ARABELLA ⇢ BENNY RODRIGUEZ

thirteen

It didn't work.
Yeah-Yeah was the unlucky member of the group to be lowered into Mr Mertle's backyard - and he was almost eaten alive.

Their next genius idea was to make a ramp, in which a cart with a catapult on the end travelled down it, into the backyard, and threw the baseball over the fence just like that. But still, there was no success.

Just as the ball was about to leave the backyard, The Beast jumped up and caught it in it's foaming mouth.

***

The next morning, Arabella was woken up by someone knocking at her window. At first, she rolled around and groaned, hoping the knocking would go away, but with her luck, it wouldn't.

She turned her light on and rubbed her eyes as she stumbled to window. Arabella opened the curtains to see Benny up and dressed. She then opened the window. "Benny what is it? It's too early." Arabella groaned.

"I had a dream. Get dressed and wake up Smalls. We're going to The Sandlot, c'mon!" Was all he said before running off. Benny soon returned though, with a smirk on his lips. "You look great by the way."

Arabella rubbed her eyes again and groaned. "Yeah, okay, whatever."
Benny then ran off and she shut the window and did as she was told.

***

Scotty and Arabella were the last to arrive at The Sandlot, which meant they were the last to receive that news that Benny was going to jump over the fence and get the baseball back.

Only one kid in history had ever attempted what Benny was about to - and he got eaten - so I wasn't blaming my sister for being so worried. We were all as worried - real worried. Even when Benny brought out the secret weapon: shoes guaranteed to make a kid run faster and jump higher.

"Benny," Arabella said softly, walking towards him as he finished tying up his shoelace. He stood back up to face her. "please don't do this - it's insane." Arabella told him.

"Yeah," Scotty spoke up. "it was my fault. You don't have to do this!"
"Yeah, come on, Benny, man. You don't have to do it - forget about it! It's like committing suicide, Benny!"

"Please don't," Arabella pleaded, taking hold of his hand.
"I'm gonna do it, okay?" Benny whispered. "I have to."
"No you don't!" Arabella gulped. "Please."

Benny's heard broke at the sound of her voice croaking, but he couldn't back out. He gave her a long kiss on the lips before pulling away and slipping his hand out of hers.

Arabella watched as her boyfriend climbed onto a tire, then a broken down car and onto the fence.
"I can't believe I'm letting him do this." Arabella muttered to her younger brother as Benny turned around to look at his friends once more. He gave them a quick thumbs up as the words of Babe Ruth replayed in his head.

Arabella's breath hitched once Benny had jumped over the fence.
The group waited in silence, praying for their friend to return. But the sound of growling made Arabella grab onto her brother's arm.

"Don't worry," Scotty whispered. "he's gonna get that ball and he's gonna get out alive."

The Beast then began to bark, making Arabella almost cry out. But when she saw her boyfriend jump over the fence with the baseball in hand, she cheered.

The rest of the boys cheered too, as he fell onto his back. Arabella helped him up and pulled him into a hug. As the boys patted him on the shoulders, he couldn't stop staring back over at the fence.

"Oh, shit!" Benny yelled, pulling away from his girlfriend.
The group watched as The Beast jumped over the fence. Benny began to run as The Beast chased him. Arabella and her friends stood there with their jaws ajar.

"Oh my God..." She mumbled, before hitting her brother's arm and beginning to run after them.

"Come on, what're we waiting for?!" Scotty yelled once his sister had began to run.
Benny ran as fast as he could as The Beast chased him. Arabella also ran as her lungs begged for air, but she wasn't stopping. Not too far behind, were The Sandlot boys, trying to catch up with Arabella.

Arabella turned a corner and saw Benny almost get hit by car. She almost screamed, but felt a rush of relief once he jumped over the car. At this point, she hadn't realised she'd stopped and that the boys had caught up.

"Arabella, why'd you stop?! Come on!" Yeah-Yeah shouted.

The group continued to run, but they decided to run down the street instead. At first, Arabella protested, but once Scotty reassured her they'd come out onto the road eventually, she agreed.

They soon saw Benny and The Beast emerge from an alley and onto the road. They followed them down there until they reached The Founders Day festival.

The boys and Arabella shouted for everyone to get out of the way as they ran through as fast as they could, not stopping for anyone.

Once they reached the cake stand, they didn't stop to allow the chefs struggling to carry the cake pass. They all jumped over the table and Ham took a finger of the icing on his way.

They followed Benny and The Beast through the pool too.
"Pool honeys!" Ham yelled, excitedly as they ran.
Arabella rolled her eyes and grabbed onto Ham's arm. "Not the time, Ham!"

"Hey, Arabella, what're you-" Was all Rose could say before Arabella sped past her. She looked back and saw Kenny push through the girls, knocking Susie into the pool within the process.

She laughed as she continued to run. "You deserve it!" Arabella yelled back.

"Look out, look out!" They heard Benny shout. "The Sandlot, let's go!"

"This way!" Squints yelled. "Shortcut! Sandlot - let's go!"