.
Zeke gave a short nod. "0-3 at the plate. Two strikeouts. One looking, and one swinging."
"Was the pitcher very good?" I asked, interested.
"Everyone is very good." Zeke told me. "But yesterday, it wasn't like I was overwhelmed by his pitching. I was just overwhelmed with everything."
"You? Overwhelmed?" I didn't believe it. I couldn't. Zeke is more stable than any of the boys. Even over Jeremy.
Zeke let out a sigh. "There's a lot going on. School, traveling, practice and games. Friday, we traveled to Texas for the tournament. Two games Saturday. Two games Sunday. Our Sunday night flight was pushed back to Monday morning. Monday, I still had classes to go to. Homework to do. We still had a small workout with the team. Tuesday, another round of classes and then an away game."
"Sounds like a lot." I nodded. I don't think I could handle that kind of pressure.
"I'll get used to it soon enough." He looked at me directly. "Just like how you got used to us. Being here. Talking." He tilted his head. "Eventually you'll get used to being asked about the bat situation."
I slumped back. "I don't know...maybe."
"Let's break it down. You don't like them, so you don't use them. No one forced you yesterday, right?"
"Not really." I shrugged weakly. It was more like a suggestion and then I psyched myself out. It only got worse because I had nightmares last night.
Grampa came in with two bowls. He handed one off to Zeke, then one to me. "That'll warm you up." He sat back down. He looked between us, back and forth. Back to Zeke. "What did I miss?"
"Talking about what makes Jake scared of what others think."
"Meh. Everyone is like that every now and then." Grampa said. "It's not until you get to my age, and then you really don't care. Not even a little. Don't have enough time left to care." He wagged a finger at me. "You do what you want. Or don't do what you don't want."
I poked at my oatmeal with a spoon. "Easier said than done." I swallowed. "I want to be normal."
"No such thing." Grampa was quick to refute. He caught my look. "Every person is unique. You. Me. Zeke. Noah. Your parents. Even the twins. Normal is fiction."
I looked to Zeke. He looked pretty normal to me.
Zeke gave a small shrug. "I was going to go with: we all have our different challenges. Mentally. Physically. Psychologically. We overcome them though."
The two of them seemed to be trying to give me a pep talk and I tried to appreciate it. But like I said, easier said than done. I also couldn't control my brain or dreams. Nightmares so real that it's like I'm reliving that experience. I don't know how or why my brain would pick that.
***
"Let's take a moment to talk, boys." Coach greeted his team, walking into the club room as they were just about to finish changing. He spotted the twins and Noah, already dressed and waiting. They knew what was coming.
The team settled down, taking seats and looking up to their coach.
He cleared his throat. "Some of you may have noticed or heard, Jake didn't come to school today." Most sets of eyes went to Noah to confirm that Jake wasn't there. "He didn't have a good night. Woke up sick. No need to be too concerned, but I want to talk about what happened in the dugout yesterday." His eyes drifted to Logan Porter before scanning the rest of the room. "Some of you know Jake from last season and some of you don't. Last year, Jake came as a transfer student. If you haven't heard already, he left an abusive home and is now formally adopted by the Atkins. He has a lot of history to work through, one of which is aluminum bats. If the newcomers haven't noticed yet, he won't touch one."
"Can we ask why?" A sophomore pitcher, Marshel Butler, asked. "Why he doesn't have to help get the others bats off the field? Why he won't try to use one at the plate? He can hit further with it, can't he?"
"Why is it any of your business?" Noah jumped up and asked. "Would you like me pestering you, asking why you can't throw 90mph yet? Garret and the twins can; why can't you? Why aren't you taller? Why aren't you better?"
Coach cleared his throat. "That's enough."
"If Jake is bothered by this, by you, and quits, I'll quit too." Noah stated. He glanced back at his brothers.
Dave reached out and pat him on the head. "Don't be so dramatic. No one is quitting." He looked around. "I think most of the team can agree that Jake is our best hitter." He got a lot of head nods in response. "Why change what's working? Jake's nickname is 'Bambi' for a reason. He's skittish and easily scared. If we make a big deal out of this, no doubt, he'll run." He looked towards Marshel. "Let me ask, can you replace him in the lineup?"
"I just don't like people getting special privileges." Marshel shrugged.
"I'm not sure what you consider a special privilege is?" Garret stood up. "Not picking up others bats? Not a big deal. Heck, if we were a bigger school, we would have a bat boy and no one would have to."
"Good idea." Coach spoke up. "I'll get us a bat boy. As for Jake using a different bat? Forget it. It's not up to anybody in this room." He looked around and no one said anything. Most even looked unbothered. He nodded, satisfied with this group. "I believe this is the best team, the best roster we've had in quite some time. But for the sake of team chemistry, I'm not afraid to change it up."
A quick knock alerted everyone that someone had came to their club room. Garret, who was already standing, went over to open it up, revealing the school's athletic director.
"You have news for us?" Noah straightened up. "The first opponent for the tournament this weekend?"
AD Barber nodded. He looked at Coach. "You want me to just go ahead and say it?"
Coach nodded. "Of course. No matter who it is, our goal won't change."
AD Barber pulled out his cell phone and read off a text. "Game one of the Foothill Classic has been decided. Watsonville High School versus University Preparatory High School, 8am." He looked up. "From what I can understand, you'll be the visiting team."
The room was drop dead silent. Until Dave threw his glove at Bryce. "You jinxed it!" He wasn't the only one. Soon, quite a few gloves were chucked at Bryce.
The athletic director couldn't tell what was going on at all. He said a few more words to Coach and left afterwards.
Coach clapped his hands to get the team's attention back on him. He chuckled at the sight of Bryce. "Alright. Guess we're going to get our revenge game out of the way first. Not bad." He looked to Garret. "You'll have-"
"I want it, Coach!" Kyle stood up.
Coach looked at him. "You?" He frowned at looked back at Garret. "What do you think, Captain?"
Garret looked at Kyle. "Why should you get the start? Just because you want it isn't enough for me. All of us want it, with the exception of Bryce."
A few of the guys laughed and started to give some grief to Bryce.
"Because I believe I'm the best." Kyle looked Garret in the eyes. "Statistically, we're neck and neck. With you only having the edge on strikeouts. I want this chance to prove myself. I know I'll keep us in the game."
Garret raised an eyebrow. "You don't think I can do the same?"
"We know you can. We won game one last year with you. This time, we should use the approach we have in tournaments that we've won. Like the last one. We're able to use you later against more difficult teams."
Garret looked to Coach. "I like his confidence."
Coach squinted at the pair before settling. "Okay. Kyle will get the start on the mound. Garret will still prep too though. I don't want this game getting out of hand. Kyle, I'm giving you two runs. That's all you can give up before I pull you."
"Why two?" Dave asked, curious.
"Because that's how many I estimate we can score with our lineup." Coach explained. He looked at Noah, who looked pensive. "Don't tell me you're nervous about the game, Noah?"
"No. Well, not for me." Noah looked up at Coach. "Do you think we can get the game pushed back later?"
Coach shook his head. "No way."
Dave caught on. He started to laugh. "Coach you might want to rethink that two runs you'll think we'll get. Jake is not a morning person."
Coach rubbed his forehead as a few of the guys laughed. It was well-known that Jake didn't like the cold and he didn't like morning games. Morning games weren't a common occurrence so it hardly came up. Now that it did with a great team as the opponent, Coach had to come up with an idea.
