"Benjamin Rodriguez The Hottest New Player." Kenny read the headline for the seventh time earning him a punch in the shoulder from Benny.
"Please put it away!" he whined pushing the paper out of Kenny's hand.
"I didn't think the school even and a paper during the summer." I said between bites of my burger.
Kenny shrugged. "They only report on hints like open houses and new athletes and updates to the school during the summer. Kind of keeps people in the loop."
"It doesn't even say anything about my baseball skills." He complained, and he was completely right, as of three days ago Benny and Kenny had officially been added to the final roster for the boys varsity baseball team. We had celebrated them making it onto the team, and now we were celebrating them being in the school paper only Benny wasn't too thrilled with what his article had to say. Across page four and five were all eighteen players for the upcoming season and Benny's article was not exactly about his baseball skills.
Kenny's headline above his picture had been Kenneth DeNunez, throwing heat. And had been all about how he was going to be the most terrified pitcher in the league and about how he was one pitcher that could actually hit.
Benny's didn't highlight his talents at all, it had his statistics but really the writer had subtly talked about how good looking he was.
The Eagles welcome a new player that not only will be helping the team win games but also getting some new spectators. Benny Rodriguez will be on the field hitting home runs and stealing hearts instead of bases. . . .
"They're saying your good-looking how is that a bad thing?" Kenny asked.
"I don't want to be known as the team heartthrob."
"Why?"
"Well for one I'm taken." Benny snapped him and gestured across the table to where I was sitting. "And second I don't want people focusing on what I look like I want them to remember me for my baseball skills."
I put my burger down and decided to put the fire out before Benny could make it grow any more. "It doesn't matter what it says everyone knows you're an amazing player, no shame in getting attention for something else as well."
"How does this not bother you?" He asked.
"What? That people think my boyfriend is good looking? It doesn't upset me because it's true Benny. Besides I'm not worried about some college student writing a report about you, especially when its a boy."
His eyes widened. "What?"
I laughed. "Morgan Temple, is a boy I had to let him know all your names at the game he attended." Benny grabbed the paper and looked at the name written at the bottom of the article. "You need to stop focusing on what they have written about you and focus on the game Benny. You made the team but your batting has not been up to your standards lately."
He glowered at me knowing fully well that he had been struggling with his hitting, his batting average for the past games he played with this group of boys was .124, drastically different from
his .567 he was getting in the tournaments we played at the end of the year back home.
"I agree with her." Kenny said taking the paper from Benny's hands. "But I am still framing this, it's hilarious." The two of them got into a shoving match trying to push the other one out of the booth before the waitress had to demand that they settle down.
"Too bad Adam made the team." Benny said waiting for my reaction.
I sighed and agreed with him. "It might be a terrible thing to say but I was hoping he wouldn't make it either."
With Adam gone, it would have been easier to convince the coaches to give me a better task than groundskeeper, but he was staying and was a constant reminder of what I had done.
"He's an L-7 Weenie." Kenny spat biting into his burger. "Just ignore him."
"I spend every day with him."
"No you spend every day with us, he just happens to be there." Benny and I laughed at that but Kenny did have a point, if I wasn't considered a coach anymore it didn't really matter how to divided up my time with the boys. Those I didn't like I could easily avoid and Adam was at the top of the list despite how nice he had been trying to be to me.
"You know you're in here too." Kenny said flipping to the next page of the paper.
"What?" I asked. "I'm not in the article with the coaches." I pointed out.
"Nah, you're the last page, after all the players." He turned it around to show me and he was right, it didn't have my photo like all the others but my name was printed in bold. It was easy to miss considering the players articles were finished on the previous page, but in the top corner of the paper my name was there with a small blurb under it.
"What does it say?" I asked, Kenny was already reading his lips moving silently as he scanned over the writing, his lips stopped and he frowned before putting the paper down almost crushing it. "What does it say?" I asked again.
"Doesn't matter." He said.
I rolled my eyes. "Phillips used to call me everything in the book, I don't think anything they say will hurt my feelings."
Kenny shook his head and slid the paper farther away from me. "I'm not worried about them hurting your feelings." He admitted.
"Kenny what does it say?" I asked more sternly.
Knowing he wasn't going to win he opened it up and began to read. "The Eagles are bringing in some estrogen this year and her name is Toni Sunshine Spena, although it is unclear what her role is, it is clear that she is going to be seen at the games. Without any baseball experience and a wild temper who knows what might happen on the bench and how it will affect the team this year. What were the coaches thinking? We don't know."
I didn't know what to think, I was angry, I had spoken to Morgan and the entire time he thought I was nothing but a girl with a temper sitting on the benches.
"They're stupid." Benny said taking my hand in his. "Don't think about it."
"Still think yours is bad?" I asked raising my eyebrow. I couldn't help the rage that was leaking out into my tone of voice, I was mad. I truly was at the bottom and people were taking note, not to mention the fact that now people were going to think that I was nothing but a temperamental woman. Any anger I showed, no matter how justified, was going to be viewed as a woman with an anger problem.
This wasn't the Valley, I knew that from the moment I got here but my reputation was left back in LA and Florida didn't care who I was nor was is particularly liking me.
I looked at Benny and he seemed concerned with what Kenny had just read but was more concerned about how I was going to take it. I was mad, that was for sure but I wasn't about to give anyone who was sitting at the tables around us reading that same damn paper the satisfaction of proving the words to be true.
I sighed and leaned back in my chair and looked at Benny. "I guess we both have things to work on."