The Sandlot & The girl

Chapter 3

          May 26, 1962
  I woke up to the sun beaming on my face. I sat up, rubbed my eyes, & yawned stretching my arms out. I got out of bed and went straight to the bathroom to take care of my morning needs.

I took care of everything and walked downstairs to get some breakfast. My mom and Alex were talking about how he wanted to get a job considering he was 17.

" Mom I'm 17, I need a job. " Alex said to my mother who was making us breakfast.
" We will go look for job together later today. Maybe you can get a job at that diner you, Valerie, and Kenny use to go to together. " My mom suggested. I thought it was a good idea, maybe I could get a job there also.

My mom put the scrambled eggs on my plate.
She gave me a warm smile and kissed the top of my head.

I was eating my breakfast until there was a knock at the front door. I signaled Alex to go open the door but he just sits there picking at his food. I knew he wasn't gonna get it so I got up and opened the door.

" Goodmorning " Benny said as I opened the door.
" Morning. " I replied giving him a warm smile, I wasn't mad at him anymore considering Anthony made my day better after Benny almost ruined it.

" Would you like to go to the sandlot? " Benny asked me. I decided to put what happened yesterday behind me.
" Yeah, sure, let me get changed. " I said giving him a smile, I ran upstairs to get changed.

After I got changed I ran downstairs.
" Alright lets go. "

Benny walked a little ahead of me.

" About yesterday.. " he spoke up scratching the back of his neck, " I'm sorry, I shouldn't have freaked out so bad, nothing like that has happened in a while. "

" It's fine. " I said giving him a warm smile. Benny returned it and for the rest of the short way to the sandlot we just walked in silence.

We got to the sandlot and everyone said hello. I was really excited to be playing again. I wasn't the pitcher I was on second while Yeah- Yeah took first and Bertram took third.

Benny was batting, he looked cute standing there in his stance. He noticed me staring at him so he gave me the same smile he gave me in the drug store the first day he saw me, once again, staring at him. Kenny who was pitcher, pitched the ball, but of course, Benny hit a home run.

After he got to home we decided to take a break cause of hot it was. We all sat at the dug out and everyone started talking to one other, except me, I just sat and looked at the floor. Benny noticed and came up to me and sat next to me.

" Hey Valerie, what's wrong? Are you okay? " he asked. I looked up into his hazel eyes and he gave me a sly smile. " I'm okay. " I replied. " It doesn't seem like it, you're so quiet. "

I missed my dad, I missed my bestfriend, I missed my old room, I missed everything from home.

" I just miss back home, that's all. " I said looking back at the floor kicking the dirt. Benny didn't seem to know how to comfort me because he was born and raised in the Valley, he had everything here.

" Well what did you use to do for fun back home? " he asked. I thought to myself and replied, " I use to get ice-cream with my dad a lot. I had sleepovers at my bestfriends house. " He licked his lips and began to speak. " Wanna get ice-cream right now, I know the perfect place! " he said with excitement while emphasizing the " perfect place " while bringing his arms out.

I gave him a warm smile and he giggled and told the guys where we were going. The guys looked confused as if Benny has never been seen with a girl. Before we could leave the dug out, Ham was talking to Benny by themselves. I acted like I couldn't hear, but I heard everything.

" What are you doing Benny? Why are you leaving for a girl? Did you not learn from what happened with Sam? " Ham asked.

Benny looked down and back up at Ham, with his lip wet as if he just bit it. " Look Ham " Benny begins to speak, " She isn't like Sam I could tell. "

Before Ham could begin to talk, Benny walked away. He came up to me and smiled as if he didn't just argue with his bestfriend over me. I returned the smile and we begin walking.

We walked out the sandlot, passed my house, passed the diner where I ate with Anthony the other day. We didn't talk, until I began to talk to him about the argument between him and Ham.

" I'm sorry that you guys fought because of me, if you wanna go back you can. " I said looking down. He looked at me and stopped, " Valerie, don't be sorry, Ham just doesn't know what was going on. " He reassured me and we kept walking.

Benny was so nice, I've only known him for a few days and he's acting like my bestfriend. Benny and I walked a few more minutes in silence, it felt nice, I enjoyed walking in silence, especially with such nice weather like this.

The beautiful silence broke free when Benny showed me the ice cream parlor. It was very vibrant with the sky blue, bright yellow, pink, lime green, and orange. Benny grabbed my hand and we raced inside before the line got longer.

Benny let my hand go has we stood in line, I looked down at the thought of his hand holding mine for a split second. Benny looked very amused looking for which one he wanted, as the line got shorter in the front where we were, I began to think about which flavor I wanted.

" Hi welcome to Joey's ice cream parlor what would you both like? " the man behind the counter asked us. " Um can I get 3 scoops of Neapolitan ice cream in a chocolate dipped cone? " Benny replied. I knew what I wanted, I was usually basic with my ice cream, just a 1 scoop of chocolate ice cream in a cup and that's what I asked for.

Benny gave me a kinda confused grin, " Why did you get only 1 scoop? " he asked, I didn't have a reason why I only one scoop, it's something I got all the time. " I don't know, it's something I've always done. " I told him has I shrugged.

Benny paid for the ice cream and we were on our way back to the sandlot. When we were walking Benny kept a conversation asking questions and such. All I could think about was my dad and about how much I missed him and things we would do together.

" Hey are you okay? " Benny asked me. " Yeah. " I replied, I didn't want to tell anyone what really happened and why my parents got divorced, it didn't seem to be anyone's business besides mine. We kept walking to the sandlot, when we got there the guys were all there and Anthony was too. Benny looked furious to see him there.

They began to argue as they both walked up to one another. I asked Yeah-Yeah why Benny and Anthony disliked each other, and he told me that 2 summers ago they were best friends until Anthony stole Benny's girlfriend, Samantha, and they got into a big fight, since then Benny hasn't tried getting a girlfriend.

" Okay guys come on, let's not fight. " Squints said getting in the middle of it. The two boys then backed away from each other and Anthony looked over at me and winked and said he'll see me later. I just smiled and said okay.

After the fight we started to play baseball like we always did. Benny kept staring at me while I was at 2nd. I brushed it off and went back into game mode.

When that game was finally done we all decided to call it a day. I went back to the dug out to grab my water bottle I brought. I turned around to see Benny standing at the entrance.

" Can I walk you home? " he asked, I nodded in response. We walked out of the sandlot and we walked towards my house, even though it was right around the corner. Alex had put a fence around grandpa's house to keep Hercules from running on the sandlot.

" Thanks Benny. " I said.

" You're welcome Valerie, I'll see you tomorrow. " he replied. I smiled and gave him a slight nod. I entered my house and went up to my room. Before I walked in I heard Alex talking to what seemed to be a girl.

" Alex, are you in there. " I said knocking on the door. I didn't hear anything anymore so I walked in and saw him kissing a girl. They both looked up and I gasped and put my hands over my eyes and closed the door and ran into my room.

Me and Alex didn't talk at dinner, due to what I had saw earlier. My grandpa was asking me about how my day was at the sandlot and I told him it was very exciting, telling him I hit 2 homeruns. He told me he was very proud. After dinner I washed the dishes and went up to the bathroom and took a shower and went to bed.