737 V2 ch209 (1/2)

Noah glanced at my bag. ”You're going to keep the pieces of that bat?”

I shrugged. ”I've kept the others.”

”But those held some significance to you.”

”I think they all do.” I told him. I didn't want to throw any of them away. I can never go back to an aluminum bat. No amount of healing can make me forget how I almost died. The wood bats saved this sport for me. It just feels wrong to throw them away.

”Well, I guess you could start marking how and when each one broke.” He suggested. ”That would be pretty cool. I don't know if I have that many empty shoeboxes though.”

”I'd like that.” I grinned, and looked towards Bryce who just got another strikeout to end the inning. ”Bet Bryce would not.”

”Nah, he totally would.” Noah laughed. ”He'd probably take pride in that. Let's ask him after the game.”

We sat on the bench and watched the game without being involved. Bryce really did well if you excluded the first inning and the homer he gave up to me. As for Marshel? He was replaced once he started to give up hits in the late innings of the game. He was sent to the bench as someone new was brought in.

”You pitched well today.” Noah said to Marshel as he passed us to go sit on the bench.

Marshel glanced our way, but didn't say anything back. He just continued on to his bag and sat down.

”Why'd you compliment him?” I asked, feeling a little annoyed.

Noah smirked. ”It wasn't a complete compliment. If he had pitched really well, he wouldn't have been benched. But besides that, I'm a nice person. A good team player.”

I raised an eyebrow. Noah hadn't lowered his voice and I'm sure Marshel would be able to hear him. I didn't blame Noah though. I could remember Marshel from the bus incident a few months back. He had once accused Noah of dragging the team down when Noah was struggling at the plate.

Mr. Miller came back to the rather quiet dugout. He looked around, but didn't see anything out of place. The game wrapped up soon after the switch. Bryce did the whole seven innings for his team, only losing by one. Not that the score mattered.

Since Noah and I were on the bench, we had already changed out of our cleats and had packed our bags. After a simple goodbye to Mr. Miller, we left the dugout.

”Hold on a second.” Noah told me, heading for the other dugout. I slowly followed after him. ”Hey! Bryce!”

Bryce came up against the fence, sweating and a little bit dirty. ”Yea? What's up?” He looked at me. ”You sure you're okay, Jake?”

I nodded.

Bryce laughed, not offended in the slightest. ”That's fine. Next time I break his bat, it's going to be an out. Better mark that down correctly then too.”

”In your dreams!” Noah scoffed. He took a step back. ”Anyways, good game today. I can't believe you fielded Jake's bunt by yourself.”

Bryce shrugged. ”No one believed me when I said he was going to bunt. After all, Jake has been hitting bombs. Why would someone like him bunt?”

”Then how did you know?” I asked, curious.

He grinned. ”As soon as I saw you talking to Mr. Miller, I knew you weren't going to do your usual thing at the plate. You showing bunt was a dead giveaway.”

I pouted.

He laughed. ”Don't get down on yourself. I know you well. I also know Mr. Miller.” He glanced at Noah. ”I really wanted to throw Noah out at second though. That would have been best to be able to catch him off guard like that.”

Noah laughed. ”I'm too fast for ya!”

Bryce smirked. ”Not fast enough or you would have scored.”