1178 V4 ch26 Wednesday (2)

We restocked our snack plates before going to the living room, leaving Mr. Cameron behind to talk with other adults. Dave casually pointed out Garret's parents, cousin, and uncles to me. Then we saw our own coaches from the high school show up, along with teammates. Old and new.

Guys like Mahki and Kelvin. Pitchers like Ryan and Troy. Julian came with his little brother, Andy. Everyone mingled, chatting with one another and catching up.

Julian came over and tousled mine and Noah's hair. He squatted down. "Look at you two. Back to back champs." He grinned and nodded with approval.

"Yo, we're back to back champs too." Dave got up and gave Julian a half hand shake, pulling him into a hug. "How ya doing, man?"

Julian grinned. "Pretty bad actually. My college team lost the conference championship game so bad that it made me cry."

Dave laughed, Kyle rolled his eyes, and Andy looked skeptical.