Seeing the opportunity to sneak away, I inched from the spot by the table and tried to head to the stairs. Noah caught me in the act immediately. "And where do you think you're going?"
I clasped my hands together as I faced him. "Oh, I was going to go rest now."
"But we still have to do the video of him doing the actual signing." Noah tilt his head and started to squint. "Is that why you're trying to leave? Do you have some fear of being on tv? It's not like they'll say anything about you. It's just going to be on Zeke's commitment to Stanford."
"Zeke..might not want me to be one of the people behind him." I mumbled. Wasn't it better to leave before being told to leave?
"Jake…" Noah was thinking of something to say, but someone else had spoke up first.
"It's okay Noah." Mr. Atkins came over and put an arm around his son's shoulders. "Let Jake go. If Zeke wants him in the background, he'll have to fetch Jake himself." He looked at me with a grin. "Do you really want to make Zeke come get you?"
I shook my head. That would be slightly scary if he got mad. But…"Do you think he really wants me here? It kind of feels like-" a family moment. I didn't say it aloud though, in fear of Noah getting upset.
Mr. Atkins got my meaning. His smile never left his face. "It's your choice, Jake. Either stay here and find out or take a chance and go upstairs. I won't stop you." He turned to take Noah back to the group.
I stood still. Frozen. Undecided on what to do. A part of me really wanted to go hide in my room. Yet, another part felt like it'd be bad if Zeke had to come get me from my room. If he even wanted me. Which would be worse? Getting rejected outright? Or making Zeke angry? I gulped. Definitely option two. So I stayed where I was, close to the stairs, but not too far away to make Zeke upset in case he wanted me there. It also gave me the option of being able to run upstairs if he really didn't want me there. It sounded melodramatic of me, but I was an indecisive individual.
Zeke soon came back into the room with Coach, the Stanford coach, and someone I didn't know. He looked to be the same age as Zeke, but I don't think I've seen him at school before. Zeke looked around at his gathered group, stopping a second when he saw Noah.
"Where did Jake go?" He asked.
My knees felt weak.
"He thinks you don't want him here." Noah ratted me out, even going so far as to pointing at me. "He wanted to go hide in his room."
Zeke turned and found me, as still as a statue. He let out a chuckle at the sight of me. "Okay, Bambi, no need to be frightened. I'm not mad. Just come here already."
I made my way over. I glared at Noah for a second, but with his goofy smile, I could only stay mad for a second.
Zeke sat down and prepared his pen and paper.
"Okay, let's squeeze in the best we can." The man instructed. Noah and Jake, stand just over Zeke's right shoulder. Mary and Wayne, stand just behind them. Good!" Everyone shifted accordingly. "Twins in the center with your Coach. You other two can stand on the left. Now. No one look at the video camera. As Zeke is signing the letter of intent, I want all eyes on him and smiles, please. After he's done signing, go ahead and clap, cheer, whatever you want to do."
The man backed up and stood against the opposite wall. He signaled to the man running the big video camera and then gave us a thumbs up. "Rolling. All eyes on Zeke!"
Standing on Zeke's right, I could just barely see over his shoulder. He grasped the pen in his right hand and started to put the pen to the paper. His signature was smooth and perfect. Zeke Atkins.
Noah was the first to start clapping excitedly. I followed just a second later, joining in with everyone else. Soon the whole house was cheering and clapping. It was almost as if Zeke had hit a home run. I guess it can be considered as a metaphor that he did. A scholarship to play baseball at a good school.
Remembering what the boys had said earlier, I peeked over my shoulder to see Mrs. Atkins crying. Tears were falling down her cheeks like waterfalls. Zeke stood up and faced us. At the sight of his mom, he let out a small laugh before pulling her into a hug. She held on and cried some more, making the twins and Noah burst out laughing. After a couple of minutes, she let go. Zeke moved to his dad and grinned, holding out his hand. Mr. Atkins took it to shake, but then was able to pull Zeke into a hug as well.
I started to laugh too. The sight of two big men hugging made for a funny sight. Lucky for Zeke, Mr. Atkins didn't hold on for too long like his wife. He quickly released Zeke and shook his hand properly.
Zeke grinned and shook his head at his dad. Then he looked down at me and Noah. He reached out with both hands and messed up our hair, making all of Mrs. Atkins hardwork go to waste. The twins weren't let off either. He turned to them and pulled them both into headlocks while facing the camera, showing the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face.
"Perfect!" The man clapped as well. "We'll cut and edit this right away. It'll be on the news tonight for sure."
Zeke let go of the twins and smiled at the man. "Thanks Mr. Cameron. I appreciate this."
"No, no. Thank you! This is big news! I'll make sure to send the clip to espn. I'm positive it'll make it there as well."
Zeke nodded politely. "We'll see. Why don't you stay around for refreshments?"
"Thanks!" He answered. "I'll be impolite then as I impose on you. I want to ask some questions as well and maybe include it on the article if you don't mind?"
"Sure, sure." He waved and they both went off to the kitchen.
Just like that, everyone started to gather in little groups to talk to one another.
I turned to Noah to see what he was doing, only to find him watching Zeke walk away. He looked a little sad so I let him be, and patiently waited for him to notice me. It only took him a couple of seconds to feel me watching him. "What's up, Jake?"
"Zeke called him Mr. Cameron…was that the reporter from the tournament?" I asked.
Noah nodded. "Yea, you couldn't tell? He covers all local sports news. He writes the recaps on our games too."
"Really?" My eyes widened. "And it's in the news?"
"Well, it's usually just online. You can find recaps for all high school games." Noah told me. "I've looked up a few, but it's nothing interesting."
Oh. I wonder if my name gets mentioned though. Would I be easier to find? Would my family know it's me if they read it?
"It doesn't get too many views though." Noah continued, cutting off my imagination. "Watsonville isn't a really big town. So unless a scout is looking at our statistics, there's not many others who read it."
"Why not?"
Noah laughed. "Because those who are interested, can just come to our games. There's no need to read about it."
That makes sense.
