667 V2 ch139 (1/2)

No one spoke even though Rhys gave them the chance. I awkwardly stood beside him, waiting to be besieged with questions about Jeremy, but no one asked anything.

”Guys...” Rhys let out a small chuckle. ”Either ask something or we'll go inside. We can't just spend the afternoon out here.”

”Okay, okay.” Nic spoke up first. He looked down at me. ”Did Jeremy teach you how to bat?”

I shook my head. ”No.”

”Then how did you get to be so good?”

I shrugged. ”Practice?” Seeing their disbelieving looks, I elaborated. ”I spent a lot of time in batting cages. I was...unable to play with my middle school team. But they had cages. I'd go every day.”

”So you weren't this good when you were playing in little league?” The tall guy asked.

I glanced away, slightly embarrassed. ”I didn't play in little league.”

”Wait.” One of them stepped forward. ”Let me get this straight. You didn't play little league or in middle school? When was the first time you played with a team?”

”This last spring.” Rhys answered for me. ”So forgive him for any errors he may commit when you're on the mound. Jake is just a rookie.”

I turned red from embarrassment. I can't believe Rhys would say that. Now they're going to hate me playing behind them.

”Who cares about that?”

”I wouldn't mind having a crappy infielder as long as he could hit bombs.”

”He's not the worst infielder I've ever seen.”

...were these supposed to be words of comfort?

Rhys laughed and gave me a pat on the shoulder. ”Pitchers are easy to get along with when you can score runs, Jake.”

Nic shrugged. ”For camps like these, it's better to get strikeouts. I couldn't care less about your fielding percentage. That's going to be all on you.” He paused. ”That being said, if I ever go up against you, please show mercy.”

The guys all started to laugh.

I nodded with some seriousness.

”But seriously,” Someone said. ”What's it like having a brother like Jeremy? Does it inspire you to see him in the majors already?”

I tugged on my ear. What's it like? I don't know. Awkward? Stiff? Sometimes warm? But it stings too. I frowned. ”I guess...” I looked around. ”We're not super close, but I don't hate him.”

”Could you possibly hate the former Rookie of the Year?!” One of them exclaimed.

”Stars always get a lot of hate.” One of them replied.

Rhys clapped his hands. ”Alright. Let's head in and get a workout done. You'll be able to see Jake for the next few days if you have anymore questions.”

”Wait. One more question!” A pitcher raised his hand. ”Are we supposed to keep this a secret or can we tell others?”

Rhys looked to me.

I shrugged. ”It's whatever. You guys aren't the first to find out.” And probably won't be the last. It's not like I can silence everyone, or stop others from looking it up.

Throughout our time in the gym, more pitchers from the team showed up and Rhys would leave us on our own to go get them started. We spent the rest of the afternoon there, and Rhys had told us that we didn't need to go back to the cages.

When we were excused to go to dinner, I stuck with Rhys like normal, but this time we had a few extras tagging along. The other pitchers. I've gotten to know them all by name now: Nic, Gavin, Derek, and Zedrick. There were a few more pitchers that followed along, but they had joined us late so I didn't get their names.