Practice was anything but easy. With Drew personally watching us warmup, there was no way we could slack off. Then came the laps for being late. As I jogged behind Noah, I felt some resentment. If he and Dave didn't come in the locker room, we wouldn't have been late.
"Why did you guys even come to get me? I was coming." I huffed, trailing behind.
Noah slowed up, eyeing me. "You were taking so long. I was worried that things didn't go well in court today."
Oh. I looked away feeling guilty. "It was fine. Just what we expected. I gave my blood." I paused before saying, "My uncle was there."
Noah slowed up even more so he could be right next to me. "Did he say anything to you?"
"To me?" I shook my head and gave a depreciating laugh. "No, not really. He said things about me though. Your mom told him off though. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be though."
"That's not saying much, Jake." Noah rolled his eyes. "You think as long as no one hits you, it's a good thing."
"Not necessarily good. I just said it wasn't bad." I corrected.
Noah just shook his head at me. "If they don't want to treat you nicely, then you don't have to treat them nicely. This isn't a 'kill them with kindness' moment."
I shrugged. "I didn't treat them with kindness. More like indifference. They don't affect me anymore. Your parents asked that the blood test have no influence on future custody cases."
Noah narrowed his eyes. "What does that mean?"
I shrugged again. "Just that, if I'm really one of them, they can't just use that to take me away. And it won't work against your parents favor as they try to adopt me."
"Good." Noah nodded.
"Pick up the pace!!" Zeke's voice echoed across the field, making us both jump.
Noah gave me a tight smile before speeding up. "Sorry, Jake. I don't want to piss him off before Monday. I don't want to give them a reason to bench me." He really started to run, showing off his speed.
I didn't mind. I knew how important this game was to him, and to the rest of the team. Slowly baseball became a part of me too. Being on a team and having others rely on you, and being able to rely on them. It helped. It helped me come out of my shell. All thanks to Noah. If he didn't drag me to the cages or to the tryout, who knows what I would have become.
We practiced all week with intensity. Zeke didn't let anyone slack off and Coach was even more fierce. He made all the pitchers put in work without giving out any hints on who would start. At least, not until after Friday's practice.
After two hours of sprinting, hitting, diving, throwing, catching, and running mock game situations, he gathered us in the outfield and told us to take a knee. He stood above us all, looking down at our dirty clothes and sweaty faces. "I just want to start off by telling you boys, that I'm proud of you. We set our goal to win league and now here we are, heading into the CIF finals." He looked around, finding the group of pitchers. "I know some of you are worried about Monday's game. I understand. So I won't keep you in suspense over the weekend. We'll go with our ace on the mound to start, Garret."
Garret stood up. "Yes, sir!"
He focused in on him. "Don't stress and overwork yourself this weekend. Throw a little so you don't get stiff, but don't try so hard that you blow your shoulder out before game time."
Garret nodded earnestly. "I'll do my best."
"I know you will." Coach looked at the twins. "You two. Don't get down of yourselves. I'm not picking on either of you. Garret has an advantage by being left-handed and by having a breaking ball. You two will still need to be ready to go in, especially if we have another game like this past Monday." He looked at the other pitchers. "That goes for all of you. Preparedness is key." He looked to Zeke.
Zeke stood up, standing right near Coach. "Coach isn't allowed to hold practice this weekend, but you guys should already know what to do by now. I'll be going to the cages for lunch, so if anyone wants to join, just show up as you please. If you need a ride, let me know." He showed a small smile. "Monday will be the end of my high school baseball career. It's already going to be memorable no matter what, but I'd like to ask you guys to make it memorable for the right reasons."
"What a sap!" Kyle hollered, throwing his glove at Zeke.
Zeke caught it, his smile growing as some of the guys laughed. "But for real, this season has been great. The best I've ever had."
"Such a girl.." Dave muttered, claiming a few more laughs.
"Save your farewell speech for the banquet!" Garret told him.
"Yea!" Some of the guys agreed.
Zeke chuckled. "Got it."
"Alright, before I let you all go, let me give you some instructions for Monday." Coach spoke up. "The game will be held at Stanford in the evening. We'll leave right after school."
"Are we going to be the home team this time??" Kyle asked.
"No." Coach said flatly.
"Oh man."
"Wow, so dumb."
"We can't catch a break."
"Just one loss and we can't even be the home team?"
Coach listened to the teams complaints and cracked a smile. "Boys. It was a coin toss this time. They also had a loss. So they're not unbeatable."
"Even if they were, so what?" Noah scoffed. "We've beaten undefeated teams before." Then he frowned and wagged his finger at Coach. "As for you, what kind of luck do you have to lose a coin toss?"
"It was the athletic director's responsibility." Coach coughed lightly into his hand. "Alright, that's enough out of you all. Go home and get some dinner in ya." Coach waved us away and continued talking. "Rest well, don't get stiff, eat healthy, don't overthink.." He went on with a list of do's and do not's.
With practice done, everyone started to go their own ways after packing up. We were the last to leave since Zeke was a dedicated captain, who continued a longer chat with Coach.
We left the field together, and as we headed for the car, I caught the sight of a familiar figure. Again. It was like dejá vù. He was standing by the bleachers, waiting.
I froze. And so did the Atkins.
"Hey, it's a Friday...shouldn't there be a game?" Dave mumbled.
Noah nodded slowly. "There's definitely a game tonight. I wanted to watch during dinner."
"Oh shit, what should we do?" Kyle blurted out as the man made his way towards us again.
Jeremy was dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweater, still wearing his sunglasses to block out the setting sun. "Well? Do you have something to say?" His demeanor was stiff like he was forced to be here, making the lot of us, all very uncomfortable.