A Thousand Paper Cranes
By Reiko Anne Nguyen
Date: July 27, 2009
Summary: Benny never thought he'd find another adventure quite like pickling the beast. Little did he know that freshman year would prove to be anything but ordinary. Varsity hazing trials, dead bodies, and town secrets are bound to be revealed.
Chapter 5: Of Brains and Brawn
"Benny—the boy they had always known to be the most level-headed—
was throwing repetitive punches, each blow rendering his victim helpless.
They had never seen him act so violently before."
August 27, 1962
Monday
It was the first day of school, and all Benny really wanted was to keep a relatively low profile. He did not want to be acknowledged as the ever-so-popular Susan Rodriguez' little brother. He did not want to live up to Adam's reputation. Granted, his family and friends knew he was a mediocre child, but to have the entire community realize his shortcomings would've been another blow to his ego.
Yes, Benny wished to keep a low profile this school year, and he would have gotten his wish…
…had he not decided to tango with The Beast.
"Is that who I think it is?" Benny heard someone whisper as he entered the Student Forum of Roscoe Hills High School.
"That's kid who outran Mr. Mertle's dog."
"Yeah, I think that's him. Are those his friends?"
Benny walked awkwardly next to Janie as the busy crowd shot him curious and entertained eyes. Up a head, Ham and Kenny clandestinely basked in the attention, feeling smug about their slight boost of fame. And yet…
Something didn't feel right.
Benny couldn't place his finger on it, but there was something tense about the way people looked at him. It made him feel uneasy, and he found himself quickening his pace. He furrowed his eyes in suspicion, noticing a group of girls in the corner. They scanned him in an up and down motion before cupping their hands around their mouths before speaking. Gossip. He noticed a couple of senior boys in their letterman jackets smirking as they walked passed him, keeping their teasing eyes on him until their necks could no longer twist. Mockery.
All at once, Benny realized what was going on, and before he could quicken his pace to a near sprint, he had accidentally run his shoulder against another boy.
"Slow down, you knucklehead! There ain't no gorilla-monster here to chase you!"
The entire forum laughed at Benny's expense, causing him to stiffen uncomfortably.
"Shoulda' knocked on the door and asked for the ball, you air head," someone else in the crowd had said, collecting another wave of laughter.
Benny looked around the room, attempting to keep his cool. He watched as Ham and Kenny stood rooted to their spots, anger evident on their faces. So much for keeping a low-profile, Benny thought in exasperation as he turned around to face Janie. To his surprise, she wasn't there, and he suddenly realized that he had left her behind in his effort to quicken his pace.
"Benny! Over here," Janie yelled.
Benny looked around the crowd and found a pair of arms waving frantically above the crowd. Poor Janie had been trying to shove her way through the mass of people in order to catch up with him, but it seemed as if no one was aware of her existence. A large, beefy boy with hardly any neck had pushed past her, knocking her smaller frame into and older student, who annoyingly shoved her back in another direction. In an instant, Benny grabbed Janie's arm and pulled her to his side, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulder as they walked together and parted the Red Sea.
Janie comforted the boys once they had retrieved their schedules and escaped the forum. It certainly was unsettling to see so many people treat Benny so badly, what with his status of being "a nice guy" and his repute for being unapproachably good-looking. Janie was sure the latter had to count for something in the shallowness of current society, as Benny always seemed to benefit from being every girl's object of infatuation. If only they could see him in his morning glory, with dried toothpaste on his chin and pillow wrinkles on his face. Hardly debonair, Janie thought laughingly.
But at that moment, it didn't matter how handsome Benny was, or how nice he had always been. The high school scene was cruel, and Benny was the first target of many hallway gossips that would ensue throughout the entire year. The best he could do was to simply move on with life and accept his misfortunes.
After separating from Kenny, whose classes were on the opposite wing, Benny, Ham, and Janie headed towards their first period of the day (and the only class they shared): Biology, room 309.
The room was brilliantly illuminated, but not by the sunlight that should have been radiating into the room. Instead, plastic blinds covered the windows, while rows and rows of overhead lighting lit up the cold sterile room. There were no posters on the walls. No diagrams. Only dark green chalkboards covered the stark white walls, while three rows of black, acid-resistant science tables filled the center of the room. In the back of the room, partially blocking the windows, were wooden shelves housing jars of assorted, lifeless amphibians.
Benny followed Janie into the room, feeling a sense of foreboding. There was an air of strictness that emitted from the room, and he wasn't sure he liked it. He followed Janie blindly, but suddenly lost his train of thoughts after he realized she had seated them in the middle of the classroom.
"I thought you like sitting in the front," Benny told Janie as he shot her a quizzical look.
"Typically, yes. But this room gives me the hibbie-jeebies," she cringed.
