𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟'𝑠 𝑆𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟

Two

My human alarm clock came and woke me up at 7:30. I told Ham to get out so I could get ready. I put my hair into two french braids and brushed my teeth. I put on my outfit (see the outfit above) and threw on my converse. I ran downstairs and saw all the guys sitting in the living room, I went into the kitchen to grab a granola bar. Then someone grabbed me from behind and hoisted me over their shoulder and yelled, 'I caught Jackie Robinson!' It was an inside joke we had, I ran the fastest on the team and my name for the boys was Jackie Robinson. So at random times, someone would yell I gonna catch Robinson and chase me. I would win obviously.

"Put me down Bertrum! I'm hungry" I giggled.

"Now you all owe me $0.25." Bertrum declared, throwing me on the couch.

I got up and grabbed my granola bar, taking a bite and grabbing a seat near Benny on the floor. He smiled and said hello which I returned. Squints shot to his feet and began to argue with Bertrum.

"You didn't say I'm gonna catch Robinson so it doesn't count. You have to say it first!" Squints yelled.

Bertrum rolled his eyes and they fought. I could tell the rest of the boys were getting annoyed and Benny began to practice swinging his bat in the house.

"OK! Bertrum didn't catch her! Can we go now?" Ham yelled.

The two stopped fighting and nodded that we could leave. We filed out of the house and began to walk to Smalls's house to pick him up. I heard some of the boys whispering. When I turned around they stopped and smirked at me. I readied my board to go on it when I heard some magic words.

"I'm gonna catch Robinson!" someone screamed.

I hopped on my board and rode away. Some of the boys chased after me and the other yelled that it wasn't fair. I ignored them and continued to ride to the drug store, I had some money with me so I decided to buy the ball today. I walked out opening the box and throwing away the wrapping around the new baseball. I heard some male voices approaching my way, I figured it was the boys coming from Smalls's house, but that was way too quick for them to be here. I looked up to see 9 boys on bikes coming right at me, the one that led the boys was me, and the guys's worst enemy, Phillips. He had brown eyes and brown hair, he was somehow taller than me by a few inches, Phillips always had a smirk plastered on his face.

"Well if it isn't the hottest Porter. Where the rest of the guys gorgeous?" Phillips asked hopping off his bike.

I looked at the rest of the boys he was with, they all wore the same thing, white jersey, and pants, red socks, blue hats, and red and white baseball jackets that said Tigers on it. I rolled my eyes at Phillips, he had a HUGE crush on me and would stop at nothing to make me his.

"The guys will be here soon. So I better leave if I were you." I mumbled not looking him in the face.

Phillips and friends made oo noises and surrounded me. I tried to push my way out with my skateboard in hand, it was no use they were all stronger than me. Phillips strode up to me, he lifted my face to his with his index finger and thumb; I jerked my head away and glared at him.

"Woah, calm down sweetheart. No need to be mean," he said with a flirtatious tone.

I turned my back toward him and began to push past his friends when he grabbed me by my waist and pressed our bodies together. I was disgusted by mostly scared. What would Phillips do to me? Where in the hell were the boys? Thoughts raced through my brain as Phillips held us together.

"Get. Off. Of. Me." I spat in disgust.

Phillips only grabbed me tighter and chuckled. He leaned in and was about to kiss me when I heard Ham, Yeah-Yeah, Bertrum, DeNunez, Squints, Tommy, and Timmy. I screamed for them and they hauled ass toward us. They pushed through the circle and ripped Phillips away from me, Bertrum, and Yeah-Yeah dragged me away from Phillips and checked me over to see if I was hurt.

"Guys I'm fine. The most he did was hold me and that's it! No hitting this time." I said.

The last few encounters I had with Phillips and his gang they would punch me and that stuff. The guys were not happy when they found bruises all over me, you should have seen Benny, Yeah-Yeah, and my brother. I could tell murder was on their minds.

"And stay away from her Phillips!" Ham shouted kicking the back of his bike.

When Phillips left I told the rest of the guys what happened. They calmed down and sat around playing games while we waited for Benny to arrive with our new player. Ham stuck some candy in his mouth and told us to guess who he was.

"I'm hmm hm hmmhm," he grunted.

"What?" we all asked

He mumbled the same thing and once again we asked 'what'. Ham got pissed and finally said ripping the candy out of his mouth.

"I'm the Great Bambino!" he shouted.

"Who's that?" someone asked.

We all looked up to see Benny with Smalls. The guys mouths dropped and stood up to insult Scotty.

"Were you born in a barn, man?," Bertrum asked.

"Yeah, Yeah what planet are you from?," Yeah-Yeah asked as well.

"You've never heard of the Sultan of Swat?" DeNunez commented.

"The Titan of Terror?" I asked.

"The Callous of Clout," Timmy said which Tommy repeated.

"The King of Crash, man," Benny said nudging his arm.

Smalls looked around at us then said, "Oh. yea! The Great Bambino. I thought you said the Great Bambi."

My brother looked appalled, "That wimpy deer!?!"

Smalls shrugged. Benny cleared his throat and looked at us. We lined up standing in "cool" positions with our arms crossed.

Benny began to introduce us, "That Timmy and Tommy Timmons. Michele 'Squints' Pelledorous. Alan McCellan-- we call him Yeah-Yeah. Bertrum Grover Weeks. Kenny DeNunez. Hamilton Porter-- we call him Ham. And Jacklyn Porter-- we called her Jackie or Jackie Robinson."

After Benny introduced us the boys spit on the ground, I cringed. Benny told us information we already knew, that the kid's name was Scotty Smalls and that he makes ten players for an extra at-bat. The boys spit some more and I walked toward Benny.

"So uh what did I miss while picking up Smalls?" he asked.

The boys suddenly got quiet. I looked away and handed Benny the new ball. He asked what happened again.

"Phillips came by and tried to kiss Jackie, but we stopped him," Tommy said proudly.

Benny's eyes widened, then did a check over to make sure there were no bruises. He was satisfied and let me go.

"How many more times will this happen?" Benny whispered to himself and grabbed my hand.

"Who's Phillips? What do guys have against him?" Smalls asked.

Ham and Yeah-Yeah explained that Benny used to be friends with Phillip and that they played little league together. As time went on Benny began to hang out with us more and play ball with us. Phillips got jealous and called us names and rejected Benny. Once Phillips laid eyes on me, which was at Benny's last game with them, he fell in love and tried to get us to date. I never wanted to so I ignored him.

"So he's mad because Benny quit his team to play with you?" Smalls asked again.

"That's only half the reason. The other half is..." Benny explained but trailed off not wanted to tell more.

I was the second half why Phillips hated us. I didn't date him and the guys would always say I was off-limits to him.

"What's the second half?" Smalled interrogated.

No one answered, we all walked to the sandlot in silence, but when we got there the boys began to complain about how Smalls couldn't catch or throw.