Bom ba ba bom ba bom ba bom bom ba ba bom ba ba bom ba ba dang a dang dang
Ba ba ding a dong ding Blue moon moon blue moon…

The music drifted out of Ace's room and into the hallway as Scotty ran into the house, looking for his sister. He had one hell of story to tell her. When he finally reached her room, she was completely immersed in the song, even though she was supposed to be finishing her homework. "And then there suddenly appeared before me. The only one my arms will ever hold. I heard somebody whisper please adore me. And when I looked the moon had turned to gold!"

"Aislin!" Scotty's voice nearly made her jump out of her skin. She quickly turned around, a look of surprise showing on her face. "I have something amazing to tell you!"

His excitement caused her to smile. She motioned to her bed, telling him to sit down and tell her all about it. "Well lets it. Must be pretty great if you're so worked up about it. Nice hat, by the way."

Scotty put his hand up to the new dark blue hat with the big yellow 'C' on it. He must have forgotten it was there, what with his over-excitement. "Oh, thanks. Benny gave it to me. Okay, well it started when this kid, Benny, came over today. He just walked right up to the house and basically asked me to go play some ball with him and his friends."

Friends. Something Scotty normally would never make when they moved. Aislin was beginning to worry that he was going to end up a complete loner but it seemed that this Benny kid was helping Scotty in a way that Ace couldn't. The last time she tried to help him make friends, it ended in disaster. Young men didn't like having their sisters' pick out their friends. It wasn't the 'cool' thing to do. Thankfully, Benny seemed to be the perfect remedy to the disease of loneliness and shyness.

Scotty continued to talk and tell her all about his day. From the moment he met Benny's group a friends and not knowing who the Great Bambino was to the part where he caught a ball that was hit towards him. That was probably the best part of his story, to him anyway. Scotty had been trying so hard to learn how to play baseball but he just couldn't get the knack of it. Again, Benny seemed to fix that problem quite quickly.

"That's great, Scott. I'm curious though… how did you not know who the Great Bambino was? I mean, I know dad died when you were really little but it wasn't like mom or Bill hasn't mentioned him before, especially Bill. Geez, the man is more than obsessed with baseball, you would think you would have picked something up." Ace laughed a little at her own rambling, while Scotty looked at her like she was crazy.

"You're a girl though. I didn't think you knew anything about baseball. Same with mom, actually."

Ace almost looked somewhat offended. Just because she was a girl didn't mean that she didn't know a thing or two about the sport. After her father died and Bill became a part of the family, she attached herself to him, becoming a step-daddy's girl, if you will. She would ask Bill all kinds of questions about baseball and what teams he liked the best, who he thought the best players were. She even asked him if he ever thought he would become a famous baseball player. Of course, he always told her he wished he could have but he had other priorities, her mother being the main one.

"I've learned quite a bit during my time of Earth. I could always help you out if you-"

She was quickly cut off by Scotty. "Have my sister teach me how to play? I don't think so. Benny seems to be doing a pretty good job."

"Well I won't disagree there. Maybe I could come and watch one day? Maybe even get in on the action?"

Scotty's mouth nearly dropped. Ace was on a roll of making him uncomfortable. He didn't even say anything, just shook his head 'no.' With a shrug, she agreed she wouldn't embarrass him. She would just stay home and maybe read a book until she was old enough to go to college.

XxXxX

Aislin was suddenly jolted awake by a loud, annoying ringing. She turned over in her bed, realizing it was her alarm clock and smacked it off the night stand. It didn't do anything to stop the extremely loud noise. Even if she didn't want to, she got up to stop the sound. Looking at the face of the clock, she sighed. "7:30 in the morning. Why? Why did I set this so early?"

With a hint of annoyance, she tossed the clock onto her bed and made for her door. Swinging it open and stepping out, she was nearly toppled by Scotty. "Whoa, why are you in such a rush?"

"Going to the sandlot this morning. Early game with Scotty and the guys."

With her eyebrow raised, she followed behind Scotty into the kitchen. He grabbed a bowl, quickly poured some cereal and sat down to eat. Ace sat across from him and watched. She was still a bit out of it as she took the box of cereal and poured some for herself.

"Scotty, slow down." Her mother said before turning back to the stove.

It was like he didn't even hear her; he finished in seconds then hopped off the chair. Ace turned in her chair, continuing to show no interest in her breakfast, watching her brother run down the hall into his bedroom. She got up, went into her room and decided to get dressed and follow him. Of course, she had promised Scotty she wouldn't embarrass him, but it wasn't like she was going to just walk onto the sandlot and say 'hey guys, I wanna play to!'

