710 V2 ch182 (1/2)

The rest of us looked around.

Noah turned to me. ”You want to sit in the very back?”

I nodded.

”I'll sit in the very back with him.” Kaylee started to climb into the car. ”I don't want to squeeze in the middle.”

Noah looked to me.

I shrugged and followed Kaylee to the very backseat.

That left Dave, Noah, and Alisha in the middle row.

Dave knocked knees with Noah. ”I think Alisha should have sat in the middle of us. You're getting too tall and crowding my space.” He poked Kyle. ”I get to drive us back.”

Kyle started to drive. ”Meh. We'll see.”

”No. Dude. There is no 'we'll see'.” Dave argued. ”You drove us to practice this morning and now you get to drive to lunch. It's my turn to drive us back from lunch and from practice.”

Kyle shrugged. ”Well, I'm holding the keys soo.”

The two started to bicker.

Kaylee looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

I shrugged. ”It's fine.”

”You don't mind sitting back here with me?” She asked.

I looked how close the three in the middle were and nodded. ”Yea. This isn't so bad.”

She laughed.

Kyle drove us to lunch in a relatively loud car. As soon as he parked, we all piled out, thankful that it was a short ride. We walked into the place and spotted Zeke sitting at a long table, all by himself.

He didn't seem surprised by the girls joining us. He just scooted over so we all could fit. I sat across with him, with Noah next to me. Then Alisha and Kaylee. Dave, Kyle, and Marie, all sat on his side.

”I already put the order in for tacos and waters.” Zeke told us. ”No chips and salsa. I don't want you guys just to snack on that before going back to camp.”

”Boo.” Dave complained. ”You're no fun. I don't even get to pitch the whole game anyways. Chips and salsa won't cause any harm.”

Zeke glanced at him. ”Who says you won't pitch a whole game? Do you expect to perform poorly?”

Kyle leaned on the table. ”Do you know something, Zeke?”

Zeke looked at me. ”How was camp this morning? You were without Noah, right?”

Surprised by the topic change, I slowly nodded.

”He had Andy with him.” Dave said. ”He was fine. Let's talk about pitching!” He nudged Zeke with his shoulder.

Zeke glanced down at him, scaring Dave away with just a look.

A server came by with a tray of drinks. He placed them down in front of us. ”The tacos will come in just a few minutes.”

”Sure. Thanks.” Zeke nodded at him.

The server left.

Zeke looked at me. ”So everything went okay?”

I shrugged. ”Probably.”

I shrugged. ”Nothing bad happened.”

”Who was in your group besides Andy?” Zeke asked.

Feeling all the attention on me, I tried not to panic. ”Mostly JV players and incoming freshmen. I only had one other sophomore in the group.” I shrugged. ”I can't remember everyone's names.”

”No one gave you a hard time, right? Like the seniors or juniors?” Dave asked.

I shook my head. ”Not really.”