Chapter 5

Squints and Yeah-Yeah went to buy the new ball while the rest of us waited at the dugout of the sandlot. Benny was like he always was around the boys. He didn't even bother saying "hi," as if I didn't exist.

I sighed and randomly started kicking a nearby poll, and didn't even stop despite the pain that it caused my foot. I even went so far as to bang my head in frustration, earning me a few quizzical looks from the other boys.

"What's wrong?" Scotty asked.

"It's hot," I lied. "The heat is so unbearable. Even the two bottles of pop I had wasn't enough to quench this feeling of dehydration."

Scotty only nodded his head in understanding as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, matting his damp hair to his skin.

"Where the heck were you?" Benny began to interrogate Squints and Yeah-Yeah, who had returned from the Drug Store almost an hour after they left. "What took you so long? We've been waiting here forever, already!"

Yeah-Yeah handed the new baseball to Benny. "Squints was perving at some dish," he explained, causing Squints to furrow his eyebrows in annoyance.

"I was not!" Squints defended himself.

"Yeah yeah, you were! Your tongue was all hanging out of your mouth, and you were swaying!"

"Shut up, I have a lot of things on my mind," Squints snapped as he sullenly walked towards the dugout. I couldn't help but laugh at his melodramatic emotion. It was enough to take my mind off the heat for a few seconds.

Ham, on the other hand, was ready to die. "Benny, man, it's so hot out here," Ham cried. "I'm baking like a toasted cheeser!"

"It's a hundred and fifty degrees out there," Squints announced. "You can't play baseball!"

A chorus of agreements emitted from the dugout, and I knew Benny was vexed. Having most of the boys go against baseball was like having them go against him.

"Vote then!" Benny challenged. "Anyone who wants to be a can't-hack-it pantywaists who...wears their mama's bra, raise your hand."

I choked down laughter as ALL the boys raised their hands without hesitation. "Yep, that's me," I heard one of them say. I turned my attention back to Benny, who looked as if he were exasperated.

"You realize that I am a girl, right?" I questioned, raising an eye brow. I didn't get a response.

"Fine," he said, giving up. "Fine, be like that. So what are we gonna do?"

The boys all looked at each other with mischievous expressions and loopy smiles before screaming, "Scam pool honeys!" Or something along the lines. I wasn't too sure.

Well, whatever it was we were doing, we said we'd meet at the pool by noon. I had waited for Benny and Scotty, since the three of us lived next to each other. But before I could even approach Benny, he had already sprinted out of the sandlot, and I was left alone with Scotty.

By noon, I was already at the pool before any of the boys. I took off my shorts and jersey, exposing the black and red bikini I rarely ever wore, and then I got onto the block and dived into the pool. Oh God, the water was so cool against my parched skin. I could almost feel my pores breathing as I remained free-floating under water.

When my lungs couldn't take the lack of oxygen anymore, I swam up to the surface, expected air to fill my lungs. Instead, a splash of water impacted on my face, causing me to choke as I inhaled the liquid.

Looking around in annoyance, I saw the boys playing around, dunking each other and rough-housing, and my irritation instantly melted.

"Hey, Belle!" Smalls greeted, causing all the boys to turn their attention towards me. Ham, in his current playfulness, splashed more water on me, and I retaliated by splashing him back. I turned to look towards Benny, wondering if he had seen me, but his attention was diverted somewhere else.

I looked up, curious to see what he was looking at, when I saw the lifeguard sitting at her post. With a red swimsuit, perfectly styled blonde hair, and curvy legs, I knew she was exactly what Benny was looking at.

"She doesn't know what she's doing," Tommy said.

"She doesn't know what she doing," Timmy repeated.

"Yeah she does, she knows exactly what she doing," Benny disagreed. I looked at him and sighed. All the boys were wrapped up in staring at the lifeguard. They didn't even notice when I swam to the edge of the pull and got out to run to the girls' bathroom. Making sure no one was there, I leaned against the wall and slammed my palms onto the wall in frustration. I know it's a bitter thing to say, but I felt as if Benny intentionally made me jealous. I shouldn't be blaming him, but I couldn't help it.

Wow, I felt…. Jealous. Of the Lifeguard. Because of the attention Benny was giving her.

Suddenly, I heard a scream coming from the pool, and I ran out to investigate. A large crowd had gathered at the south end of the pool, the sandlot boys included. Then I saw Squints lying lifeless on the floor while the lifeguard was doing CPR, and I suddenly began running in concern. Oh God, I thought. I hope he's okay.

Then...my steps halted when I saw Squints arms wrap around the lifeguard's head, pulling her down for a kiss. I knew at the moment that I would have to kick his butt for making me worry. That is, if the lifeguard didn't beat me to it. He was in so much crap.

"Boys," I chided them half an hour later when we had been kicked out of the pool. "You realize that it's over a hundred degrees, and we just got banned from the pool?"

The boys only shrugged their shoulders, unable to hide their admiration towards Squints for pulling off such an amazing feat. He kissed a woman, and he kissed her good.

