A Sandlot Summer (A Sandlot Fic)

~Chapter 5~

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       A few days later, it was barely light out when I got out of bed. I quickly got changed and crept through the house, grabbing a granola bar from the kitchen on my way out the door. Walking at a leisurely pace, I enjoyed the quiet morning in the neighborhood that I had somewhat gotten used to over the past few weeks. Coming to my destination, I jogged into the dugout and grabbed the bat and ball that I had seen Benny leave there the day before.

       Grabbing both pieces of equipment, I made my way to home plate. With the bat in one hand, I threw the ball in the air with my other one and was surprised when I made contact. With a 'crack!' the ball was sent flying towards second base. Had someone been standing there they would have easily caught it and I would be out but I counted it as a win anyway.

       I played my own little game of hit and retrieve for the next hour or so before I started to get tired. Putting the bat and ball back exactly where I found it, I walked back home just as the sun was coming up over the houses. I slipped back into my room completely undetected.

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       Later that day, Ham was up to bat. He was doing his usual chatter before doing the Babe Ruth point. The others laughed at him while I rolled my eyes from the dugout or as it was becoming, my second home. I got to play every once in a while but mostly left the boys to it. Ham swung and missed by a mile. Benny got to his feet from his crouched position with a 'whoa!' of fake disbelief. The others laughed and I couldn't help as a small laugh bubbled from my own lips.

       "You call that pitching? This is baseball, not tennis!" Ham called out to Kenny.

       "Give him a tennis racket!"

       "Gimme something to hit!" Ham called out again.

       I decided to stretch my legs by taking a walk around the border of the Sandlot. I got to the back fence when I noticed my shoelace was untied. I bent down to tie it when I heard the crack of the bat and watched as the ball came soaring over my head into the next yard.

       "Ham, you idiot! Now we can't play no more!" I heard Benny yell at the running boy.

       The rest of them started hitting Ham with their gloves and looked prepared to call it a day. It was still early, so I decided I would just hop the fence and get the ball back. I was halfway over the fence when I heard a chorus of 'NO!'s coming from behind me. Suddenly, I was being lifted off the fence and carried back to the ground.

       "Let go of me!" I yelled out, feeling a pair of arms around my waist holding me up. "I said let go! Now!"

       "Hey, let my sister go!" Scotty called, running up to try to take me from who I now recognized as Benny holding me.

       "Holy crap, you could have been killed!" Squints said.

       "Yeah-yeah, truly. What are you doing?" Yeah-Yeah asked through pants.

       "You guys were all leaving so I just thought I'd hop the fence-" I tried to explain but was cut off by Squints.

       "If you were thinking, you wouldn't have thought that." He said as if I were stupid.

       "You can't go back there, Eliza." Benny said. I noticed his hands still on my waist and felt that same electricity feeling I'd started to become accustomed to when dealing with Benny. 'Seriously, what is that?!' I thought.

       "Then how do we get the ball back?" I asked, not following them.

       "We don't." Timmy said.