The Sandlot: Girl Edition (Fanfic)

⚾️.1

It all started in the early Summer.. And I had just moved into the house across from Benny Rodriguez. I knew he played baseball from school, and also because he always carried a glove. But the thing was, I never knew he'd be the first friend I'd make this Summer.

  "Mama, what's baseball like?" I asked, while eyeing the TV with the sports channel on.

  Alarmed, mama replied,"Baseball? Oh honey, your father loved it.. He used to always hit a home-run, for a rookie."

  "Did he?" I whispered to myself, raising a brow curiously.

  That was the first time it occurred to me that maybe if my father was good at it, then I'd be better at it. Crazy way of thinking for a girl at my time.. No girl that I knew of, would plan on anything like Baseball. This explained why I was terrible at making friends.

When I was 6 years old, my dad moved away to New York, far from us because of his job as a coach. All that's left behind was a old picture of him in his baseball uniform, gripping onto a bat, ready to hit a home run. He was confident, and that's where I got it from. I.. Was.. Gonna.. Be.. As.. Great.. As.. Him.. I smiled at the thought of my idea.

While walking my fluffy dog Ranger, I spotted Benny taking a step from his yard. I smiled and hurried over. Once I approached up close with my wide grin, he backed up a little bit. His shirt, like a cape, swayed along with him.

  "Hey! Benny, right?"

  He nodded hesitantly. "Y..eah." He then, awkwardly glanced down at Ranger and added,"Cute dog."

  "I know right. His name's Ranger." I felt, Benny was in a rush to leave. It got me nervous. "And, I'm Emily. Emily Brookes! We go to the same school! I just uh.. I–"

  "You just moved here. I know." He smiled collectedly, then licked his lips a bit as he peered over my house across the street.

I set my hands on my hips and got straight to the point. "So.. You play baseball, don't you?"

He nodded slowly, yet impatiently.

"Can I play too?" I blurted randomly, with curious raised eyebrows.

He looked so surprised. His eyes stood wide at me. He began to blink but he didn't move, and said,"You want to play.. Baseball?"

"Yeah!"

"I don't think that's.. a thing,"muttered Benny, shrugging. He looked like he felt bad for me but then, he also didn't know what to do. Maybe his boys wouldn't accept me.

"Well.. Okay." I shrugged back, knowing it was only because I was a girl but I wasn't gonna give up.

  Benny began skidding away backwards, snapping onto his glove, as he told me,"Hey! It was cool meeting you, uh.. Emily. But I gotta go."

  "What? Where to?!" I shouted as he skidded further.

  "SandLot!"

  "Sandlot?" I gave it a thought. "Can I come?!"

  He stopped for a sec and looked back. "Yeah, sure! You can come watch."

  "Watch?" I wanted to play.. I eventually stayed put with Ranger and let Benny head to the sandlot without me.

  That night, I went home and watched Baseball, not knowing a thing about the team or any of their names. I only wanted to know the rules of this game. It took up to almost a week for me to figure things out.