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I nodded obediently. I had no intention taking on some stranger. Whose to say he won\'t throw a pitch at my head?

We boarded the bus after putting our bags below in storage and Coach left.

Garret sat in the row across from us and faced our way as we got settled. "I think we have to be more careful with Jake."

I frowned.

"He\'s not made of glass." Noah laughed.

"He kind of is." Garret shrugged. "But I am too. We\'re pillars of the team. I know you like to have fun, Noah. But this team is like a well-oiled machine right now. One part goes missing and who knows what will happen. You guys be careful when you\'re at the cages or the park. Don\'t get baited into meaningless challenges."

Noah nodded. "Yea, I get that." He took off his hat and pushed his hair back before putting the hat back on. "Don\'t worry. We won\'t do anything stupid. Jake probably isn\'t even interested in taking on strangers. He\'d be more content in the cages."

I nodded. That was very much true.

It took an extra half an hour before our JV team showed up and started to board. They came back with their heads down and sullen looks

Noah stopped Andy. "What happened? Another loss?"

"Another blown game." Andy frowned. He got out the way so the other guys could pass. "Our Coach told us to take the week to decompress and whatnot as we focus on midterms. He said the gym will be open. You guys going?"

Noah looked to me.

I shrugged. I didn\'t have a problem with going but...

"I think we need to check with Mom first. She might want us to focus on studying."

Andy nodded. "Well, I\'ll be there. But if you guys play any baseball or do drills even, invite me." He patted the seat and moved to the back.

"The lower levels are not looking so good this year." Garret commented from across the aisle. He gave a small shake of his head. "Next year, you guys might have it rough."

"Nah. It\'ll be fine." Noah sat back and relaxed. "Sometimes you need to go through adversity to come out stronger. I bet they take on OLU next week and bounce back."

Garret wasn\'t convinced. "After Golden West and Servite, OLU is a top caliber competitor in our league."

Noah grinned. "So? Want to bet on it?"

Garret snorted and got comfortable in his seat. "No thanks. I\'m not interested in your silly bets."

Noah grinned at me. "Look at him. That big baby can\'t stand that I\'m right."

I grinned back. "I think he knows it\'s a losing bet."

Garret rolled his eyes. "I\'m just not going to be the idiot to bet that his school program loses. That\'s lame."

The bus ride back to school was quick. Everyone took their bags and started to split up. Some players could drive. Others had to wait for their parents to get them. Dave drove us home, not caring about Kyle\'s bragging since he had his own start to look forward too. He told Mom, Dad, and Grampa as soon as he walked through the door.

Dave then wanted to drag Noah to the backyard for a bullpen session. "Come on! Let me practice the splitter today. I want it to be game ready by the time we face OLU."

Noah didn\'t have much room to argue as it was a Saturday. I think he also felt bad for Dave being pulled early on Thursday.

Mom looked to me and Kyle. "What about you two?"

"I\'m going to shower then meet up with Marie at the mall." Kyle smiled. "You guys can have dinner without me." He patted Grampa\'s shoulder. "Thanks for coming."

Grampa nodded. "You pitched extremely well today. Go celebrate with your girlfriend."

Kyle didn\'t need to be told twice. He took off, racing up the stairs.

Mom shook her head. "I don\'t whether to be worried or happy. This kid." She looked at me. "Well, what about you? Do you want me to drive you to the cages? Or take a shower?"

I shrugged. I didn\'t want to go to the cages without Noah. "I\'ll just shower, then see where Noah and Dave are at in the backyard."

"Want to pick what\'s for dinner?" Mom asked me.

"Shouldn\'t Kyle?" He had the best game after all.

"He\'s busy apparently." Mom laughed. "We\'ll let him pick tomorrow."

I looked to Grampa. "I liked the steak salad we did before."

Grampa perked up. "I\'ll need to go to the store then. Let\'s also make pull-apart garlic bread."

"We should do baked potatoes too." Mom suggested. "We\'ve got to keep the carbs up for Jake. And Noah too. They\'re growing after all."

I smiled and straightened up to show my new height.

Mom and Grampa got to planning dinner and Dad left them to it as he took a phone call in his office. I went upstairs and started to pull out clean clothes to wear. I took a shower in the hallway bathroom and dumped my dirty clothes in a basket like the other boys.

When I was done, three people had left the house already. Kyle got picked up by Marie while Mom took Grampa to the store for some groceries. I went to the backyard and saw Dave pitching off the fake mound to Noah, who was completely decked out in catcher\'s gear.

It was peaceful watching the pair work out in silence. Nothing had to be said between them. Noah caught his pitches and easily threw the ball back from his knees. I could see Noah occasionally signing for certain pitches and locations. Dave complied and they worked in sync. Noah asked for the splitter and Dave tried throwing it more and more often as they got deeper in his pitch count.

After catching one of the pitches, Noah got up, surprising both me and Dave.

"What\'s up?" Dave asked, wiping some of the sweat from his face.

"That was 110." Noah took off the glove and started to unbuckle the old catcher\'s gear.

"What?" Dave was shocked.

"110 pitches. That\'s the max allowed to a high school pitcher." Noah said. He finished taking the gear off and started to stretch. "Make sure to do a cool down."

Dave let out a laugh. "Oh. I didn\'t even know you were counting. You know that\'s only for games, right? We could have continued."

Noah rolled his eyes. "Dude. Don\'t overdo it. Save some of that energy for OLU. I\'ll catch for you again on Tuesday and Friday. That\'s it."

Dave sighed. "When did you become such a worrywart?" He started to do some stretches too. He saw me watching from the deck. "Yo, Jake. When did you get here?"

My lips twitched. "I\'ve been here. Mom and Grampa went to the store. Kyle went out with Marie. And Dad\'s in the office."

"So you\'ve been watching?" Dave lit up and he moved closer to me. "What did you think of my splitter? Is it game worthy yet?"

I shrugged. "I guess. It\'s a little harder to tell from over here."

"Stand in the batter\'s box next time!" Dave grinned. "You don\'t have to swing. Just good to have someone else around to look at it."

"You could also look at it as an umpire." Noah added. "Multiple point of views." He looked to Dave. "You can face off with Jake on Thursday with Mitchell. Make sure he\'s available to catch. It\'d be good for him to see how your splitter moves."

"Then should I really let Jake see it all week?" Dave mused.

The pair talked it over, back and forth over the advantages and disadvantages as we slowly started to move back to the house.