head over heels | benny rodriguez

| chapter sixteen |

Waking up the next morning, I was overly nervous to go back to the sandlot after my week-long pause.

There's no reason for my angst - I mean, the rest of the dinner with Benny was great, and nobody knows about the (almost) kiss thing, so everything was hypothetically fine.

But for some reason, nothing was fine. Honestly, this is the most anxious experience I've gone through since I got here. I had just wasted my third week here, July is two days around the corner, and I'm practically losing my mind over what to wear for my grand entrance.

I settled on a dark red tank top with tiny flowers and my favorite light wash pair of denim shorts, along with my hoops, rings, heart locket, and black Converse obviously. I also grabbed a red baseball cap to shield my long hair from overheating from the sun.

The hat was my dad's, I mean it had his favorite golfing place back in Nevada embroidered on it. It was his "lucky hat" if that's what you'd call it, but it was one of the few things he left behind. Though I've begun to hate his guts more and more as time goes on, I refuse to let go of that hat.

Let's just hope his cap makes today run as smoothly as possible.

-

"God, I really hope the boys aren't too mad at me when I come back" I mutter into the phone as I twirl the white cord around my pointer finger.

"Oh please," Mila groaned through a mouthful of brownie, "If anything, they'll be jumping for joy. Besides, seems like they were kinda worried."

"I know, I know. Just what if they hate me for ditching them!"

"Are you joking?" She laughs through the crackled speaker.

"No, Mila I'm being serious!"

"Dude, they're a group of seventh and eighth-grade boys. The last thing they'd do is stay mad about you skipping baseball for a week, I promise you."

"Eh you're prolly' right, I'm just overthinking it," I sigh.

"I know I'm right, I'm always right we know this!" Mila chuckles, as I prop myself up on my bed. "Look Elle, I gotta bounce, but update me later, mkay?"

"Yep, talk later!"

"Bye!"

"Aurevoi!" I quickly slam the telephone against its base and begin to hustle my way towards the sandlot. Besides, can't be too late today, or they'll think I ditched them for the seventh day in a row. Just had to talk to Mila before I left, in case I pass away later on.

-

After stumbling my way towards the sandy field, I peered around the gate to find the boys clustered around the dugout.

"Gotta face my fears eventually..." I quietly mumble to myself while slowly making my way into view. Sticking against the fence, I manage to get within twenty-five feet of them without being noticed. What a score!

They seemed to be aimlessly chatting about nonsense, giving me the perfect excuse to butt in.

"No game yet? What are yall up to?" I exclaim as I walk towards the group, whose heads all whip around.

"Elle? Is that you? Gosh, didn't believe in ghosts until now!" Squints holler as he shakes his head with a small grin.

Benny glances over at me, explaining that they were apparently waiting for me to start the game, but I roll my eyes.

"No way you, out of all people, would seriously wait on a game of BASEBALL for me to arrive. I don't believe it."

"I swear, the boys can testify!" He exclaimed, pointing at the crowd who all simultaneously nodded in agreement.

"But Elle, care to explain why you haven't shown? Been so long my clothes have gone outta style!" Ham stated.

"Yeah, yeah, Benny said it was "lady issues", but sounds like a crock of shit to me!"

I fumble over my words but manage to spit out a response. "Look, he's right. There was blood all over the walls, you don't wanna know the details." I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air. I got several gasps and horrified faces, but continued my answer. "I also got sorta grounded cause I got caught sneaking through my window after the campout, but I'm here now!" Even though Grandma and Grandpa would never ground me in a million years, what they don't know won't hurt em'.

"I shouldn't have left without saying anything, and I'm really sorry. It was fucked up, didn't mean to worry anyone too much." A moment of silence passed until one of them responded.

"Whatever, no biggie, just don't do it again."

I grin "Really? So we good?"

"Just peachy." Benny joked while he rolled his eyes, tossing me a baseball bat. "Welcome back Ms. Perlman, it's time to play some ball."

"Sounds good to me!"

*

hey guys, sorry for the short chapter, the last one was just VERY long and now feels like a good break between scences. reminder to leave some comments if you've read up to here, and enjoy the new chapters soon!

- alex