ARABELLA ⇢ BENNY RODRIGUEZ

fourteen

The group ran into The Sandlot, but Benny was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh my God," Arabella cried. "where is he? This was such a terrible idea, I can't believe-" She trailed off once she heard the familiar growling sound in the distance.

"There he is!" Scotty yelled, pointing in their direction.
"Oh no!" Squints exclaimed, as The Beast caught up to him.
Arabella watched in shock as The Beast ripped off the back of his jacket. She clapped her hands over her mouth to stop any noises from coming out.

Arabella felt Scotty grab onto her arm and pull her back, letting Benny and The Beast pass through - they were heading towards the fence.
"Oh my God, keep running Benny!" Arabella yelled.

Benny took a huge leap and climbed up the fence, and The Beast soon followed.
"It never stops!" Arabella breathed out.

They watched The Beast break through the fence. Arabella's eyes widened once she noticed it was going to collapse.
"Benny, look out!" Arabella shouted as she stood by The Beast's small home.
His eyes widened and he crouched down with his arms in front of him as the fence fell. A large amount of dust filled the air, making it impossible for the group to see what was happening inside the backyard - but here was no noise.

The group stood there, jaws dropped, staring at the mess.
"Benny?" Arabella whispered, taking small steps towards the backyard.

The boys followed her, looking at the dusty backyard in silence.

"Benny?" Arabella called out, louder this time.
"Oh, man." She heard him groan.

Arabella didn't need to think twice before running into the backyard, and stepping onto the fence.
She did stop however, when she heard the groan of what sounded like The Beast.

"Oh no," She mumbled as her younger brother stepped over and attempted to lift up the fence. "Oh no, oh no, oh no!"
Arabella ran up to his brother to help him, but the fence wouldn't move.

"Come on, guys, help us!" Scotty ordered.
To Arabella's surprise, the boys began to take slow steps backwards.
"Are you joking?!" She laughed, using all of her strength to try and lift the fence up and off of The Beast. "He's hurt!"

Arabella turned around and saw Benny walking towards them. He knelt down beside his girlfriend and the three of them slowly began to lift the fence up.
Benny groaned and winced as they lifted the fence up, but The Beast soon jumped up and ran off.

Benny, Arabella and Scotty all immediately let go. Arabella took deep breaths before turning to her exhausted and sweating boyfriend.

The couple stood up and pulled each-other into a tight and loving hug. "Never, ever try that again." Arabella told him, burying her face in his neck.
Benny slowly nodded. "I won't. I promise."

"Woah, woah!" Arabella said, pulling away and jumping back.
Benny followed her eyes towards Scotty, who was face to face with The Beast.

The boys slowly backed away and Benny took his hand in Arabella's. They all stared at the two.

To everyone's surprise, The Beast began to lick Scotty's face, making Arabella laugh. Scotty awkwardly sat there as he licked him.
"Now, that's disgusting!" Arabella chuckled as The Beast began to walk away.

"Where's he going?" Scotty questioned, ignoring his sister's comment.
Scotty followed The Beast, along with the rest of his friends.

They were lead to a wooden shelter, hidden by the fence that hadn't fallen.
"Wow," Ham mumbled as Arabella stood on her tip-toes to look at what the boys were gazing at.

The Beast had dug a hole in dirt and had stored all the balls the boys had ever hit over the fence.
"Now we can play forever!" Benny exclaimed, eyeing the balls.

***

Once the boys and Arabella had collected all the balls, Scotty and Benny decided to tell Mr Mertle what had happened, and had brung his dog with him.

The group were now sat down on the grass with Arabella, counting how many balls they had scored, in amazement.
"See," Arabella began as she sat there playing with the grass - waiting for Benny and her brother to return. "I've always wondered: why don't you just knock on the door and ask if he could get it for us?"

"Then why didn't you say?" Ham asked, throwing a baseball up and down and catching it.
"I thought you'd already given it a try or something... I don't know." She mumbled.

Squints then sighed. "I wonder what's happening in there."
Arabella shrugged. "Who knows, but they better come back out soon - I'm worried."

"Worried about Benny or worried about Smalls?" Squints asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
Arabella rolled her eyes. "Both."

"Do you think you and Benny will last?" Kenny asked Arabella, making her raise an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you're both so long. How do you know you'll last?"

Arabella shrugged, lightly chuckling. "I don't know. I hope we do. But like you said, we're still so young..."

a/n: the book's almost finished :((((