ARABELLA ⇢ BENNY RODRIGUEZ

seven

It was just Arabella's luck that Phillips was pitching, so she knew he'd do something to catch her out - and she was ready.

Phillips threw the ball towards Arabella, and she swung her baseball bat backwards before following through and hitting the ball.

Her eyes widened as she watched the ball fly through the air before dropping the bat and running.

As she ran, she listened to the cheers of her friends and smiled, looking over at Benny, who clapping for her to run on.

Arabella passed the first and second base due to the fact that the boys had to run far to get it. But once she was halfway past third place, they'd caught her out.

"PICKLE!" She heard Ham yell.
Arabella's heart began to beat faster - she'd never been caught out like this before and was pretty certain that she wasn't getting out of it.

Arabella ran back and forth as the boys cheered her on. She was beginning to run out of breath and she felt as if her legs were about to fall off. But that was when she heard Benny shout: "NOW!"

Arabella saw that the boy at fourth base, had ran forward to catch the ball that was thrown a shorter distance. She took the chance and ran to the fourth base, passing it within a second.

The boys cheered and ran up to her and she bent down and rested her hands on her knees. She laughed. "I never wanna get stuck in that position again." Arabella breathed out.

Benny laughed as she straightened herself up. He pulled her into a hug. "You did great."

"Hey, Rodriguez! No time to congratulate your girlfriend!" Phillips yelled.
"Where has all of this girlfriend stuff come from? Geez." Arabella whispered, making Benny laugh to hide the fact that he was actually heartbroken at what she said - maybe she wasn't enjoying it as much as he was.

Benny was last to bat, and he scored the winning point. The Sandlot group cheered as Benny jogging over to them, throwing his bat onto the floor and cheering with them. "We won! We did it!"

Arabella looked over to Phillips, who was scowling at them. She smirked and stepped away from her group and walked towards the boy.

The boys noticed that she was heading towards him and quietened down, trying to listen in on what she was going to say.

"I guess I proved you wrong." Arabella titled her head higher with a smirk.
"Whatever, you're still just a girl." Phillips spat.

Both teams looked between Phillips and Arabella in silence.

Arabella folded her arms. "Yes. I hit like a girl, I run like a girl, I won like a girl, I swim like a girl, I walk like a girl and I wake up like a girl because I am a girl. And there's nothing wrong with that. Girls are amazing, Phillips. They can do anything boys can do. I just proved that. So get the hell out of here."

Phillips' cheeks heated up as he angrily yanked his glove off and threw it to the ground.

"You're awfully quiet." She grinned.
Phillips didn't reply. He just narrowed his eyes at her before walking away.

Arabella spun around on her heel to face the boys. They all cheered and clapped as Benny jogged up to her with a beautiful smile on his face.
"I guess I can finally tell Scotty I'm getting some confidence." Arabella smiled.

"Hell yeah, you are!" He exclaimed, pulling her into another hug, making Arabella's stomach flip.

"We're all gonna celebrate tonight at the carnival - and bring Smalls too." Benny said.
Arabella nodded and smiled. "I'll go get him."
Benny smirked. "See you this evening?"
Arabella nodded. "I'll see you there."

Benny watched Arabella run off, away from the two groups and down the streets.
He smirked to himself before chuckling and making his way back to his friends.