The Girl That Made Baseball

7

The next morning, Jess woke up to her mom knocking on her door.

"Okay Jess, last week of school. You only have 2 more days left before summer vacation. Just... try to enjoy it?" Lisa said, it coming out more of a question then instruction

"I'll try, ma. Now get out, I gotta get ready!" Jess laughed

Jess wore what she usually did, a pair of blue jeans, her old sneakers, a white shirt tucked into her jeans, and a button up over it. This one had been Benny's, but Jess took it when it got to small for him. She did that a lot, and most of Alex's hand-me-downs went to Benny.

Jess flew down the stairs and got in Alex's car, honking the horn, signaling for him and Reagan to hurry up.

Alex came out and the two were off, they drove to Benny's house, where Benny and Lily were waiting on the porch for their ride.

The two got in and the 5 were off to school. Reagan and Lily had to be dropped off at the elementary end of the school, and Jess and Benny at the middle school part.

"Is that my old shirt?" Benny asked, tugging on the sleeve

"Yeah, why? Is that my brothers old shirt?" Jess asked pointing to it

"You got me" Benny laughed, putting his hands in the air

The two walked inside and peeled off from each other to get to their lockers.

Jess' locker was near the very middle of all the lockers, and hers wasn't even that far from Benny's, and they were divided by ABC order of the last name. Logan near the middle, Rodriguez near the end.

"So, Jess. Wearing boys clothes, now?" Jess heard a high pitched voice say behind her

"What do you want, Lexis?" Jess put on her hand and turned around, rolling her eyes

Alexis Buller had a huge crush on Benny. She always hated Jess for being so close to Benny

"You look lame, you know that, right?" Lexis rolled her eyes

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure when Benny wore this shirt, you were all over it" Jess said, gesturing down to it "'Oh Benny, your shirts so cute! What's it made of, boyfriend material?'" Jess mimicked Lexis' high pitched voice

"Whatever. I didn't say that, loser" Lexis tried to pass it off while her friends around her laughed

"Please, Lexis, you're just jealous because I get all of Benny's old clothes and you don't, and not to mention, I can rock them" Jess slammed her locker and bumped Lexis' shoulder as she walked through the crowd.

"What was that about?" Benny asked when the girl walked up to him

"Oh, Alexis, you know how it is." Jess sighed

"Hey, you got your hat back" Benny said, flicking the bill

"Yup!" Jess smiled.

The hours ticked by slowly, leading up to lunch.

Jess got in line for lunch, looking around the room for Smalls.

"Logan, over here!" Smalls waved at the back of the line

Jess turned around and saw the kid with Benny, Ham and Squints. Jess knew the other were already sitting down.

Jess waved and got her food, standing near the line and waiting for the 4 to come through. Jess briefly saw Benny whisper something to Smalls before getting his food and walking over to Jess.

"Hey," Benny smiled

"Hi. What'd you say to Smalls?" Jess raised an eyebrow and smiled

"Nothin" Benny smiled and waved it off " Let's go sit down" Benny lightly grabbed the girls arm and gestured her to the table they always sat at.

Lunch was boring, same old baseball talk, with Ham occasionally saying something dumb about a girl on the other side of the room.

"Hey, uh, Jess, I did some research about Paul Logan, I didn't know he himself knew the-" Smalls started

Then the bell for recess rung and everyone filed outside.

Recess was the same as usual, Jess' team winning against whoever they played against, which was different every time. She couldn't wait for the last day of school.

*********************

The next day was the last day of school, and an 11:40 out.

The 10 ran all the way to the sandlot and played the first game of the summer, it lasting well until the time the street lights came on.

"Say, uh, Smalls, what were you sayin about my dad?" Jess asked as her, Benny and Smalls walked back

"Oh, nothin. Bye, Logan!" Smalls said

"Hey, Smalls, 8:00 tomorrow, okay?" Jess said

"Yup! 8:00!" Smalls said before going inside

"Why does he call you Logan?" Benny asked

"Because I call him Smalls, he calls me Logan. Why does it matter?" Jess asked

"I-I was just wondering, because, you know, everyone on the team calls you Jessie or Jessie J" Benny shrugged

"Obviously not everyone" Jess gestured to Smalls house, laughing

"Whatever" Benny smiled and shook his head "I'll see you, Jess"

"See ya, Benny! 8:00 tomorrow!" Jess said before running inside and going straight up stairs.