A/N: Bonjour, my fellow readers! I am new to the fanfiction world and have decided to post my very first fanfic! Please no flames! I just want some criticism on how to make my stories better. Thanks again!

For every day I'll live in Los Angeles I will dread it. No way, no how, am I going to be happy living there. I have friends back in Farmersville. Back where everyone just accepted me. They accepted a lot of people. Like Blacks and Latinos, our town couldn't really afford to be hostile to anyone. We had a population of a little over 1,000 and the town had only been separated from another town for about 3 years. My best friends were in fact of all different races. As far as I knew, most of the adults were like that too. I knew every little detail about my town and its people. We all knew each other and we got along fairly well.

Los Angeles would be different. I would know no one at all. No one was going to accept me. And a lot of the town would be caught up in racial problems. Plus, we wouldn't have anyone to help us out with the twins. Dad would be gone for many hours of the day while I was at work or trying to scavenge some extra cash that we would need for babysitters or for holidays. You probably have no idea what I'm rambling on about, do you?

5 years ago my mom was diagnosed with cancer. When I was 10 she gave birth to my twin siblings, Jocelyn and Joshua. Three hours later, she gave in to death. Our family tried picking up the pieces of our shattered portrait. Dad had to take more hours to support our family and I was stuck babysitting my siblings or at school. It was just one whole big mess. When I turned 13 my dad found a better job in the Los Angeles area and we had to pack up and move. By the last two weeks of summer we were on our way to a new life. Yippee.

Now I'm standing outside of my new house, with many boxes at hand. By the way, our house is conveniently located right next to a pink nightmare. It's that bad. Anyway, I set down a couple of boxes and picked up the twins so they would stop whining.

"Hey Josie, Josh."

"Hi sissy!" Josie and Josh replied.

"Ok guys, are you ready to help unpack?"

"Yeah!" Josh said while Josie just nodded enthusiastically.

"Why don't you guys go ask daddy if he needs any help." I said before setting them down.

The twins took off like a bullet. For three year olds, they run pretty fast.

I started grabbing more boxes out of the moving van and quickly became bored with the task. For the next couple of hours I gathered my things and took them up into my new room. A while later the doorbell rang and I raced downstairs to the door.

"I got it!" I yelled to my family.

I opened the door to reveal a woman in a light blue dress and brown hair and a boy around my age with freckles.

"Hello." I greeted pleasantly.

"Hi, we're your new neighbors. We live right next to you in the quaint pink house."

'If that's what you want to call it.' I thought to myself.

"We were just wondering if you needed any help with the unpacking."

"I should ask my dad first but you can come on in a while." I said and walked upstairs to talk to my dad.

I walked down the empty hallway until I found my dad setting up a painting.

"Hey dad, our new neighbors are here and want to know if they can help out." I told him.

"Tell them, it's alright and that they don't have to. Also, I've got all day to do this, why don't you go out and have some fun. Maybe you'll find a baseball team to play with."

"Yeah right. This place is the opposite of Farmersville, girls aren't treated with as much respect as they were back home. And also, even though the school is integrated, I bet there's still tons of racial problems here." I explained.

"Kay, I know it's hard, but I need you to just go along with it for right now. I want you to enjoy the Valley, not spend you're days despising it inside."

"But-"

"No buts Kay. Make some friends. You're just like your mother and I know she was a strong, independent woman who got along with almost everyone. Be home before sun down."

Darn, the mom card. I hate it when he does that. I huffed and muttered fine to him before heading back downstairs.

"Thanks for waiting."

"Oh it was no problem sweetie." The women said.

"Uh, anyway, he says it's alright, but you don't have to. And my name's Kay McDowell. "

"Oh it's fine. Anyway, this is my son, Scott Smalls. He'll be helping you out, and as soon as I coax my husband out of his room he'll help too."

"Thanks Mrs. Smalls, it's really a big help."

She smiled one last time and left her son with me.

"Listen, Scotty, can I call you Scotty? Anyway, this is really nice and all, but we really don't need your help at all. No offense."

"None taken." He replied.

"My dad told me to go outside and find a baseball team to play on or somethin'. So I wasn't actually planning to do any more work."

"Wait, did you say baseball?"

"Don't be so shocked. Back where I come from, I was allowed to play baseball with anybody I wanted to. But here, I realize girls just don't get as much respect."

"Sorry, there just aren't a lot of girls who can play."

"Obviously, I'm different, if the clothes didn't tip you off enough." I said pointing to my red and yellow rugby shirt, hand-me-down jeans from my older cousin, and red high-tops. "Oh, and don't forget my hair." I said also noting my baseball cap that covered the rat's hole known as my hair.

"Do you have a ball on you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Do you want to play catch with me?" He asked.

"Are you sure, I have a pretty hard throw?"

"Yeah, why not?"

I then proceeded to grab a baseball and went outside to meet Scotty.

"I don't have a glove on me right now, so let's keep the hard throws to a minimum." Scott told me.

"I can't promise you anything but I'll try." I said maliciously.

We started innocently throwing back and forth then we got farther and farther apart.

"Hey Smalls!" A group of boys yelled from afar.

