The Hitting Zone

We left shortly after that, both feeling at ease with our reflections. We went home and found the table full with: the boys, Mrs. Atkins, Dr. Moore, and Mr. Duncan. Noah saved me a spot between him and Mr. Atkins chair at the head of the table. The two of us sat down, joining everyone else.

There was an awkward silence as all eyes were trained on me. Their faces looked just as scared as how I felt. And that made me happy. They cared that much.

I gave a small smile. "I'm okay you guys." For now.

The twins and Noah seemed to let out sighs of relief at the same time. Dr. Moore and Mr. Duncan watched me closely from the other side of the table, but didn't say anything.

Mrs. Atkins looked the most nervous as she looked at her husband. "Did you tell Jake? Should I tell him now? Or should we do it as a family?"

"Mom and Dad are going to try to adopt you!" Noah blurted out, not giving Mr. Atkins a chance to reply to his wife. The silence surrounded us again as they waited for me to reply.

"I know." I glanced at Mr. Atkins. "We talked." I gave them my best smile. "Thank you."

"Let's eat, everyone." Mr. Atkins said. He reached out and started to load up his plate. His actions sparked movement from the twins and soon, everyone started to fill up their plate to eat.

I followed along, happy for such a warm atmosphere. Zeke didn't even say anything about me skipping practice, nor did he look angry. Maybe today isn't so bad after all.

After eating, Dr. Moore asked me to make an appointment on Friday, after school, to talk this out. He said he would give me time to digest the news and come up with questions or topics that I wanted to talk about. Then he left.

Mr. Duncan didn't leave as quick as him. Instead, he addressed the whole table. "For now, I'd like to keep this matter under wraps."

"What do you mean?" Noah asked. "We can't tell anyone that we're adopting Jake?"

Mr. Duncan lips thinned. "Maybe not just yet. It's going to take some time to get through to Mr. Patterson and his uncle. They have agents and lawyers so it'll take some time to figure this all out."

"Will they try and take Jake away?" Dave asked.

"No way!" Kyle's jaw dropped.

"They already had their chance." Noah pouted.

"Most likely, they won't interfere." Mr. Duncan gave me a tight smile. I could tell that he felt sorry for me, knowing I had family and yet they didn't care about me. "As you boys know, Jeremy Patterson is a big name in baseball. If we deal with this improperly, news stations will catch wind of this."

"So he can't even tell others that Patterson is his brother?" Noah frowned. His anger was evident in the way his fists gripped the table.

"Let's just give Mr. Duncan some time to do his job." Mrs. Atkins spoke up. "Besides, you know how much Jake abhors attention from the masses. Think about him, okay?"

Noah glanced at me and relaxed a little, seeing that I wasn't as upset as him. I honestly felt numb to it now. You can't choose your blood relationships, but I already had a family here that I wanted.

Mr. Duncan instructed us not to spread the news just yet as he didn't want anyone to look like the 'bad guy'.

"Yea, well, it's not like he's a good guy." Noah snorted as his parents walked Mr. Duncan to the door. He looked me in the eyes. "Are you sure you're okay with this?"

I shrugged. "I'm okay for now. Don't you guys want me?"

"Of course!" Dave nodded.

"Yea, we need someone more gullible than Noah." Kyle snickered.

Noah rolled his eyes. "Come on. Let's get our homework done before Mom gets upset." Noah got up and I followed him upstairs to our room. Once inside, he started up again. "I just want to be sure that you'll be okay with this?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Why does it sound like you don't want me to join your family...?"

Noah sighed and sat down at his desk. "I'm just scared that you'll be okay for now, but when it comes to the finalization of your adoption, you'll get mad again. Sad again. Your uncle and your brother..." He clenched his fists. "Does it bother you?"

I nodded slowly. "It does. It bothers me that they didn't want me. The fact that they never checked up on me after all these years makes it even worse." I sighed. "But your Dad and I had a talk. This is just a detour. After thinking it through...why worry about one brother when I have you four? As long as you four like me...and don't abandon me...then that's good enough for me."

Noah grinned. "We would let you know if we didn't like you. The twins don't play nice after all."

I laughed. True. The Atkins family are pretty open about their feelings.

With things slowly going back to normal, we completed our homework and got ready for bed.

*

The Atkins and Dr. Moore must have spoken with Coach because he didn't give me a hard time on Wednesday. He just sent me to batting practice with the other infielders. Garret was throwing on the mound with a protective screen in front of him. There was netting behind home plate so he wouldn't need a catcher, letting Alex and Kyle prepare in the bullpen for tomorrow's game.

The group was only me, Noah, Jason, and Julian. Noah volunteered to go first, doing his best to keep up with Garret. He really wasn't on this level yet.

After twenty or so pitches, he came back to switch with one of us on the side.

"It's just too fast and the angle is too awkward." Noah sighed. He looked at me. "How are you going to combat the breaking balls? Sanchez throws curves and sliders which are disadvantageous to lefty's."

I fought off a smile as I walked to the batter's box. Unlike my usual stance, I got in the right-hander's box.

"Cheater!" Noah hollered from the side.

Garret threw some curveballs and sliders, but I could tell that they couldn't match up with the Servite pitcher. Luckily Zeke had taken us to see him in person or I might just struggle tomorrow.

Garret threw another pitch. Faster than normal. Not the curve or slider. It was...a cut-fastball. His specialty. I let it pass.

"That would have been a called strike!" Garret jumped around the mound. He laughed and pointed at me. "I've been waiting for a chance to do that!"

I rolled my eyes and left the batter's box so Jason could have some practice.

"Are you really going to bat as a righty tomorrow?" Julian asked as I rejoined him and Noah.

I nodded. "He's already fast. No need for me to fight the breaking balls when I can just be a righty."

"You're saying, his speed won't stop you?" Noah asked.

I shrugged. Games and at-bats didn't always go as planned, but I felt pretty confident. "He wasn't so strange. Not as much as that submarine pitcher."

"Would you struggle against Brady?" Noah asked, frowning. "He might be the starter when we play Golden West again."

"I think it'll depend on who Golden West plays that week that they play us. They obviously think we're less of a threat than Servite."

The two of them started to talk about tomorrow as I halfheartedly listened.