"Why'd you bring him, Benny?" Bertram hissed as the group walked to the Sandlot. Turning to look behind him, Benny smiled softly when he noticed that Adeline was hanging behind the group, trying to make it seem like Scotty was included in their group. The gap the boys had made between him and the rest of them had been large for a while, but he guessed that at some point during their trip Adeline had slowed her pace and 'bridged' the gap between them.
"Cause there's eight of us, and he makes nine." Benny pointed out and Adeline, hearing what was going on, quickly sped up her pace and tried to get to her spot next to Benny. Of course, before she left Scotty, she had tried to convince him to move closer, but he refused. Wiggling in between Benny and Bertram, Adeline smiled happily as she successfully made it to her spot.
"Yeah, yeah, so would my sister, but I didn't bring her." Yeah-Yeah flinched at the sharp glare Adeline gave him for making that sexist comment. Sometimes the boys forgot that Adeline was a girl. After spending almost every day with them, it wasn't hard for them to forget; well, everyone except Benny forgot.
"With nine guys, we've got a whole team, Yeah-Yeah." Benny stated and the group was silent for a moment.
"No." Ham dragged out the 'o' as he turned a looked at Benny, "With Elswenger we had a whole team. Elswegner could catch."
"And throw," Bertram added, "Besides, we have Adeline."
Adeline rolled her eyes and sighed, "We've been through this, you guys. We all know that if Phillips ever challenges us to a game I won't be able to play. You'll be one man down, and, they might not let you play. Plus, they would probably rub it into your faces."
They all knew what she was saying was true. There had been multiple occasions where Phillips had challenged them to a game and, before they had nine male players, wouldn't let them play because Adeline was a girl. He would then laugh at them and tell them that nobody would ever join their team because nobody wanted to play on a team with a bunch of sissy-playing losers.
"Come on, Benny-man," Kenny tried, "He ain't game. You saw the way he threw."
"Yeah," Timmy agreed as he stopped, causing the group to stop, "You already fill up all the empty positions since Elswenger moved to Arizona, and Addie does too, sometimes."
"Right." Benny said as he tossed his hands up, exasperated, "And now I get to rotate eight positions instead of seven." He looked around at the team in front of him, "I need the practice, guys. Besides, Adeline already works hard enough. You all remember that time we had her playing first and second base because we didn't have enough players."
Adeline winced at the memory. That had to be one of the roughest days of the year for her. She had constantly been racing from first to second and at one point of the game, she had just chased Benny off the field because she was getting tired of running from base to base. When she had gotten home… let's just say her mom wasn't impressed with the amount of bruises and scrapes she acquired in one day.
"No, you don't." Kenny protested as everyone looked at Benny in shock. Well, everyone except Adeline who knew he was going to say that. She had known him since she was six, she could practically read him like the back of her hand (okay, maybe she was lying a little bit, but she definitely knew Benny).
"You're the best on the team. You don't need any practice." Ham stated as the team started to get riled up from what Benny said.
"No, you don't." Squints agreed as he shook his head slowly.
"You're the best, man." Bertram nodded and Benny stared at the team, unamused.
"Come on, Benny-man. The kid is…" Adeline raised her eyebrow as Squints dropped his glove and raised his hands together, "an L-7 weenie."
"Yeah, yeah." Yeah-Yeah laughed before shouting, "Oscar Mayer, even. Foot-long! Dodger dog! A weenie!"
Frowning, Adeline looked over her shoulders and glanced at Scotty, who seemed to have moved back a few feet and was looking at his feet, embarrassed as everyone laughed. Scowling, she looked back up at Yeah-Yeah and glared at him. She didn't understand why her friends were being so rude to the new kid. It wasn't like they had always known how to play ball. Adeline distinctly remembered having to teach Kenny how to pitch a ball with a spin on it.
"What are you laughing at, Yeah-Yeah?" Adeline looked at Benny, proud that he was standing up for Scotty, "You run like a duck."
Immediately, the laughter was redirected towards Yeah-Yeah and he looked at Benny offended, "Okay, okay, but I'm… I'm…"
"Part of the game, right?"
Yeah-Yeah nodded his head, "Yeah."
"Now, how come he don't get to be?" Benny looked around as everyone started to come up with excuses.
"Cause he's a geek, man." Bertram stated, lazily.
"He can't catch." Tommy added and Adeline sighed, disappointed.
"And from what I can clearly remember, you couldn't catch either when you first started." The boys stared at her in shock while Benny smiled at her softly, proud that she was standing up for Scotty… and maybe he was happy that she was siding with him.
"Come on, guys. We all started knowing nothing." Adeline stated as she looked around at the team before her eyes landed on Squints, "Squints, you even put your glove on the wrong hand when you first started to play."
"Yeah," Squints pushed up his glasses, "But at least I could catch, even with my glove on the wrong hand."
"Man, base up, you blockheads." Benny fumed and the team split up, heading towards their assigned positions.
Slowing to a stop, Adeline looked up and noticed that Benny was directing Scotty to his position. Okay, Adeline thought once she noticed where Benny had placed him, maybe left center is a bit harsh Benny. It is his first day.
"Rodriguez," Adeline called and smiled when Benny turned to look at her, "First or shortstop?"
"Shortstop." Benny stood at the home plate as he looked around at the team before him. Raising his bat, Benny gave the directions, "Yeah-Yeah, get two."
Adeline watched as Yeah-Yeah passed the ball to Bertram, who passed it to her, and she finally passed it Ham.
"Nice. Good job!" Ham congratulated as he gave Benny the ball. Adeline waited for Benny's next hit when she noticed the look on his face and she paled, slightly.
