I felt a complexity of emotions all at once. Guilty that I was the indirect reason Kyle got in trouble. Happy that he was defending me. Angry that Austin would say anything about me when I haven't ever done anything to him. I clenched my fists.
Kyle laughed when he noticed. "Hey, hey, be calm. Don't be like me. It's fine. It's over with. I made a mistake and made up for it."
"I'm sorry." I said.
He laughed again. "Nothing you have to apologize for. If anything, it's Austin that owes you an apology."
"I don't even know what he said." I looked up at him, waiting.
Kyle pushed my hat down over my eyes. "You don't need to know. Jerks like him don't need your attention. Just keep doing you."
I fixed my hat. I couldn't understand Kyle. Saying things like I shouldn't care or pay attention, but he was the one who lost his cool. If he can get mad on my behalf, why can't I also be mad?
"Coach spoke to him." Kyle added out of nowhere. "If he even looks at you the wrong way, let me know. Go straight to coach. Just stay away from a douchebag like him."
I nodded obediently.
He stopped just as we got to the top of the hill. "Jake?"
I paused and looked back at him.
"I'm sorry if you ever felt unwanted due to my attitude. You are wanted. You are loved. By me. By us. You belong to our family." He said, catching me by surprise.
"I know, Kyle." I smiled. I had already accepted his apology a few months ago; I didn't need another one. "In a couple of weeks, you'll be stuck with me for good." I referred to my court date.
He laughed, letting go of a lot of tension from within. "Like Zeke said before, we don't need a paper to make it official. I will always treat you like a brother. Whether you like it or not." He caught up to me in two steps and pulled me into a playful headlock. With his arm around me, he practically dragged me to where the bags and water were.
Dave and Noah were taking off their cleats when we showed up.
"Hey! Hurry up!" Dave told us. "Zeke sent a text that he was already here. He's near the cafeteria, waiting."
We separated and started to change out of our cleats as well.
"Were you running the whole time?" Noah asked Kyle, frowning.
"Running is very important to pitchers. Working on my endurance, okay?" Kyle finished the switch and hurried to put his bag on his shoulder. "I'm going to go get Marie and Kaylee. We'll find you guys near the caf." He left.
Noah shook his head as we watched him go. "Ridiculous. I wanted to tell him that I don't need him fighting my fights for me. Now I'm going to tell Zeke."
"No, don't do that." I told him.
Noah looked to me. "You walked up here with him. Do you know why he did it?"
I fixed my hat, feeling self-conscious. "I think it wasn't so much about you as it was about me. Kyle said Austin said something about me."
Dave straightened up. "What did he say?"
I shrugged. "He wouldn't say." The three of us started to walk from the field, almost the last to leave besides a couple of players and coaches. "I think it must have gotten under his skin though, because he started to apologize to me again."
"He must feel guilty." Noah nodded.
Dave frowned. "Did he tell Coach what Austin said at least? I don't think it's fair that he's getting away with this when he's partly at fault."
"You can't just hit anyone who says something mean." Noah said. "You have to be less obvious."
My lips twitched. "Please don't retaliate. Kyle spoke to Coach. And Coach spoke to Austin. So that should be enough."
"Tskk." Noah wasn't satisfied. "It's never enough. We had problems with him last semester. This summer we didn't get to play club ball because of his dad. Now this upcoming semester we have to be wary around him? Coach should have done more."
"Coach has to be impartial." Dave pointed out, sounding reasonable.
We passed the gym and ran into Alisha coming out of the girl's locker room.
"Hey! Just in time for lunch!" Noah called out to her and waved.
She joined us on our walk towards the cafeteria. "You sure Zeke doesn't mind me showing up again?"
Noah laughed. "You know how relaxed he is…when it comes to extra people showing up. Anything else and he's a pain to deal with. I bet he didn't bring any sweets for us to go along with lunch."
We spotted Zeke, Kyle, Marie, and Kaylee at one of the bigger tables, and made our way over. We threw our bags onto the other's bags that were off to the side.
Noah crowded Zeke. "So?? What'd you bring?"
Kyle and Zeke were spreading out the food, taking over the whole table. My mouth watered at the sight of the fruit he had brought. Strawberries, bananas, cantaloupe, and watermelon. The way they were cut up had me guessing if Mom did that.
Zeke unwrapped two tin containers, revealing two different types of noodles: penne and fettuccine.
"Where's the sauce..?" Noah asked, poking around. "Ah-ha!" He started to pull out different jars of sauce. "Too bad you couldn't warm it up before coming."
With the food all laid out, everyone started to sit down. Noah completely took over and started to pass out the paper plates and plastic forks. We all started to make our own food, choosing different combinations
When we were all settled and started stuffing our faces, Zeke passed out the water bottles. "Make sure to hydrate."
"Thanks, Zeke." Marie said first, accepting the water. "Thanks for bringing lunch too. This is much more fulfilling than what the cafeteria is offering."
"Yea, thanks." Kaylee echoed.
The rest of us also said our thanks.
"Tell Mom thanks too." Noah said while stabbing his cut up fruit. "I know she did this, for sure."
Zeke sat down and started to eat with us. "Just text her." He looked at me. "Leg okay?"
I nodded. "Drew gave me a heating pad before practice and that helped with the tightness."
"Good. Remember to get ice after your scrimmage. You have to take good care of yourself." He instructed.
"Ugh, this afternoon is going to be so boring." Dave complained. "I pitched yesterday so there's no hope for today. Working out in the bullpen just isn't as appealing."
"And who knows if you'll have a catcher in the bullpen with you." Noah pointed out. "Yesterday we didn't even get a catcher. Miller had to get one from the other team and ugh, it did not go so well. Thankful that Garret has more patience than you guys."
"Hey! Rude!" Dave shouted at him.
"Anyone can play catcher in the bullpen." Kaylee pointed out. "Just make sure you have the gear for it. The gate around the bullpen is also very convenient to use. Just a little loud and annoying, but who cares."
"It's just not the same feeling as pitching in a game." Dave sighed. He looked to Kyle. "What do you think you'll do?"
"Stretching." Kyle answered. "Maybe a few ab exercises and whatnot. It's not like I got to do much this morning."
"Why didn't you do much this morning?" Zeke asked.
Everyone either looked down at their food or at Kyle.
Kyle shrugged. "I got some running in. Practicing my endurance." He looked to Marie. "How was your practice? Any of the freshmen look good?"