"Come on," Benny said once he had finished pull up his jeans over his swimming trunks. "Let's go back to the sandlot. It's not that hot anymore."

We ran to the Sandlot and played for a while. I stayed until I was sure that I had a sun burn, even in the late hour of the afternoon. I told the boys I was leaving and made sure Benny was to walk Small's home. Of course, they all gave me strange looks, worrying about a kid walking home by himself. When questioned, I merely shrugged.

"You're home early," my mom said as she stood over the stove. I'm pretty sure I was cherry red, cuz when mom looked at me, she seemed concerned.

"You look like a cherry," she confirmed, rubbing my arm. I whimpered and she immediately apologized. "I'll look for some aloe." While digging around in the cabinets, she said to me, "So, are you gonna go to the night game?"

"Night game?" I asked.

"Yeah, his mother told me that once a year on the Fourth of July they play a night game," she explained.

I know baseball's a very American thing to do, but to celebrate the Fourth of July by playing it in the dark of the night just struck me as odd. Oh well, I knew I'd probably go anyway, just to be with the guys.

"You know we should get your hair cut," my mom suggested out of the blue. "Would you let me?'

I shrugged my shoulders. "As long as I can still pull it up in a ponytail, I wouldn't mind."

That night, my mom cut my hair and braided neatly. We then started setting up for dinner when a knock at the front door disturbed us.

"I'll get it," I told my mom as I ran down the hall and opened the door. Benny stood there.

"Wow, Belle, the hair cut looks good on you," Benny said as casually as he could, although I could tell there was something up.

"Thanks," I muttered, all the while trying to maintain a smile. My cheeks were stiff from the sun burn, although the aloe did take away some of the sting.

"There's a night game tonight. You wanna come?" he asked. For some reason, I got the vibe he didn't mean to invite me—as if he was forced to do so. I could only imagine that the boys had talked him into doing it, considering the fact that he lived the closest to me.

"Sorry," I said as calmly as I could. "I promised my mom I'd have dinner with her. I'm sorry."

"Oh, that's okay," Benny smiled, although there was no light in his eyes. "I guess I'll just see you tomorrow, then."

"Yeah, see ya tomorrow," I replied as I shut the door and leaned against it for a while before groaning in frustration and stomping back to the kitchen.

"What's wrong, Anna?" Mom said, using one of the many nick names you get from having the name 'Annabelle'.

"I reclined the offer." Her face was confused, so I explained, "He seemed like he didn't want me to come."

She sighed. "Did it ever occur to you that he likes you, Belle?"

"He does not like me. I can guarantee that." She sighed, and decided to drop the subject. "Thanks for the hair cut. Can you tell me when dinners ready?"

She nodded and I walked to my room, sat down on my bed and pulled a book off my night-stand. Not caring what it was, I started to read. Oh, gosh, that book was boring. Setting it down, I closed my eyes, sighing.

I didn't realize I had nodded off until my mom woke me up. "Dinner's ready." I nodded, and went down stairs. I ate silently, sleepily.

After I finished I walked outside and climbed up onto my roof. Sitting there I looked at the fireworks illuminating the valley, and I suddenly understood how the boys could play a night game. I sighed, regretting my decision to turn down Benny's offer, and rested my head to my knees.

I watched as the sandlot boys a few blocks down separated from each other, probably on their way home. And then I saw Benny, and I felt the butterflies in my stomach.

But that fluttering feeling was short lived as I saw a blonde haired blue eyed girl walk next to Benny and grab his hand. The following sequence of events that ensued was enough to make me hurl as I watched Benny bend his head down to kiss this girl, and I suddenly knew I was too late.

I was over-come with a sense of jealousy. It enveloped me. I didn't understand it, until realization hit me. Mom was wrong. He didn't like me. He had liked someone else all along. That's what was up with the goofy smile. That's why he wouldn't tell me what was up.

Unable to stand the scene unfolding before me, and unable to stand myself, I went back inside the house, intent on letting sleep keep me from thinking and thinking and thinking about everything gone horribly wrong.

Eating breakfast the next morning was nonexistent. Thinking about last night made me lose my appetite, and so I tried hard to see the sunny side of the street. Everything could be normal. Just another person to be friends with.

Okay, that didn't exactly make me feel better. I'm totally eating my words here.

It was worse when I got to the sandlot, because the girl I noticed as Benny's new girlfriend was seated at the dugout watching.

Oh, goody.

"Oh look you finally came," Ham said, obviously reminding me of the fact I ditched them last night. I tried to roll my eyes, but felt a bit insecure as I saw the girl at the dugout glaring at me. She was a bit far away, but I could see a stink-eye from miles away. Maybe I shouldn't have put on my stomach bearing tank-top. If anything, she probably got the vibe that I was a hoe trying to "get with her man." Hah!

"Morning Anna," Benny said waving. "That's Emily, we're together, you know?" He pointed to the girl. I just gave him a nervous laugh before common courtesy told me to talk to this Emily girl.