Benny laughed at her reasoning and sat down, feeling satisfied. His feeling of contentedness was short-lived, however, when a severe-looking man suddenly strode into the classroom.
"I do not tolerate misconduct nor do I put up with any forms of silliness," the stern man suddenly boomed as he slammed his textbook on his desk. All attention instantly diverted from Benny to the authoritarian man, whose thinning silver hair didn't seem to match his well-built form. They then watched as he harshly scrawled his name on the chalkboard—Dr. Daniel Dameron—before facing them with a stern look.
"I don't believe in all this first day of school introductions, either. I believe that if you have the handbook, and you can read the handbook, you should be responsible for knowing the handbook. Get it. Read it. Know it."
Benny looked at Janie, who seemed to share his instant astonishment.
"This is supposed to be our teacher for the entire year?" Benny whispered to her in disbelief. Unfortunately for him, he misjudged the distance to the front of the class, and his words instantly reached the stringent Dr. Dameron.
"Well, well, well. You must be…Benny Rodriguez," Dr. Dameron articulated. For a while, he remained silent as he continued to stare at Benny, who felt the itch to squirm in his seat. Benny tried to look as unruffled as he could.
"Tell me," Dr. Dameron continued. "What are the subgroups of carbohydrates?"
How the hell am I supposed to know that? Benny's calm and cool façade wavered as a blank stare took its place. "I—I don't know, sir."
"Then tell me what type of protein accelerates a chemical reaction?"
Again, Benny was unable to speak while the rest of the class silently laughed. Was he supposed to know all this?
"What about oxygen?" Dr. Dameron continued, sounding almost triumphant. "What is the importance of oxygen in the production of ATP?"
Unable to answer the question again, Benny instinctively looked at Janie, who was shooting Dr. Dameron a suspicious frown. As if she could sense his distress, Janie shot her hand in the air.
"Sir," she said without waiting to be called on. "An oxygen molecule acts as a final electron acceptor in the final stage of respiration—the electron transport chain. More specifically…"
"I wasn't asking you." Dr. Dameron snapped suddenly. This sudden outburst towards his friend caused Benny to furrow his brows in anger. Who the hell is this ass? He looked at Janie, who didn't seem to be angry at all. Rather, she was thinking, all the while sustaining her look of suspicion towards their insensitive teacher.
"If there's one thing I hate more than students who aren't prepared for my class, it's a know-it-all student who speaks out of turn," Dr. Dameron continued to in a stern tone.
"But sir," Janie continued to speak up. "According to your handbook, students are not expected to be knowledgeable in the curriculum they are about to begin, unless they are returning from a pre-requisite, which Mr. Rodriguez and every student in this introductory class has not done." She paused. "It is in the handbook, sir."
The entire class snickered and whispered in hushed tones, clearly siding with Janie against the tyrannical instructor. Benny felt the sudden urge to high-five her on the spot.
"That's a warning, freshman," Dr. Dameron said firmly as he slapped a meter stick onto the table in front of him. He then turned around and began writing on the board, never once bothering Benny again. He even ignored Janie, who had raised her hands multiple times to ask questions.
"Every other day, you'll have a quiz," Dr. Dameron stated briskly at the end of class. "Every other Friday, you'll have a test." And every other day you don't have a quiz or test, anticipate a possible pop quiz or test."
Ah, Jesus, Benny thought.
On the other hand, perhaps it was to their advantage that Dr. Dameron ignored them. Any attention they would have gotten from him probably would have been a negative one anyway.
Lunch had finally arrived, and Benny couldn't wait to be alone with his friends. The first day of school simply wasn't as he had anticipated.
Once he had met up with Ham and Janie, the three of them went outside and sat under the shade of a large, welcoming tree. It was the only place they could join Kenny, who seemed to be taking all of his classes in the West Wing.
Benny sat down with his back against the tree and rested an arm on his propped knee. Across from him, Kenny shrugged out of his light jacket and spread it on the grass before seating himself on it.
"Are you gonna eat that?" Ham asked Kenny as chunks of food flew from his full mouth onto Kenny's plate. Kenny cursed under his breath and shoved his tray towards Ham, who accepted it with a shrug.
"Do you guys remember Scott Phillips?" Janie suddenly blurted out of nowhere. The question brought out a sudden burst of laughter from Ham, causing more chunks of food to come fly out of his mouth.
"That flake? We beat him and his junior league chums in a baseball game over the summer! Why bring his name up?" Janie looked at Benny, who only gave her a questioning glance.
Scott Phillips was the sandlot boys' only enemy. His father was a workaholic business man who made a fortune in some kind of foreign investment, and so Scott moved to the nicer side of town—after meeting Benny, of course, and establishing his detestation of him.
"I saw him today. Scott Phillips." All three heads snapped up as they stared at Janie, hoping this was just a poor attempt to trick them.
