the sandlot orphan » b.rodriguez

; twelve

S A M - July 21, 1962 - 1:00 P.M.

"You're awful quiet, Sam. Is anything wrong?" Wendy asked as Sam laid emotionless on Wendy's bed.

Sam shook her head and tried to focus her eyes back on the blank ceiling.

"C'mon, why don't you tell me?" Sam shook her head again. She didn't trust her voice, it would shake or stutter and she would break down again.

"Please, Sam." Wendy placed her hands on Sam's shoulders and shook her. While Sam ran home, her chest physically hurt because her heart was broken. When she arrived at her house and laid on Wendy's bed, she stopped crying and a numb feeling took over her body.

"I-" Sam tried to speak but then a sob took over. Sam sat up and Wendy immediately wrapped her arms around Sam. Sam cried into her shoulder.

"Shhh, Sam." Wendy tried to calm her sister down, but that made Sam cry harder. Wendy was scared, she'd never seen Sam like this.

"I-It's Benny, Wendy." Sam whimpered out.

"You mean that kid who kissed you but you ran off?"

"Ye-yeah. We have been dating for a while now-"

"How come I didn't know this?"

"-an-and the past few days he's been acting so mean...he hasn't been himself. He kept insulting me saying that girls can't do anything and...I broke up with him. I really really like him Wendy, but I meant what I said to him when we broke up so I can't take him back. That'll make me look weak and I don't want him to know that I am."

Wendy lifted her sister's head up and cupped her face with her hands. "Sam, you are not weak. You are the strongest girl I know."

"Y-you're just saying that..."

"No Sam, I'm not. You are so strong. You stayed with him while he was being a jerk. I'm surprised that you didn't break up with him when he first started acting mean."

Sam laid her head on Wendy's shoulder as she rubs her back. Sam's cries soon turned into sniffles when all of a sudden, there was a knock on the door.

"Wendy? Can I come in?"

Sam froze, it was her mother. Sam knew that if her mother saw her, she would want to talk to her.

"Come in, Mom." Wendy said. Sam heard the door open and footsteps walk to the bed. The bed dipped and I Sam buried her face into Wendy's shoulder.

"What's wrong with Samantha?" Sam's mother asked.

"Why don't you ask her?" Wendy shook her shoulder, trying to make Sam look up and talk. Sam shook her head, not wanting to speak. But after a few moments, Sam sighed out and lifted her head, surprising Wendy, her mother, and herself.

"Yeah, yeah, I promised..." Sam muttered to Wendy. She turned around and faced her mother while her eyes scanned Sam's face. Her face had a look of concern.

"Samantha..." Her mother started but Sam cut her off, explaining everything. By the end, Sam was laying on the bed with her head resting on her mother's lap. Her mother was smoothing down her hair. Sam was still mad at her parents but she needed more comfort.

"Samantha, your father and I are really sorry about abandoning you. Jacob was a surprise and there was anything we couldn't do since, you were gone. When you left, we kept getting money from the government. We used that money and that took away our poorness. That's why we could raise Jacob and not you. We're really sorry.."

Sam shook her head, she didn't want to hear about how her parents gave her up for adoption.

She listened to her mother's explanation carefully; she still couldn't forgive them, she needed more information."I feel so unimportant and useless-"

"Is it because of that boy? Samantha, you have to show that boy what you can do, alright? I'll talk to your Dad and we'll enroll you in a school. Maybe you can join a team or club to show him that girls can do anything! Alright?" Her mother explained. Sam didn't really understand how she was going to go to school if she didn't know how to read or write, but she just forgot about it.

"Okay," Sam whispered and closed her eyes.

"I love you Samantha..." That was the last thing Sam heard before everything went black.

July 22, 1962 - 10: 15 A.M.

Sam sighed deeply as she curled hee hands into fists to stop their shaking.

She was in front of Mr. Mertle's house so that she could ask for the ball back to at least give it back to Scott.

She didn't even know why she was shaking. She knew the dog was no beast. She was worried that Mr. Mettle was mean and that he might to something to her.

Sam knocked on the door and moments later she heard footsteps. The door opened and out stepped an old dark man with black glasses.

"Who's there?" He called out.

"Um, I'm Samantha a-and I came to get a ball my friends accidentally threw into your backyard?" Sam asked, her voice turned squeaky towards the end of her sentence.

"Alright, come on in." He moved over and Sam nervously stepped in.