Chapter 7

Something occurred to me the day after we beat Philips and the rest of his 'followers': I hadn't seen Ryan for at least five days. He hadn't grounded me, sent me to my room, or told me to stay home all day for almost a week. This was strange.

That morning I asked mom about it. "Where's Ryan been?" She simply sighed before replying a minute later.

"He wants a divorce. He's been sleeping at the office for the past couple of days now, and we have a schedule for a marriage counselor." I felt bad for mom; they'd only been married for a year.

But on the bright side, no more un-needed groundings or scolding's. I would have a good home life. I would like to come home after school and look forward to hanging out at home with my mom and not some filthy-rich idiot who married my mom!

"I'm sorry," I said in faux-remorse. She didn't catch my trip, so I hugged her and said, "Going to the Sandlot. See you later." She waved as I walked out of the kitchen, an apple and a water bottle in my hand. I walked out the door, taking a bite of my apple. Smalls was waiting next to the door.

"Hey, Smalls," I greeted. He raised a hand and smiled. In his other hand he was holding a donut.

"Hey, Anna." We both began to walk, only to be met by a third. But it wasn't Benny.

"Emily?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow at her. She gave us both a small smile. Her blonde hair was up in a high ponytail, which, compared to my messy bun, looked a lot perkier.

"Hi, Scotty," Emily started. "Hi, Belle." She seemed hesitant to say something, so I prompted her.

"Do you wanna say something?" I asked quietly. She 'ummmmed', looking up with her eyes, towards the sky, but kept her head level.

"Yeah, I do," she took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I've been some kinda' witch to you, but I don't want to fight with you anymore. I guess I just felt like you were some kinda' threat and I put my guard up and-"I cut her off, turning towards her.

"It's okay. I forgive you. And trust me;" I gave her a smile, "I wasn't exactly nice to you either." We hugged, as Scotty waited patiently for us both. When we stopped hugging, she gave me a wide smile.

That's when Benny joined us. He gave us both weird looks. "What are you doing?" I patted his arm.

"Don't worry, Benny-boy," I replied. "We weren't fighting." He still seemed a bit strange, but he shrugged it off and started walking with us. Emily was in between Benny and I with Smalls on my side. Emily was clinging to Benny's arm, and, although I still felt a pang of jealousy, for once I didn't resent Emily.

We stepped onto the Sandlot, Benny chatting with Smalls. Pork and Kenny were standing there, as Timmy and Tommy approached the Sandlot from the other side of the diamond. "What's up, Pig, Ken?" They both replied a chorus of hi's.

"Hey, guys," Timmy said, waving.

"Hey, guys," Tommy echoed, waving.

"Heya," I said, as the others said their hellos. "Let's play some ball!" I announced. I ate a few more bites of my apple and threw it on the ground. I went under the dug-out, set my water down, and picked up a bat. "I'm batting," I announced.

Emily sat in her usual place under the dug-out. Benny took third base, while Kenny stood on the pitchers mound. Timmy went to first, Tommy went to second, and Smalls went to the outfield. "Show me what'cha got," I challenged Kenny.

"You sure you ready for this?" I nodded, setting my feet firmly in the dust, and steadying the bat in my hand. Kenny threw a curved ball, which happened to come towards me, just at the right moment when my arms went out too far by a quarter of an inch. I swung the bat, my hand thrusting forward, my hand connecting with the ball instead of the ball. I could almost hear the crunch as an exuberant pain shot through my hand.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Crap!" I shouted, the bat falling out of my hand. I started jumping up and down, holding the hurt hand with the good hand, and cursing. All the boys raced towards me, Benny reaching me first. Longest legs, fastest run, I guess. Emily got to me second, because of the short distance. The rest of the guys reached me shortly afterwards.

"Are you okay?" Benny asked me, a worried look on his face. I nearly shrieked in pain and fury when he said this.

"Do I look okay?" I screamed at him. "I can't move my friggin' hand! I am not okay!" He seemed to accept this.

"Let me see it." He took my hand gingerly in his, and I ignored the tingly feeling in my hand. Well, tried to ignore the tingly feeling. I mean, it was really hard to ignore the sensation that went up my arm. But I was brought back to reality when the pain zapped through my hand again.

"Can you move it?" Benny questioned. I shook my head, gritting my teeth. Emily was patting my back, trying to comfort me.

"You need to get to a doctor," Emily said to me. "We probably need to take you to your mom first." I nodded, and started to take my hand back, sighing. Everyone followed me home, asking if I was okay, how much pain I was in, and if I thought it was broken.

"Is this a crime show?" I hissed at them. "Cuz it seems like I'm in questioning on Matlock!" That shut them up really quickly. Emily and Benny were both trying to calm me down and distract me from the pain.

Mmhm, like that worked.

We arrived at my house quickly, and Emily went inside and got my mom. When mom came out, she had a paniced expression on her face. "Oh, sweetie!" She called as she rushed up to me. "Let me see your hand!" I held it out to her. She took it carefully, and inspected it. "It's definitely sprained. I'm not sure if it's broken or not. Oh, sweetie," she said again. "We better get you to the hospital. Get in the car. We have room for three more people." Benny, Emily, and Smalls decided to come, and the other guys headed back to the Sandlot.

My mom tried to soothe me on the way to the hospital. Benny put in a word or two, as did Emily. Scotty was quiet the whole way there. When we got to the hospital, the four of us walked inside the waiting room, holding my hand. Mom went and told the Nurse what happened, and she handed Mom some papers to fill out.

We waited about an hour, then they called me back. I sighed, as the four of us stood up and walked through the white double doors.