Summer of 62

Chapter 5

There was only one night game a year. It was on the Fourth of July and we all thought it was magical, well, maybe aside from Benny.

I was with Porter sitting at a table and pigging out when Benny and Smalls ran up and started nagging us.

"Night game lets go guys!" Smalls said, pure excitement on his face.

I finished shoving my face with a cupcake and threw my plate away.

We ran through the streets with fireworks and barbecues raging around us.

This was everyone's favorite night. It made us feel like we're playing pro. We all knew Benny already felt like that, so for the rest of us it was thrilling to feel the way he always did.

Benny hit one ball that went way up into the sky. We all looked up but got lost in the lights. Benny ran the bases, the ball hit the ground, and we all stared at the explosions in the sky.

"Beautiful isn't it?" I asked Benny later that night. We were laying in my backyard watching the firework finale.

"Yeah, I guess." He said sighing.

I looked over at him and he looked at me as well. I raised an eyebrow and he laughed.

"Okay fine, it's pretty cool." He said just looking at me. I felt extremely glad it was dark because my face felt extremely hot. I thought he for a second I was sick.

"I better get inside." He said looking nervous as well.

"Yeah it's getting pretty late." I said flinching as a loud firework ended it all off. In the street we could hear people cheering.

We stood up fast and said our awkward goodbyes before breaking apart.

* * * * *

It was late July and everything had been going normal and it was the same as every other day in the summer. I was wearing pants, a long sleeved yellow shirt and my red converse. Baseball, baseball, baseball. But something else happened.

Benny hit the ball out far and everyone started yelling. Squints threw it in and they got him in a pickle. As usual Benny blew by.

The rest of the guys followed him to cheer him on and tell him how cool and great he was.

I stood by Squints.

"I still don't know how the hell he does that every time." I said shaking my head. Squints shrugged and must have heard the noise too.

It sounded like someone riding bike on dirt. I already had a guess of who it was.

Squints and I turned around.

"Oh no!" Squints said, chucking his hit at the ground, at the same time as I said "Damnit." And crossed my arms.

The rest of the guys were now at out sides. Porter was in the front of all of us. He hated Phillips even more than I did.

In front of us was a line of kids on bikes in baseball uniforms. Mostly rich kids.

"Must be easy playing with a bunch of rejects, a fat kid, and a girl." Phillips said smirking at me. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "No offense Sawyer." He said with a wink making Squints fake gag.

"Shut your mouth Phillips!" Benny said frustrated.

"What did you say crap face?" Porter said angry as well.

"You heard me. You shouldn't be allowed to touch a baseball! Even more so for Nancy there." He said nodding to me.

"That's it you little-" I said attempting to lunge at him. Someone threw their arms around my waist and held me back from basically beating the shit out of him.

"Hey Sawyer I said no offense! This is to egg your friends on, not you." He said grinning at me.

"Great." I said hiding my hands in my face. It turned out to be Benny that grabbed me. I felt myself relax a little when he let me go.

"Come on we'll take you on! Right here!" Porter yelled causing Phillips to laugh.

"You ain't good enough to lick the dirt off our cleats, you think wed play on this trashy piece of land?" He said back. They went on insulting each other for a while before Porter brought out he big guns.

"No offense for this Three, you're a hell of a lot better player than him." He said saying the last part loud.

"You play ball, like a girl!" Porter said making even everyone on our team stop laughing. I wasn't insulted. I knew Porter didn't mean anything to be aimed at me. I was glad he got to Phillips.

I was the first one to accidentally laugh. Then the rest of he guys laughed a little too.

"Fine. Let's go play at our diamond. Let's see if you guys play like you talk." Phillips said glaring at Porter.

"Let's put a little bet on this too." He said looking straight at me.

"Oh god." I said loud enough for everyone to hear and some of my friends looked over at me.

"If we win, I get a date with Sawyer, and we get Rodriguez." He said smirking at me.

"No way!" Benny yelled followed by the rest of the guys.

"Fine." I said stepping foreword to right in front of Phillips. He leaned forwards on his bike and smirked at me.

"What are you doing Nancy!" Squints whispered from behind me.

I ignored him and continued on.

"But when we win, you guys have to promise to leave us alone, and never set foot on the sandlot again." I said flicking his hat and smirking myself.

The guys behind me cheered and Phillips little grin faded to a scowl.

"Fine, meet us there in 10." Phillips said glaring at us.

I smiled at him innocently then backed away and joined my friends again. Phillips and his little group rode away clearly upset about what went down.

"You sure showed him!" Said Yeah Yeah.

"I didn't get him anywhere close as good as Porter did!" I said laughing and making the guys laugh as well. Almost all the guys.

"You're insane." Benny said shaking his head.

"Benny come on we're so much better than them!" I said as they were finally out of sight.

"That doesn't matter." Benny said as the rest of the guys started to get ready to head over to their field.

"It'll be fine." I said picking up his glove from the ground and handing it to him.

He smiled a little but I could tell he was nervous.

"I wouldn't have agreed on that bet if I didn't think we could kick the crap out of them." I said as we caught up with the rest of the guys.

Together, with the rest of the guys, we made our way over to their diamond.