703 V2 ch175 (2/2)

”You have everything?” Dave asked, glancing back at us.

Noah held out his empty hands. ”I must have put it in my bag already.”

Kyle put the car in drive and we were on our way to school.

I glanced at Noah, suspicious. What took him so long inside if he didn't need to grab his batting gloves?

Noah didn't pay any attention to my staring and looked out the window, giving off a lonely vibe.

Kyle pulled into the school parking lot, which surprisingly had a lot of cars considering it was still summer break. We got out and grabbed our bags. I had the intention to head down to our field, but I was told otherwise.

”We do drills practice on the freshman field.” Dave explained. ”It has more space because the outfield is a soccer field. Plus, why would we let amateurs ruin our varsity field? It belongs to state champions. Not to some chumps who can't even make the freshman team.”

Kyle pulled away from the three of us. ”I'm going to stop at the softball field for a second. You guys go on ahead of me.” He diverted from the straight path, waving as he left.

”He's got a problem.” Dave sighed dramatically. ”In love, out of love. Just pick one and stick with it. Geez.” He glanced at the unusually quiet Noah. ”You okay?”

Noah gave a nod. ”Yea.”

Dave lifted his eyebrows. He gave me a look then looked around the field that we had entered. To the right was the baseball field, and to the left was the outfield/soccer field. Players were scattered about from the dugouts, all along the fence.

Dave spotted Garret and a few other pitchers. ”I'm going over there with them. You guys coming or not?”

I was about to nod and follow, but Noah grabbed my arm. ”No. You guys will probably be doing different drills. We'll put our bags elsewhere.”

Dave shrugged. ”Alright. Point Kyle to our way of you see him.” He turned and headed for the pitchers.

I looked at Noah. ”You don't want to stay with Garret and them? It's not just pitchers over there.” It was made up of returning varsity players too.

Noah looked me in the eye. ”I heard what Zeke told you.”

I felt an odd sense of guilt before I realized that I didn't do anything wrong. I slowly nodded. ”He was worried you might fight, but I told him you didn't plan on it.”

Noah pulled me further down the foul line to an open spot. ”I understand why he didn't want to come. He thinks I would rely on him to solve my problems. But, I wouldn't. I do hold some resentment to those trash guys, but I wouldn't put my baseball career at stake.”

I nodded along, not sure where he was going with this.

We put our bags down, then sat down ourselves so we could put on our cleats.

Noah was quicker than me by a second. ”Jake?”

I looked up as I tied my cleats.

”Do you think I can really be a captain? Like Zeke said?” He asked, seriousness written all over his face.

I nodded almost immediately. ”Of course!” Noah was the most supportive person I knew. On and off the field. He also didn't believe in giving up. He cares the most and works the hardest. He was similar to Zeke, but had his own style.

Noah leaned forward and lowered his voice. ”But do you think I can be captain this year?”

I blinked, remembering when the boys talked about who could be a possible captain this year. Noah wasn't really on that list. He would only be a sophomore.