Ace waited until she heard Scotty shut the front door before leaving her room. She watched him from the living room window, only leaving the house when he was far enough away not to notice her. That's when it began. She turned into some sort of spy, stalking out her brother just to make sure his new friends were up to par.

Scotty may have told her they were nice, but there was still the twenty to thirty minutes were the boys were unsure of her brother and decided to haze him a bit. She didn't like that. Not one bit. Ace was afraid that Scotty was just telling her what she wanted to hear, but if that was the case then why did he tell her about the slight bullying? She was over thinking this. She was just going to check them out for herself then make her judgments from there.

It took only a few minutes to reach the sandlot, and Ace made sure to stay far behind. She didn't need Scotty or these boys to see her. She crouched near some dead bushes, hoping she blended in well enough. She watched intently as a rather chubby boy with black hat and a red and yellow striped shirt took his place at bat. He pointed towards the air like the Babe and Aislin let out a small laugh. Scotty wasn't lying when he mentioned how much these boys loved to play baseball. The entertaining stance the boy took made the pitcher bust out in laughter, along with the other boys.

From where she was kneeling, she could see her brother. He stood in the outfield, where he had told her he took his position the day before. He looked some comfortable, like he had been playing for years. It was refreshing to see her brother take such a keen interest in something, and have friends while doing it.

"Yeah, yeah, give 'im a hockey stick." She heard one of the boys say, before the pitcher threw the ball. The ball went perfectly into the catcher's glove, with quite a bit of heat on it. The catcher jumped up, clearly surprised at the pitch.

"You call that pitching?" The chubby boy asked, as the pitcher laughed. Ace continued to watch the boys, now intrigued at how they played. She wasn't planning on staying more than she needed to but now, she was interested in the game. That was until she heard a low growl next to her. She slowly turned her head to the side, expecting to see some rabid animal ready to attack but instead, she saw nothing.

She raised an eyebrow, wondering for a moment if the sound she heard was all in her head. Just as she was about to turn her back to the game, and continue to watch, she heard a ferocious bark. With a scream, she hopped up and ran from her hiding spot. She stopped in the center of left field, staring at the spot she had been hiding in.

The whole world seemed to become silent in that moment, until someone said, "Who's that?"

Ace turned to see all the boys staring at, including her brother. Scotty looked at her with a mixture of surprise and anger. She turned to give him a silly smile but he wasn't having it. He looked at the chubby kid, answering his question. "That's my sister and she's leaving now."

The catcher, staring at Ace, took of his mask and shook his head. "Nah, it's fine. She can stay and watch."

The chubby boy piped in next. "Yeah, I like when hot girls watch me play. Makes them want me."

Even though she wasn't remotely interested in the chubby boy, she blushed. She had been called pretty and cute hundreds of times. Thankfully, she was too far away for him to notice. The boy was catching waved her over. "Scotty, bring her over! She can hang out on the bench!"

Scotty, his face still angry, walked over to his sister. "Yeah, okay!"

He looked at her as he narrowed his eyes, ever so slightly. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to make sure they weren't complete jerks to you, that's all."

"Well now they might be. You just embarrassed me."

Ace glared at him. It was fine that he was mad at her but she really hadn't embarrassed him, at least not in her mind. In her mind, she was being a protective, loving sister and should be acknowledged for that. "They don't seem to mind that I'm here."

He was finished talking, she could tell. He began to walk in front of her, which caused her to roll her emerald eyes at the back of his head. They reached the tan boy, that she had seen the other day, and the chubby boy. Scotty turned to her, briefly, and said, "This is Benny and this is Ham."

He turned to the other boys and went through their names as well, making sure he pointed at each other. "That's Timmy and Tommy Timmons, Squints, Yeah-Yeah, Bertram, and Kenny DeNunez."

Ace gave them a small, polite wave. "Hi, guys."

The boy, Yeah-Yeah, yelled, "Can we get this show on the road?"

Benny looked at Ace with a smile then pointed to the wooden bench. "You can hang out over there. That all right?"

"Yeah, that's fine." She smiled back at him then turned on her heel and went to sit down. She could definitely feel eyes on her but she couldn't tell if it was just Benny, or all the boys. When she turned around to sit down, she saw all of them act like they weren't staring. With a shake of her head, she sat down and looked over at Scotty. He walked back to his spot with his head down; he was clearly not happy with her and felt absolutely embarrassed. He's just going to have to get over it. The boys didn't mind her being there, which meant she was probably going to show up to more of these games.

XxXxX

That night, when Ace and Scotty got home, it was almost WWIII. Scotty didn't yell at her until they got in the house. "Well Benny seems nice. I mean, he walked us both home."

Scotty turned on her and glared. "Why? Why did you follow me there?!"

