"Practiced . " I mumbled, not liking the extra weight he was putting on me . I slipped out of his grip and started to move to the 75mph line .
"You practice that? Since when? For how long? Do you think I can do that to?" Noah was like the energizer bunny . He kept going and going, with endless questions, not even leaving me room to reply .
I just let him talk to himself . Besides not being able to get a word in, I wouldn't even know how to explain to him . Practice really sums it up . I started it a couple years ago . I imagine my reflection when I'm on either side of home plate so it's the same swing, just like looking in a mirror .
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Noah finally paused to take a breath . He looked at me excitedly . "We have to hustle my brothers . " I raised an eyebrow . "Think about it . They would never believe that the foster kid we got randomly assigned to us, is actually a switch hitter . This is our chance to win some extra money so we can come here more often . "
I started to nod . I like it here . Mini golf was fun too . And I would like to practice swinging every day . It brings a certain calming effect to me .
"Can you do the 75mph too?" Noah glanced at the cage as the line got shorter and shorter . I gave him a single nod . "Just like last time?" I nodded once more . "With both?" I nodded again . "Bro, I really hope you can . This would be the biggest hustle . " He pushed me to the cage as it finally emptied . "Show me . Show me . Show me!"
I lightly laughed at his impatience . But I also felt eager to show off . No one my age has ever complimented me on my switch hitting . That high school coach who tried recruiting me was the only one to really know what I could do .
The 75mph cage really didn't feel difficult to me at all . I smoothly got into the rhythm of hitting the ball right with the center of my bat and sending it straight to the pitching machine . I used a token for my right and then a token for my left . There wasn't much variation in how I hit the ball .
"You're a legit machine, Jake!" Noah pounced on me once I stepped out . "You hit all those pitches to the exact same spot . That's not normal at all!"
I pouted .
Noah ignored my discontent and dragged me to the 80mph cage . "This is the real test now . Most high school pitchers only have a velocity of 75 to 80 . "
I scrunched up my nose, not impressed, but Noah didn't see . He was too busy pulling his baseball gloves out of his backpack . "Put these on . We have to protect these golden hands of yours!"
He tried giving them to me, but I refused . I held up my hand to show the size difference between us . Noah is easily half of a foot taller than me even though we both have skinny frames . His five foot six inches towered over me making me feel like he really was older than me . It only makes sense that his hands are bigger too .
Noah sighed and put the gloves away . "Will you be okay without some? Or should I go back to rent a pair . "
I gave him the universal okay sign . I never could afford batting gloves beforehand when I was hiding baseball from my mom, so it's not like I'm use to it .
I clutched the wooden bat in my left hand and two tokens in my right . It was time to try the 80s .
Chapter end
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