147 Game: VS Lincoln High School 10 (1/2)

Bottom of the sixth inning, Noah, me and Sean would get to start on the offense. I took a seat next to Noah and studied his movements to make sure he wasn't hurt as we put on helmets.

He caught me looking and laughed. ”Seriously Jake? It's no biggie. This happens often in games. I'll show you some clips later.”

”It's nice that you can laugh it off.” Chris snorted as he passed us to sit on the other end of the bench. ”If some idiot took that long to get me the ball, I would have just let the runner be safe. Why should I risk an injury? So I could sit out a few weeks like Jason?” He scoffed.

The dugout got eerily quiet. My eyes widened and looked at Noah once more.

Noah frowned as he stood up. ”You got something to say Chris?”

Chris stopped and turned to face him with ten feet in between. ”I already said it, but I'll clarify it for you and the kid. Jake is too slow. He could get by on the easy stuff, but with a hard grounder he'll take too long and you'll get hurt. Unlike you, I won't put up with that crap. A loss is better than a season-ending injury.” He glared at me. ”What a —” Zeke stepped in front of him and he stopped mid sentence.

Zeke had his back to us so I couldn't see his expression, but with the silence of the dugout we could hear what he says. ”Who is the captain on the team?”

Chris sneered. ”So just because I'm not a captain, I can't tell the underclassmen what they're doing wrong?”

”If it was constructive criticism, I would have let it slide.” Zeke's voice was devoid of any emotion. ”But it's not. Tomorrow, twenty laps for you.”

Chris glared, then smirked as his eyes looked for Coach. ”Coach, Zeke is abusing his power of captain to protect his youngest brother and friend. How will you rectify this situation?”

Coach came over. ”I agree with Zeke. Even if what you said was right, how you said it was wrong. Twenty laps. If you've got a problem with how we run things, you can drop down to JV for some games.” He looked around. ”Myers. Get your glove on. You'll be going in for Chris.”

Daniel jumped up, with an incredulous expression. ”I'll have to play third?”

Coach eyes narrowed. ”Have to? No, you get to. If you don't want it, I'm sure someone else on the team would like to.”

Daniel gulped. ”No that's not what I meant.” He put on his glove and started to do some stretches.

Coach spared Chris one last glance. ”Sit down.” Then he walked over to me and Noah. ”Tomorrow you'll stay late to work on turning over all kinds of double plays. I don't want my players to get hurt.” He looked down on Noah. ”And I especially don't want players who don't know when to get out of the way.” He nodded to us then went back to his spot to watch the game. ”Get out there already.”

We quickly got a move on. Noah hustled to the batters box and I stood in the on deck circle. Sean was in the hole, waiting by the entrance of the dugout.

”Hey. Jake.” I turned to see Zeke calling me from beside Sean. ”Come here.”

I dragged myself over, scared he wanted to talk about my 'slow' fielding too.

”Do you want to hit?” He suddenly asked, surprising me. My jaw dropped but I nodded eagerly. ”Okay. Go ahead. I think you'll find this pitcher interesting.”

”I already find him odd.” I added. ”But Noah didn't think so.”