Even though Noah was the one to ask for permission to leave, I was the first to get going, rushing out of there and up the stairs. Noah was close behind and by the time we reached our room, I could hear the twins making their way up the stairs too.
Noah looked at me with concern. "Jake? Are you okay? Mom is only mad...she's not going to do anything to Zeke like your mom. She's just angry that he's not taking school seriously."
I held my own shaky hands and bit my bottom lip. "She sounded really upset though. And your dad didn't say anything either."
Noah got close and patted my shoulder, comfortingly. "It's all going to be okay one way or the other. Either he goes or he doesn't. Nothing else will happen to him. Mom and Dad don't believe in physical punishment. If you're really worried about it, we can eavesdrop?"
I hesitated. His parents might hear us if we sneak back down stairs. What if we see something that resembles to my own mom? That last thought made me pause. Wait. This would be a good opportunity to see how Mrs. Atkins when she's really mad. I gave Noah a short nod. "Okay, but how?"
He grinned and tugged my wrist, dragging me out of the room. "Follow me. I bet the twins are already listening in too." He led me to the boys room down the hall, and walked right in without bothering to knock.
The room was eerily quiet. We moved around their beds, dressers, and clutter that made the room somewhat dirty. Noah led me to their connecting bathroom, where both twins were on the floor. They looked at us and lightly patted the tile. I followed Noah's lead and sat down with the twins.
Noah put a finger to his lips to request that I stayed silent. Then he pointed to the floor. More specifically, at a vent on the floor. It must be the bathrooms AC/heater vent. After a moment of silence we started to hear some familiar voices echoing through the vent and off the tile. We must be right above the dining table!
My jaw dropped.
"Zeke, I think you know how important your education is." Mr. Atkins was in the process of lecturing his eldest son. "You can't just skip school to visit colleges. That just isn't logical. I know we said we wanted you to visit schools, but that would be on weekends."
"I have games most weekends." We heard Zeke calmly state as if that was excuse enough.
"Skip a game then." Mrs. Atkins said, exasperated. "And don't give me the excuse that they're more important than school, mister."
Zeke paused before saying, "I don't know why you're so against it. Didn't you two push me towards looking at my options? You both want me to go to college, right?"
"Yes! But not at the expense of your high school GPA!" Mrs. Atkins raised her voice once more.
"That won't matter once I'm in college. Even if I don't make it in the big leagues, no one will be asking what my high school GPA was." Zeke rebuffed.
"Colleges will ask! They'll see that you took it easy senior year." Mrs. Atkins tried again.
"The colleges will all take me on my baseball recommendations by the coaches. If you're so against this, then maybe I should just stay and stick to the original plan of entering the draft."
A long silence took over before we heard their mom ask, "Is that a threat Zeke? If so, I think it's best that I remind you that you're still a minor until July."
"Now, now." Mr. Atkins intervened. "Let's go about this rationally. No need for ambiguous remarks from either of you. Mary, like or not, Zeke will be 18 this year. We can't just dictate him and -"
"Dictate?!!" Mrs. Atkins got ramped up again. "This isn't a democracy, Wayne! This is school, this is common sense. How are you going to explain to the school that we want to take Zeke out for the week? They'll mark him truant and it'll go on his permanent school record."
"I'm sure they'll understand that Zeke is visiting colleges. I'm sure they'll find that acceptable."
"And the midterms? They're just gonna let him take them without any prior notice? Or better yet, take them late?"
"The school has been very flexible, I'm sure we can work something out." Mr. Atkins said in a soothing tone.
"What about the cost of flying there? The whole planning of this trip? What about the other boys? Who's going to take them to and from school?"
"The cost is not an issue." Mr. Atkins replied. "As for planning out an itinerary, we'll have to see what Zeke comes up with. He'll have to coordinate with the three colleges down there, plus he'll be responsible on finding you a hotel near each school."
"Me?" Mrs. Atkins asked in disbelief. "You want me to go down there? I'm not even condoning this trip!"
"You need this vacation. Plus you can supervise Zeke by making sure he takes every school seriously. Go on all the tours, meet with the academic advisors, with the financial aid office. This is right up your alley. I'll handle things around here."
"You can handle all four boys on your own?"
"Of course I can." Mr. Atkins said proudly. "They won't even have practice this week thanks to testing so there won't be much to worry about. It'll be simple. I'll take them to school, work, pick them up, then they'll do their homework before dinner. It'll be very relaxing."
"What about cooking? Cleaning? Laundry? Packing lunches?" She sighed. "Really...if we really go through with letting Zeke go, then it's best if I just stay here."
"Are you saying you're better than I am?" Mr. Atkins let out a laugh. "Come on, Mary. I'm an adult too. Plus, you could use the one-on-one time with Zeke to convince him that college is the way to go."
Mary let out another sigh, sounding like she was deflating. "Okay. That isn't an okay, we're going. But an okay, we'll find out what we can do. Zeke, I'll go with you to school tomorrow to see what the options are. Wayne, you can look up flights that depart Sunday or Monday depending on what the school says. Base on their answer, you'll be allowed to reach out to the coaches, Zeke."
"Thanks Mom." Zeke sounded happy. "I'll help you clean the table."
A heavy sigh from the lone woman of the house answered. "You better. For the record, if any of your teachers want to give you a complete zero for the midterm, I'm not allowing this."
"It'll all work out." Zeke said in return. "Shouldn't you or Dad check on Jake? He looked pretty anxious when you raised your voice, Mom."
"And just who is the reason that I feel the need to raise my voice?!" Mrs. Atkins got loud again, but I was no longer shaking. I know it's just because she cares about her son and not because she just didn't want him to go. She had real reasons to get upset. Unlike my mother who got abusive from just looking at me.
Noah jumped up and started to tug on my shirt, practically dragging me away from the vent, leaving the twins behind. I scrambled to my feet and followed him to our room, quietly as possible.
It wasn't even a minute before we heard a knock at our bedroom door. Noah opened it to find his mom waiting there. "Oh, hey Mom. What's up?"
She squinted down at him, then her eyes went to me, then back to him. "Why are neither of you in your pajamas yet?"
Noah let out a hollow laugh. "Oh, you know what, time just flies by when I talk about baseball. Jake and I were talking about when the MLB will start. Just a few more days and all that."
She shook her head, "Enough of that. You go get ready for bed first. I want a minute to talk to Jake."
Noah turned to check with me, and I gave him a nod, then he left with his pajamas in his arms.
"Jake, I-" Mrs. Atkins had concern written all over her face. No doubt concerned about my feelings.
"It's okay." I cut her off. "I understand. You don't want Zeke to skip school."
She blinked in surprise. Her mouth opened then closed. Kind of like a fish. Finally she let a small smile overcome her. "Okay, Good. Great. Umm, why don't I let you finish your homework for the night? We'll talk more as a family tomorrow." She turned away leaving me frozen.
"As a family?" I mumbled to myself. She really sees me as one of her own? Or at least that I belong to them?
By the time Noah came back, the broad smile on my face had yet to fade, causing him to raise a ruckus and bugged me about why I was so happy.