Benny Rodriguez, your day one best friend. Literally day 1 you share the same birthday. He's been with you through everything, and I mean everything. He was with you when you figured out your parents died, and he lets you spend the night when things...
June 1, 1962 Your POV I woke up holding the picture of Benny and I close to my chest. I sat the frame on my bedside table. I picked up the watch that sat on table too and saw it was 8:30am. I don't even remember what time we set to be at the sandlot. I think it was supposed to be 9, so I'll probably be a bit late. I groggily got up and walked to the bathroom. I took off the bandages from last night, and saw that the bleeding had stopped from all of them. I put more rubbing alcohol on them, but no bandages since the bleeding had quit. I brushed my teeth and put my hair into a low ponytail. I put some light foundation under my eyes to cover the discoloration from crying, and lightly set it. Then I put on some chapstick. Then I got dressed.
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Once I get done it's around 8:45, so I might not be late. Then I hear a knock at the door, and I assume it's Benny. I pop a piece of gum into my mouth and walk down the stairs. I open the door and it's Benny and he says "Good- what happened?" He looks concerned and lightly grabs my hand to observe my arm. "She broke a glass last night and it got on me." I say walking towards the kitchen to pop a couple Tylenol, and to drink some water since I had none last night. "Can I just sit for a couple minutes?" I ask Benny. He sits down beside me and says "of course Bubs take your time." I lay my head down for a couple of minutes and he starts to lightly rub my back. Gosh these damn butterflies. "I think I'm ready to go. Thank you Benny." I say getting up and he follows me. "You're welcome. I'm always here." He responds putting his arm around me. I lay my head on his shoulder. We walk out the door and I lock it then we walk towards the sandlot.
-time skip to sandlot-
When Benny I get to field we see all the guys there throwing the ball amongst themselves. "Woah, bubbles are you okay?" Smalls asked as Benny and I walked towards the field. "Yeah I'm fine. Just got a little hurt." I say putting on a smile. The sandlot is my happy place, and there is no where else I'd rather be right now. "Ham your up to bat. I'll take catcher Bubs." Benny says getting the game started. We all run out to take our positions. Once everyone is to their spots Benny squats down behind the plate signaling for Kenny to pitch the ball.
"Hamilton "The Babe" Porter." Ham yells pointing towards center field like how Babe Ruth did. "More like "The Great Hambino."" I yell to him. All the guys, including Ham, laugh at my comment. "Okay, okay, come on DeNunez." Ham says. Kenny pitches it and then Ham and Kenny get into a funny little spit. Then Kenny gives him his heater. Ham hits the ball and I start to run, but soon realize it's going to go over Mertles fence and stop running. "Ham, you idiot!" We all start to yell except for Smalls who looks confused. Ham just makes little comments the entire time he runs. I run up there and everyone, except Smalls who is in the outfield still, chuck our gloves at Ham once he reaches the plate. "Idiot." I mumble under my breath one more time. Then we all hear Squints go "No!" and we look up to see Smalls climbing the fence. Shit.
We all start to run towards Smalls, and Benny reaches him first to grabs him to pull him down. "Smalls! What are you doing, you're going to get yourself killed!" Squints yells. "Yeah, yeah, truly. What're you doing?" Yeah yeah said to a confused looking Smalls. "You guys were leaving so I thought I'd hop the fence-" Smalls gets cut of by Squints and he says "if you were thinking you wouldn't have thought that." Oh goodness, I wonder what his English grade is. "You can't go back there man." Benny says. I'm behind him and I lay my head on the back of his right shoulder as I'm trying to catch my breath from running. He lightly grabs my hands and I squeeze it as reassurance that I'm okay. "Then how do we get the ball back?" Smalls asks. "We don't." Timmy says then Tommy repeats him "we don't." "It's history." Timmy says then Tommy repeats him once again. "Kiss it goodbye." Timmy says then Tommy goes "Kiss it-" "Tommy shut up." Timmy says and I lightly chuckle against Benny's back. "It's gone man, gone." Bertram says. I lift my head from Benny's back and look over his shoulder. Poor Smalls looks so confused right now. "Games over, man. We'll just get another ball tomorrow." Benny says. "Yeah, we will never see it again." I say to Smalls.
"Why not?" Smalls asks. We all know we have to tell him about the beast. I don't necessarily believe in it. I don't think Mrytle is a bad man, or that "the beast" is a bad dog. I think it's some made up legend, but it's still a fun story. I mean, I love dogs so that might be part of it, but I don't know. "The beast" we all respond. "What is that?" Smalls asks looking at all of us. Benny looks down at me and then goes to walk towards Smalls. "Smalls, listen to me. Go to that fence, real slow, and be quiet." Benny says in a serious tone. "But, I-I think-" Smalls starts but the. Benny goes "No, no, no, no, no. Just go, and peek through that hole." Smalls starts again "But I- but I saw something. What's back there?" He asks getting slightly scared now. "It's okay. Just go." Benny responds. Benny walks away from Smalls, back to me. "Just go Smalls." The guys say. We all stay behind. We watch his as he slowly creeps towards the hole. He looks through it and sees the beast. He runs back towards us. "Something got the ball." He goes as he gets back to us. "No shit, really." I say "sorry I'm tired." I say as everyone chuckles. I lay my head on Benny's shoulder. Probably good we can't play for the rest of the day, I didn't get good sleep last night. "What was that thing?" Smalls asks. We all look at each other and say "Camp out."
