352 Game: @ Etna H.S. 7 (1/2)

”Zeke just walked, I gotta go.” Noah got up and looked for his bat. After finding it, he turned back to me. ”You're okay. You're fine. Just take some deep breaths and you'll feel better.” He walked away without waiting for confirmation. It's like what he believed was the truth, and I had no reason not to feel better.

Dave sat down in Noah's seat. ”No need to be embarrassed.”

”Don't lie to him.” Kyle laughed, walking over with Tanner. He looked down at me. ”Are you making the same mistakes as yesterday?”

”Technically it was different.” Tanner told him. ”Yesterday, he didn't step on his own feet. Just normal tripping.” He cracked a smile at me. ”It was a good hit.”

”Yea.” Kyle agreed. ”I've never seen someone ground out to right field before.” He laughed and I turned red as a tomato. ”Oi, this is why we call you bambi. Always so nervous and scared.”

Dave reached out and put his arm around my shoulders. ”Just blame it on bad luck. It's not your fault.”

But...it is. I got distracted. I wasn't focused on swinging, hitting, or running. All because I wanted to know if Noah could have fielded the grounder that I couldn't get to. I looked up at the three juniors around me. ”I need to know...do you think Noah could have fielded that ground ball?”

”That ground ball? What ground ball?” Dave asked.

”What? You're hit just now?” Tanner questioned.

I shook my head at the two of them. They wouldn't know. My eyes drifted to Kyle's; he would know.

Kyle knocked me on the head. ”You dummy. Is that where your mind was? I already said it wasn't a big deal.”

”That's not what I want to know.” I pushed on, swallowing a lump. ”I tried to ask him, but he avoided it too.”

Kyle lifted his hands and shrugged his shoulders up and down. ”Who can say for sure? It all happened so quick. It's not like we have it recorded. Were you flat footed? Were you in position? Did you react late?” He paused. ”Or was it something to do with my pitching? Weak? Slow? Easy placement? What about the batter? Good eyes? Good swing? Saw a gap and tried his best? There's a lot that goes into each and every play.” He grinned. ”Starting with me. I'm the pitcher. The ball has to leave my hand before it can go anywhere else. If I don't feel bad about it, then why do you?”

”But...you lost a perfect game...” I muttered, though the guilt lessened quite a bit after his speech.

Kyle laughed. ”I've lost a lot of 'perfect games'. Right from the start too!”

Tanner joined in. ”Yea, yea, you should have seen him his freshman year! Always gave up hits to the very first batter. It's like that was his way of calming down.”

”Hey! Don't tell him that!” Kyle nudged Tanner.

”Why? It's true! Aren't we trying to make him feel better?” Tanner defended himself.

Kyle's eyes narrowed. ”You know what will also make him feel better? The story of your first sliding attempt in little league.”

”No!”

Kyle got closer. ”So this guy here never practiced sliding. He didn't like to get dirty. Our coach at the time would try anything and everything to get him to do it but it was no use. Finally during a game, he had to slide feet first because a throw was coming in or something like that. I just remember his pants hanging by his knees after his UNSUCCESSFUL slide.” Kyle burst out laughing and Dave joined in. ”And the best part...we were still kids so he was wearing Spider-Man underwear!”

I started to laugh and my body loosened up.

”Oh my gosh, I forgot about that.” Dave gasped for air. ”I think Mom still has a picture somewhere. We gotta find that soon.”

”La-la-la I can't hear you.” Tanner put his fingers in his ears and walked away.