In this chapter there is some drug use mentioned. If you are uncomfortable with this then skip the 4th paragraph. I do not own The Sandlot or any of the characters from the movie. I only own my OC's. Enjoy!

Going Away Party

We all had decided to throw a going-away party for the Timmons brothers. Bertram said we could throw it at his house since his parents were out of town for a convention. Meaning the house would be empty for a few days. I told Ma and Pop that I would be spending the night at Joanna's since I already knew that there was no way in hell they would let me spend the night at any of the guys' house. Since Joanna was an absolute superstar, she came by the house in her van and picked me up. "Have I ever told you that you are the best?" I told her as I shut the door. "It's not that big of a deal, this is me paying you back that one time I 'spent the night at your house' ." I nodded my head and chuckled. I had forgotten about that. She wanted to go sneak off with her boyfriend at the time and needed me as an alibi. "Did you bring the thing I asked for?" I asked while peaking in the back. "It's called a ukulele, and yes." I sank in my seat and sighed. "You're a gem."

As we pulled up I reached in the back and pulled it out. "Make sure to tune it a bit." I nodded my head and grabbed my other things. "Thanks again!" I said as I opened the door. "Tell the boys I said hi." I nodded my head and closed the door. I walked up to the front door and knocked. It only took a moment for Bertram to open up. "Hey, lucky you, you're the first one here." He helped me with my things as I walked inside. "Really? Wow, what jerks." I said with a giggle. "You get first dibs on a sleeping area." I raised my eyebrows. "Oh?" I then sprinted around the house looking for the master bedroom. I had only been inside a couple of times. Bertram's folks kept to themselves and I didn't want to push my luck with them. Once I found it I threw myself on top of the bed. His parents were so….minimalistic. They didn't have many things but on purpose. Their bedroom had a bed, two small nightstands, a dresser and a picture of Jesus. That was it. "I call this room!" I shouted with my face smushed up against the sheets. "Tonight we're gonna party." I lifted my head and turned over. "Oh yeah?" He then lifted a brown lunch bag. "Yeah," He said with a smirk. I got up and walked over to him. "What's this?" I grabbed the bag and opened it up. There were a bunch of cookies in there. "There's more where that came from." I then realized what was so special about this dessert. "You made these?" I asked with wide eyes. "Hell no, my parents would freak! I know a guy. I got some brownies sitting on the counter too." I gave him back the bag. "Man oh man, Bertram, you do wanna party. Ain't nobody leaving tonight." That's when there was a knock on the door.

The rest of the guys showed up and we were sitting on the floor of the living room playing Clue. "The killer is….Professor Plum! He used the candlestick in the library!" Smalls shouted. I groaned because I was off by just one thing, I guessed the dining room instead. Yeah-Yeah laughed maniacally as we threw down our cash. We all bet money, just to make the game more interesting but it wasn't in our favor. I grabbed a slice of pizza waiting for another game to be announced to play. "Anyone up for monopoly?" Smalls asked aloud. "You want us all to be friends still by the end of the night?" Ham sarcastically asked. "How about we just talk?" Tommy asked. It got quiet and the mood quickly changed. "I just wanna talk for a while." He added. We all sat back down around him and waited.

"Ya know, my whole life I was used to being brushed off as the "repeat" because I didn't know how to be anything else. Playing ball helped build my confidence and just being around you guys helped me realize that I am my own person." He glanced over to me and I couldn't help but smile at him. "I'm gonna really miss you guys." His voice quivered at the end and Timmy patted his back. "It's okay, bud." Bertram stood up and walked over to the kitchen. "I think we need these now." He came back to the living room with the brownies, cookies, and cans of beer. He set them down and the boys immediately reached for the sweets. "Woah! Hey, did you at least explain to them that you laced them!" I asked B, "Huh? Oh, yeah, these were made with love." He laughed and I rolled my eyes. "Guys, there's grass in them," I said as I crossed my arms. "Well technically in the brownies, there's something else in the cookies." I watched as they all munched down. Oh boy, this was not gonna end well. "Help yourself, Robin." He said with a smile.

Within an hour the side effects were kicking in. Tommy was still technically talking, but at this point, he was just talking about nonsense. "And that's why I believe we're all originally from the red spot on Jupiter." Yeah-Yeah and Kenny were just laughing at each other. "Are you sure you're not a light skin?" Kenny asked. "Light skin? Haven't you seen how dark I get in the summer? That's all the Italian part of me shining through!" They continued to laugh as if it was the funniest thing in the world. Timmy was arguing with the house plant by the window and Smalls kept looking around the room with wide eyes. "Are you okay?" I asked him while grabbing his face. "You're Hispanic!?" I slowly nodded my head and he gasped. "That's so cool. I always thought you were American." He fell back on the floor and continued to stare at the ceiling. Squints came over and grabbed me. "Robin! Robin!" He shouted. "Yes! What?" I asked. "I need to tell you something! It's an emergency. Life and death!" I nodded my head and tried to calm him down. "I'm gonna ask Wendy to marry me!" My mouth fell open. "You've only gone on three dates with her! And that took forever!" He shook his head. "I'm gonna ask her tonight because I'm in love with her!" I shook my head. "You can't ask her tonight, Squints. You're supposed to stay here for tonight." He looked at me confused. "Well, then I'll ask her tomorrow night. I just need to do it soon! I love her! What part of that don't you understand!?" He continued to shake me. "Alright pal, take it easy and go lay down next to Smalls," Ham said while pulling him off me. "But I love her!" Ham set him down gently, "I know that, bud. No one is denying that, but you gotta settle down." I then stared at Ham. What was wrong with him? He wasn't acting weird like the others. "Why aren't you acting weird?" I asked him. "Because I'm wonderful." He replied. "Do you think they got any more food in the fridge?" He asked. There it was. Even though Ham was still a big boy, his appetite had decreased since he was more athletic now. I looked over and saw Bertram nodding his head. "Yeah man, I'll make us some sandwiches." Ham then went into the kitchen. I saw Benny sitting up against the wall looking normal. I walked over and slid down next to him. "You're awfully quiet." He nodded his head. "Just thinking," He replied. "Why aren't you acting weird like the rest?" Out of all of them, he seemed like he was fine. "I took a bite out of the brownie but it tasted bad. So I spit it out in the trash." I hadn't noticed. "You didn't want to join the 'higher than life' gang?" He shook his head. "No, but I was hoping that I would talk to you." I raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" He nodded his head. "Yeah, but after all these blockheads calm down and hit the hay." I scoffed. "Alright,"

