The coach looked at me, impressed .
"He can't hit a homerun obviously . " Mr . Miller joined us . He looked down at me, making me nervous . I took a slight step back . "And he doesn't have a backbone . "
Noah crosses his arms in front of his chest . "He doesn't need one with me around . The point is, he can hit well . Very well . "
Mr . Miller looked at me . "Can you at least bunt?"
I pointed at the first and third base line .
Advertisement
"Are you asking us which side? Or telling us, you can hit both sides? The lack of communication between players and coaches are very important . How are we going to keep taking time out of practice to play charades with you?" The other assistant coach joined us . I think it was coach Luis .
I tugged at Noah's sleeve, feeling pressured by the man . Even Coach Wilcox and Mr . Miller frowned at him .
Noah glared at Coach Luis "Jake obviously said he could do both . If you keep bringing up his muteness, I'll tell my mom and dad . " Apparently this Coach has said something while I was hitting against Garret .
"Luis, I don't think you're being very appropriate . Why don't you let me make the decisions here . " Coach Wilcox made a stand . He looked at me . "So you can bunt?" I nodded . "How about fielding?"
"The basics . " Noah answered for me . "He can play second so we'll be able to work together . "
"How basic?" Mr . Miller asked .
"Let's find out . " Noah rubber his nose, trying to hide a smile . "Jake hasn't actually played in a game before . "
"What!?" All three coaches exclaimed .
Mr . Miller was the first one to react . He started to laugh and reached out, patting Noah on the shoulder . "You found an unpolished gem! Nice one!"
Noah swatted his hand away . "Jake had family problems and couldn't play before . So he only practiced batting . Everything else would have to be taught . "
"Let's see what you can do . " Coach Wilcox said . "As long as it's halfway decent we can keep him in the lineup and use his batting . Go grab your glove . "
I did what I was told and ran back to the dugout . Which was still had half the team there . I slowed up and stuttered step, trying to decide if I'll be able to get my glove safely .
"What are you hesitating for?" Kyle called out . "We all saw your superb hitting . If we didn't let you on the team, wouldn't that mean that none of us pitchers should be on the team either?" I saw the other guys with him, smile and laugh . None were glaring at me or yelling at me so it must be okay now .
I went in the dugout and changed out my bat and helmet for my old secondhand glove . Then I started to run back out .
"Wait . " A loud voice commanded . I froze and slowly turned around to see Dave coming my way . I felt my whole body twitch, automatically thinking about running back to Noah . Dave was the one that was the most pissed off and he might still be angry at me . To my surprise, he slapped a baseball hat on my head . "You need this . You can't play baseball without one . " He gave me a serious nod then walked back to his friends .
I fixed the cap so I could see properly and went back to Noah and the coaches .
"They're just going to have you field some grounders to first and second . Then maybe catch some pop flies . " Noah smiled at me . "If you can just do okay, they'll let you be on the team . Then later this week, you and I can start practice turning double plays . "
I nodded eagerly .
Noah looked around . "I wonder where Zeke went . He's going to flip out once he finds out you made it . Then we can tell mom and dad and celebrate during dinner . Oh, then we can also call Mr . Duncan . He'll be happy for you too . Who else . . . "
I shook my head sadly . That was it . Just his family and my guardian . There wasn't anyone else to brag to .
Noah saw my depressed face . "Hey! No sad faces! You still have to show some fielding skill! Go, go, go!" He pushed me towards second base .
Chapter end
Report
|
Donate
Oh o, this user has not set a donation button.
|