310 First Targe

(Jake's POV)

Zeke drove Noah and I home, then sent us upstairs to get showers done before dinner. We took turns and gathered back downstairs where Zeke was already waiting. He was sitting in the living room, with the iPad in hand.

"Whatcha doing?" Noah asked, flopping on the couch. I sat down on the other end.

"Looking at search history to verify your story." Zeke replied, nonchalant.

"It's not a story!" Noah leaned over and started pointing on the screen. "Look! Here, here, and here. We watched quite a bit."

Zeke looked at us. "And did you practice it?"

"Theoretically." Noah stated proudly.

Zeke's eyes narrowed.

Noah sat back, moving a little closer to me, kind of scared off by Zeke's look. "Well, we were grounded so we didn't dare to go out. We did go through the motions in the backyard, but I'm not exactly a pitcher or first baseman. We can ask coach to look it over on Tuesday, during practice."

"Or we can go through it tomorrow." Zeke said. It was worded like a suggestion, yet sounded like a command.

Noah froze for a second but quickly recovered. "No can do. We're already booked for tomorrow. Kyle has a date that he wants to go on, and mom said he had to bring us."

Zeke stared us down.

Noah and I were both fidgeting under pressure. It wasn't until Noah came up with something to say to distract Zeke from taking over. "So....OLU on Monday. Isn't that the team that you guys lost to last year? Once or twice?"

I blinked in surprise. They lost?

"Just once." Zeke retracted his stare and went back to tapping on the iPad. "But it was an important lost. It held us back from winning league and going to CIF."

"But they didn't go to CIF." Noah frowned. "I thought Servite High did."

Zeke nodded. "But because of the lost to OLU, Servite had a better record than us. It was near the end of the season too so there wasn't much hope for Servite to lose to another school." He let out a little sigh, making me feel bad. It's hard to believe that Zeke could ever lose a game. Our one lost this season came from University Prep, but Zeke didn't even play so I didn't count that against him.

"Why'd you lose again?" Noah poked. "Was it bad pitching on our side? Or good pitching on their side?"

Zeke looked over at Noah. "Garret had a poor outing. One of his few. We also weren't sharp at the plate. Lots of mental errors." He glanced at me, making me shrink into the cushion. "Don't be afraid to swing on Monday, but try and aim for good spots. Their infield had the fewest amount of errors last season."

I nodded. "I can get it to the outfield." Probably. Depending on the pitch. And placement of the outfielders.

Zeke nodded, apparently satisfied with my response. He looked back to his youngest brother. "You, on the other hand, need to hit the cages some more. Only a week off and you were swinging at pitches that weren't even close."

Noah jumped off the couch, looking slightly angry. "Stop nitpicking. I'm allowed to have an off day every now and then."

Zeke looked like he was about to reply, but was interrupted by loud noises coming from the front door. He set the iPad down and got up. "What's that?" I heard him ask.

"It's a radar pitching trainer!" I heard Dave's excitement. "Look! It has the pitching speed display and can keep track of pitching statistics like strikes, balls, walks, and strikeouts. Help us set it up!"

"Tomorrow." I heard Mr. Atkins say. "It's too dark out. Plus, your mom and brother will be home for dinner soon. Let's set the table."

Noah hurried out of the living room, presumably heading to the front door to see what Dave was talking about. "Wow! Dad! You really got this for the twins??"

"You can try it out too. Same goes for Zeke and Jake." I heard Mr. Atkins tell him. "It's an early birthday gift. I figured all of you could use it during the season. Especially with league play starting up."

"I can't wait to try it!" Dave said.

My curiosity got me wandering what all the excitement was about. I got off the couch and hurried over to join the others. All four of them surrounded a giant box, almost taller than me. The picture on it was of a teen pitching to a black screen with marking of a suggested strike zone. Like Dave said, it had a screen to display the speed up top and had room for the ball and strike count. It was pretty cool.

"Isn't it two months too early?" Noah asked, scanning his dad up and down. "This isn't like you. Aren't you the stickler for celebrating birthdays on the actual day of birth?"

Mr. Atkins awkwardly moved away, slightly lifting some bags in his hands. "I'll move the food to the kitchen. You boys can move the box off to the side for now. If you wake up early enough, I'll help set it up." He swiftly moved to the kitchen and dining room area.

