The Hitting Zone

The Atkins firmly agreed with that last part, so after getting home, Mrs. Atkins stopped by mine and Noah's room. "You both will be going to school like normal tomorrow with the other boys."

"But mom-" Noah started to protest.

"No buts." Mrs. Atkins cut him off before he could get started. "Do you really want to make Jake face that woman again just so you can skip some classes?"

Noah looked down. "No."

"I would be fine." I spoke up after seeing Noah looking sad.

Mrs. Atkins gave me a light smile. "Of course you would be. We would support you with all our might. But, think about this, if you miss class or practice, you'll have to sit out the following game. That's the rule. Do you really want to sit out again?"

I checked with Noah. I didn't really mind sitting on the bench as long as Noah was there.

Noah frowned as he thought it over; after a minute, he faced me with a serious expression. "School. Then practice. The next game is Tuesday so there's only one day we have to be good."

"Noah James." His mother scolded. "I expect you to be good everyday." Her facial muscles relaxed. "I'll make sure to text you the results after the meeting so you can tell Jake, okay?"

We nodded and she left us so we could go to bed. Noah waited for me to get to my bed up top, then he turned off the light and got in his bottom bunk.

"Are you really okay, Jake?" He asked.

I snuggled under my comforter. "I'm fine. Your mom said she wouldn't let that woman come after me, and I believe your mom."

"What do you think will happen at the meeting tomorrow? Will she get fired?"

"I. I hope so." I stuttered a little.

"Regardless, I don't think she'll be work at our school anymore. Did you see all those kids that were supposedly 'helped' by her? That's crazy that she's been able to stay for so long."

"Yea." I mumbled, feeling tired from the days activities.

"Alright, we'll talk tomorrow. Goodnight!"

"Night." I yawned, burying my head into my pillow.

Sunday night turned into Monday morning, bringing the usual beginning of the school week drama. Kyle and Dave bickered, Noah dragged his feet around, and Zeke ordered all of us to get in the car so we wouldn't be late. The boys left us at the bottom of the parking lot by the fields so Mr. Miller could bring us up with his golf cart. Then we followed the same class routine, pushing our way to lunch time.

We were walking to our usual bench when we came across a surprise. A big surprise. Our picnic bench was crowded and overflowed to the surrounding tables.

It wasn't just any crowd though. I recognized every face present. I could even name every guy there. They were the varsity baseball team. Our teammates.

"What took you guys so long?!" Dave dragged us over, forcing us to sit with him no matter what.

"We go to our locker before lunch now, in order to have our math books ready." Noah told him. "What are you all doing here?"

"You guys never join us in the cafeteria, so we figured we would join you outside." Julian said from the nearby table.

"Jake doesn't like crowds." Noah started simply.

I shrunk with embarrassment, but the guys just laughed, adding a few calls of "Typical Bambi."

"Did you read Mom's text yet?" Kyle asked from the other side of the table, squished between Garret and Sean.

Noah pulled out his phone and powered it on. "Nope. Mr. Yee is too strict with phones and I didn't want it taken away." The team got a little quieter, waiting for Noah to go through his texts. He jumped up. "Yes! We did it! We've replaced her! Permanently."

The team cheered like Zeke had hit a home run. I sat in silence, not really understanding. I had to wait for them to settle back down and for Noah to come back to sit. Only then, I was able to ask, "They're replacing Mrs. Golladay?"

"Yep." Noah answered as we pulled out our lunch bags. "Mom said she'll be replaced by a better school counselor. And, apparently, Dr. Moore showed up again and suggested that the school district start providing a school psychologist."

"Why...?" I mumbled as I started to eat my sandwich.

Noah shrugged. "She didn't say. Besides that, she said we should practice extra hard today to prepare for tomorrow's game."

My lips twitched. "Extra? Like Friday with Drew?"

Noah made a sour-face, pursing his lips and closing his eyes. "Don't bring that up ever again. My muscles are still twitching. I think mom is just being supportive. Don't take her words so seriously."

"Why not?" Zeke's voice made us flinch.

We both took our time to turn to face him. He flashed a smile that brought a knot in my throat. "You both still need more work for skipping out on Thursday and missing the game on Saturday."

"We didn't exactly miss it." Noah refuted. "We were there. Shouldn't we be more focused on tomorrow's game?"

"Not a rank school. Nor is it in our league." Jordan said from his spot at a separate table. "This is when we should put some serious thought and effort in our actions. Polish up these diamonds."

Zeke nodded at the last line. "Exactly." The pit in my stomach grew. "It wouldn't hurt for you two to hang out with Drew today." Did I say pit? My stomach is now missing completely. I'm just empty.