With the three day weekend, Noah and I spent more time at The Cages with Dave. Noah had to play catcher for the twins in the backyard in exchange. Kyle put his focus on pitching, but every time we left, he would leave to hang out with Marie.
"I don't think I've ever been to the cages so much in my life." Dave chuckled as we drove home Sunday evening. "Hey Jake, do you think I'm getting better?"
I nodded. "You're more steady."
Dave laughed some more. "Guess I'll be giving Noah and Garret a run for their money. Maybe if I get real good, I can play in the outfield too."
Noah rolled his eyes. "Stop dreaming. I work on my hitting even more than you do. At most, you'll be better than normal. I don't see you hitting any homers like Jake will."
Dave took this chance to flex his right bicep, showing off his physical growth. "I don't know. Weightlifting every week has already started to show some results." He glanced back at me. "Tell Jeremy 'thanks' again."
"Tell him yourself." Noah said.
Dave pulled into the driveway and parked the car. "I could, but it feels so strange. Like...he's famous, okay. But he's also Jake's brother. There's a mix of reverence, but also we somewhat know him. I always feel weird like he might think I'm trying to cozy up to him."
"Why would he think that..?" I asked, not understanding.
Dave sighed. "We haven't heard him talk about his uncle's family since all that went down. His own uncle used him for a payday. I don't want him to think I'm the same. Especially since we aren't that close."
"Oh." That's right. Jeremy hasn't really mentioned them at all. Not even his cousins. Our cousins. At one point he wanted to introduce me to them, but now he hasn't said a word.
"You're overthinking." Noah told him. "I feel like Jeremy knows us pretty well by now. Just say 'thanks, we appreciate the new weightlifting room' and he'll probably say 'no problem, lifting is vital for every athlete'."
I grinned. That sounded pretty spot on.
Monday, back at school, we got our midterm tests and projects back. Nothing out of the ordinary happened until we got to practice and saw the growth in the group. Fall sports ended last week unless they moved onto the playoffs.
"Guess the football team didn't make it again this year." Dave chuckled as we put our cleats on. He patted me on the shoulder. "Watch out for Joey now that he's back. If he gives you a hard time or goes after you, tell Coach right away."
I found Joey easily. He was surrounded by a few other juniors from the former JV team. Korrey was in that group too. He was the offensive mvp while Joey was also known for being a good hitter among pitchers. They were back. All those that played football, golf, or cross country were.
The groups Coach put us in were a little bit lopsided. The players who haven't been with us since the beginning were grouped together after Coach explained that he wanted to pay more attention to them with the time we have left before thanksgiving break. The rest of us have already gotten enough exposure.
Thursday after practice, Coach handed me a sheet paper. "The list is a little bit long so I'm thinking we'll go straight into the challenges tomorrow after school."
"Like after warmups?" I glanced at the list and was surprised how many had signed up. This was even longer than the first go around.
"How will all these pitchers warmup?" Noah peeked over my shoulder. "Hey! Why did Garret sign up?"
Coach grinned. "I asked the same question. He said he has to make sure it's known who the best player on the team is." He scratched his chin. "Maybe we'll divide into smaller groups depending on their selected catcher. Obviously won't be perfect or ideal, but they'll just have to deal with it."
"What will the rest of us do?" Noah asked.
"The rest of you won't be my problem." Coach told him.
"That's cold, Coach." Noah joked. "But really, what will we do? It's not like we can scrimmage without pitchers."
Coach tilted his head, looking past us. We turned around, but only saw the twins standing around, waiting for us to catch up. "We've got a few pitchers unwilling to challenge Jake. They can be used for the scrimmage tomorrow."
Noah made a face. "Dave versus Kyle?" He put his hands together in prayer. "Please let me be on Dave's team."
Coach laughed. "It won't be up to me. I'll let the other coaches decide the teams. There's no guarantee Dave will face Kyle, but they're two very good pitchers who can work multiple innings as Jake goes through his challengers."
Noah looked at the list. "Joey, huh? You better make sure Jake doesn't get hurt, Coach."
"I'll be watching very closely." He nodded. He parted ways with us. "Get washed up and get some rest for tomorrow. Can't just take it easy even though it's been a cakewalk for you before."
I looked at Garret's name on the list. What a surprise. "Do you think Garret has been practicing outside of practice? Like the twins?"
Noah nodded as we walked towards the twins. "No doubt. Especially if he really wants to prove himself as the best player on the team."
"I already think he's the best though..." Garret could do it all: pitch, hit, play in the outfield, and was quick around the bases.
"It's a challenge Jake." Noah said. "He probably feels inadequate inside. Like something is lacking. By striking you out, he would put himself beyond the twins. It would be hard to top that off."
"Top what off?" Kyle asked as we joined them.
Noah continued walking. "Just talking about Garret being on the challenge list."
"No way." Kyle snatched the paper out of my hands and started to read off a few of the names. "Garret?? Really?? What's he trying to do? Embarrass himself with these losers? He already has a spot on the varsity roster."
"He wants to be known as the best." Noah explained what Coach said to us.
"I think he's making a mistake." Dave pursed his lips. "Being unable to strike out Jake will make him look like all these other pitchers. Unoriginal."
"Maybe he has something up his sleeve?" Noah shrugged.
"Unlikely." Dave said. "We would see it during bullpen sessions. He's letting his ego get ahead of himself. He should know that it's highly unlikely he could strike Jake out."
"How do you know if you don't try?" Noah raised an eyebrow.
Dave paused. "Maybe. It's not like Jake is completely perfect. But...is this the right time to do it?"
"He says he wants to be the best on the team." Noah repeated. "In order to do that, it has to be public. Not just in our backyard where it's only us." Noah looked at me. "Don't go easy on him."
"I won't." I swore. Garret might have something to prove, but so do I. I was only an average player on the field. Batting is where I made my case for being on varsity despite my lack of skills in other aspects of the game.