she's alright {benny rodriguez}

~13~

You and the guys were sitting behind Vincent Drug playing some games and chewing gum. You all were talking, and Ham stood up holding some of his gum.

"Check this out." He puts the gum in his mouth. "Ahm du gweat wambimo."

"What?" everyone mumbles and looks at each other, confused. You see Benny and the new kid walk up behind Ham, and you give a small wave.

"Am duh gweah ambimoh," Ham repeats.

"What?"

Ham takes the gum out of his mouth and tells you the answer. "I'm the Great Bambino."

"Oohhh!" everyone says as they hear what he was saying.

The new kid spoke up. "Who's that?"

Who's the Great Bambino? Did he seriously just say that? You didn't know many famous baseball players, but you did happen to know who the Great Bambino was.

Ham slowly turns around and joins everyone else, who were standing up now. "What? What'd he say?" Ham asks Kenny. You all watch the new kid, however you had a bit more sympathy. Benny just looks away, disappointed with a hint of secondhand embarrassment.

"What, were you born in a barn, man?" Bertram asks.

"Yeah yeah, what planet are you from?" Yeah-Yeah seconds.

"You've never heard of the Sultan of Swat?" Squints asks while chewing his gum.

Kenny names the next nickname, which you hadn't heard of yet if you were being honest. "The Titan of Terror."

"The Colossus of Clout?" Timmy says.

"The Colossus of Clout!" (you can guess who said that).

Benny turned towards the boy. "The King of Crash, man."

"Oh, yeah! The Great Bambino, of course. I thought you said the Great... Bambi." He was obviously lying, but you didn't want to call him out.

"That wimpy deer?" Ham teases.

"Yeah, I guess. Sorry."

Benny decides to introduce the kid to you all. "A-anyway, Scott." So that's his name. "That's Timmy and Tommy Timmins." They spit, as if they had chew in their mouths instead of gum. "Mike "Squints" Palledorus," he spits. "Alan McClennan- we call him Yeah-Yeah." He also spits. "Bertram Grover Weeks," Bertram spits. "Kenny DeNunez," who spits too. "Hamilton Porter- we call him Ham." Ham spits. "Guys, this is Scott Smalls. Oh, and there's Y/N L/N." Instead of spitting, you stick out your hand and grimace. Smalls walks up and shakes it, but the boys argue and tell you to spit.

"Aw, c'mon Y/N! Just do it!" Squints begs.

"I thought you were one of us," say the Timmins brothers.

"Yeah yeah, just do it!"

You roll your eyes in defeat and motion for Scott to step back, and he does. You reluctantly spit at the ground, which leads all the boys to cheer.

"Hi," Scott waves, but Squints only spits again.

"Yeah, um... well, he's gonna play with us, cuz he makes ten. So, now we got a whole team and an extra player. We're wasting time, let's go to the sandlot."

"Benny, it's nine o'clock in the morning," Bertram complains. The boys file past Scott, and Ham rams into him.

After everyone walks down the street, you fall back beside Scott. "Hey, sorry 'bout them. They don't really like new people, I know from experience." You chuckle, and Scott looks up at you.

"When did you come?"

"Last summer. They weren't too keen on having a girl there, either. But Benny invited me and taught me how to play. And here I am."

"Why wouldn't they want you there? You're amazing!" He praises, but you shook your head.

"Nah, I wasn't that great then. I've had a lot of practice too. You'll get there sometime." You nudge his shoulder, and continue talking with him on the way to the sandlot.

"Why'd you bring him, Benny?" You overheard Bertram ask while walking.

"'Cause there's nine of us, and he makes ten!" Benny tries to defend bringing Scotty to play.

"Yeah yeah, so would my sister, but I didn't bring her," Yeah-Yeah protests.

"With ten guys we got a whole team plus one, Yeah-Yeah!"

Ham butts in. "No, with Elswenger we had a whole team! At least before Y/N came. Plus, Elswenger could catch!"

"And throw," Bertram adds.

"C'mon, Benny man. He ain't game. You saw the way he threw." Kenny insults Scotty's throw from earlier.

"Yeah. You already fill up all the empty positions since Elswenger moved to Arizona." Timmy tells Benny. Benny was just listening to all the reasons to not let Scotty play.

"Right, and now I get to rotate nine positions instead of eight. I need the practice, guys!" He snaps. You and Smalls just stand in the back, watching them banter. "Y/N, c'mere. Help me please!" Benny calls you over, and you go to join him in making the guys see that Scotty could be the tenth guy.

"You're the best on the team, you don't need any practice," Ham says, but you mentally disagree. Even pros need practice.

"Yeah, he does. Everyone needs practice."

"No he don't."

"You're the best, man," Bertram praises.

"C'mon, Benny man. The kid is a L-7 weeeenie," Squints puts his fingers into a square and looks through them.

"Yeah yeah, Oscar Mayer even! Foot long! Dodger dog! A weenie!" Yeah-Yeah exclaims, and you sigh. Benny looks at you, then back at Smalls.

"What're you laughing at, Yeah-Yeah? You run like a duck!" Benny retorts, and you let out a laugh.

"Good one, Benny," you elbow him.

"Okay okay, but I'm- I'm..." Yeah-Yeah couldn't find the right response.

"Part of the game, right?" Benny encourages.

"Yeah," Yeah-Yeah agrees.

"How come he don't get to be?"

Bertram tries to convince Benny again. "'Cause he's a geek, man. A geek."

"He can't catch!" Timmy brings that up again.

"Gee, guys. Why can't you give him a chance?" You snap. This was getting out of hand. "You let me in, and I'm a girl, for goodness sake! Do you know how many people would hate to see me play? They wouldn't even think twice about a boy who doesn't know how. Plus, what's so bad about him not knowing how to play? He can learn. Just like all of you had to at some point. So back off and be nice, or I'll teach him how to play myself." You glare and make eye contact with each one of them, and they nod. Benny silently thanks you, and turns back to the rest of them.

"Man, base up, you blockheads."

{mar. 7, 2021}