hard knock life ◇ sandlot

✖ | chapter eight

WHEN BENNY ARRIVED back in the treehouse, the scene that unraveled before him was...well...interesting...

"say it, mcclennan!" ham screeched. yeah-yeah, trapped beneath ham's body squirmed desperately beneath him, before finally smacking his palms against the wooden boards.

"alright, alright, i give!" he whined, and ham rolled off of him, a smug look on his face. that was just what he needed - a boost on his ego.

"see, denunez? i told you. no one's a match for the great hambino!" he bellowed, throwing his arms in the air. squints chucked a pillow at his head, and the boys erupted in laughter.

"...whoa...what did we miss?" denunez shook his head, a chuckle leaving him as ham sat down.

"a pretty weak game of truth or dare."

benny smirked, and plopped himself back down.

"i think it's yeah-yeah's tu-"

"yeah yeah, it's my turn!" he interrupted, finally standing up and brushing himself off. he turned his attention to ham.

"ay, ham - dare ya to...um..."

yeah-yeah frowned, as he seemed to be in deep thought. squints beamed and leaned over, whispering something in his ear. yeah-yeah instantly started howling with laughter.

"yeah yeah! ham, dare ya to act like a lady an' flirt with denunez!"

the boys all oohed, and denunez threw his hands in the air.

"aw, c'mon, why's it gotta be me?"

the boys all snickered at his reaction, and jam shrugged his shoulders, never having been one to turn down a dare. he made his voice all high-pitched, and pranced over to kenny.

kenny's face showed pure disgust - much like when smalls had ran all the way in from the outfield to hand him the ball.

"oh, denunez, my darling lover boy!" he draped a hand over his head, pretending to swoon. kenny, clearly uncomfortable and disgusted, shoved him away.

ham, along with everyone else but denunez snickered.

"alright, boys, it's my turn." ham said smugly, propping his hands behind his head. he pointed directly to smalls, and the room suddenly went quiet, their smiles vanishing.

ham was brutal.

"smalls - follow me." he shoved his sneakers back on and waddled down the stairs, smalls close behind.

the other boys quickly followed.

"...ham-" benny started, jogging up to the two. ham placed an overly-friendly grin on his face and patted benny chest.

"benny. babe. scotty's a big boy."

and with that he turned on heel and proceeded towards his house, Smalls in pursuit.

the boys all jogged after him, stopping in the road to watch as ham slowly opened his front door gesturing for smalls to follow.

the boys all glanced at each other, before timmy suddenly snickered, shaking his head.

"He's dead as a door nail."

"He's dead as a door nail." tommy parroted, and they all crept into the porter residence.

ham was in the living room, seemingly having waited for the guys to catch up. once they were all gathered around him, he started off down the hall.

"...what's he doing...?" squints wandered aloud, and they all followed ham to his room.

baseball posters were lazily plastered on the walls, dirty clothes were strewn about the floor. it was exactly how you'd expect his room to look. it had a weird stench to it, as well.

ham finally seemed to spot what he was looking for, which was located beside his bed side table.

"here ya go, smalls." he beamed, handing him the cup. inside was the disgusting, three week old curdled milk. the boys stared in horror.

"dare ya to chug it."

smalls shook his head and turned to the guys, a desperate look in his eyes.

"no...no, i can't-"

benny approached the stuttering blonde, and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "you can do this, man. just one chug, and it's gone. done."

smalls looked as though he were about to cry. he slowly raised the cup to mouth, and recoiled in disgust.

"i-"

"c'mon, smalls, we don't got all day!" ham hissed, tapping his foot impatiently.

smalls finally brought the cup to his lips and downed the milk. the boys snickered.

"i don't...feel so good..." he groaned, clutching his stomach.

"wow, smalls...you actually did it!" ham snickered. benny rubbed his back and shot ham a glare.

"bitchin'!"

"yeah yeah, way to go, smalls!"

they all attempted to comfort him, but when the group was back on the road, scotty doubled over, and tossed his cookies.