"Jake! Jake! Come on! Get up!" Noah's voice dragged me out of my sleep, causing me to groan. He laughed. "Get up! Time for school!"
I groaned again and flopped over, pulling my pillow over my head.
He started to shake my whole bed. "Come on! Let's go already!"
With a huff, I rolled out of bed and faced the wide-awake Noah. "Why are you so excited?"
Noah just bounced around happily. He pointed at the s.h.i.+rt he laid on my bed. "Don't forget time wear your s.h.i.+rt! The whole team is going to so you don't want to miss out." He headed for the door. "I'll be in the kitchen. Hurry up already."
I squinted at him until he left, closing the door behind him. I lifted the s.h.i.+rt off the bed, taking a minute to get a better look at it.
After yesterday's game, an a.s.sistant coach pa.s.sed them out with instructions to wear them to school the next day.
'CIF Finalists Northern Section Division 3'
A random field was in the background, adding some color to the light grey t-s.h.i.+rt.
I slipped it on with a pair of shorts, then hurried to put on my socks and shoes. I didn't want Noah to go crazy on me anymore this morning. It was just too early. I glanced at the clock, we still had an hour before school started. Way too early. I sighed and grabbed my backpack, heading down to the kitchen.
"Good morning." Mrs. Atkins greeted me with a smile as she sat down at the table with the rest of her family.
I sat down in my spot between Noah and his dad. "Morning."
"Are you excited for school today?" She asked.
I looked at her, feeling confused. "Not really."
Dave laughed. "Typical Jake."
I frowned. What did he mean by that?
"It's going to be a good day, Jake." Noah told me excitedly. "The whole school will know that we're going to CIF finals next week. The school will definitely announce the highlights of yesterday's game and I'll s.h.i.+ne as bright as a star."
"Yea, right." Kyle scoffed.
"Hey!" Noah straightened up. "Who had the game winning RBI?"
"Thanks to Zeke's baserunning." Kyle shot back.
"You're just mad that everyone's going to know about your terrible pitching." Noah stuck out his tongue.
"Noah James." Mrs. Atkins scolded. "Your brother tried his best."
"He won't let me have this moment, Mom." Noah complained.
She shot a look at Kyle.
Kyle sighed. "I was just joking. You know that."
Noah beamed. "I know."
"Noah." Mrs. Atkins warned. "Don't you have something to say as well?"
Noah thought for a second, then shrugged. "At least Garret sucked too so you're not alone."
Dave cracked up, laughing. Kyle rolled his eyes and I fought back a laugh myself.
"Noah James." Mrs. Atkins said, exasperated. "I don't want to hear you putting down others anymore. Your old enough to know better."
"Okay, Mom." Noah opened his mouth to say something else, but her ringtone cut him off.
Mrs. Atkins shot him a warning look before getting up and answering her phone in the living room. The rest of us went back to eating peacefully under Mr. Atkins watchful eyes.
I was just thinking how identical the twins look when they wore matching t-s.h.i.+rts when Mrs. Atkins came back in the room.
"It was George." She stood by Mr. Atkins, putting a hand on his shoulder while looking at me. "We're going to court again. Tomorrow afternoon."
Mr. Atkins frowned and looked up at his wife, patting her hand. "We knew this was coming. No need to stress." He looked at me. "Are you mentally prepared?"
I shrugged. "I guess." Jeremy said he wanted a blood test...he can have it. I've come to terms that it won't change my opinion of him in any way.
Breakfast felt a little stifled after that. Mr. and Mrs. Atkins shot worried glances at one another, but there wasn't much that could be done. We'll just go tomorrow.
After breakfast, Zeke drove us to school like normal and parked near the field. Him and the twins went up the hill first while Noah and I waited for Mr. Miller.
Noah, who had been on his phone this whole time, put it down and looked at me. "He won't be there tomorrow."
"What?" I asked, not sure what he was saying.
"I looked up the team's schedule. They're on the road so that man won't be in court tomorrow with you. You don't have to do any overthinking like you usually do." Noah told me.
"Thanks, Noah." I smiled at him. Noah was the most reliable person I know. He didn't want me to worry, and actually looked up the schedule, which I didn't even think of. "That's actually kind of rea.s.suring."
Noah tilted his head to the left, where Mr. Miller was coming from in his handy golf cart. "I know you don't want to write him off just yet, but I don't like him. I rather you just stay with us and forget about him."
Mr. Miller stopped by and let us on. "Excited for today Noah?"
Noah turned back to his friendly, happy self. "You know it! This is the moment I've been waiting for!"
I didn't understand what the big deal was about today. At least, not until Mr. Miller dropped us off and we headed for cla.s.s.
"Congrats!"
"Great game!"
"Can't wait for next week!"
"You can do it!"
"Is it true that you won the game in the last inning, Noah?"
Noah answered all the remarks with smiles and waves, but for the guy that asked about winning the game, he paused. "No way, it was a team effort!" Then he kept moving along until we got to cla.s.s.
"It feels good to be on top." Noah told me as we sat down for cla.s.s. I didn't even get a chance to respond before we were surrounded by our cla.s.smates, congratulating us and asking about the next game. Noah took control, making sure that all the attention was on him, and making sure our cla.s.smates didn't circle around me too much.