The Best Hit

Chapter 20

Benny woke up the next day to his phone ringing. Audrey was calling him. He looked to see who it was and didn't answer. Why was she calling him so early?
It was a slightly cooler, cloudy day today which was better than boiling hot because there was a big practice day for both Rosewood teams. They were to practice and play against each other to prepare for the playoffs. Benny got ready. Literally everyone was at the Sandlot. It was eleven am and all of both teams were there. Benny was the last one to get there. The Bull Pen was looking pretty good and so were the batters.

"Hey man we're already warming up." Aaron said walking up to him. "Cool man I'm just in time." Benny said patting his back with his glove. Benny walked over to the dugout and put his stuff down. Philips' team was on the other side of the area. Emma, Kailey, Shay, Ashley and Lucy had just arrived. Hailee and Audrey were not there yet. Benny turned and saw Emma arrive with the girls. He instantly walked over to her. "Hey how was your night last night?" He said leaning his one side on the tree that they were standing near. "It was good." She said wiping away the memory of their run in with Philips. "How was yours?"
"Good. I just went home. Smalls and I stayed out the longest then we went home. What did you guys do last night?" He said stretching his shoulders. Emma froze. "Uh we went downtown and... we just... walked around." She said trying to come up with a lie. She hated lying to him. Technically she wasn't lying because they did go down town. But still she had promised not to engage with Philips and she did. He could tell she was acting weird about it. "Okay...you sure?" He said with a suspicious look. "Yeah what are you talking about?" Emma laughed unnaturally. "Never mind." He said forgetting about it. "I gotta get back I'll see you later okay?"
"Okay. We'll be watching." Emma said going back to her friends. She could tell him what happened but she didn't want to. It was not a good time. Not while he was in the same area as Philips and not right before the game. Things would not end well.

Benny went back to Marcus. Girls are so weird he thought going back to the rest of the guys. I don't understand them.

After a little while Audrey and Hailee showed up. Audrey quickly went over to Benny. "Hey did you get my call this morning?" She said in her usually flirty, annoying voice. "Oh yeah sorry I couldn't answer. What was up?"
"I was just wondering if the practice was today I wasn't sure but I assumed it was so I came." She said standing pretty close to him and Emma could see from the bleachers. "Thanks for coming." He said ending the conversation.
"That's Audrey?" Kailey said pointing. "Yup. She's the most annoying bitch you'll ever meet." Ashley said. Kailey glanced around to Philip's team. She watched River as he practiced with his team mates. "Is it just me or does River look really depressed?" She said. Emma looked over where Kailey was looking. "Oh, yeah he kind of does." Emma said feeling a little concerned.

The practice game had started then and  it ended at one o'clock. Both teams were having a break and were to meet back at two o'clock for the next game. Emma had gotten a text from an unknown number. Saying "meet me at the maple tree." Which was a little bit away from the Sandlot. What the hell... She thought feeling creeped out. "Who is this?" she sent back. "It's Philips come alone." She wondered what the hell he was up to. She knew that it wasn't a good idea to go but she went anyway. Benny didn't have to know. She felt guilty going but she felt like she had to even though she didn't know why. "I'm just going to run home to get some water. I'll be back in a bit." She said to her friends. "Do you want us to come?" Shay asked. "No it's okay. I won't be long." She said getting up and leaving. She quickly went to find the stupid tree to meet Philips for whatever reason. She saw him standing there. She really didn't like where this was going. "What the hell do you want and how did you get my number?" Emma demanded. "I got it from Audrey." He said. "How does she have it?"
"She got it from Hailee."
"Oh." Emma said wondering why he would ask Audrey. "So what do you want. Hurry up."
"Do you think we can take someone from Benny's team?" He said. "Are you out of you're mind?!" Emma said. "No of course not."
"There must be someone that's sick of being on that team."
"No! No one is! You're an idiot for thinking that." Emma said shaking her head. "There will be someone. I know it." He said stepping closer to her. "Yeah when pigs fly. You're out of you're mind. If this is what I came for then my time has just been wasted." She said about to turn around but she was stopped by him grabbing her arm. "Don't leave yet. Shouldn't we talk about yesterday?" Emma's heart thudded in her chest. "What about yesterday?" She said nervously. "Our little run in at Walgreens. Sorry for being so...harsh." He said smirking. He was very careful of his choice of words. Standing closer to her, he began to run his hand down her arm like he did yesterday. "What the hell are you doing?! I said don't touch me!" She said instantly backing away from him and taking off back to the sandlot. She  left him standing there laughing as she rushed away and was startled to see Audrey standing in a distance by some trees. They made eye contact and Emma bolted away even faster. Why the hell was she standing there and for how long?! Emma thought. Emma's mind was spinning. What was she thinking? She felt guilty and regretted meeting up with Philips but she felt like she had to. That's twice now she had engaged with him behind Benny's back and twice that he for some odd reason had hit on her. This time it was more her fault. Benny would be furious if he found out she definitely wasn't going to tell him. She wasn't going to tell her friends either.