734 V2 ch206 (1/2)

Noah snorted. ”Luck is for losers. I'll win on pure skill, thanks.”

Jeremy chuckled as he walked away.

”He seems like he's in a good mood.” Noah commented as we got our cleats on.

”I thought so too.” I nodded. Jeremy had been down for the past few weeks due to an unsaid family emergency, so it was nice to see him being more relaxed. I glanced at Noah. ”I saw some other sophomores getting his autograph. Does that bother you that he signed it for them?”

Noah scoffed. ”No way. They can have as many autographs they want. I'm not so petty where I would prevent Jeremy from doing his duty to the fans.”

I gave him a look, skeptical. Noah is always petty.

”Okay, okay.” He chuckled. ”I've been reminding myself that I get to see Jeremy more often than them. Plus, I can bully him. Can they say that?”

I laughed. ”When have you bullied him?”

”Okay, so I can make fun of him.” Noah conceded again.

We stopped talking about Jeremy as we went through warmups, but the same couldn't be said about the others. The freshmen were especially excited, constantly talking about Jeremy's presence.  When we got inside the dugout, I could feel the majority looking in my direction.

”Yes, yes.” Noah raised his voice and his hands. ”I know a lot of you are very curious. If you didn't know, Jeremy is Jake's brother. Please don't ask Jake insensitive questions or even ask him to get you autographs. When Jeremy is present, you can ask him yourself. As you can see, Jeremy is very compliant.”

”Okay, now that that is out of the way.” Mr. Miller chuckled. ”I want you boys to go out there and show off what you got. Bryce is a great pitcher so don't get down on yourselves if you happen to strike out.”

Noah and I got ready for our at-bats, knowing we were up first.

”What do you think the first pitch will be?” Noah whispered to me as we stepped outside the dugout for practice swings.

I glanced at Bryce on the mound, warming up quite seriously. ”You're going to attack the very first pitch?”

He shrugged. ”Maybe. I feel like Bryce knows I've been aiming for high pitches. I've seen him quite a lot this week. Either on my team or against me.”

”He'll go low then, right?” I scratched my neck, not totally sure of myself.

”I think so too.” He said. ”I was just seeing if we had the same thought. So I'm going to go ahead and commit to a low fastball. Just need to get a piece of it and then I can count on you to bring me home.”