The Home Run

Pool!

Benny's POV

       The guys, Izzy, and I were sitting in the dugout drinking cold pop from Timmy and Tommy's mom.
       "Where are they!?" Izzy questioned, laying in the dirt.
       "Why are you laying on the ground?" I asked, smiling.
       "Heat rises. It's cooler down here." she said, wiping sweat from her brow, "Benny, it's too damn hot. I mean, do you ever see me in shorts in public?"
        "Sorry sweetheart," I said, handing her a bottle of pop and looking at her bruised legs and arms.
       "What'd you just call me?" she asked, taking the pop and blushing a bit.
       "Ummm...." I felt myself go red, but just then Yeah- Yeah and Squints walked up to us, "Where you guys been? We've been waiting here forever already."
       "Ah, Squints was pervin' a dish," Yeah-Yeah said, handing me the ball.
       "Shut up. I wasn't." Squints defended.
"Yeah, yeah, you were. Your tongue was hangin' outta your head, and you was swoonin'!" Yeah- Yeah imitated Squints, "Oh, Wendy Peffercorn, my darling lover girl."
       "I said shut up! I've got a lot of things on my mind." Squints said, upset.
       "Like Wendy Perffercorn?" Izzy asked. She got the guys to laugh as Squints turned a scarlet red.
       "This pop isn't working, Benny. I'm baking like a toasted cheeser! It's so hot here!" Ham said.
       "It's 150 degrees out there. You can't play baseball." Squints said, "You gotta call it for the day.
       "You gotta listen to him, Benny," Bertram said. The guys and Izzy all agreed.
       "Vote then." I said, "Anybody who wants to be a 'can't hack it, pantywaist who wears their mama's bra, raise your hand."
All the guys raised their hands and talked in agreement.
       "What the hell?" Izzy asked.
"You know what I mean," I said, feeling bad.
"Mm-hmm," she said and raised her hand with the rest of the guys.
       "Fine, fine, fine! Be like that. So what are we gonna do?" I asked.
       "Oh, oooh." Yeah- Yeah said, smirking and looking at the guys.
       "Scam pool honeys!" the guys, except for Smalls, Izzy, and I, said in unison.
       "You guys are pigs," Izzy said, standing up and dusting off her back and butt.
       "You still wanna go?" I asked as the guys got up to walk to get their swim shorts.
       "As long as I don't see you checkin' out any other girls," she smirked at me as we started walking to our houses.

*~*

       All the guys ran out of the changing room and jumped in the pool. I was about to when I heard someone calling me.
       "Benny. Benny, come here."
I turned around and saw Izzy. She looked so innocent. I saw her blush as she looked at my bare chest. I walked up to where she was hiding in the doorway to the changing room.
       "I think this was a bad idea. People are gonna see my bruises. What do I do? What do I tell them?" she asked, anxiously.
       "Hey, you're gonna be okay." I said, smiling at her, "Just tell people your bruises are from playing ball."
       "Then people are gonna think I'm a bad player."
       "Or that we have a bad pitcher." I said, "C'mon, you'll be okay."
       "Okay. I'll be out in a minute," she said, gaining confidence.
       "That's my girl," I said, squeezing her shoulders, then walked away. I jumped into the pool and swam up to the guys that were all looking at something, "What?"
       Yeah- Yeah just pointed behind me at something. I turned around and saw Izzy. She looked amazing. Her long brown hair was in a fishtail braid that fell over her shoulder. Her blood-red bathing suit perfectly hugged her curves and her sun-kissed skin seemed a little brighter. She looked like a model.
       "Woah," I said, smiling. She looked around the pool nervously, then looked at the guys and me. I waved her to come into the pool. She smiled and nodded and was about to get in when Philips walked up to her.
       "Oh, shit," Kenny said as we watched him shake her hand.
       "What's she doing!?" Ham questioned as we all created a small huddle.
       "You okay, Benny, man? You look like you're gonna kill him." Yeah- Yeah said.
       "I am gonna kill him if he tries anything," I said, running my fingers through my hair.
       "Then I wouldn't look now." Squints said. Izzy was smiling and laughing. It was like she was enjoying talking to him. Then Philips kissed her on the cheek. My eyes widened and the guys all looked at me.
       She looked back to us and saw us in our huddle, talking. She made eye contact with me. I felt like I was gonna blow up. She quickly jumped in the pool and swam up to us wrapping her arms around my shoulders.
       "Whatcha talkin' about?" Izzy asked.
"Nothin'. Just talkin'." Ham said, looking at me.
"Well, I didn't come to the pool for you guys to talk." she looked at me, "What's wrong?"
       "Nothin'," I replied.
       "Are you sure?"
"Positive," I said, smiling at her.
       "Aw, man," Bertram said.
"Yeah, yeah. Too cool." Yeah- Yeah said as all the guys gawked at Wendy Peffercorn.
       "She don't know what she's doing," Timmy said.
       "She don't know what she's doing," Tommy repeated.
       "Yeah, she does. She knows exactly what she's doing." Bertram said.
       "I've swam here every summer of my adult life. And every summer, there she is," Squints fell into a trance, "Lotioning, oiling, oiling, lotioning. Smiling. Smiling! I can't take this no more! Move!" he swam past everyone to get out of the pool.
       "What's wrong with him?" Smalls asked.
"What's he doing?" Izzy asked.
"Three summers of this. I think he finally snapped." Kenny said as Squints walked onto the diving board.
       "I don't know. But that's the deep end, and Squints can't swim." Yeah- Yeah said. We watched him take off his glasses and wave at Wendy. She waved back, then he jumped off the diving board.
       "Squints!" we all yelled getting out of the pool and running to the deep end.
       "Somebody help him!" Yeah- Yeah yelled as we watched Wendy dive in after him.
       "Come on!" we all said, nervously as Wendy swam to the top of the water with a motionless Squints in her arms.
       "Move back. Move back." a lifeguard said, pushing us back while another one grabbed Squints.
       "Okay, I got him. I got him." another lifeguard said.
       "Come on up, Wendy." they pulled her out of the pool.
       "Everybody move back," Wendy said.
       "Move back. Roll him over." another lifeguard said.
       "Never mind! Never mind!" Wendy said, starting to give Squints mouth to mouth.
       "Come on, Squints. Squints." Ham begged.
       "Come on, Squints. Come on." Tommy urged.
       "Wake up!" Izzy said, anxious.
       "Come on, breathe, would you?" Kenny said.
       "Come on, Squints! You can do it! Pull through, bud!" Smalls said.
       "Come on, man! Come on!" I said, upset.
       "Yeah, yeah. He looks pretty crappy." Yeah- Yeah said.
       "Squints! Come on, man." Tommy said.
       "He looks like a dead fish," Bertram said. We were all on edge, watching, waiting.

