The Hitting Zone

Friday morning, we all woke up to a surprise. Two giant blisters forming on Noah's fingers. He showed them off at the breakfast table, talking about popping them so he could practice today.

"If you do it carelessly, you'll make things worse." Dad told him before instructing. "Make sure to see the trainer after school, but before practice. He's better at handling these things. He treated Dave's alright and he only had to sit out a week or two."

"Dad. That's the rest of the season." Noah rolled his eyes. "I'm not a pitcher. It's not that serious. Pop them. Put on a bandaid. Call it a day."

"See the trainer. Talk to your coach." Mom reinforced.

"I know, I know." He grumbled.

"Jake, don't doze off. Eat more eggs." Mom put a new pile of eggs on my plate.

"Okay." I said and continued to eat.

"Oh yea, Mom." Noah said. "Can we go to Alisha's tonight? Kaylee will be there too. Games, movies, general fun. That kind of stuff."

"I don't know." She frowned. "You have an away game tomorrow afternoon."

"Yea, I know." Noah nodded. "Girls are traveling with us tomorrow to." He tilt his head. "We could just stay at Alisha's for the night and the four of us could go to school together. That would make things easier."

Dave started to laugh. "Did you really just ask to stay the night at a girl's house? You're nuts."

Noah ignored him. "What do you think, Mom? You've seen Alisha's house and met her parents."

Mom didn't immediately refuse.

"Did you even run this by Alisha before making plans to stay the night?" Dad asked.

Dave's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"

Kyle was even more stunned. "You're not actually thinking about letting them stay the night, are you? With girls?"

"It's not like we would share the same bed." Noah shrugged. "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that you don't share the same gender." Kyle pointed out. "Boy and girls having a sleepover? One thing comes to mind: sex."

Noah rolled his eyes. "Maybe to your mind." He smirked. "You do know that guys can also have sex with guys? Girls with girls too. Oh no! Maybe no sleepovers for anyone ever again." Noah shook his head. "You guys are making a big deal over nothing. Alisha's place is so big, we would probably have our own rooms."

"If they're allowed to sleepover, then I should have Marie sleepover." Kyle stated.

"That's not the same and you know it." Dad gave him a pointed look. He then shifted his attention to Noah. "Honestly, I don't think it's the best idea. Maybe not the worst, but it doesn't have the best of looks."

"Right." Mom agreed. "The timing also isn't right. If everyone has a game tomorrow, they should sleep in their own bed for the night." She looked at Noah. "I know you don't think it's a big deal because you're all friends, but a lot of parents wouldn't be comfortable with the idea." She held her hand up to stop whatever Noah was going to say. "Don't think it's just up to us and Alisha's parents. I have a pretty clear understanding of what Kaylee's parents would disapprove of."

"Okay, that's valid." Noah was understanding. "Then can I ask what time is curfew?"

"What time do you have to be at school for the bus ride to the game?" Mom asked.

"Not until after lunch. Like 1 to 1:30." Noah said.

"Okay, then I would like you home by 11pm." She looked to the twins. "Who wants to car tomorrow?"

"Me!" They both answered simultaneously.

"Whoever wants the car, has to be responsible for the younger two." She added.

Kyle hesitated.

"That's fine." Dave spoke up. "I can pick them up on my way home."

"Where are you going?" Kyle was surprised.

"Hang with Garret and the guys." Dave said. "We figured you already made plans with Marie so we didn't invite you."

Kyle frowned.

"Sounds like a plan." Noah said. "After practice and showers, Dave can take us to Alisha's then go on his merry way. Then pick us up like 10:30ish so we're home in time."

Mom nodded. "I agree." She looked to the twins. "Will either of you need money for dinner?"

"I'm good." Dave said. "Garret's dad wants to try out his new grill. Garret said it's going to be like a barbecue taste testing. They have all kinds of meats prepared." He grinned at Mom. "Don't worry, Mom, I'll have some fruits and veggies too."

"No promises here." Noah snickered.

Breakfast ended soon after as we hurried to school. We split from the twins, catching a ride with Mr. Miller to the top of the hill. Noah showed his fingers off and Mr. Miller said that he had to get checked by Drew this afternoon.

"I know. Mom said." Noah waved.

I waved too. "See you later."

"Let's go." Noah was on the move. I followed him through the halls until he found who he was looking for.

Alisha.

"Hey, we're going to get together tonight instead of tomorrow." Noah said.

"Sure." She replied easily with a smile. "Does Kaylee know?"

"I sent her a text on the way to school." Noah said. "She should be here soon."

"Any food requests?" Alisha pulled out her phone. "I've got to let my parents know and I'm pretty sure they'll ask what we want to eat."

"Can't go wrong with pizza." Noah said.

I nodded.

"I think we should try something fun like baking mini cakes. And then we can decorate them too." Alisha suggested.

"We already have a cooking class together." Noah raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want to do more cooking?"

"I watched a Christmas movie recently and they were decorating gingerbread houses so I kind of wanted to do that too. But like, summer theme?"

Noah laughed. "Wouldn't summer theme desserts be ice cream or like sweet fruits. Heck, even pie."

The two talked about desserts for a minute until Kaylee found us.

"So we're going with tonight?" Kaylee asked. "Any particular reason?"

Noah shrugged. "I just think we have more time tonight. We can have dinner and whatnot. Alisha is talking about making little cakes. Tomorrow night, we get home from the away games a little bit late. It'll look too suspicious if we want to hang out after showers and dinner."

Kaylee nodded. "Yea. Makes sense. Plus, who doesn't want to relax after a game? Okay." She clapped her hands together and looked at Alisha. "Is the shopping all done?"

Alisha nodded. "All materials have been bought."

"Your parents are really okay with this?" Kaylee asked.

"Yea. They're the coolest." Alisha grinned. "My dad even wanted to add ideas of his own, but my mom had to remind him that some of that stuff is illegal now."

I became alert. "Illegal? What are we doing exactly? I thought we were just doing the same things as last time."

Kaylee smiled and nodded. "Yea. We are. Plus, some new things." She reached out to pull me closer so she could whisper. "We're going to 'TP' a couple of houses tonight." She looked at me excitedly.

I blinked. And blinked again. Totally blank on what she meant by that. "TP? A house? What?"

Kaylee looked to Noah. "I think we need to watch some movies that show him what we mean."

"Nah. Let him Google it." Noah waved. "We don't have much time to work with. We have to be back at Alisha's by 10:30 so Dave can pick us up."

"Wouldn't it be better if my dad just drove you guys home on the way?" Alisha offered. "That would give us some extra time in the dark. Honestly, it'd be better if you could stay over so we could do this in the middle of the night."

"Yea, I already asked that." Noah shrugged. "No go. Mom knows Kaylee's parents would get upset."

Kaylee rolled her eyes. "So dumb." She glanced at me. "Start looking it up and be ready for tonight. We aren't just hitting one house."