The Home Run

School's Out!

Benny's POV

       "Pickle!" Ham yelled. I ran back and forth between third base and home trying to get home. They threw the ball to third and I sprinted to first. I slammed my foot on home plate and sighed in relief. My friends ran at me tackling me on the field. We all got up laughing and talking crap.
       It was finally summer vacation which meant one thing for me and the guys. Baseball every day, except for Sunday. I was Hispanic and that meant that there was no way in hell I was missing church and not spending the day with family.
       Some teachers were handing out yearbooks to students then I saw her, Isabel Juarez. She was wearing high waisted jeans, a white t-shirt with a Dodgers jersey over it, and had her long brown hair in a loose braid, with strands falling out. She was talking to her friends who were also in jeans but in plain t-shirts. She looked beautiful.
       "Woah. Guys Benny's swoonin'." Squints said.
"No, I ain't." I defended.
"Yeah, yeah, you are. You can just see the hearts floatin' around ya head." Yeah- Yeah said.
"Shut up, Yeah- Yeah." I said, hitting his arm, "Well, she is cute."
"Why don't you go and talk to her?" Ham asked.
"I can't talk to her," I said, as we all looked at her.
"Ask her to sign your yearbook," Timmy said.
"Ask her to sign your yearbook," Tommy repeated.
"Do any of you have a pen or pencil or somethin'?" I asked. The guys all shook their heads, "Of course not."
I took a deep breath and started walking over to her. One of her friends saw me walking over and turned whispering something to her. She smiled and laughed, blushing a bit. Did she like me? I felt my adrenaline start to rush as I got closer to her. Finally, I got up to her.
"Hey, Benny," she said, smiling.
"Hey, Izzy." I returned the smile.
"How are you?"
"Good, thanks. You?"
"I'm..." she thought for a moment, ", all right."
"That's good," I said, giving her a small smile.
I always felt bad for her. Her dad was an alcoholic and he wasn't a happy drunk. She would wear long sleeves and pants to hide her bruises. She wouldn't tell me much but when she did, she made me promise not to tell anyone.
"Would you sign my yearbook?" she asked.
"Sure. Will you sign mine?"
"Of course." we both exchanged books.
"Could I borrow a pen?" I asked her friends.
"Sure thing, Benny." one said, winking at me.
"Thanks," I said, taking it from her. I wasn't sure if it was because she liked me or was hinting that Izzy liked me. I thought for a bit and then started writing.

'Izzy, maybe this summer we can,
well if you want you could come and hang
at the Sandlot with me and the guys.
We could use someone to cheer for us.
We'll talk about it. I'll be seeing you.
-Benny'

We finished writing and handed our books back to each other. We both looked at each other and smiled again.
"I'll probably see you tonight." she said, putting some loose strands of hair behind her ear, "You know, being neighbors." she laughed a bit.
"Yeah. I'll see you later." I laughed a bit too, "I'm gonna go then."
"Okay. Yeah, I'll see you later." she blushed.
"Definitely. Bye, Izzy." I started walking away.
"Bye, Benny," she said and turned towards her friends.
I heard her and her friends start laughing and I saw my friends smirking at me.
"Well, what did she write?" Squints asked. I opened my book to see what she wrote.
" 'Rodriguez, I hope you have a great summer. Hopefully, we can hang out sometime. Thank you for always being there for me. Maybe, if your friends don't mind, I could go play ball with you guys. I'll see you around, neighbor. - Izzy <3' " all the guys 'ooo'ed when I finished reading.
"She plays ball?" Squints asked.
"What girl can play ball?" Bertram asked.
"What girl knows about baseball?" Kenny asked.
"Can girls even play ball?" Timmy asked.
"I wrote that she could come and cheer for us." I facepalmed, "I didn't know she played ball!"
"Bad guess?" Yeah- Yeah questioned.
"Really bad guess," I said, hating myself.
"Wait, she put a heart!" Kenny said, causing the guys to shove and nudge me.
"You know what that means, right?" Bertram asked.
"No," I said, looking at the guys.
"Yeah, yeah, you do." Yeah- Yeah said, wiggling his eyebrows at me.
"You guys think she likes me?" I asked.
"Of course she does!" Ham said, hitting my arm, "Bring her by the Sandlot tomorrow morning. We'll go easy on her and you can make up for what you wrote."

*~*

*CRACK!*... *CRACK!*... *CRACK!*...

"What the?..." I looked at my clock, it was 8:00. I got off my bed and walked out to my backyard. I didn't see anything.

*CRACK!*

"Son of a bitch." I heard a girl say. It was Izzy. Then I heard a bat hit the ground, "Ugh!" I walked up to the fence as quietly as I could and looked over to see her lying on the ground looking up at the stars. She had her hands on the stomach, a bat on her right side, a baseball hat on her left, and wasn't wearing the jersey anymore.
"You hit a home run?" I asked.
"Sorta." she sighed, pointing up at the tree. There was a string wrapped around a limb and on the end was a ball.
"You gonna get it?"
"Eventually," she said, getting up and putting her hat on backward.
"I didn't know you played until I read my yearbook and saw you just now," I said, looking at her bat.
"I'm glad you brought that up." she said, crossing her arms, "I'm not all that fond of you saying I can be your guy's cheerleader. Besides, how have you not heard me out here before?"
"Sorry about that. I must've been at the Sandlot." I said, looking at her.
"The Sandlot?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. It's where the guys and I play. That's probably why I didn't know you played."
"Trust me, Rodriguez, there's a lot of things so don't know about me," she said, getting me to blush a bit.
"Again, sorry about that," I said, rubbing the back of my neck.
"Don't worry about it. More importantly, were you spyin' on me?" she asked, changing the subject.
"No. I heard cracking and curiosity got the best of me."
"Curiosity killed the cat."
"Not yet." I smirked at her, "What are you doin' out here anyway?"
"Dads fighting with mom again. I wanted to get away from it for a bit. It's the usual..." she leaned her back on the fence and looked at the stars thoughtfully.
"Did you see the moving truck after school?" I asked.
"Yeah. You see the kid?"
"Yeah. You?"
"Yup. Bet he gets straight A's and shit," she said, laughing a bit.
"Should I invite him to the Sandlot?"
"I don't know. He didn't seem like he knew anything about baseball, but then again neither do I."
"Do YOU want to come to the Sandlot tomorrow? The guys said they'd take it easy on you." I said, hoping for her to say yes.
"Take it easy on me? They must think I'm just some stupid girl who doesn't know baseball? Am I right?" she rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Boys."
"So you wanna come?" I asked, hopefully.
"Time?"
"8:00."
"Dress code?"
"Jeans and a t-shirt."
"Bring my own glove?"
"Yup."
"Wait for me outside my house or vice versa. Whoever gets ready first waits for the other."
"So you'll go?" I asked.
"Yes. I'll see you tomorrow morning." she smiled, "Bye, Rodriguez."
"Bye," I said, watching her pick up her bat and go inside.