(If possible, play:
Song: This Magic Moment
By: Ben E King and The Drifters.)

       Just as Wendy stopped and moved to listen for his heart, Squints opened his eyes, looked at us, and smiled.
       "What?" we all questioned. He closed his eyes and stopped smiling going back to playing possum. Just as Wendy went back to his mouth he put his hand behind her head and started kissing her. Tommy covered his eyes, while the rest of us watched stunned that he had the guts to kiss her.
       "Oh, man he's in deep shit!" Timmy said.
Wendy finally managed to push him off, "Little pervert!" she was pissed. She grabbed Squints by the arm and dragged him out of the pool area. We all followed to the opening of the gate where they threw Squints out and we followed quickly behind him. "And stay out!" Wendy said, still very mad.
       We all ran to the front entrance of the pool where they had already tossed out our clothes and towels. We all grabbed our things and ran to a clearing behind the pool to dry off and change.
       "He's lucky she didn't throw him back in the pool," Izzy said, pulling a pair of shorts on over her bathing suit.
       "No kidding," Smalls said, drying off his head.
       "I'm pretty sure we just got banned from this pool for life," I said, pulling on a shirt.
       "Yeah- Yeah you're probably right." Yeah- Yeah added, shivering.
       "Guys, he planned that!" Ham said, running up to us with Squints behind him. Izzy pulled on a T-shirt on tucking it into her shorts.
       "So what are we gonna do now?" Smalls asked.
       "I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna hang out with my brother," Izzy said, wringing out her braid. Izzy and I looked at the fence and saw Philips looking at her. He winked at Izzy and she looked away quickly, rolling her eyes. I caught Philips' eye and he smiled at his friends and laughed.
       "I'll walk you home," I told her.
"Sounds good," Izzy said, unbraiding her hair.
"Cool, we'll see you guys tomorrow," I said.
       "Bye, boys," Izzy said, the guys all said a collective bye as Izzy and I began walking home.

*~*

       We approached our houses after, laughing, talking, and walking.
       "I like your hair natural." I said, "I don't think I've ever seen it down before. I didn't realize it was so long."
       "Thanks, Benny," Izzy said, smiling and feeling the ends of her hair just above her butt.
"Hey, lovebirds," Danny said from the driveway.
       "Danny!" Izzy said, giving him a look.
"Hey." Danny threw his hands up in defense.
"We're not dating," Izzy said, blushing.
       "You know I'm psychic." Danny said, "You guys are gonna date."
       "Only time will tell," I said, putting my arm around her shoulder.
       "You got that right." Izzy said, putting her arm around my waist, "Thanks for walking me home."
       "Of course." I said, "Same time as always."
       "Sounds like a plan. Bye, Benny." Izzy said as she walked to her house.
       "Bye, Izzy. Bye, Danny," I said, walking to my house.