"Suspicious." Noah watched as his dad made a getaway. He then quickly turned to Dave. "How the heck did you get Dad to buy this for you? I don't buy the whole 'early birthday gift' idea."

Dave smirked. "It was all his idea. I didn't even know why we were there until he pointed at the box." He pushed it over against a wall to make sure it was out of the way. "Dad just wants us to get better. Isn't that great? This season we can win league and go to CIF. Maybe even win CIF."

Noah was skeptical. "That's it? Nothing else was said?"

Dave spared a glance my way but didn't say anything about me or to me. He just shrugged his shoulders at Noah. "What can I say? We're a lucky family. Dad cares about us." He waved and moved to the kitchen. "Let's hurry up and eat. Someone call Mom and see what's taking her so long."

Zeke pulled out his phone while walking into the dining room.

"That's weird." Noah said to himself while looking at the box.

"It is." I agreed, getting his attention. He looked up at me. "Actually...I knew that this would happen."

Noah's eyes widen. "You knew? How? Why?"

I stepped closer to him and started to whisper. "On the way home from the airport, while all of you were sleeping, your parents talked about this."

"And? Why did they buy the twins a gift so early? I don't believe it's for the season. Mom and Dad support us and all, but baseball isn't their top priority."

I shook my head a little. "I'm not sure. I didn't know about that. I just know that your parents talked about separating the twins in order to speak with them alone. Your mom also spoke to Zeke but they said they didn't need to talk to you alone. It was really weird."

Noah looked a bit surprised. "They just wanted to talk to the twins alone? That's strange. Even stranger, they don't feel the need to talk with me alone?" He thought to himself for a minute then became enlightened. "I know!" He looked around to make sure we were alone, then whispered back. "Mom and Dad probably wanted to give them the sex talk or something along the lines of having safe sex."

My face scrunched up.

Noah nodded. "Yep. Must have been awkward." He patted the box. "This must be a sympathy gift. Or maybe a plead to not have sex until college or marriage."

I could see where Noah was going with this and it kind of made sense. Except... "I don't think that's it. Your parents said I might get upset about whatever it is they told the twins. And I can't really see them talking about s-e-x with Zeke. That would be extremely awkward. Plus, why would I get upset over it?"

Noah laughed to himself. "You don't have to spell it. You can say it. It's not like it's a bad word."

I frowned at him.

"Okay, whatever." He laughed a little more before getting serious. "But, if what you heard is true, then you're right. It can't be that." He thought for a minute, tapping his finger on the box. "We should try and figure out what was talked about? Primarily, because it involves you somehow. Something you would get upset about." He looked me in the eye. "Do you think...that they found your dad?"

I gulped, and my heart started to pound in my chest. "But...how? And why would they need to tell the twins before me?"

Noah shook his head. "Right. We can cross that one out." He grinned. "But hey, that's something we've got going for us so it can't be that bad. We'll just have to try and pester the twins for some information." He glanced at the box under his hand. "This is probably a gift to buy off their silence!"

Before I could say anything to add, the front door opened letting cool air in with the sight of Mrs. Atkins and Kyle, both carrying in grocery bags.

Kyle's attention went to us briefly before spotting the box. His jaw dropped and so did the bag of groceries. "No way! How cool! Is this what Dad and Dave went to get??"

"Stop right there young man." Mrs. Atkins commanded. "Come back and take the groceries to the kitchen first. You'll have plenty of time to look at this after dinner." As Kyle went back for the bags that he dropped, Mrs. Atkins looked at me and Noah. "Are you two interested in pitching too?"

I shook my head, no.

Noah did the same. "Nah. We were just looking. Maybe we can also use it to practice aiming at a pretend first baseman. You know how Jake's throws can be a little off."

Mrs. Atkins nodded then walked to the kitchen with Kyle.

I made a face at Noah. "My throws aren't always off."

"I didn't say always. Just a little. Don't worry about it. It's just talk." Noah brushed me off. Then he lowered his voice. "It's a bit strange that Kyle didn't look at us or talk to us."

"He was distracted by this?" I pointed at the gift.

"Orrrr, maybe, he's avoiding eye contact because he's afraid of what he might accidentally say." Noah suggested, raising an eyebrow. "I think we have our first target to try and get some information out of."