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Noah had finished sending out the texts to everyone on our small team and saw my look of distress . He looked at Zeke, who was now driving us home after lunch . "Zeke, why don't you help us? We don't know what the team name should be . "
"I don't know either . " Zeke said with honesty . "That's why I delegated that job to Jake . "
"Must be nice to 'delegate' . " Noah grumbled .
"Perks of being the oldest . " Zeke had a small smile as he drove us home . It was rare of him to make a joke .
Noah pursed his lips to stop himself from smiling . "I'll just look up some ideas online . " He typed away on his phone .
When we got home in the afternoon, we spotted Mr . Atkins car out on the street . They were back .
"Which Kyle do you think we'll see today?" Noah asked, sounding a little mean .
"Which . . . ?" I repeated after him, a little confused . "The one related to you . . ?" I guessed .
Noah rolled his eyes . "I meant his attitude . "
"Oh . " I looked out the window as Zeke parked the car in the driveway . "I think . . . he'll be in a good mood . "
"Why do you think that?" Noah asked .
I glanced at him and gave a small shrug . "I'm usually in a good mood after spending some time with your dad . "
Noah scrunched up his nose . "Yea, I think it's slightly different . If I'm alone with Dad, I think he would just lecture me the whole time . "
I raised an eyebrow . "You don't think he doesn't lecture me?"
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We got out of the car and followed Zeke to the door .
"I think he takes it easy on you . " Noah told me .
I shook my head . "He doesn't raise his voice at me, but I feel like he treats me the same . He makes me think about my actions and stuff . "
"Dad doesn't give any preferential treatment . " Zeke spoke up as we got to the door . "It's what you take from the talks that differentiate you from Jake, and Jake from me, and so on . " He glanced at Noah . "If Kyle hasn't realized his mistakes, then that says more about him than Dad . "
Noah sighed . "Okay, lets go see . "
Zeke opened the door and we walked in . It was quiet . . .
"Anyone home??" Noah raised his voice and moved towards the office . "Mom? Dad?"
The office door opened and their parents came out with the twins . Everyone was now present .
"What were you guys doing in there?" Noah asked, suspicious of them .
"Ironing out their summer plans . Buying a lot of plane tickets . " Mrs . Atkins sighed, but was smiling . She looked to Zeke . "We'll go over the dates with you so you know which dates you're watching Noah and Jake . "
Zeke gave a simple nod . Then pulled out the tax write-off and handed it over . "Apparently if you put your business name down, the team fee can be considered a write-off . So I wrote on the check . Mr . Williams said to give this to you . "
"Wow . That's nice of him . " She smiled . "I'll go put this in the office . " She turned to go back .
But Noah stopped her . "Wait! We need some more help . "
She paused and faced us . "What is it?"
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"Team shirts . . . ?" Noah spoke up after realizing that Zeke was leaving it up to him . "We need to have matching team shirts . Mr . Williams said if a company sponsored us, it can also count as a write-off or whatever . Soooo, can you?"
She hummed, looking to get husband .
Mr . Atkins slowly nodded . "If it's just normal t-shirts, I think we can make it happen . I know someone who will help out . What do you want on the front of the shirts? Maybe names on the back? With a number? Or keep it plain?"
Noah shrugged, helpless . "Uhh, not sure yet . We haven't even come up with a team name yet . "
The twins laughed at the same time, drawing our attention to themselves . Kyle and Dave looked nearly identical besides their clothes . It was even harder to tell them apart when they act the same .
Noah narrowed his eyes and huffed . "It's not funny . I was too busy coming up with a roster and didn't think about team names . Why don't you two help? All you've done is make fun of us even though we're saving Mom and Dad money . "
Dave and Kyle stopped laughing, and looked a little guilty . Especially Kyle . He scratched his head trying to come up with one . "Bats and balls?"
"No . " Noah shot down .
"Bat-itude . . ?" Dave suggested .
"Mhmm . Not bad . Next . " He looked at Kyle .
"Benchwarmers? Like the movie!" Kyle got excited .
"Denied . " Noah shot him down again .
"Misfits . " Dave thought aloud . "Since you all are a bunch of misfits when put together?"
Noah shook his head . "I'm not liking it . "
"One-hit wonders . . ?" Kyle was more unsure when facing Noah .
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Noah rolled his eyes . "We got Zeke on the team . . . that doesn't really flow well . "
"Prodigies then?" Kyle continued before Dave could say another one .
Noah shook his head again . "I don't want to make our teammates feel bad . Alisha doesn't even play softball . And we're going up against adults . "
Kyle snapped his fingers . "I've got it!" He grinned at Noah . "You can't possibly say no to this one . "
Noah raised his eyebrow . "Well? Let's hear it . "
"Hustlers!" Kyle said excitedly .
I saw Noah's face softened as he thought about it . "Hmm . Not bad . . . "
Dave snorted . "Of course you think it's not bad . You've been hustling others since you were like three . There's no way Zeke is going to play under that team name . "
"Zeke delegated this job to me and Jake . " Noah said . He turned to me . "What do you think?"
"I think it fits . . . " I said in agreement .
"Is this appropriate . . ?" Mrs . Atkins looked unsure . She looked to her husband .
Mr . Atkins smiled . "As long as the boys are happy, I don't see anything wrong with it . " The phone in the office started to ring so Mr . Atkins immediately left the conversation .
Mrs . Atkins sighed . "Alright, then . Noah, ask your teammates what number and name they want on the back of their shirts . I'm going to go to the grocery store to get some stuff for dinner . Any special requests?"
"Cookies!" Noah hollered .
Mrs . Atkins gave him a pat on the head as she headed for the door . "We'll see . " She grabbed her keys and purse off the hook and left .
"Hey Jake, why did you agree to Hustlers? Doesn't Bat-itude sound better?" Dave poked me .
My lips twitched . "I just think it fits . . . " After all, when we play against adults, they might think we suck or something . Little do they know that Zeke was on our team . The twins might think that Hustlers fit Noah, but I think it could define are team nicely .
"I'll go call Mr . Williams with our team name . " Zeke headed for the stairs . "Noah, start texting . "
"I will, I will!" He whipped out his phone and started to contact everyone again .
"I'm going to go watch the A's game . " Dave stated . He grabbed Noah by his sleeve . "You can text and watch at the same time . Come on . "
Noah didn't fall for the distraction . He swatted Dave's hand away and looked back at me . "Jake, you coming?"
I glanced at Kyle . Seeing him hang back in silence, I figured he might have something to say . "I'll be there in a bit . Go ahead . "
Noah frowned . "Are you sure?"
I nodded .
Noah glanced to Kyle . After staring at him for a bit, he grabbed onto Dave and started to drag him to the living room . "Let's go watch the A's . "
Dave shook his head, helpless . How did it turn into him getting taken away when he was the one in charge of taking Noah away?
I let out a small laugh . It didn't last long as the silence in the open area felt a little overwhelming . I looked up at Kyle . "Did . . . did you have fun, camping . . ?"
Kyle nodded slowly, stuffing his hands in his pockets . "I did . It was cool to get out . A small vacation of sorts . It's not often I get alone time with Dad . " He glanced to the living room then looked back at me . "Can we talk outside for a minute? Just us?"
I nodded .
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