With that information, I wanted to talk to Jason at practice, but I didn’t want to do it with Noah around. He had apparently sent so texts to his Dad during class and said his dad would handle it before we even got back from practice. Seeing him all cald down, I didn’t want to be a negative Nancy and share what Kyle said to during math.
When we got ho after practice, Noah went looking for his dad right away. I was going to go upstairs to shower before dinner, but Noah grabbed my sleeve and dragged along. "Co on, this involves you too, Jake."
Errr, I guess.
We walked into the office downstairs where Mr. Atkins did a lot of his work.
"Dad!" Noah greeted. "What’d they say? When is our tryout?"
Mr. Atkins paused, then turned in his chair to face us. I could tell from the look on his face that he didn’t have good news. I fidgeted. "Noah, Jake, how was practice?"
"Dad." Noah narrowed his eyes. "That wasn’t a very good deflection."
Mr. Atkins showed a sad smile. "I’m sorry Noah. I made a few calls, but they seem pretty set on their roster already. Not everyone can make exceptions for you."
Noah looked crestfallen. "But, but I was on the team last year! Shouldn’t that count for sothing?"
"We can find sothing else for you to do this sumr instead." He offered. "There are camps and clinics of all sorts nearby. We can look into so-"
"That’s not what I want though." Noah cut him off. "I wanted to play baseball this sumr! Practicing and playing gas. Real gas! Not just training. Why pay hundreds to a camp that will teach the sa drills and skills that I already know?" He groaned, turned away and left. I could hear him stomping up the stairs in frustration.
Mr. Atkins sighed. He looked at . "Are you upset as well, Jake?"
I shook my head. "I haven’t really thought about baseball after this. It’s just-" I lowered my voice. "I think, the other freshn didn’t want Noah to tryout."
Mr. Atkins gave a sad smile. "I’ve heard. Kyle sent a text and I asked so of the other parents."
I blinked in surprise. "What do we do now?"
"Forget about it." Mr. Atkins stood up. "I’ll talk to Zeke and see if he can convince Noah he’s better off without them. They would only hold him back and he wouldn’t be in the right state of mind if the whole team doesn’t want him there." He ca near and patted on the head. "Do you understand what I’m saying?"
"I do." I nodded. I just don’t know if Noah will bow out like this. He’s the type that fights for what he wants.
"Now let’s talk about you." He looked down at . "Are you ready for tomorrow? Will you be okay going to school tomorrow morning beforehand? Or do you think you’ll need to ntally prepare yourself?"
Oh. "Well, Noah looked up his schedule and they’re playing away gas. So I know he won’t be there. I’m not worried."
"Ah, good thinking on his part." He smiled. "I’m glad Noah looks out for you. Takes a lot off my plate sotis."
Yea...he does look out for ...
"I’m gonna go now, bye!" I rushed out of his office and up the stairs. I tried calming myself down before getting to the room I shared with Noah. Walking in, I saw him at his desk, pulling out his howork. I cleared my throat. "You’re not going to shower first?"
"I figured you would want to." Noah glanced up at . "What took you so long? Did you and Dad talk about the court thingy tomorrow or sothing?"
"That..." I took a deep breath. "And about this sumr ball team you want to join."
Noah brightened up. "Don’t worry, I’ll think of sothing! If we pester Dad and Mom long enough, I’m sure they’ll do sothing or other to get us a tryout."
"I don’t want to tryout." I rushed the words out of my mouth, scared of how this was going to play out.
Noah’s excitent died down. "You...you don’t?"
Not liking the expression he was giving , I looked down at my feet. "No...I don’t think I want to play with them." Even with them not telling Noah about the changed tryout date, they just... "It won’t be like the team we’re on now, will it?"
"Well, no, but-"
"And the Coach won’t be the sa." I told him. "What if I can’t make the team? Fielding wise, I’m really average." If that.
"But you’re batting is really good!" Noah got up from his chair.
I looked up at him. "Yea, but it’s just not the sa." I decided it was ti to bring out my trump card: his concern for my feelings. "Plus, the other freshn don’t seem to like . If they also make this sumr ball team, won’t that an I have to play with them almost every day?"
"If they dare to pick on you, then I’ll fight them." Noah said defiantly.
"That’s not how a team is supposed to be though. You saw how Chris was demoted, what if we get kicked off for being the reason for fights."
Noah went silent.
Seeing another opening, I spoke up again. "Plus, I want to experience sumr break. In the past, I-" I swallowed audibly. "I didn’t get to do a whole lot of normal sumr things."
"Like what?"
I shrugged. "I don’t know. Go to the beach? Swimming? Go to a baseball ga. Without school, I had to spend more ti at ho with my mother."
"Oh, right." He ca over and laid a hand on my shoulder. "Don’t worry, we can do all that and then so more."
I smiled with relief.
After that talk, Noah lost a lot of his anger as we went on with our night. We took turns showering and then got to work on our howork. Even at dinner, he told his parents not to worry anymore and that he would settle on sothing else to do for the sumr. They smiled and told him to take his ti to look into so baseball camps.
"You too, Jake." Mrs. Atkins added. "If you think of anything you want to do or a camp to sign up for, let us know and we can talk it over."
"Okay." I replied, feeling warm on the inside. This sumr would be different from all the others for sure.
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