'This was my chance.' I thought. If Scotty liked to play baseball, his friends must've have too.

I caught the next ball Scotty threw and then warned Scotty. "Hey Scotty, this ones comin' at you fast!" I yelled so he could hear me.

I threw possibly the fastest ball I've ever thrown directly at Scotty. He seemed to realize how hard it would be and readied himself for the catch.

"Kay! I told you I didn't have a glove on me!" He yelled back.

"Sorry Scotty!"

Across the street the group of boys who had called Scotty's last name stopped dead in their tracks to stare at the sight of a girl throwing a ball.

Scotty finally seemed to notice them when he said, "Oh, hey guys!"

A tall tan kid with black hair came over first. He walked over to Scotty and the rest of the boys followed. They spoke to him in loud whispers that were very easy to hear.

After a while this got boring and I decided to take a walk. However, I didn't get very far.

"Hey, where are you going?" The tan kid yelled.

"For a walk?" I said even questioning myself.

"Hold on a minute! Why don't you come grab a shake with us?"

This surprised me but I accepted and followed none the less. We sat down in a large booth and ordered chocolate shakes.

"So..." The tan kid said lamely.

"So? That's the best you can come up with? I expected something more, I don't know, less sissy." I challenged.

"Hey! You can't say that!" A chubby kid defended.

"Oh yeah? Why not?"

"You're a girl! Girls are supposed to stand straight and look pretty, not tell off guys!"

My conscience said hurt him but that would've been a bad way to earn the respect of these guys, even if he was kind of sexist.

"You're right, girls are."

He looked surprised and just stared. "But that's what girls are supposed to do. And I am definitely not a girl. I'm a tomboy."

"Oh, well, are you new here?" The tan kid said.

"Didn't Scotty here explain that to you?" I asked.

"Well, yeah, but…"

"You guys have some real trust issues." I said shaking my head.

They awkwardly sat there for a while. "Alright, I can see I've made you guys squirm enough. Let's just start over, hi, my name's Kay McDowell."

"Like the letter?" Doesn't anyone one else no how to speak?

"Yes." I said with clenched teeth. "And what's your name squirmy?" I asked poking him in the chest.

"Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez." He replied.

"Like the president?" I asked cheekily.

"Yes, like the president." He said with a tone that told everyone he was annoyed.

I smirked at him. "You must have a nickname for your name. I doubt anyone calls you Benjamin."

"Yeah, it's Benny."

"Cool, I can stop referring to you as that tan kid."

"What?"

"Never mind."

"Okay, now that we've gotten through this, back to why you're here. You play baseball right?"

"Yes."

"And you're a girl?"

"Yes."

"And as everyone could tell, yes even you Ham, you have a strong arm."

"Yes."

"Just as I thought, she's an alien!" Squints yelled.

"I really hope he's joking." I said with distaste.

"Tell the truth, space scum!"

"Nope, guess not. Look here, you little bugger, I'm not an alien. I am a human being who is being interrogated by a group of Neanderthals and Scotty, who really isn't half bad. Yes, I play baseball! And I don't mean to brag or anything, but I'm actually pretty good. I can throw, catch, and hit well… not so much the hitting part, I'm not very accurate, but when I make contact, it's like vroom! Oh, anyway, my point is, I'm not a girl of many girly talents. My talents include mainly just baseball, and math."

Everyone glared at Ham as if they were trying to burn holes into his skin.

"Hey! Hey! Don't glare at me like that!"

"Okay, so you guys come over here, insult me, interrogate, and then shoot daggers Ham, at least, that's what I think his name is. What do you guys want?" I asked.

"Well, you see, DeNunez here, his arm was broken last week during a practice, due to someone who's name remains unmentionable."

Everyone had their eyes melting holes through Ham again. "And?"

"And, we were wondering if you could fill in for him until he's able to play again."

"What position?"

"Pitcher."

I thought a moment before answering. "Alright, but on one condition, if I pitch for you, you let me stay on the team after DeNunez comes back."

"Huddle!" Benny said and got up from the booth to walk a little farther away from me where everyone gathered in a circle. Once again they spoke in loud whispers. "You know, I can hear most of this conversation, you're not exactly being quiet."

" We've come to a conclusion." Benny said in a sort of macho-ish tone.

"Well?" I asked impatiently.

"You'll be able to stay, if, you'll always be a tomboy around us."

"Not a problem, it's not like I'll become a girly girl just like that. I'd need some serious converting." I told them.

"Good, we'll see you tomorrow at 8 o'clock am."

"Uh, guys, I still have no idea as to where this place is." I stated flatly.

"Smalls, you think you can take her there?" Benny asked.

"Sure."

'Whoa, that was pretty easy.' I thought to myself before I noticed that everyone else had gone their separate ways and it was not getting late.

'LATE?!?' I thought. I was supposed to be home before it got dark out! I raced home and finally skidded to a hault at the front of our porch steps where my dad was waiting. Great. What a wonderful way to start out living here.

A/N: So, what did you think? I've got tons more ideas up my sleeve if you want me to continue. Otherwise I'll just correct my story and make it a one-shot on how a girl meets and reluctantly becomes accepted by the Sandlot team.

-snowy