"I already told you, I was-"

"Yeah, you wanted to make sure they guys weren't jerks. Well, you're the jerk! You couldn't just trust what I told you?!"

"Will you calm down? I was just looking out for you…"

"Well, I wish you wouldn't! You could have ruined this for me!"

Ace couldn't say anything else. Scotty stormed off into his room, slamming the door. Bill came out of his office, in a near panic, and stared at Aislin. "Everything all right?"

She nodded and mumbled a 'fine.' Bill tilted his head to the side, seeing she was upset about something. He knew though it was best to leave it alone. He figured this was a repeat of Scotty's last friend situation. It had a very similar one-sided argument. To be honest, Ace wasn't expecting Scotty to really blow up like he did. It wasn't like him. Maybe she would just stay home and mind her business from now on. She definitely didn't need her brother hating her.

Ace sulked into her room, plopping herself down onto her bed. "Aislin?"

Her mother poked her head into the room. It was only a matter of time before Bill mentioned something to her. She looked at Ace with those sad blue eyes before walking in. She took a seat at the edge of the bed. "What happened?"

Aislin propped herself up on her elbows. Sighing, she explained to her mother what had happened. She told her all about her little spy adventure and then how Scotty totally freaked out on her. "I didn't mean to make him so mad. I just thought that maybe he was lying about how nice they turned out to be."

Her mother fully understood. However, she did tell Ace that she maybe should have trusted Scotty a bit more. Her mother was always like that. Always tell Ace or Scotty the rights and wrongs of life. That's what all mothers did. Ace smiled at her mom. "You do always give the best advice. I'll just leave him alone for a bit. Let him get his bearings."

Her mother nodded in agreement. It was really the best thing to do. Maybe tomorrow Aislin would find something else to do, maybe hang out with her new friends. It couldn't hurt.

Scotty walked past Ace's room, briefly looking in at her but not bothering to stop and talk. She knew exactly where he was going. After Ham had hit a homer into the yard behind the sandlot, Scotty went to retrieve, only to be stopped by the boys. They had told him and Ace that there was some monster dog that lived behind the fence. Apparently, he ate one boy already. Ace, being a bright girl, thought it was complete rubbish but the boys insisted that it was true. They invited Scotty to spend the night, to tell him all about the story and he agreed.

"Hope you have fun," she called out to him, hoping he heard her. Even if he did, he was going to ignore her until the day she died.

XxXxX

Bright and early the next morning, one of Ace's friends from school stopped over. She wanted to look at some new dresses for an upcoming dance at their school. At first, Ace was a little reluctant, wanting to go back to the sandlot, but in the end she agreed. She had promised herself that she would let Scotty get accustomed to his new friends and that she wouldn't butt into his life anymore. That didn't mean she would stop being so protective.

"Maggie, you can't be serious. That's so ugly!" Aislin laughed as she swatted away some ugly blouse. Her laughter was interrupted but the sound of someone coughing behind her. Maggie smiled as Ace turned around to see who it was. Her eyes met the face of a boy she'd never seen before. He was dressed in a red and white baseball jacket with a big white 'T' on it. "Hey Maggie, who's your friend?"

"Oh hey, Ant. This is Aislin Smalls. She moved her not too long ago."

Aislin looked at Maggie with a confused look. How in the world did she know this kid? And dear God, did everyone in this damn town play baseball?

"Nice to meet you, Aislin. I'm Anthony. Anthony Phillips."

"Nice to meet you too." Ace suddenly felt extremely awkward. Maybe because this Anthony kid was eyeing her like a fat kid eyes candy. She took a step back, bumping into Maggie.

"You guys doing anything tonight? There's a carnival in town for a few days. We could all go. You, Aislin, one of my friends and myself."

Ace couldn't help but blurt out, "Like a date?"

He laughed and she wasn't surprised when he nodded. "Yeah, sort of. Why not?"

Maggie quickly interjected, making sure Aislin didn't ruin this opportunity. "No reason, no reason at all. We'll meet you there. Make sure you bring someone cute for me."

With another laugh, he nodded and walked away. Maggie turned to Aislin, giving her a look. "What is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with you? Why would you put me up for a date? I don't even know him."

"Well I do. He's really nice, I promise. Plus, he plays baseball. You like baseball."

Ace narrowed her eyes. How did she always seem to get herself involved in these messes? First she gets her brother extremely mad at her and then she get involved in a date night that she never wanted in the first place. She was turning into a walking catastrophe.

"Well, since we're here … might as well buy a new dress."

XxXxX

Okay so I'll update on Tuesday or Thursday. I tried to write this quickly because I just needed/wanted to get it out. Let me know what you guys think! Comments are always appreciated. J