Once everyone got seated, the man at the front of the room began speaking. "I thank you all for joining us tonight to celebrate the start of Dodger baseball season!" A round of cheering went around as everyone started whooping and clapping. "This year, we will look at our past World Series visits as a way to learn from our mistakes. We are going to make it to the playoffs this year! I have faith in this years team, and the people we have lined up if we need." I give Tommy and nudge, and he smiles. "If you look at your schedules for tonight, you will see that we have a whole slew of people slated to talk tonight and be introduced. So sit tight, enjoy yourself, and I will be back introduce our first speaker in about ten minutes!" As soon as he stopped speaking, a line of servers walked out of what I assumed to be the kitchen. 

I took this as a sign to get up and get my drink, because I had put mine down earlier. When I stood up, Tommy said, "Can you get me my usual?" I nodded, and walked over to the bar. This time, instead of ordering a Shirley Temple, I got a root beer for me, and I got Tommy his usual, a Roy Rogers (Coke and grenadine). I walked back with the two drinks, and gave Tommy his. 

"Thanks Tay." He said. 

"Will you get mine?" Tyler asked. 

"No, I think you are perfectly capable of using your two legs to get your own drink." I responded. 

Trevor laughed, and when Tyler got up and stalked over to the bar, Trevor gave me a high five. 

I looked across the table, and realized that other than us four, the other 8 seats were empty. I frowned. Tommy saw this and said, "What's wrong?" 

"Nothing, I just noticed, these 8 seats are empty. I wonder who will fill them." 

"You'll see." Tommy said, a teasing glint in his eye.

"What do you know that I don't?" I asked. 

"Nothing." he said. I was about to press him for details, but thought better of it. I reached over to the bread basket and grabbed a roll and some butter. I buttered the roll, then took a bite out of it. Just as I finished the bread, the man walked back up to the podium. 

"Alright, our first speaker is this year's manager. He has been the manager for the past 4 seasons, leading the Dodgers to 4 NL West Division Championships, 2 NL Pennants, and 2 World Series appearances! Doc, come on up !" Everyone clapped, and Dave Roberts walked to the front of the room. 

"Thank you. I would like to thank you all for coming tonight, and introduce some special people." He pulled out a little clicker, and turned to the screen behind him. He clicked a button, and a blue backdrop came up. "First up, this years coaching staff!" He clicked again, and a picture of them all came up. I saw that it was mostly the same, and thought nothing of it. 

"And now, the names of this years starting team! The pitchers!" He clicked again, and all of the starting pitchers names came up, and they walked through the door from the lobby. They walked up to the podium, standing behind Dave Roberts. "Next, the catchers!" Their picture came up, and the two catchers walked in, standing by the pitchers. This went on, until he reached the infielders. "And last but not least, the infielders!" The infielders walked in, and right past our table. They walked up to the front, and stood with the rest of the players. Dave walked over to a table on the side, and pulled out a huge box. He opened the box, and started handing out jerseys to all of the players. They all held them up, took a picture, and walked off of the podium. 

Then I realized where some of them were walking to. Our table. I gulped. Oh. No. 

They came over, and one of them patted Tommy on the back, and he stood up to give him a hug. Then I realized how tall Tommy was, or seemed. He was 6'4". Tyler was 6'3", I was 6'2", and Trevor was 6'1". We had a tall family, because my grandpa was 6'5", and my mom's mom was 6'0". Once Tommy was done hugging everyone he knew, and they all sat down, he introduced us. First he introduced Tyler, then me, and then Trevor. Tyler mumbled a hello, I waved, and Trevor said hello with a wave. 

Then, the man came up again, and spoke for a minute, before calling up someone else to talk. I listened, clapped politely, and then when I saw that dinner was being served, I got up to get another drink. One of the guys stood up as well, and I then realized who it was. Cody Bellinger. The star outfielder. Former Rookie of the year. Former National League MVP. Wow. I turned away, and went to get my drink. I turned around, and he was standing there. I said, "Sorry," and ducked away. I walked back to the table, my face heating up. I sat down, and sipped my drink. I sat through the rest of the night, listening to the speeches, and eating my dinner. 

Finally, it was over. I stood up and walked over to my dad with Trevor. We waited patiently, and Tyler and Tommy came over as well. When my dad finished talking with people, he turned to us. He gave Tommy a hug, and then said, "I have to finish up some things here, but I want you all to go home. And don't forget, tomorrow you have to FaceTime your mom. I'll be home a bit later, but it is okay if you stay up." 

"Okay, Dad." Tommy says. 

We walked out together, and when we got to my car, Trevor called shotgun, leaving Tommy and Tyler for the backseat. I got into my car, and turned it on. Trevor grabbed my phone again, and had to wait for me to unlock it. Once I did, he turned on the Linkin Park playlist. But the whole ride home, we listened to that, instead of changing it. 

When we pulled into the garage, Tommy said, "Gang, 10 minutes, backyard, comfortable clothes." 

I walked into my room, plugged in my phone, and took off my dress. I pulled up my hair into a ponytail, put on sweatpants and a tank top and tied a sweatshirt around my waist. I walked downstairs barefoot. I saw Tommy and Trevor there wearing similar clothes, and finally Tyler came down. 

Tommy led us out into the backyard, and turned on the lights. Our backyard had a pool deck that was gated off, and a huge wide open grass area, a trampoline, and a shed for the pool supplies. 

Tommy walked to the center and said, "BCTF!" 

"What?" Tyler asked. 

"Brown Capture the Flag? Remember?" Tommy asked. 

"Oh yeah, I just thought we'd agreed to call it Brown Capture the Flag." Tyler said. 

"Yeah, but I just shortened it."

I ran over to the shed, and grabbed out our flags. One was a rally towel from a couple years ago, and the other was a white LA flag. I walked to my brothers. 

"Ready?" I asked. 

"Yep." They all said back. 

"Okay. On three. One, two, three!" I threw the flags up in the air, and ran toward the rally towel. So did Tommy. So it was me and Tommy against Trevor and Tyler. Tommy pointed to the shed, and we hung it on the shed, which was good because the shed was hard to see. We walked back to the center of the field, as Trevor and Tyler walked back across from us. 

"Ready?" Tommy said. 

"Yeah!" We all said. 

"Okay. Ready!" 

"Set!" I yelled. 

"Capture the Flag!"