The Hitting Zone

With Noah making fun of himself, Alisha felt more comfortable to give it a try. She did completely fine, having some practice from last summer. When it was my turn, Noah suggested I give myself a handicap.

"Do it with your eyes closed!" He grinned and gave me a nudge.

"That's stupid." Kaylee rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to him, Jake. You'll hurt yourself."

"I think I can do it." I said. I glanced at Noah. "Can I watch the first two?"

"No way. Who are you trying to impress?" Noah laughed. "If I can look bad in a slow pitch cage, so can you."

I smiled and laughed a little. Well, it was just for fun. I put a coin in and hurried to place my feet in the righty's box. I closed my eyes tight and pulled my bat back. Hearing the machine speed up to spit out the ball, I waited until it made the sound of coming out then swung casually. I could feel the ball hit the end of my bat, near the end of my swing. I was too fast. I pulled the bat back again and slowed my movements a beat. Still early. Slowed it up even more and felt a little more solid.

With the timing right, I did my best to keep the same pace and same swing. The fastballs that came out of the machine weren't super accurate but I was still able to make contact with every pitch. At the end, I opened my eyes and smiled, turning to my friends.

"You must have been peeking!" Noah hollered. "What a scam. How do you look better than my attempt at being left-handed?"

I shrugged as I came out. "It's slow and I'm sure it wasn't that good to look at."

"You perfectionist!" Noah pulled me into a headlock but couldn't get to my hair with my helmet on. He let go of me and picked up his bag leaning against the fence. "I'm going to try again."

"What a waste of time." Kaylee said as I joined her and Alisha. "It's not like he's going to get proficient in it anytime soon. It's better if he just focuses on his mechanics of his normal swing and get a better batting average."

"I think batting from the otherside can help the mechanics." I spoke up, trying to defend him. "Trying something new forces you to be more aware of what you're doing."

"I think he's just having some fun." Alisha volunteered. "Doesn't have to be so serious all the time."

Kaylee pulled out her phone and pointed the camera at Noah, who started another session.

"What are you doing?" Alisha peeked.

"Having fun." She smirked. She had her Instagram app opened and was recording Noah with the video function. After a horrendous miss, she stopped and gave it a caption: 'starting shortstop for WHS' and then a few laughing emojis. She posted it after tagging Noah, me, and Alisha. "You guys better share it too!"

Alisha was on it immediately. She whipped her phone out and started to type. I hesitated, but still pulled my phone out.

Kaylee snatched it from me and took charge, opening my app, and going to notifications, where she opened her own original video. "Any additional comments?"

"I don't know...maybe I shouldn't."

"Too late." She attached the 'see-no-evil monkey emoji' and posted it to my stories. She handed me my phone back with a smile. Ruthless.

Noah came out of the cage, smiling. "I killed it that time."

"Ha, don't kid yourself." Kaylee grinned. "Let me show you how it's done, once again." She went back in with her helmet on and bat in hand. She put the coin in and did really well

Towards the end, Noah pulled out his phone. "Geez, my phone just keeps vibrating. Is something happening or what?" He checked it with a frown.

Knowing that it was his notifications from social media, I scooted closer to Alisha.

"Guys!!" Noah looked to me and Alisha. "How could you do this to me?" He pointed at Kaylee coming out of the cage. "I can expect this from her but not you two!"

"It's funny." Kaylee grinned at him. "Can't keep funny to just ourselves." She took off her helmet and gave it to Alisha. "Here, you can go."

Alisha smiled and said thanks before taking the bat too. She got in and did even better. Even better than Noah's attempt at being a lefty. We spent over an hour in the slower section before Dave came over to check on us.

He happened to see the video on Instagram and shared it as well, making Noah roll his eyes.

"Just go back to wherever you came from." Noah tried to shoo him away.

Dave shrugged. "I wanted to hit some more, but some dude is hogging the 85mph cage. Just to work on his catching. So lame."

Noah and I exchanged a look.

"You guys know him?" Dave caught on real quick.

Noah nodded. "Yea, Justin." He gave Dave and the girls a quick recap on meeting him when we were with Zeke and Jeremy. "He's a bit strange and annoying, but Zeke told Mr. Williams that we wouldn't stand for him bugging Jake here."

"That's just crazy." Alisha shook her head.

Kaylee agreed. "No kidding. Why would he want to put himself at risk to get hurt. If Jake fouls a pitch back at him with the intention to hurt him, that could be it for the season." She paused. "Do you guys know what school he plays for? Has to be in the area so won't you be seeing him sometime?"

Noah shrugged. "Don't know, don't care. If we see him in a game, it won't change Jake's stance on hitting a ball back to where a catcher can get hit by it. He likes to play it safe and foul it down the lines."

"Putting Mr. Miller and Coach Luis at risk instead." Dave laughed.

"I don't..." I refuted weakly. Sometimes I wasn't perfect and there was always a chance that the ball could go their way. "Besides, I don't really have to do that anymore." I stood straight, holding some pride that Coach let me hit freely.

"Yes, yes. What a batting prodigy you are." Noah laughed, putting his arm around my shoulders. "I really hope you crush all records set by Zeke. We should look up his numbers from sophomore year."

The five of us were done with the cages and went inside to take a break. We got ice cream for half off thanks to the discount set by Mr. Williams then were joined by Kyle and Marie. We all stuck together while playing some games before eventually going home.

Grampa surprised us when we came home with a home cooked meal. "My specialty." He claimed, revealing a full table of food. "Pork chops, right off the grill!" He wore the biggest grin we've seen all break.

"Grampa! That's a lot of work. Thank you!" Noah was the first one to rush to the table. The twins and I followed.

It was great having Grampa around, but also meant missing Gramma more often. We couldn't fool ourselves into thinking she was just at home with Grampa. Especially not when he took over cooking all weekend. I finally saw how Mom became such a good cook though. Grampa even had brunch ready for us Saturday before we went to the mall.

Dave said we couldn't be too mean to Kyle so we gave in for a mall day. Marie and Kaylee met up with us. And with Kaylee around, it was only appropriate to invite Alisha. Marie and Kyle were the first to split, choosing to watch a movie before lunch. They were definitely going to make this a date.

That left Dave with us sophomores. He didn't mind though. It's not like he wasn't familiar with Kaylee and Alisha. It was fun. We stayed for lunch, sticking Dave with the bill and then went home in the evening to find Grampa cooking again. After dinner, we took over cleanup and settled in for a movie night with Grampa. Once he found out that I haven't seen a whole lot, he picked two classics for me to watch and the other boys complied.

Sunday morning, Noah woke me up to go on a jog. We lifted some weights and did an ab workout before coming inside for a late breakfast. When Mom came home with Dad, she took us and the twins to the store to stock up on some new supplies for school. Tomorrow would be the first day of the spring semester.