The Hitting Zone-Novel



I couldn't stand how nervous my phone was making me, all day Wednesday. I was scared that Zeke would try to call. Just looking at it made my anxiety at an all-time high. I put my phone in my locker to keep it away and calm myself. It only helped a little. I still had to see Noah and the twins throughout the day, wondering how Zeke liked his present. It seemed like a funny idea at first, but now I had a few regrets. What if he got mad? Zeke took school very seriously. 

At the end of the school day, it was time for me to take my cellphone back out of the locker. 

"Stop being a baby." Noah elbowed me as we headed down to the fields. "I've already shown you my phone. Zeke hasn't messaged us at all." Just as he said that, his phone started to ring. 

ZEKE

Noah cleared his throat and answered, putting him on speaker. He started singing 'happy birthday' and we could hear Zeke's light laughter. It eased a lot of my nerves knowing he wasn't mad mad. 

"How many more, Noah?" Zeke asked when Noah finished singing. 

"Whatever are you talking about?" Noah played dumb. 

"How many times did you sign up for this girl to sing to me?" Zeke repeated more thoroughly. 

"Girl? Singing?" Noah kept it up. "That doesn't sound right. You always scare girls away. I can't imagine one serenading you. Especially on your birthday." He grinned. "Well, we're almost at the fields for practice. Have fun at yours. Gotta go. Bye." He hung up. 

I let out a sigh of relief. 

"See? It's fine. It's his birthday. It's too be expected." Noah said. 

With that kind of assurance, I turned my phone on. I only had one missed message. From Jeremy. I clicked and saw that it was a video. I pushed play, not sure what I was supposed to be watching. It seemed to be a trio mariachi band, playing music as they entered a cafeteria. I caught sight of a familiar face in the video and started to grin. 

"What the heck are you listening to?" Noah peered over my shoulder to see. "Yo, is that Zeke? What are we watching here?"

We stopped walking and watched the video with interest. There was a short song that sang happy birthday to Zeke from Jeremy. Noah started to crack up at the look of Zeke's face as the whole cafeteria hollered and clapped. "Wow. That's amazing. Save it and send it to me."

I complied willingly. 

Noah saved it to his phone too, but took it a step further when he started to edit it. He took a shorter version of the main video and posted it on Instagram for all to see. He tagged Zeke, wishing him a happy birthday and thanking Jeremy for the video.

I sent Jeremy a courtesy text so he knew Noah had it too. And to also thank him. I know we didn't arrange for any videos to be taken. It was already expensive for how many times we ordered a singing telegram. 

"Yo, you guys trying to be late for practice?" Brian asked, jogging to catch up. "You know what time it is?"

I put my phone away, feeling guilty. 

Noah didn't. He got the video to restart. "Check this out." He handed his phone over to Brian. 

Brian watched the full video and got a laugh out of it. "Hey, that's pretty cool. I kind of want to do something like that for my dad. I wonder how much that was."

"You probably have to wait until you start making money." Noah told him as the three of us continued our trek to the lower field. "Jeremy set that up so we don't know the exact price but we can tell you that we spent a few hundred on getting Zeke multiple singing grams today."

"Singing grams?" Brian was taken aback. "Do you have any videos of that?"

Noah shook his head sadly. "No. Didn't think of it." He clapped his hands together. "I'll text his roommate and see if he can try on the next two attempts." He pulled out his phone. 

"Two more?!" Brian was stunned. "What are you doing to him?"

"Believe it or not, this was Jake's idea." Noah told him. "Me and the twins just added on. Of course, there's four of us so there should be four performances. And now with Jeremy, we all did our part."

"Damn. I couldn't imagine Zeke's face throughout all of that." Brian shook his head. He looked at me. "Good thinking though, Jake. I just wish it could have happened here."

I laughed. "I'm glad it didn't. I couldn't imagine how many laps we would have to run."

"We?" Brian squinted. "That was a 'you' idea. Not we. I'm a spectator. Not a co-conspirator."

We reached the clubroom and part of the conversation was overheard, drawing some attention to it. Some of the guys asked about what we were talking about, but Noah simply told them to check his Instagram story when they get a chance. 

The chance was soon for some as they were already ready for practice. Others just looked over the shoulders to watch. Everyone had seen it by the time Noah and I got ready. 

Coach came walking through. "Let's get a move on, boys. David, Mitchell, take it easy. Make sure to stretch with Drew and be ready for tomorrow." He looked around at the rest of us. "Tomorrow's game will start at six in the evening. Either eat a big lunch or a small meal before coming in. Be here at 4:30 to change and set up."

"A couple hours after school. How awkward." Someone complained. "Not enough time to go home and relax, but do I really want to hang out in the school's library?"

"Clubroom will be open right after school like normal." Coach stated. "Batting cages are free to anyone who wants to get some extra work in."

I perked up, looking at Coach with a smile. 

"Jake, you better control yourself in there and not overdo it." Coach zoned in on me. "If anyone sees Jake doing more than forty pitches at a time, take him out and take over."

A few of the guys laughed. Coach hurried us along and practice got underway. We didn't do anything too strenuous and worked specifically on hitting curves. Coach thinks it'll be Peace again so we had to do some prep work, no matter how small.