ARABELLA ⇢ BENNY RODRIGUEZ

eleven

Scotty, Arabella and Benny entered the Smalls' household and went in their separate directions as part of their mission. Whilst Scotty found his mom to ask when Bill was coming back, Arabella and Benny went on a search for the money in her room.

"Nice room." Benny complimented as they both ran in.
"Thanks. Okay, Benny, you look in the drawers over there," Arabella pointed at the drawers on her bedside table whilst she eyed her drawers full of her underwear. "and I think it'll be better if I look over here."

"Why's that?" Benny questioned as he began to search the top drawer.
Arabella laughed. "Just keep looking, babe."

Within about ten seconds of searching her drawer, Arabella found her spare change. She eagerly scooped the pennies into her hand and shut the drawer. "Found it!"

"Sweet!" Benny exclaimed, running up to her and counting the money.
"I knew I hid it in there!"
Benny laughed. "Why're you hiding it?"
"Scotty attempted to steal it this one time, and he'd never, ever dare to look in there."
Benny smirked. "That's smart - wouldn't work if I was gonna steal your money though."
Arabella playfully rolled her eyes and hit Benny's arm. "Let's go find Scotty."

***

In the end, they needed a little more money to be able to buy a ball, and luckily, The Sandlot boys found some spare pennies.

The group ran out of the drug store and Bertram gave Benny a pen to forge Babe Ruth's signatures.

"U-uh, I don't know, Benny, man!"
"Yeah, yeah, that looks pretty crappy." Yeah-Yeah added.
Arabella rolled her eyes. "It's fine, my mom hardly knows anything about the guy."
"Exactly!" Benny agreed. "She'll never know the difference. This'll just buy us some time, you dorks!"

"Okay, let's go!" Scotty said.
The boys nodded in agreement and they all rushed back to The Sandlot, apart from Scotty and Arabella - who were replacing the ball.

The stuck into their father's room and Scotty carefully placed the ball on the stand.
"Hurry up!" Arabella hissed, since her brother was taking an unnecessarily long amount of time.

"Scotty, Arabella?" Their mom called.
The two siblings spun around just as their mom looked through the door.
"Uh, hey mom!" Arabella forced a smile.
"Hey, what're you doing in here?" She asked them.

"Uh, just looking at, uh, Bill's uh, I mean, uh, dad's baseball." Scotty explained.
"Smooth." Arabella thought.

"You know he doesn't like you touching his things." Their mom said, giving them the look.
"Yeah, uh, I know - sorry mom." Arabella said, taking hold of her brother's arm and pulling him away with her. But their mom stopped them.

"Has he ever told you about that ball?"
"Uh, no. Uh, not really. I-I don't think so... no, no, no he hasn't at all. Uh, I don't know anything about it." Scotty stammered. Arabella mentally rolled her eyes.

"Babe Ruth signed that ball; he was the greatest baseball player who ever lived." Their mom sighed.
Scotty forced a laugh. "Uh, really?"
"He sure is." Their mom said, walking towards the baseball.

"Dad's father gave it to him... maybe some day he'll give it to one of you."
Arabella gave her an over-exaggerated smile as her brother rubbed the back of his sweaty neck. "Neat!"

"Alright, well... we better head back to The Sandlot!" Arabella sighed, hitting her knees. "See you later, mom!" Arabella grabbed Scotty's arm and pulled him away before she could say anything else.

As the two siblings left their house, Arabella bumped into Rose and Susie.
Rose gasped. "Arabella! There you are! Where have you been?"

Arabella turned to Scotty. "I'll catch you up." She said.
The three girls waited until Scotty was out of hearing distance before speaking.

Susie folded her arms. "It's been a while since we've hung out, what's happening?"
"What do you mean?" Arabella questioned.
Rose rolled her eyes. "Okay, Susie, you're being too nice. Arabella, one minute you're hanging out with this and then the next, you ditch us! Why?"

Arabella sighed. "I'm sorry, okay? I've really been getting into baseball and ever since I've started dating Benny-"
"Wait, wasn't the Benny part of the group who insulted you?" Rose laughed.

Arabella paused for a moment, before nodding. "Y-yeah, he was. But they've all changed now, and to be fair, he never insulted me."
Susie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. Why don't you just come out with us for once?"

Arabella sighed. "Like I said, I'm really getting into baseball. If you want, you guys can come and watch us play and-"
Rose shook her head and laughed. "Seriously? No way! Forget it, Arabella. If you have plenty of time to play that stupid game and no time to spend with us, ten just forget it."

Arabella's jaw tightened. "You know what? Fine."
Rose folded her arms nodded. "Okay, well, I guess we won't be seeing you around."

Arabella watched as her two friends strode off. With a small part regretting what just happened, she made her way to The Sandlot.