"That's impossible," Kenny said. "Phillips lives in the other side of town. Don't they have some top notch private academy over there for snots like him?"
"Apparently, they don't," Janie grumbled as she stabbed her carrot with her plastic chopstick. "Because he was in my health class today."
"Ahah! Sucks for you," Ham laughed. "I'd hate to be stuck in the same school with that guy, much less the same room!"
"It gets worse. He's my partner for a long-term project we're supposed to do." The fact caused Ham to double over and laugh harder, making his puff of orange curls shake with his body.
"Ahahaha! Oh my God! I feel so sorry for you!"
"Laugh all you want," Janie grinned. "You'll have to see him at practices for junior varsity baseball." Ham's laughter died as Janie's words hit him. "You know darn well that he's good enough to tryout and make the team."
"I hate him," Ham whispered as he zoned out. His depression didn't last long, however, as the mentioning of the school's baseball team caught his bigger interest."
"Hey Benny," Ham began. "Are you gonna try out for the JV baseball team?" Benny nodded his head. It was the only thing he looked forward to, and there was no doubt in his mind that he was going to make it into the team.
"What about you guys?" Benny asked Kenny and Ham. The two looked at each other before simultaneously agreeing. "Hell yeah!"
"It's gonna be out of sight!" Kenny cheered. "With you, me, and Ham on the team, JV will be invincible. I bet we could even thrash the school's varsity team!"
The two boys continued to cheerfully express their excitement for the upcoming tryouts while Benny passed Janie a knowing grin. There was no doubt in his mind that the boys would certainly break records once they joined the team.
Unaware to them, however, was a group of boys who silently stood nearby, listening to their conversation.
"Are you listening to this, Dylan?" A tall boy with chin-length blonde hair asked.
"Yeah," the boy named Dylan, who seemed to be the leader, replied coolly. "Sounds like rubbish to me."
The three boys behind the one named Dylan sneered as Benny turned to observe them. They were an intimidating bunch, with their good looks, tall and built frames, and matching black and red jackets. It was the Varsity patches that were neatly stitched onto each of their sleeves, however, that grabbed Benny's attention.
The patches depicted a baseball placed in front of two crossed bats. Above the picture were the words "Henry Foster High School," and below it were "Varsity Baseball."
Benny groaned inwardly. Why do these jerks always come in packs?
"You got something to say to us?" Ham glared as the group slowly approached them.
"The name's Dylan. Dylan Royce. And what's yours, Big Red?" Ham ignored the nickname.
"Ham Porter," Ham retorted bluntly.
"Ham? What kind of parents would name their kid after sandwich meat?" The boys snickered and Benny felt the sudden urge to laugh himself. These bullies didn't seem worth the energy to throw his anger at. Unfortunately, Ham didn't feel the same way.
"Look," Ham began ignoring Dylan's introduction. "You're wasting our lunch time. So scram." The boys looked at each other before returning their attention to Ham.
"As it so happens, you're sitting on OUR spot." Ham furrowed his brows.
"The hell it is! I don't see your name written on it, pal!" Dylan raised his chin haughtily.
"As a matter of fact, it is." His eyes moved towards the tree above Benny's head where the bark had been carved with "VBT". Ham looked a bit dejected, but mustered as much pride as he could manage.
"Do you even know who weare?" Kenny finally spoke up.
"Freshmen, no doubt." One of the cronies murmured from behind.
"The Sandlot kids," Ham proudly announced. The boys looked at each other in false excitement.
"Oh golly jeepers! It's the Sandlot kids!" The blonde with chin-length hair joked in sarcasm and they all doubled over in laughter. He even went so far as to pull his pants down and mooned Kenny. "Sign it! Sign it!"
The act caused Kenny to tumble backwards in horror, bringing Ham to the ground with him. The varsity team laughed even harder as Kenny and Ham clumsily tried to compose themselves.
"Leave the nigger alone, Ronnie," Dylan said with authority, causing all the other boys to pause. "We have a lady in our presence."
"A lady?" the boy named Ronnie raised a questioning eyebrow as he pulled his trousers back up and scanned Janie, who sat primly on a low tree branch with a lacquered lunch box on her lap. On a normal basis, Ham probably would have snorted at the comment. "She's not a lady. She's just a man with boobs." But now wasn't the time to joke around.
"Aha! Lady my ass! She's a Chink!" Benny and the boys stood with blank expressions, clueless as to what he dubbed their friend. Janie, on the other hand, knew exactly what the term meant and dropped her chopsticks in shock and revulsion.
"Well if you want to get all prejudice here, I'm not a Chink. I'm a Nip. A pleasure to make your acquaintance," she said calmly as she stood up straight and walked towards the boys. Benny suddenly sat up in alert.
