I cringed. "Do I have to?"
"You should want to."
We looked at one another for a couple of minutes, in a small stalemate of sorts. Justin ran out of pitches and got up to put another token in.
Kaylee turned to him. "Hey. Justin."
Justin looked up, through the gate. He squinted at Kaylee. "Do I know you?"
"No. But we know you. Your turn is up." Kaylee glanced at me.
Justin got a look at me. I saw the recognition in his eyes. "Jake Atkins, right?"
I nodded.
He opened the gate. "I'll let you have your turn if I can catch behind you." It was worded like an offer, but it sounded more like a heavy offer.
I made a face. "I can wait."
Kaylee nudged me. "What are you worried about? It's not like you'll let the ball go backwards."
I twisted my lips. "I really came here to just swing the bat today. I don't want someone hovering right behind me."
"Then kick him out." Kaylee pushed me again.
I took a deep breath. And simply decided to let Justin know, "You've been in the cage since I went to lunch. I would like a turn."
He raised an eyebrow. "And I said you could have one if I could catch from behind."
"You can watch from behind the fence like everyone else." A deep scratchy voice said from behind us. I turned to see Mr. Williams. He rarely made appearances, especially outside.
Justin scowled and looked like he was about to argue.
"If you still want to come here and use the cages for catching, then you'll listen to me and vacate the cage." Mr. Williams said firmly.
Justin slowly left the inside and moved to the spot just outside the fence, lining up with home plate.
I looked at Kaylee.
She gave a small shrug. "Okay, not a bad start at confronting others. Got some outside help, but that'll happen sometimes with good samaritans." She patted me on the shoulder. "Go ahead. I'm going to watch you for a little bit as I stretch and then I'll go to softball cages."
I nodded. I set my bag down and got my helmet out. Put it on along with the batting gloves. I chose a bat and took my bag inside with me as it had the tokens.
"Stay in there as long as you want, Jake." Mr. Williams told me.
I glanced at him, then at the catcher, then back at him.
"Don't mind him." Mr. Williams ordered. "He's had more time in there than everyone else combined."
"It's not like it's frequently used." Justin muttered.
With Mr. Williams blessing, I put my token in and set up as a righty. I did ten hits. Put a new token in and set up as a lefty. Ten more hits. I glanced back at Mr. Williams, and he nodded for me to continue so I did. Right. Ten. Left. Ten. Right. Ten. Left. Ten. Right. Ten. Left. Ten. Right. Ten. Left. Ten. A hundred hits. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
At some point, a crowd had developed behind me. Justin. Mr. Williams. A few other teenagers, mostly boys. A few men. Old and young. I spotted Alisha and Noah off to the side, looking my way. I headed for the exit, picking my bag up.
"Are you done?" Mr. Williams asked.
I nodded. "Yea, I feel better. Thank you."
Mr. Williams chuckled. "You looked like you were zoned in. Might want to check that bat over and make sure you didn't crack it."
I grimaced. Oops. Didn't pay attention too much to it. But thankfully I had a lot of backups.
"Could you have kept going?" Justin suddenly asked.
I nodded. "Yea." I let my arms hang at my sides. "I'm not supposed to overdo it though. We have three games this week." I slowly squeezed through the small crowd to my friends.
"Will you be back next Sunday?" Justin asked very loudly.
I tried not to visibly flinch. I glanced back at him to give him an answer though. "Maybe."
"Can I be in the cage with you then?" He asked.
I made a face. "It's not like I need a catcher behind me."
"I want to see what it looks like."
I didn't get it. I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe." I caved a little, feeling bad.
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