Smalls was out of the hospital two days after being hit, he had lied to his parents and said that his injuries weren't as bad as they were. He had a concussion which only allowed for the boys to prank him more than usual, waking him up with water guns, banging pots and pans together, and balancing cups of water on him so when he did wake up they would fall on him. He was okay, he had a nice looking gash at the back of his head and he wasn't too happy about having to shave a long stripe so they could stitch it up for him but other than that he seemed okay.
He claimed to have a headache but it was nothing compared to the headaches we gave him on a daily bases, and his black eye only made him look tougher.
Smalls did remember everything that happened up until he got hit and he did confirm with us that Adam had been being a complete asshole to them when Smalls had been dared to ride the tricycle in front of three girls that happened to be walking by, he had turned bright red but agreed. He feared being teased and called a weenie by our friends more than some girls thinking he was a loser.
Apparently Adam had seen them from the opposite side of the street and started yelling at them, what he said was not clear but it had something to do with Smalls riding a toddler's bike and his penis size matching that of a toddlers as well which just started yet another insult war between Ham and some poor sap.
Apparently Adam had been there when Smalls got hit too but took off once the boys rushed to him. Smalls hadn't wanted to be involved in the juvenile yelling the boys were doing and completed his dare and attempting to make it to the mailbox down the street, it was then that Clara came out and hit him.
Clara was out of the hospital as well and had spent the last few days at her parent's house leaving me and the sandlot boys in mine. We didn't have to worry about her coming back because she had to let the police know where she was going to be if they needed to find her.
Clara saw Smalls the day she was released from the hospital and as expected she didn't know who he was. Apparently she had come into the room sobbing about how sorry she was and that she never meant to hurt him.
Smalls believed her, we all did. It wasn't that she meant to hurt Smalls it was the fact that she actually had done it that pissed us off. She hugged Smalls and thanked him for not pressing charges against her but it would only be a day before Smalls parents nipped that in the butt.
They had been furious, Bill had stuck his finger in Clara's face and told her how terrible of a person she was. The fight became so heated that he had to be removed from the hospital while
Clara hysterically cried on the floor and my uncle and grandfather threatened him which involved them being pulled out by security.
It was then that Clara realized who they were, and more importantly who Smalls was.
It hadn't been a pretty scene, we had all heard the commotion going on and took it upon ourselves to enter the emergency room without permission. Benny stood behind Grover's tall frame but it didn't matter no one would have noticed him.
Clara wasn't making sense to anyone but us, she yelled at Smalls her face red with anger as she screamed about how he had helped ruin her family and that she knew that he had something to do with her husband leaving her.
Smalls had denied even knowing her, claiming that he did live by her in the Valley but that he had never even spoken to her. Which was true.
We all but laughed as she was pulled away from Smalls by security staff kicking and screaming, she locked eyes with me as she was dragged away.
Oddly enough, the conversation wasn't on Clara and her blow up it was on Adam and the prank the boys wanted to play on him.
"I can't prank him." I said slouching into the couch. "I already got demoted for spitting on him, I can't get in anymore trouble."
"Well we're not gonna spit on him." Ham said.
"Sunshine's right." Kenny said. "She can't be apart of this."
"Neither can you." I pointed out. "You and Benny are on the team, what do you think they're gonna do when they find out you pranked one of your teammates? It's not very sportsmanlike."
"You act like we're gonna leave him naked on the field with everyone to watch." Yeah Yeah said from his spot beside me.
I sat up and glared at him. "If I recall you once had that plan for Phillips."
"Yeah, but we didn't do it. No one wants to see Phillips naked."
'And," Ham joined in. "No one wants to see Adam naked. Which is why we have a different plan."
Pranking Adam wasn't necessary but I could tell that the boys were bored and Phillips was no longer an option to piss off, he had been on a family vacation almost all summer and was going
away to school in the fall so they hadn't had to deal with him for a long time. It was almost comical to think that Phillips leaving us alone was all that we wanted growing up but now that he was, everything seemed boring and incomplete.
Adam was a good target, they knew about what had happened at the party and how he had been kind of an asshole when I first arrived, but we were older and pranks and our antics were not so easily overlooked now.
Plus we weren't in the Valley, we didn't have the entire town knowing who we were and having a good opinion of us, anything we got caught for would be viewed as malicious and just plain mean.
"Can't we just. . .hang out?" I pleaded with them. "I've missed you guys and you have to go back in a week, I'd rather spend it just hanging out with you guys rather than planning some prank that will get us all in trouble."
"Sunshines right." Smalls said biting into his pizza. "I mean yeah I would like to get him back too but we should spend time together, I mean we're all finally back together for the first time in years. We should make it worth it, not worrying about some idiot."
They all agreed reluctantly. We were the sandlot and although we got teased a lot growing up we also never just took it, we always stood up for ourselves and leaving Adam's words hanging in the air without a consequence was killing them, but they did agree.
"How would you guys feel about a game against the eagles?" Benny blurted out.
Everyone's face lit up at the mention of a baseball game.
"My head is broken open and you offer a game now?" Smalls demanded.
"Ah come on Smalls, you play outfield, how much danger are you actually in?" Tommy asked earning a glare from him.