It took a couple of hours but everyone had gone to sleep. Some were in Bertram's room, some in the guest room, and a few in the living room. Benny and I cleaned up in silence that way Bertram didn't have to do all the work tomorrow. When we finished we turned off the lights and sat down on the bed of the master bedroom since all the other rooms were filled with snores. He had closed the door which probably meant that whatever he had to say he didn't want the others to hear. "So, what is it you want to talk about?" I asked not knowing what to expect. "You're mad at me, aren't you?" He rubbed the back of his neck and didn't look at me. "No, why would you think that?" He shrugged. "Lately you've seemed mad. Like I did something wrong." He then looked over at me. "Did I do something wrong?" No, right? I wasn't necessarily happy about him veering off but he had his own life and I had no entitlement to control him. "No." He stood up. "Then why do I feel like I owe you an apology?" I shrugged. "Maybe you feel guilty?" He looked confused. "Guilty for what?" I then stood up. "Oh, I don't know. That you haven't been around lately." We made eye contact and he gave me a groan. "So you are mad at me!" I crossed my arms and scrunched my nose. "I'm not mad at you. But you do have to admit that things have been different lately." He scoffed. "Well yeah! I mean what did you expect? That we were gonna play in the sandlot every day? Drink cokes in the sun, sneak into the pool, catch a late movie and look up at the stars?" I stayed quiet. "That's kids stuff, man. I can't do that anymore. I'm surprised that you guys have continued to do that to this day." He paced around as I watched him vent. "You were there that day, you heard Mr. Mertle. I have to make it! There's no other way I'll make it out of this town if I mess around." He stopped and looked over at me. "I was never mad at you, Benny. I gave you your space because I knew your passion for ball was your priority. If I had known it was going to be such a chore for you I would have checked up on you." He rolled his eyes. "It's not a chore, I love baseball! It's the one thing in my life that hasn't disappointed me."

I could feel the tears coming in but I fought them back. "Well sorry for being such a disappointment! What else could you have expected from me?" I mocked him. "I expected you to be right there!" I couldn't believe him. "I was there, Benny! Every step of the way. I went to every game, whether it was home or out. You probably didn't see me because of your baseball buddies and girlfriends blocking your view." I bit my lip to keep it from quivering. "Well if maybe you had admitted that you liked me, I wouldn't have to fight my way to see you." I walked over to him. "I couldn't compete and I wasn't going to give you an ultimatum." He stepped back and shook his head. "There was never a competition." We both got quiet and I looked down at the floor. The tears came out and I quickly wiped my face. I sat down on the bed and Benny plopped down beside me. He wrapped his arm around me and rested his chin on my head.

We stayed like that for a few minutes. I found myself humming Sonny and Cher while in his embrace.

- "They say we're young and we don't know

We won't find out until we grow" -

I looked up at him with a small smile and he sighed giving in.

- "Well I don't know if all that's true

Cause you got me, and baby I got you" -

We then both started singing the chorus.

- "Babe

I got you babe

I got you babe" -

We both chuckled and leaned back in the bed. "I didn't want you or the guys to feel like I abandoned you all. I just figured that we would all grow up and apart. That's what everyone says happens." He turned over to face me. "You really came to every game?" I slowly nodded my head. "Every. Single. One." He gently took my hand and studied it. "I feel like a jerk. I'm sorry, Robin." His hands were calloused from all the work he did in his favorite sport. "It's okay," He then brought my hand to his lips and gently kissed it. "Things are going to get harder from here, aren't they?" I asked in a whisper. We stared at each other for a good long while. "I hope not." I then gripped his hand, "Can you promise me something?" I asked. "What?" I then leaned in closer. "Promise me that you won't forget us when you make it big." He seemed surprised. "I don't think you should worry about me, I'm sure you'll be a rock star yourself. You've got talent too, ya know." I shook my head. "Not likely, but you'll make it. Just promise me, okay?" He slowly nodded his head. I pulled our hands onto my chest. "You keep your word which lies on your heart. You bring it in to seal it because it's sacred." He then pulled them onto his chest. We stayed like that, with our hands folded together. "You really think I'll make it big?" I whispered. "Most definitely, and I expect you to remember us all too." I then smirked. "Are you kidding me? I'm gonna replace you all with a bunch of dogs when I get the dough to do so." He leaned his head back and laughed his heart away. I couldn't help but laugh myself. "You're too much, Robin!"

Songs used in the chapter (I do not own this song):

I Got You Babe by Sonny & Cher