"Don't look so proud, metal mouth" the tallest and leanest of the boys said as he stepped directly in front of her. "My grandpa fought you dirty Japs in the war before you surrendered. Cowards. Tell me, how'd it feel when we bombed your homes with our nukes?"
"I wouldn't know," Janie said calmly. "How did it feel dropping nuclear bombs in civilian territory and killing the lives of women and children? I should think that would make you feel just as cowardly."
Usually, Benny admired her for her tolerance towards people. Even the most insulting dirt-bag couldn't blow Janie's top. When it came to her family, however, she was anything but tolerable. She was being extremely defensive, and Benny knew it would not end well for her. He began to worry.
He was right to worry.
In a flash, the dark-haired boy struck his hand across Janie's face, causing her to collapse on the ground. He would have grinned in satisfaction at showing her a lesson…
…had Benny not suddenly sprung up from his sitting position to tackle him down.
Ham and Kenny ran to Janie and pulled her up before turning to watch Benny in stunned silence. Benny—the boy they had always known to be the most level-headed—was throwing repetitive punches, each blow rendering his victim helpless. They had never seen him act so violently before. They didn't know whether to root for Benny, or be afraid.
Feeling more of the latter, Janie broke away from Ham and Kenny's supportive arms and grabbed Benny's waist as she tried to pull him away.
"Benny, stop! Benny, you'll get in trouble!" Following her queue, Ham and Kenny ran towards Benny and helped Janie pull him off the boy, who lay with his eyes shut tight and blood running down his nose.
"Fuckers," the boy managed to spit out at his friends. "Why didn't you get this beaner off of me?" The varsity team looked at his poor state and snickered, except for Dylan, who only kept a serious face. He almost looked bored, if not exasperated.
"We don't draw blood over a girl, Tony" Dylan said coolly as he pushed himself away from his leaning position on the tree. Then he turned to look at Benny before walking away. "It's lame."
Benny stood motionless with Ham and Kenny still gripping his arms. It was as if they were afraid he'd lunge forward and attack again. Janie stood behind him, still clutching onto his waist. They watched as the boy named Tony stood up and glared at Benny before following the rest of the group.
When the varsity team had disappeared inside the cafeteria, Kenny and Ham let Benny go, their anger at the team returning.
"What a bunch of jerks," Ham muttered as Benny turned around and faced Janie.
"Are you alright?" He asked, not knowing how to comfort her. Janie only nodded her head, unable to face him eye to eye. Benny let out a breath and tipped her chin up, feeling anger boil over him again as he saw the red mark tarnishing her entire left cheek.
"I'm going to make him pay for this," Benny said through his teeth.
"I think you've already done enough damage to him. What happened to you, Benny?" He scrunched his brows in confusion.
"What do you mean?" Ham and Kenny looked at Benny, eager for answers as well.
"You looked like you were intent on killing him," she whispered. Benny furrowed his eye brows, suddenly asking himself the same question. What did happen to him? What was he thinking? It wasn't like him to act so violently.
"I wasn't going to kill him," he answered, a little unsure of how honest he was.
"Well if looks could kill, you probably might have," Kenny finally spoke. Benny and Janie couldn't help but smile at the comment.
"I really ought to be chastising you, Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez," Janie announced less seriously. "But, considering the fact that nothing too bad happened to that jerk, I'm glad you pounded him to a pulp. Thanks."
Benny chuckled as he accepted Janie's warm hug. "Call it even. For rescuing me back in Biology class."
"Ah, yes. With my brains and your brawn, we're indomitable. Mwa-ha-ha!"
Benny had to shake his head at her theory. "Brains and brawn, huh? You know we have this yin-yang relationship?"
"I know," Janie said candidly as she wrapped her arms around Benny in thanks. "Which is why we make an excellent duo!"
As he stood under the shade of the tree with Janie safely in his arms, Benny began replaying the events that happened not too long ago. It surprised him how, at first, he didn't feel as if the varsity team would be worth his anger. Heck, he wanted to convince himself that the entire school's opinion of him didn't matter. But when that boy named Tony struck Janie, fury suddenly engulfed him and, for a while, it didn't feel as if he had control over his own body. The only objective he had in mind was to pulverize whoever had hurt her, and although he hadn't killed the guy, he had no doubt in his mind that he could have done it.
It was a scary feeling, letting impulsivity take over him like that. He wondered if he would do have done the same thing had any of the other sandlot boys been in Janie's place. Was she that special to him? Shaking the thought of attraction in his mind, he figured that, if it came to his best friend, he would never tolerate that kind of treatment.
Disclaimer: "The Sandlot" was written and directed by David M. Evans. I do not own anything related to the movie other than this fan written fiction and the original characters I have created through my own imagination. I assure you that this piece of work does not make any profits, nor will it be published in the future. Copyright infringement is not intended.