Sandlot duo-Benny Rodriguez-the Sandlot

3

I went to Rebecca’s house a few days after the pool thing. Her dad opened the door. “Hello Mr. Fallow.” “Good morning, Diana. Rebecca is upstairs.” I thanked him and ran upstairs to her room.

Her door was open and I saw her drawing and listening to the Beatles on the stereo. She looked up at me. “Hey.” Was all she said. “Umm… Is everything okay?” I asked cautiously.
“Yeah why?” she said dryly.
“Well. You haven’t come to the Sandlot and we haven’t seen you in days.” I was still cautious with my words.
“And why do you think I don’t?” I shrugged.
“You’re clueless aren’t you?” she was almost yelling now. “What Squints did was so uncalled for and disrespectful!” she was talking about the kiss. I didn’t say anything.
“And you didn’t do anything about it. You even congratulated him!” she was yelling now.
“I mean, you gotta admit, it was pretty good.” I said.
“Unbelievable…” she said disappointedly.
“Wait! I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d be so offended.” I say quickly.
“Doesn’t matter. Go play stupid baseball with your stupid friends at your stupid Sandlot.” When she said this, my blood started to boil.
“I don’t even like you guys. All you do is play baseball and you’re all stupid.”

If there was something I hated, I t was someone insulting the things I love the most. And those three things she said were stupid, came in that category. I wanted to beat her up, but the ‘ladylike’ tiny part of me told me not to.

“I’m the reason you even have friends! Those high school chicks would consider you as garbage! We accepted you into our group which we rarely do. We let you into our Sandlot which is a place only we go to!” I yelled.
“And baseball isn’t stupid. It’s the thing we all have in common and you don’t even deserve to have friends like the boys and me!” I stormed out of her room and ran to the Sandlot. Everyone was there.

“Where’s Rebecca?” Smalls asked.
“She’s not coming.” I said sternly. I carried the face that usually said I wanted to beat the shit out of someone, so they backed up.
Benny came closer to me. “Diana, what’s wrong?” he asked with a soft voice. I tried to shrug it off, but he grabbed my waist and asked me again. I felt something inside but ignored it. “I’m fine Benny, let’s just play.” I turned away again.

There’s no way I could feel something for my best friend. No way. We played for a while and it was my turn to bat. I was relieved, I need to hit something real hard right now. I went up and hit the balls out of the field so many times we only had a few balls left. Out supply of baseballs from Mr. Mertle was getting smaller. Then it was Benny’s turn again.

He sent me worried glances sometimes and I just ignored it. We played all day until it was 6 pm. We were walking home and I said goodbye to everyone before turning to my house which was on the opposite of Benny’s.

“Diana, wait!” I turned around.
“I need you to tell me what’s going on.” “nothing’s going on.” “that’s not true.” He cut me off. I sighed. I couldn’t lie to my best friend.

“Rebecca thought the thing Squints did was ‘disrespectful’ and she said baseball was stupid and we were stupid and that the sandlot was stupid.” I let out.
“Right.” He knew me. He knew what I’d do in situations like that and understood my frustration. We were quiet, but then he hugged me. And I had no idea how much I needed that hug. I felt this same feeling I felt earlier today at the Sandlot and couldn’t make it go away.

We broke apart and both walked back to our houses. I got inside and looked through the window. I saw his smiling at my house and it warmed my heart and I smiled too.

“Whatcha lookin’ at?” I heard a voice say and I jumped. I saw my aunt standing close behind me. Right. I live with my aunt Marisa. She’s from New York and started taking care of me together with my mom when my dad left.

“Nothing.” I said and started to walk away.
“you were looking at Benny, huh?” She said in a thick Brooklyn accent. She was a cool aunt. The boys completely loved her. She was younger than my mom and had great hair and sense of style.
“What? No.” I said unconvincingly. She eyed me and I just ran upstairs.

“What the hell is wrong with me?” I say to myself. “Why did I look at him? And why did I smile?” I heard a knock at the door and my mom came in. She resembled my aunt a bit. The hair was the same, but the skin more tanned. Eyes had the same black color.
“Who are you talking to?” she asked, seeing I was the only one in my room.
“Myself.” I said way to quickly. She just laughed.
“If there isn’t a boy here, it’s ok.” I gave her a quick chuckle before she left and plopped on my bed. I found a cassette on my bedside table and put it in the player. You really got me by the Kinks came on and I started dancing a bit. (pretend this song already came out it’s only a 2 year difference)

It was on repeat and I was listening to it for an hour. Which is long for a 2 minute song. Anyway, I was throwing a baseball in the air and catching it when I was called down for dinner. It was our family’s fried tofu with rice. One of my favorite meals. (It really is my family recipe lol)

“So how are the boys? I haven’t seen them in a while.” My mom said.
“They’re good, they’re good.” I said, eating again.
“Yeah, how’s Benny?” Marisa said with a wink. I almost choked on my food. I sent her a glare, but still replied normally.
“He’s fine.” My mom looked at both of us confused, but then somewhat changed the subject.
“Maybe you can invite them for a sleepover.” She suggested. “That’s not a bad idea, mom. I’ll ask them.” I said. Aunt Marisa wouldn’t stop smirking at me throughout the entire meal. Dammit.

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3.