Baseball is Life (Benny Rodriguez Love Story)

Chapter 1

(Chloe's POV)

Everytime I close my eyes, I wish I was back home. That is Arizona, where I am from. Now Im here, living in the Valley. My mom was remarried a year ago to a man named Bill who I still have trouble calling Dad. My real father died when I was alot younger, but I still miss him. We moved here for Bill's job, but I already hate it here. I had so many friends and now I'm all alone with just my little brother, Scott. Don't get me wrong, I love him, but he is younger and really annoying. The worst part about this move is that it is two weeks before summer vacation, and I have no friends here. This is going to be a long summer.

As of now I am helping Scott unpack the moving truck. It's extremely hot out and obvious summer is just around the corner.

"Chloe, do you think I'll make any friends this summer?" Scotty asked.

Here is the thing, Scotty is a 12 year old, awkward, shy boy. He is a bit nerdy too. I really hope he makes some friends here cause lord knows he didn't have many is Arizona.

"I'm sure you will, just don't act like a goofus." I laughed jokingly at him.

"Oh, thanks Chloe." he said as he took out the last box.

As I looked up from the boxes I noticed a few boys walking home. One was a extremely hot guy with tan skin and dark hair, he was wearing a blue baseball cap and looked to be around my age of 15.

I noticed Scotty was looking too, so I turned away. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him wave at the kid. In return the boy nodded and went in his house.

We continued unpacking and I was finally done with my room. I noticed scott in Bill's room asking to play catch. Bill's room was full of baseball stuff. That is the only thing Bill and I have in common. We both love baseball, but mom won't let me play because I'm a girl. I used to sneak out of our old house at night and play at the park with some friends. I wonder if they have a place like that here.

I finally decide I want to take a walk around town before dinner.

"Mom, can I take a short walk and look around?" I asked sweetly.

"Yes Chloe, just be home for dinner." she replied. So off I went.

I passed several shops on my walk. There was a barber, a diner, a drug store, and some other shops. There is also a community pool here. I will probably find myself spending time there this summer. As I'm walking I see a tall blonde girl, around my age walking towards me. She came up to me and smiled.

"Hi, I'm Wendy Peffercorn, you must be new here." She introduced.

"Ya I am, and I'm Chloe Smalls." i replied with a smile.

We started walking toward the neighborhood and I told her about myself and why we moved.

"Well Chloe, you seem really nice, we should hang out this summer." she exclaimed.

"Ya, I would love to!" I replied.

"Great, I'll see you around, bye." she replied as we got to my house. I smiled and went into my house.

"Mom, I'm home!" I yelled.

"No need to yell Chloe. I'm right here. So how was your walk?" she asked.

"It was great, I made a new friend her name is Wendy. Hey were is Scott?" I asked

"Oh he went to look around too, he should be back soon." She stated.

"Oh ok, do you need help with dinner?" I offered.

"Yes, thank you."

I helped mom with dinner and we all ate together as a family. Scott was more quiet than usual. I wonder why. I'll just have to ask him after dinner. As we cleaned up, mom wanted to talk to me.

"Chloe can you spend time with your brother tomorrow, maybe talk him around and see if he can make some friends?" she asked.

"Sure mom, but are you sure he wants that?" I asked.

"Yes, I already talked to him about it." With that I went to my room and got ready for bed. Then I went to check on Scott.

"Hey, you were quiet at dinner, what happened? I asked.

"Well, I saw this lot and these guys playing ball and I wanted to try and make friends. I went over and made a fool of myself because I can't play." he said.

"Scotty, I'm sure you will make plenty of friends. Don't worry about that. It was only a few guys. You will make friends, I promise." I said as I walked back to my room.

________________________________________________________________________________

(next day)

I woke up and got dressed. Today is the day I'm spending with Scotty, and I'm hoping he will make some friends. I make my way to the front porch seeing Scotty sitting there. I walked up and sat next to him when I noticed his broken glove and black eye.

"Scott, what happened?" I asked looking at his eye.

"I was paying catch with Bill, but the ball hit my eye, and I broke my glove." He replied. I could tell how sad he was about it. I was about to say something when I was interupted by the cute guy from yesterday.

"I'm gonna go play some ball. We need an extra guy. Do you wanna go?" The guy asked Scott.

"No thanks." Scott replied looking down.

"Why not? Don't you like baseball?'' He asked

"Umm...Ya....but..." Scotty was cut off by the kid

"But what?" he asked quickly

"My glove, its busted,see? I can't go." he repled, not making eye contact. "Thanks though."

"Its ok, I've got an extra one." The kid stated, taking his a glove out of his back pocket.

"Come on, lets go." he said hurriedly.

"Hey mom, I'm gonna go play some ball!" Scott yelled to our mom.

"Ok, but bring your sister with you." She yelled back. I sighed a bit, and that when the guy noticed I was there.

"Ya, you can come to. Lets go." he said and started walking down the street.

"I'm Benny Rodriguez by the way." he introduced. Hmm Benny thats a cute name.

"I'm Scott Smalls, and this is by big sister Chloe." Scott replied. At this point I finally zoned back into the conversation.

"Its nice to meet you." I said.

"Ya, you too." He replied. I looked away from him and saw we were outside the drug store. There was a group of about seven other guys standing there. One was in the middle saying something nobody could understand.

"I'm the Great Bambino!" the kid exclaimed.

"Ohhhh..." Everyone realized.

"Who's that?" Scott asked. Oh my god Scott stop talking. I thought.

The guys started naming off all Babe Ruth's nicknames.

"Oh the Great Bambino, I thought you said the Great Bambi!" Scott lied through his teeth.

"That wimpy deer?" the red head asked

"Ya...Sorry."

"Anyway..." Benny started, "That's Timmy and Tommy Timmons, Mike "Squints" Palledorous, Alan McClellan, we call him Yeah-Yeah, Bertram Grover Weeks, Kenny DeNunez, and Hamilton Porter, but we call him Ham." Benny finished introducing the boys as the each spit after saying their names. Gross!

"Guys, this is Scott Smalls and his older sister Chloe Smalls." Benny said motioning toward us.

"Hey Babe, you're looking good." Squints said.

"Yeah, Yeah you got a nice figure there." Yeah-Yeah added.

"Umm...Wow." I stated shocked. These boys are something else.

"Sorry about them."Benny whispered in my ear making my cheeks turn red.

Then we were off to the Sandlot.