All you ~ benny rodriguez ~ the sandlot

4. The beast

It was beautiful summer-like Saturday. I decided it was the perfect day to plant some flowers. scotty was finally out of his room and eating breakfast.

I put on some spare clothes that i don't mind getting dirty. and got a sun hat and some gardening tools.

I headed for the front yard and sat down on the pavement sidewalk next to the side of the house. soon scotty trailed behind and sat on the steps next to me. i started digging and planting and repeating that over and over.

I felt someone tap on my shoulder.

"excuse me" a slight raspy voice

I look up to see benny staring down at me, with his dodgers baseball cap on, while I look like a sweaty mess.
i quickly stand up and take my sun hat off.

i then remember what him and his friends did to my brother yesterday and i put my hands on my hips.

"what do you want Rodriguez?"

"no need to get snappy. I was just wondering if you and your brother wanted to play ball"

"after what you and your friends did yesterday. yeah I dont think so"

scotty then buds in "no it's ok Valerie. it will be good for us, but i-i don't have a mitt"

"it's alright" benny exclaimed while reaching in his back pocket. "here you can have this one"

benny is different from what i originally expected.

"fine." i say sternly. "but this doesn't mean because i wanted to go, im doing this for scotty."

"scotty i'm gonna change i'll meet you at the sandlot okay? if they say anything to you just come back and tell me"

"val i'll be fine" scotty says a bit embarrassed because benny is watching us.

"i'll be there in 15 minutes. i better not see scotty running back home rodriguez"

"yes ma'am" he says back as he runs down the street with scotty, leaving me blushing.

'what am i doing'  thinking to myself 'why am i blushing'

I run inside and change into jean short-overalls and a white tee.
before I leave i grab a freshly popped out of the toaster-poptart
"bye mom me and scotty will be back home in few hours" I say slamming the door behind me and running up the street

I finally arrive at the sandlot the same time I finished swallowing my poptart.

I walk into the sandlot seeing benny standing next to scotty teaching him how to catch the ball.

"come on benny my clothes are going out of style"

"they already are out of style squints" one of the kids say

"shut up!"

squints sees me and lets out a disappointed sigh
"and you invited the girl to?"

"watch it four eyes" i yell at him

"cool it squints, she's a good player, and she makes nine of us, plus scotty which we have extra" benny says looking at me. my face start to get hot and i looked away as quickly as i can.

"I should probably introduce you to the guys before you start getting even more angry at them" benny says as i roll my eyes

"this is Timmy and Tommy Timmins, Michael "squints" Palledorous, Alan McClennan we call him yeah-yeah, Bertram grover Weeks, Kenny DeNunez, And Hamilton Porter we call him Ham" benny says as they all spit on the ground when there name is introduced.

i look at them in slight disgust then shake my head.
"let's just get this over with" i say walking up to the batters box.

"go easy on her DeNunez" benny says from behind me. i give benny a quick glance

"don't listen to him, give me the fastest ball you can pitch"
everybody's eyes widen.

"the heater?! a girl will never be able to hit a heater!" squints yells with that awful squinting face he always does.

"yeah, yeah he's right!" yeah-yeah follows up

"oh we will see about that"

"all you" benny says which almost catches me off guard.

as the ball comes flying at me I hit it with a loud
CRASH. the ball goes over the fence.

everybody just stands there with there mouths open staring at me as i run the bases.

"well are you guys gonna say anything?" i say standing at home plate.

everyone starts jumping around excitement and they all run up to eachother i heard a mix of "how did she do that?" and "a girl can't hit like that" i stare at them and let out a small laugh while benny was standing next to me.

"that was good Valerie" he says looking at me with those hazel eyes.

"thanks" I said with a grin.

"guys I can go get the ball!" scotty says running up the fence.

all the boys turn around and start running after him.
"SMALLS NO!"
"SMALLS STOP"

all of the guys pick him off from the fence and start explaining to him why he can't go over.

I stayed at home plate practicing my swing a few times before i walked over there.

when i walked over there they were talking about a "beast" or something and me and scotty asked "what's the beast?"

the boys looked at eachother.

"CAMP OUT!"

Hey guys!! :)
thank you so much for 12 reads in just 2 days. i'm looking forward to the next chapters of this story
i don't think i will be adding the beast much after next chapter along with the babe ruth signed ball.
but again thank you so much!