"Uh, someone could knock me down, I could hit my head sliding into a base-"
"You'd have to get on base first." Ham teased, the words were barely out of his mouth when Smalls threw his pizza at him and it hit him in the side of the head.
"AH GROSS!" we all called out when Ham smirked and peeled the pizza off his head before taking a bite.
"Smalls this isn't sandlot ball." Kenny told him.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning. . . well, there's no cleating, no throwing sand, no unsportsmanlike trash talking, no throwing the ball at one another, no knocking people down-"
"So no fun?" He asked raising an eyebrow. "You guys do know that there is no rule against any of that right?"
"They're unwritten rules Smalls. If you do anything that could be viewed as intentional then you get removed from the game."
"But it's not a real game right? Just for fun?" We grew up playing on a field without rules. We also grew up playing against Phillips. Baseball isn't a contact sport, but it is a sport where a
pitcher can throw the ball at a batter and not suffer consequences. Smalls was right, we didn't have an umpire to kick us out for unsportsmanlike behaviour but in baseball it didn't really exist.
You could slide into someone's legs, step on their fingers, kick them in the chest while sliding, knocking someone down who was blocking the bag, there wasn't really a rule against it. But
Kenny was also right too, if you were caught being an asshole you were removed from the game, it was two different worlds.
"You still can't injure anyone." I told him. Smalls, who had once been afraid of the ball had come a long way since he was twelve.
"Well I'm in!" Grover said.
"Yeah yeah me too!"
All the boys had agreed and I felt an excitement welling up inside me. A game, an actual game with the sandlot boys, the first game I will play in months.
No one mentioned my arm nor did they mention me pitching and I was grateful for it.
We ate pizza, watched movies and come three am, everyone was asleep around my living room. I didn't get to sleep, I was close but Grover's voice caught my attention.
"Sunshine. Hey Toni, you awake?" I debated ignoring him but Benny had rolled over to his other side, his arm no longer holding my waist as he faced away from me so I wasn't as comfortable as I wanted to be.
"Yeah." I muttered sitting up, eye focusing in the dark I saw him nodding towards the front door. Standing up I carefully walked around the mass of bodies and followed him outside to stand
on my porch. "What's up?"
He patted his pockets, looking for his cigarettes and coming up short, he looked towards the door but didn't want to risk waking everyone up looking for them. So he sighed and leaned against one of the posts. "Am I allowed the speak freely?"
I rolled my eyes at him. "It's three in the morning, tell me what the hell you want?"
"Sunshine, I didn't mention this before because I didn't want to upset or scare everyone—"
"I know." I sighed. "My arm, don't worry I don't plan on pitching in the game."
Brow furrowing he shook his head. "No. Sunshine that's not what I'm talking about."
Yawning I leaned against the fencing next to him."Then what?"
"Everyone keeps talking about you turning eighteen, you'll be away from Clara. Freedom. And I want that for you Toni, too many years we watched what Clara and your dad did to you. I was fucking happy when he was gone to be completely honest."
I wasn't angry with him, but I was tired and cranky. "Your point Grover. You need to make your point."
"You turn eighteen, you can leave. Where the hell are you gonna go? Have you thought about that?"
I hadn't. The plan had been to go back to the Valley and be with Benny, but Benny was here. The sandlot boys would all be at college, Tommy and Ham excluded but I couldn't go a freeload at their families house for who knew how long. And living with Kenny wasn't going to be a good option, I didn't want to ask his parents to host me and despite them knowing me since I was a kid they were still not going to allow myself and my boyfriend to live under the same roof. They were conservative like that.
I didn't have anywhere to go.
"I don't know where I'll go." I admitted.
"I figured as much. Look, you're one of my best friends, I don't want to see you unhappy but, you have a job, one that you love and Benny's here too."
"What are you getting at?"
"I think the place you need to be is here."
"I could just stay here." I said gesturing to the house in front of us. "I'll be eighteen, an adult, Clara will probably be getting some kind of jail time for what happened."
"Toni you just moved here. I doubt Clara has paid off the house, I doubt she'll give you any money in her bank account to help pay it off and I really doubt your job will be enough to cover it."
He was right on all accounts. "I don't wanna scare you, but I think the real work is going to happen when you turn eighteen."
As much as I didn't want to think about it, he was right. In a few short months I was going to be alone. I didn't have parents that were going to be able to help me once I was eighteen like all of my friends did. I didn't have a home to go back to on holidays, I didn't have parents to offer me money should I need it, and I didn't have a place to stay while I tried to get my life together.
My dad had never made any indication that I was going to be on my own once I turned eighteen, but he was gone and Clara was in charge. She could kick me out of her home whether she was here or in jail, it was her home and I knew there would be some police officers at my door telling to leave once I was of age. If they didn't the bank would.
Grover stuffed his hands in his pockets, and looked at the ground as he spoke. "I thought we had it rough as kids. Things were supposed to get better when we got older."
"Yeah." I nodded. "They were."
"But you know, you have nine boys that have your back. We'll make sure you're okay."
"I'll be okay." I tried to convince myself.
He smiled and nudged me in the ribs. "You're Sunshine, of course you're gonna be okay. It's just gonna be hard."
Of course it was. Because why would anything be easy?