The Hitting Zone-Novel



Mom had left me a couple of texts to call her back after practice. I did so after getting home and the others started to shower as Grampa was downstairs, cooking. 

"Jake? You okay?" She immediately answered and started to talk. "We didn't take our phones to Zeke's game this afternoon and we saw all these texts and calls." She rambled on and sounded concerned. 

"Mom." I spoke up, making her pause. "I'm fine." I rubbed a spot of dry sweat off my forehead. "Nothing really happened. Dr. Moore was there."

"Yea, but we should have been there instead." She went on, talking about how inappropriate the school handled things and how they should have been informed if they wanted to interview her child. That led to her asking me about the man who questioned me and Noah yesterday. "That man better pray he's self-employed or his employer will be hearing it from me. Do you know if he looked like a reporter? A scout?"

I shrugged and switched the phone to the other ear, getting tired of holding it up for so long. "I'm not sure. I didn't even do the talking. Noah was there. He might have a better guess."

"We'll be back in time for your game tomorrow afternoon." Mom said. "As soon as you or Noah see that man, you point him out to me."

My lips twitched at the thought of her taking on that stranger, demanding to know who his boss was. "I thought you guys were going to take the trip slowly. Sightsee and all that."

"I can't do that peacefully, knowing you guys might be running into trouble."

"There's no trouble anymore. Coach is safe." I told her. 

"Not safe from me." Mom said. "I don't understand how he can leave you boys unattended when you're obviously under the spotlight. Letting any random person approach you at the fields..." She trailed off. 

"Coach was busy." I defended. "Plus, we were just walking to wait for the twins. That guy recognized us right away. I told the principal myself that it shouldn't have been allowed." I said that last sentence with a bit of pride. 

"Good. You did good." She sighed. "I'm not really mad at your coaches in particular. I'm just upset I wasn't there the one time someone approached you."

"It probably wouldn't have gone down the same way." I told her.

She was quiet for a second. "Jake, I'm proud of you. You really held it together today. I honestly expected...that you would be upset."

"I was. In the moment." I frowned. "I didn't feel too good when they came to get me from class. My stomach churned and my heart was pounding. But with Dr. Moore there, I felt a little more confident. That someone was in my corner and could translate my unspoken thoughts." I looked around, making sure the coast was clear before whispering. "I still don't think I handled it well." I explained how Noah was upset that I didn't threaten to quit if Coach was gone. 

Mom actually laughed when she heard it. "Oh, Jake. Don't take him too seriously. Noah has a very strong sense of justice. He doesn't like to entertain the thought of something not going his way. While you, you think about the worst. If Coach Wilcox was gone, I know you would still be upset. But you would still look to Noah, right? To see if he would play?"

I nodded. Then realized she couldn't see me. "Yea. And the twins. If they played for a different coach, I would try too."

"That sounds more like you." Noah's voice made me jump and nearly drop my phone. He laughed as he got close. "I really thought it was crazy that you said you would play for another coach. I'm glad it's because you were planning on playing with us no matter what."

"Give the phone to Noah, Jake." Mom instructed. 

I simply handed it over. 

"Yea, Mom?" Noah wasn't bothered. "Yea, I'll definitely be able to spot the man that approached us. My memory is one of my strong points!"

Noah was true to his word. Wednesday afternoon, he was scanning the crowd with a purpose and found the guy. He pointed him out to Mr. Miller and then Mr. Miller found Mom and Dad. Then the athletic director. Then the principal. The whole group approached the guy, attracting a lot of attention. I was curious what would happen to him, but Garret was leading us to start warmups. 

Soon it was game time and the guy was long forgotten. Cupertino didn't stand a chance against our hot offense and an eager Kyle. We shut them down and the mercy rule took effect after the fifth and we won 12-0. It was a great way to show everyone that the team wasn't bothered by the happenings around us. 

Kyle dominated, only giving up one hit over the five innings and it was just a bloop single. Just barely out of reach. Other than that, he gave up no walks and no runs. His eight strikeouts had him bragging all night, from dinner to bedtime, all we heard was him. Noah tried to use my stat line of going 2-2 at the plate with four RBIs as a way to get Kyle to shut up but it was no use. Noah had a decent game too, going 2-3 at the plate, scoring both times he reached. 

On Friday, Dave got his much anticipated turn on the mound. He struggled early against the better team, giving up back to back hits before settling down. The third batter popped out to Noah in short left field and then cleanup gave us the opportunity to flip a double play to get out of the jam. 

Our bats didn't do as well at the away game, only scoring four runs through seven innings. But that was enough. After Dave's stumble in the first, he only gave up one more hit through the rest of the game. He did seven innings of shutout ball, didn't walk a soul and struck out seven. Despite the performance, he was happy to see Kyle board the team bus as we stayed with Mom and Dad. 

He wasn't the only one. Noah only had one hit in four at bats and didn't score that one time. With that subpar stat line, he was happy to send Kyle away so we wouldn't have to listen to his bragging. And without Kyle, there wouldn't be bickering between the twins about who did better against which team. It's hard to take any sides when they faced different teams with different skills.

I was just happy that Coach already named Garret as the starter for Monday's game at Porterville. It meant that the twins had time to cool down physically and mentally. Probably will gear up again after the weekend to argue who should start Thursday against Servite. Thank god for some separation. 

Our parents had us pack Dad's car before school this morning so we simply added our baseball bags to the trunk after the game and hit the road. It was late when we reached the familiar hotel near Zeke's school. We didn't mess around as we rotated for showers and got ready for bed. Mom and Dad stayed in one room, while I stayed with Noah and Dave.