After Mr. Atkins left Dr. Moore's private office, I jumped out of the chair in the lobby area. He looked troubled by the talk, so I spoke up. "Is everything okay? Did I do something wrong?"
Mr. Atkins expression softened as he looked down at me. He reached out and patted my head, similar to how you would pat a dog on the head. Normally I would be wary of the contact, but this was Mr. Atkins. I trusted him. And his family. "Nah. Nothing to do with you. Dr. Moore just had something adult related to speak to me about."
I nodded. "Oh. Are we going home now?"
He smiled, and led me out of the office. "Yep. Mary already has dinner ready, I'm sure. They must be waiting for us so we can eat together."
I hummed in agreement as we got into his car. It was barely seven in the evening and the sun was setting. Usually, pretty sunsets like this made me nervous, as I would think about the last time I went home and almost didn't survive. But today felt extraordinarily different. I no longer lived there with her. Instead I had the Atkins...in a pink two-story house.
Normally, Mr. Atkins would try and have a conversation with me after a good session like that, yet he seemed preoccupied so I didn't bug him. He just drove us home in silence. As for his prediction of them waiting for us to eat, it was on point. The table was completely covered with food, and was surrounded by four hungry teens.
Mrs. Atkins came out of the kitchen with another dish filled with broccoli, just as we walked in through the garage door. "Glad you two made it. I was starting to wonder if I should call."
I gave a light smile as I maneuvered around her to sit in my seat next to Noah.
"Took you long enough." Kyle huffed. "I was starving here."
Noah rolled his eyes and immediately came to my defense. "Mom said to eat an apple if you really felt that way."
Kyle stuck his tongue out at Noah.
"Kyle." His mom warned as she set the dish down. She took a seat at the head of the table and her husband sat at the other end. "Okay, Boys, dig in."
With her command, we started to fill up our plates. I waited patiently for the serving spoons to become available, and filled my plate with a little bit of everything. There was broccoli, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, grilled chicken, and asparagus. Everything looked cooked and tasted great. With the way all five of us ate, it would hardly be believable that only one of us played in the game today.
As the meal went on, you could hear the Atkins taking turns talking about their day. Of course, Noah was filled with complaints and Kyle was satisfied with his performance. Dave was quick to shut down the bragging by bragging about his own perfect game, which led into a heated discussion about the extra two innings Kyle did in his own perfect game.
"Okay, okay, settle down." Mrs. Atkins shook her head at the twins. "Really, you two...let's just be thankful that this season has gotten off to a really good start."
"Last year, the twins weren't anything special." Noah told me. "Especially in the beginning. They would get bombed more than the team would have liked."
"It wasn't that bad." Dave glared across the table.
Noah shrugged. "Did you forget the time you gave up five runs in one inning?"
Kyle burst out laughing. "I did! Oh gosh! That feels like forever ago! Weren't you pulled before the end of the second inning in that game?"
Dave turned his glare to his twin. "Shut it. I don't want to hear that from you. You gave up seven before!"
Kyle stopped laughing and frowned. "That was when we were freshmen though."
Dave smirked. "You gave up that many against other freshmen. At least mine was against a good varsity team."
Their bickering picked up once more.
"Dad." A solid call for his father came from Zeke, who had been relatively quiet all evening. The twins stopped arguing and looked to their oldest brother who sat between them. "Dad?"
Mr. Atkins has been out of it all evening finally came back to his senses. "What? I mean, yes? What is it, Zeke?"
Zeke pushed his plate a little bit forward in order to place some folded letter paper on the table. "I want to ask for a favor."
Mr. Atkins eyebrows raised. He peeked at his wife, but she looked just as surprised as everyone else. "Tell me the favor first and I'll see what we can do."
"I want to visit a few more colleges." Zeke declared. "And I have some picked out already."
The twins blinked with astonishment, and the parents were in sync as well. Noah nudged my knee with his and we made eye contact. Zeke has talked about skipping midterms while we were on the bench. Was he really going to go through with it?
"That's great Zeke!" His Mom was the first to speak up. "Where do you want to go? Have you reached out to the coaches yet?"
"To Southern California. I have three schools in mind: USC, UCLA, and Cal State Fullerton." Zeke answered his mom. "I haven't reached out to the coaches yet, but I have their interest letters with their contact info right here." He patted the folded paper.
"Wow..." His mom hesitated. "That's a bit of a distance. You would need more than a weekend to visit all three schools right? Are you planning on making multiple trips? Or perhaps skipping a game?"
"No. Just one trip. It'd be pointless to make so many trips when they're not that far apart from one another." He tapped the papers. "I want to skip midterms and use this week to go. I'll have the week between games. It's a good amount of time."
Mrs. Atkins jaw dropped and so did her fork.
Mr. Atkins looked unprepared as well, nearly falling out of his chair. He straightened up and eyed his son. "Skip midterms?? Are you crazy?"
"No, I'm not." Zeke replied, nonchalant. "In fact, I've thought this over all day."
"A day?!" Mrs. Atkins raised her voice, making me twitched.
Zeke nodded. "Yes. I figured I could ask my teachers if I could take the exams before I go. If they say yes, that's fine. If they say no, that's fine too. I'll still pass my classes if I don't take the midterms. It's only worth about 25% of the final grade."
"Do you hear yourself right now??" Mrs. Atkins stood up, getting red in the face. "Tomorrow is Friday, game Saturday, and you just want to take off on Sunday? No teacher will have their midterm ready a week in advance and be willing to let a student take it early. They'll be afraid you'll spread the questions. And with a total zero for the midterm, even if you got a full score in everything else including your final, that would still be a C." The more she spoke, the more upset she got. It was a strange sight to see.
I started to shake, but Noah was quick to notice. He stood up, earning his mom's attention. "Mom, I think this should be between you, Dad, and Zeke. If you don't mind, Jake and I would like to be excused?"
Mrs. Atkins sucked in a deep breath. "Yes, go ahead. Actually, leave the dishes. I'll clean up later. You all need to go get homework done and prepare for bed. Your dad and I need to have a talk with Zeke."