"Come on, Benny." Adeline whispered to herself, hoping that Benny could hear her, "Not today. It's his first day."
But she knew that he was going to do it either way.
"Hey, Smalls, throw it to second." There was the clang of the bat colliding with the ball and Adeline watched, praying that he would catch it. Of course, he didn't. Adeline winced as Scotty fell on his butt and turned to look at Benny, who caught her eye. Slowly shaking her head, she motioned for him to go help Scotty…which he sort of ignored.
"Come on, Benny." Kenny shook his head, "Why'd you do that.
Adeline watched as Scotty ran to go get the ball and rolled her eyes at Squint's comment. To be honest, Adeline wasn't sure why Benny hadn't helped Scotty yet. Maybe he wanted to see if he could catch, she thought, or maybe he wants to see if he can throw. Maybe he's improved since the last time we saw him… which was a day ago, Adeline's shoulders slumped.
"Come on, Smalls," Adeline shouted as she watched Scotty position himself to throw, "Throw it to second!"
When Scotty made no movement to throw the ball, Adeline jogged over towards Benny and stood next him, waiting for Scotty to make a move. Come on, Adeline frowned, do something.
Scotty did do something, in the end. Just not the right thing.
"What the hell's he doing?" Ham asked and Adeline couldn't help but nod in agreement.
Adeline felt her jaw drop as she watched Scotty run with the ball towards Kenny and she knew that she wasn't the only one who looked like that.
"I don't believe this."
"Benny," Adeline's look of disappointment made Benny want look away from her in shame, "You could've at least showed him how to throw."
Racing out towards Scotty, Adeline gave Ham a shrug as they waited to see what Benny was doing. Cracking her wrists, Adeline smiled at Smalls when she noticed that he was holding his glove in the air. As Benny ran back to home, Adeline left and headed back to shortstop, pounding her hand into her glove.
"About time, Benny." Squints pushed up his glasses, "My clothes are going out of style."
"They already are, Squints." Adeline laughed and Squints glared at her.
"Shut up!"
The team quieted down as Benny grabbed his bat, "Smalls, throw it to second."
Adeline raised her eyebrows, watching as Benny spat on the ball and groaned in disgust. She didn't want to touch his spit.
"We're wasting time, Benny." Squints whined and everyone fell silent as Benny hit the ball.
It soared straight towards Scotty and Adeline's jaw dropped once more as the ball landed in his glove. She didn't even know how that was possible. Sure, she knew that Benny was good, but was he really that good? He was able to land the ball perfectly into Scotty's glove when he was in left center.
Throwing the ball to Bertram, Adeline couldn't help but let out a joyous laugh. She knew that Scotty could do it. She knew he could.
"Let's play some ball." Bertram said and Adeline knew that the deal had been sealed. Scotty had been officially accepted into their group.
"Yeah, let's play some ball."
"All right."
"I knew it… all this time."
"Yeah!"
Turning, Adeline gave Benny a bright smile, not noticing how his ears turned slightly red. It was finally time to play ball.
They played till it was late afternoon and their arms were exhausted. Scotty's progression in one day was amazing. By the end of practice, he was tossing and catching balls like he had been doing it his whole life, and the best part, no one made a single objection or sly comment.
"Bye, Ham." Adeline waved goodbye as she continued down the street with Scotty and Benny.
"See ya, Smalls." Adeline said a few moments later as she turned to walk down the street to her house, Benny by her side.
"Benny, wait!" Turning, the two saw Scotty racing towards them, "Your glove."
Benny shrugged it off, "Keep it, man."
"Thanks!" Adeline giggled at the amount of excitement in Scotty's voice. He truly sounded like a kid on Christmas.
"Oh, yeah. Hey, Smalls." Adeline turned to see that Benny had already left her side and was jogging towards Scotty. Pulling her cap down, she raced after him and slowed to a stop, next to him, "Bring a T-shirt and jeans tomorrow, okay?"
"Oh, um, you got a fireplace." Benny added.
"Oh, yeah. Yeah, why?" Scotty looked at Benny in confusion.
"Throw that hat in there, man." Adeline couldn't help but laugh at Benny's remark. Roasted.
"Oh, yeah." Adeline watched as Scotty nervously took off his hat, "It was the only one I had."
"Here," Adeline pulled her own cap off and was about to hand it to smalls when Benny stopped her.
"You can wear my old one." Benny said as he handed Scotty a cap from his back pocket, "Eight o'clock tomorrow morning."
Waving goodbye, Adeline turned around and headed with Benny towards their houses.
"That was nice of you," Adeline said as they stopped in front of each of their houses, "See ya tomorrow."
I didn't understand why Benny hadn't allowed Adeline to give me her hat. It wasn't much later that I learned that it had been Benny's gift to her when they were just kids. It was his promise to her that no matter how big he got in baseball, if he ever did get big, he would never forget her.
So do you guys think this is romantic enough. I don't want it to be too romantic because Benny's only thirteen or something, but do you want some more fluff or something?
MarvelWorksWonders: Thank you so much for your review! I'm really glad you like this story so far.
MissTeller-Ortiz-Dixon: THANK YOU SO MUCH! Your review made me feel so happy! I'm really glad that you like my stories so much and I plan to continue to update them till they're finished. I'm also glad that this story rekindled your like for the Sandlot. To be honest, it's my favorite movie ever and this movie was what caused me to create my first OC (her name was Julia).
Please review! Every review is appreciated no matter how big or small. And any idea is appreciated!
See you soon,
Ana