The team ended up not coming back for dinner. Instead, they went to Gina's Pizzeria. Zeke and the twins stopped by the house to pick up me and Noah. Mr. Atkins handed money over and sent us away, claiming that the adults would take care of this from here on out. Mr. Duncan was on his way over, Dr. Moore was working on his report, and Mrs. Atkins continued to make phone calls to other parents, teachers, and then the school board.
"Tomorrow morning, we'll settle this at school." She stated, confident. "Go out and have some fun with the team. Make sure to eat a salad with your pizza." She waved us out.
Off we went. Gina's Pizzeria was a local pizza parlor, barely three miles away from the house. Zeke parked in a packed lot, and we followed him in. The placed was crowded with our team and other patrons of the pizza place. Zeke joined the coaches in line and Noah dragged me to follow the twins to sit with the team.
They were squished together, taking up two long tables and half the building. I awkwardly sat on the end, hiding behind Noah's frame. Mrs. Golladay's words were still fresh in my mind; some of the baseball families had called to voice their concern with me on the team. She even went so far as to say that the Atkins paid my way to be on the team and that Zeke had threaten the coach. Not that I believed all of it. I couldn't imagine coach being threaten or Zeke be threatening. They seemed to have a great coach/player relationship. Then there's the Atkins. They're good people. And really big on integrity so I doubt they would bribe anyone for me to play a sport. As for the other baseball families...I didn't know them. Heck, I hardly know my teammates at all.
Noah noticed my hesitation to speak with the team, almost instantly. "Why are you acting so shy? This isn't your first time meeting them?"
I took a quick look around and lowered my voice. "Some of them don't like me on the team."
Noah made an ugly face. "That's according to that quack of a counselor you saw. For all you know, the families that called could be from the JV and freshman teams. It's common to see jealousy amongst your peers when you're this good. I'm sure everyone here appreciates your effort and what you bring to them team."
I glanced at Chris, who sat at the other table with some of the bench players. "Not everyone."
Chris caught us looking at him, and suddenly stood up, catching the guys around him by surprise. They all watched as he made his way to us, and the team started to quiet down so they could hear what he had to say to me and Noah. He stopped at the edge where I sat and looked down at us. "Do you have something to say?"
I shook my head, no, right away. I definitely had nothing to say to this six foot senior that looks like a hoodlum. And acts like one too.
"Yea. I do." Noah stood up. Half his height, and almost half his weight, Noah didn't really stand on the same ground as Chris. "I want to know if you cried to your parents about Coach benching you, because you insulted Jake."
"First off, I didn't insult him." Chris glared at Noah, then swung his eyes lower to meet with mine. "I was advising him on his sloppy play. Second, I wouldn't cry to anyone, let alone to my parents." He looked around to make sure the team was listening. "Third, my parents wouldn't call for nonsense like this. They couldn't care less for baseball. They think it'll just look good on college applications." He focused back on me. "I may give you a hard time on the field, but it's well-deserved. You play like a true freshman. You have a god-given talent at the plate, but it just makes you look worse when you play defense." He shifted his eyes to Noah and smirked. "Maybe if you two combined to one person, I would have no complaints."
"Sit down." A deep voice commanded.
Chris slowly turned and found Zeke behind him. "I was just telling the freshmeat what to work on. Lighten up." He mocked, yet he still scooted his way back to his seat, and sat down like he was told.
Zeke raised an eyebrow at Noah, who caught on and also sat down. He put the both of his within his sight. "You two missed today so that means you're out for Saturday's game. Next game you're eligible for is Tuesday's. With your free time this weekend, you'll be doing extra training."
I swallowed my protests.
Noah didn't. "What do you mean extra training? That's not a thing. I'm positive the league put a ban on extra training."
Zeke's lips twitched. "The Coach isn't allowed to make you practice more than 18 hours a week. As your older brother though, I can encourage you and we can play together." Encourage and play together had a heavy tone to it. I encourage could mean boss around. And play together means he'll be keeping a close eye on this extra practice."
"My condolences." Dave snickered beside Noah.
"You'll be there as well." Zeke added, not leaving Dave any room for rebuttal. "We'll need pitchers, hitters, and stand-ins. Noah and Jake will work on double plays so there won't be any repeat mental errors." With nothing else to say, he moved to the seniors table and sat close to Chris.
The pizzas, wings, and small salads came out rather fast and filled our stomachs with the same speed.
