Hiya!!!!!!! Sorry it took awhile to get this chapter up. I had a softball game Friday, all day softball practice Saturday, and a Civil War Reenactment on Sunday. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter. More should be up soon, hopefully. I already know what I want to happen, so soon. Disclamer: I don't own anything except the movies on DVD :)

CHAPTER 2 The Challenge

"Come on Benny!" Ham was complaining. "It's way to hot to be playing baseball!"

"You didn't have a problem this morning," Benny argued.

Only five hours had passed and it was just two o' clock as Ham started complaining.

"It wasn't this hot this morning." Ham whined. "Come on! All for going to the pool raise you're hand."

Everyone readily agreed and raised their hand.

"You're outnumbered, Benny." Casey commented as she put her hand down, "Looks like we're going to the pool."

"Fine." Benny sighed. "Everyone meet at Vincent's Drugstore in ten minutes."

Everyone quickly gathered their stuff and ran on home. Benny, Casey, and Smalls had to sprint because they lived the farthest away.

"See you soon, Smalls!" Benny panted as he and Casey ran across the street. Scotty didn't reply, he was gasping for breath.

Benny and Casey ran into their house and raced each other up the stairs. Benny, living up to his nickname "The Jet" reached his room first, grabbed his swim trunks, and was in the bathroom before Casey could even find her swimsuit.

"Where is it?" she exclaimed as she rummaged through her clothing.

"You dressed yet, sis?" Benny called from the door.

"You can come in." Casey told him, "I can't even find the blasted swimsuit!"

"Well no wonder." Benny remarked as he walked in, "You're room's a mess."

It was true. Clothing, books, and other objects were scattered across the room.

"Just help me will you." Casey snapped.

Benny rolled his eyes, but started rummaging through some of the drawers. They looked for about three minutes before Benny sighed.

"Why don't you just wear a pair of my swim trunks and a big shirt?"

"Again?" Casey sighed. "Fine."

Benny ran to his room and grabbed one of his swim trunks, ran back to her room and threw them at her.

"Good thing we're the same size." He remarked.

"Shut up." Casey shook her head, shoving her brother out the door.

She hated it that she was as tall as Benny. She didn't mind being tall, it was just that she and Benny were alike in so many ways and it bugged her sometimes.

She quickly changed and looked in the mirror in her room. Her black hair was too short to pull into a ponytail. It wasn't as short as Benny's, but it was shorter then most girls.

"Hurry up, Casey!" Benny called from downstairs, "Smalls' is already outside!"

Casey grabbed a belt and tightened it around her waist, just so that her shirt wouldn't fly up when she went on the diving board. She leaped down the stairs and ran out the door behind Benny. They met up with Smalls and sprinted to Vincent's Drugstore. The rest of the gang was already their.

"What took you so long?" Ham demanded. "Casey, why are you wearing Benny's clothes?"

"Cause her room's a mess and it would have taken thirty years for her to have found her suit." Benny answered for her.

She shot him an annoyed look before taking off for the pool. Everyone but Casey had been banned from the pool last year when Squints had pretended to drown in order to kiss the lifeguard, Wendy Peffercorn. But when Squints had asked Wendy out two months ago, she had unbanned them. They all hurried into the pool and jumped straight in. Except for Casey who went to the diving board. She did a cannonball off of the diving board before swimming back over to her friends. They never went into the deep end because Smalls, Yeah-Yeah, and Squints didn't know how to swim well enough to not drown in the deep end. Benny saw her coming, dived under, and grabbed her feet, pulling her down underneath the water. They surfaced quickly and got into a fight to see who could keep the other under the longest. Benny was winning when the rest of the team joined in and an all out war started. The horseplay went on for five minutes before Wendy blew her whistle.

"Squints!" she called. "You know the rules! No horse playing!"

"Sorry Wendy!" Squints yelled back, quitting immediately. "You heard her guys, no horsing around."

"Yeah losers." A familiar voice said from behind the group.

They all turned around and saw nine boys, around the same age as them, standing in the shallow waters.

"What do you want, Phillips?" Benny asked angrily.

"Calm down, Rodriguez," the lead boy, Phillips, sneered, "It's a public pool. Of course, if we had known that the waters had been infested, we never would have come."

"What do you mean, Dog Breath?" Ham asked innocently, "The water was fine until you and the brainless clue showed up."

"You want to start something, Porter?" Phillips walked closer to Ham, followed by his team.

"You're on, Phillips." Ham's face was going red.

"Friday," Phillips replied, "At the sandlot."

"You're on!"

Phillips took one more glance over the group. His eyes rested on Casey who was slightly behind Benny. She and Benny were in a push fight. Benny kept trying to shove her behind him and she kept trying to stay beside him.

"Nice clothes, Casey." He teased, "Your parents not have enough money to buy you your own clothes so you have to borrow your brothers?"

"Shut up Phillips." Casey snapped.

Benny looked like he was about ready to hit Phillips, but Casey's hand on his shoulder kept him from doing that.

"Friday." Casey said, eyeing her brother.

"See ya their tomboy." Phillips sneered.

"I've never heard that one, meathead." Casey rolled her eyes.

Phillips's eyes narrowed, but he waded on down to the deep end followed by the rest of his team.

"Let's get out of here guys." Ham said after they had left. "The water's been polluted."

"Yeah, yeah!" Yeah-Yeah agreed. "Let's go."

"Come on." Timmy said, wading toward the stairs.

"Yeah, come on." Tommy repeated, following his brother.

Everyone agreed and followed the tow brothers out of the pool. Squints ran over to Wendy and said bye before leaving with the rest of the team. It was late in the day by then, so they all split up and went on home. They had one week till the big game.