"Hi, Emily," I said as friendly as I could. "I'm Annabelle, or Anna. Or Belle! What ever you prefer." She only flashed me a gorgeous smile, making me sick to my stomach, and I turned around and grabbed the bat from the home base.

"She plays?" I heard Emily ask Benny in disbelief.

"Yes, I don't just came here to tan up, I came here to play same baseball," I mumbled to myself, although what I really wanted to do was chuck my baseball bat at her. Or Benny.

Sighing I tried to concentrate and turned my attention to Kenny.

"Show me what you got!" I yelled. "I feel like hitting your heater."

Kenny smirked as he took up my challenge. He winded the ball. He pitched. And I swung.

The ball was flying straight past Benny, who was much too absorbed by his new blondy. It obviously surprised him, and he had to take his time to compose himself before running towards the ball, picking it up, and throwing it to Yeah-Yeah, who threw it to Bertram, and finally Kenny.

"That was a good hit," Emily said. I guess she wasn't as bad as I thought. "But I could do better. Much better." I take my words back.

"That wasn't even my hardest," I said as I prepared myself for another ball. "Kenny pitch me another one." I got down and glared as the ball came to me. I swung with all my strength and I heard the wack of the bat against the ball, which flew past the fence and into someone's yard.

"Nice one Anna!" Ham said sarcastically. "Now we can't play."

"Yes, we can," I told Ham tiredly. I have another ball." Walking past Emily and into the dugout, I grabbed my other ball and pitched it to Kenny. When I walked past Emily, I heard her mutter that she could still through hit better than me. I was so sick of her; I threw my bat down to the ground and approached her.

"I didn't come here to have some know-it-all ditz say she can do better than me. Why don't you put your money where your mouth is," I growled, and before she could respond, I grabbed my mitt and walked off. No one stopped me, and I was just about to break into a run when a hand grabbed my wrist.

"What the heck do you want, Benny?" I screamed as I turned around. But instead of seeing Benny, as I expected, I saw Smalls. "Oh, sorry, short stuff. I thought you were Benny."

"No, he's still back there comforting Emily." The fact made me even more upset.

"She's crying because I called her bluff?"

Smalls nodded. "You kind of had a point. She was all talk, anyway."

"She is!" I exclaimed, glad that someone agreed with me. "I don't understand how someone as smart as Benny could end up with...her."

Scotty smiled. "Are you jealous, Belle?"

"No!" I said a bit too fast. "I'm just...I don't know. I really don't want to talk about it. It's not something I'm comfy with."

Scotty only shrugged his shoulders and dropped the subject. If there was one thing I liked about Scotty, it was his ability to keep himself from digging his nose into someone's business—something the other boys lacked.

We began to walk back to the sandlot when a group of boys on bicycles spend past us. Curious to see why they were going to the sandlot, Scotty and I looked at each other before running after them.

"It's easy when you play with a bunch of rejects and a fat kid, Rodriguez," I heard the boy leading the unknown group call out. They were all dressed in official baseball uniforms, and I knew right away that they were another baseball team.

"Then you must be looking into a one way mirror," I said a little too loud. Everyone turned to look at me in surprise, except for Benny who glared. Good God, was he still mad at me about Emily?

"Man Rodriguez, if you don't want her, then I will have her," the boy who had insulted Benny said whistling. The nerve!

"I'm Phillips," he said.

"Sorry," I replied as coolly as I could. Then I lied. "I don't swing that way."

This Phillips boy only shrugged his shoulders, not really caring, and went back to terrorizing the sandlot boys. In a span of one minute, Ham and Phillips insulted each other back and forth.

At first, I was completely on Ham's side. And then…he said something that made me want to swing HIS way."

"You play ball like a girl!" Ham yelled. I cursed under my breath, causing Ham to look at me with an apologetic look that obviously said, "I'm sorry, but it's all I had left." He'll pay for it later. We had to get rid of Phillips first.

"Fine, our field. Noon. Be there buffalo butt breath," Phillips said, signaling the end of the fight.

"Count on it, pee drinking crap face," Ham retorted just as Phillips and his group rode their bikes out of the sandlot.

The boys all cheered, congratulating Ham for winning that round of insults. I began walking towards my spot back on home base when Benny tapped my shoulder.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked. I nodded, knowing he was probably going to confront me for what I said to his girlfriend.

"I know you are going to yell at me for hurting Emily's feelings, but she had it coming!" Okay, so that was a bit immature, but at least it was honest.

"Calling her out for bluffing was one thing, but calling her a ditz, too? Couldn't you have kept that to yourself?"

"Couldn't she keep her negative feelings to herself? I swear, Benny, from the moment I stepped foot on the sandlot, she did nothing but show her distaste for me. Can you blame me for snapping?"

Benny didn't know how to answer, and I knew he couldn't blame me. That was all I really needed to know.

"I'm going home," I told Benny. "With Emily and Phillips being introduced to me all in one day, I think I'm gonna need a shower away the stench of idiocracy."