The Girl That Made Baseball

5

The next morning, Jess woke up ready to go to the sandlot.

Benny was on her porch, sitting against the step, waiting for the girl.

"Hey" Jess said

"Let's go" Benny said

"Put this in your back pocket, would ya?" Jess held out Alex's old hat

"What?" Benny tilted his head

"Just do it, would ya?" Jess held it out and Benny took it, stuffing it in his back pocket

"We need to go to the drug store for a new ball. That's where we're meeting today" Benny said

"Okay. You go ahead without me, I have something I need to do." Jess said, noticing the new kid on his porch, pounding his fist into his plastic glove. It was broken.

"You sure-" Benny started

"Benny, go ahead. I'll be there soon" Jess said

The boy shrugged and went on his way.

He's walked over to the boy, her old glove in hand

"Hey, we're gonna go play some ball, wanna come?" Jess asked the boy

"Uh, thanks, but I can't" The boy said

"Why not, don't you like baseball?" Jess asked

"Yeah but-" He started

"But what?" Jess asked

"M-My glove, it's busted" He said, holding it out

"Don't worry, you an use my old one" Jess said, holding it out.

"Hey, thanks!" He took it and poked his head inside "Mom, I'm gonna go play some ball!" He said, throwing his old glove

"What's your name?" Jess asked

"Scotty Smalls" He said as he walked next to Jess

"Im Jess. Jess Logan" Jess shook the boys hand

"Listen, about yesterday. Those guys, they really are pretty cool, y-you just gotta get on their good side. Tomorrow at school, you'll have to find me at lunch, Ill help them warm up to you" Jess said

"Thanks" Scott said

"You can call me Logan. I'll call you Smalls" Jess said

"Does everyone call you Logan?" He asked

"Nope. Just you" Jess shrugged

"Cool!" He laughed

Eventually, the two made it to the drug store, where Ham was being stupid behind the store.

"Check it out" He stuck something in his mouth "I'm da gweat hambino" He said

"What?" Everyone asked in confusion

"I'm dat gweat hambino" He said again

"What?" Everyone asked again

"I'm the great bambino" He said, taking the thing out of his mouth

"Ohhh" Everyone said

"Who's that?" Smalls asked

Everyone turned and looked at him, shocked

"What?" Ham asked, blinking his eyes as if Smalls wasn't even really there

Jess looked to the side and pinched her nose

"What, were you born in a barn man?" Bertram asked

"Yeah-Yeah, what planet are you from?" Yeah-Yeah asked

"You never heard of the Sultan of Swat?" Squints asked, chewing hard on his gum

"The Titan of Terror" Denunez said

"The Colossus of Clout" Timmy said

"Th Colossus of Clout" Repeat said

"The King of Crash, man" Benny said

"The Big Bam" Jess lightly hit Smalls' chest with the back of her hand

"Oh, yeah. The Great Bambino, of course, I thought you said the great... Bambi" Smalls covered himself

"That wimpy deer?" Ham asked, acting offended

"Yeah, I guess... uh, sorry" Smalls said

"Anyway, Scott, this is Timmy and Tommy Timmons, we call Tommy Repeat," Jess said, two spitting at the same time

"Mike 'Squints' Palledorous" Jess pointed to Squints, who spat

"Alen Mcklennen, we call him Yeah-Yeah" Yeah-Yeah spit

"Bertram Grover Weeks" Bertram spit

"Kenny Denunez" Jess pointed, he spat

"Hamilton Porter, We call him Ham," Ham spat

"And Benjamin Rodriguez, we call his Benny" Benny didn't spit, he just nodded

"Guys, this is Scott Smalls" Jess stuck out a thumb and pointed to him

"Hi" Scott raised a hand

Squints just spat again

"Yeah uh... Well... He's gonna... play with us, cause he makes 10, and we can use the extra body." Jess said

"We're wasting time, let's go to the sandlot" Benny said, everyone heading out

"Benny, it's 9:00" Everyone said, all making sure to bump Smalls' shoulder when walking by him

"C'mon, Jess, why'd you do that?" Bertram asked

"Because, now we can have an extra. Me and Benny can get in extra practice with 10, and with him, he makes 10" Jess said

"Yeah Yeah, so would my sister, but I didn't bring her" Yeah-Yeah said

"With 10 guys, we can play even better Yeah-Yeah. Now we got a real team, since 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 hardly ever try's" Jess diverged her eyes to Repeat, who really did nothing during the day but mess around

"No with Eleswager we had a whole team. Eleswager could catch" Ham said

"And throw" Denunez said

"C'mon, Jessie J, he ain't game. You saw the way he threw" Denunez said

"Yeah" Ham mumbled

"We already have all the empty positions filled" Tommy said

"Yeah, well now me and Benny can both bat and both rotate 8 positions at the same time, instead of taking turns everyday. I need the practice, guys" Jess said

"You're the best on the team. You don't need any practice. Benny needs the practice rather than you, you got that brother of yours" Ham said

"C'mon, Jessie, the kid is an L7 weenie" Squints said, making a square with his fingers

"Yeah-Yeah, Oscar Mayer even, foot long, dodger dog, a weenie!" Yeah-Yeah yelled

Jess looked over at Benny, who was looking at his shoes, and then looked back at Smalls, who was doing the same

Everyone started laughing real hard

"What are you laughing at Yeah-Yeah? You run like a duck!" Benny said

"Kay- Kay but Im-" Yeah-Yeah started

"Part of the game, right?" Jess asked, leaning real close to him

"Yeah" Yeah-Yeah said

"Then how come he don't get to be?" Jess asked

"Because he's a geek, man." Bertram said

"He can't catch" Denunez said

"Man, base up you blockheads!" Benny said

Jess walked over to Smalls.

"Okay, you stand right here" Jess said, moving him slightly

Jess walked up to bat, Benny leaning against he fence behind her

"What a jerk" Yeah-Yeah mumbled, looking back at Smalls

Jess sighed and decided to start the game