It All Started with Baseball

Chapter 7: New Ball

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of snickering.

I opened my eyes to see the boys staring at me with big smiles on their faces.

I sat up suddenly, confused at what they were staring at.

I heard a groan beside me and I turned to see Benny rubbing his eyes with his hand.

I quickly noticed that I was still holding his hand.

That must've been what the boys were smiling and snickering about.

I quickly let go of Benny's hand as my face began to get warm.

Benny yawned out of the corner of my eye and he jumped slightly, finally noticing the boys standing around us.

"Good morning, lovebirds," Ham snickered.

The boys laughed.

I felt my heartbeat quicken in my chest and the butterflies in my stomach flipped.

Benny quickly grabbed his pillow and beat Ham with it.

"Hey!" Ham shouted.

The boys snickered as I smiled to myself.

"Breakfast is ready," Timmy informed us.

"Thanks," I said. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Same," Benny said.

"Yeah yeah," Yeah-Yeah said. "Don't take long, lovebirds."

I groaned as I placed my face in my hands.

The boys left, but I noticed my brother sat next to me.

I looked up from my hands at him.

"Does this mean you and Benny like each other?" Scotty whispered to me.

I could feel my face heat up even more.

"I don't know," I whispered back. "It was just a one time thing...I think."

Scotty nodded.

"For the record, I approve," Scotty whispered with a smile. "Benny's a good guy."

I smiled back and ruffled Scotty's hair with my hand.

"Thanks, Scotty."

Scotty nodded and then ran out of the treehouse.

I sighed and turned to face Benny who had gotten up and changed clothes without me noticing.

"About last night..." Benny started, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand obviously looking nervous.

I suddenly noticed Benny's bed head. It was disheveled. He looked cute.

"What about it?" I smiled.

"About holding hands...listen...I...," Benny continued, trying to form his words.

"Hurry up guys!" One of the boys shouted from outside the treehouse.

"We can talk about it later," Benny sighed, looking slightly annoyed.

"Sounds good to me," I nodded.

After everyone had gotten dressed and eaten breakfast, the group split up.

One group headed to the Sandlot while my group headed down to Vincent's drugstore.

We bought another baseball and walked out of the store.

"Come on, give it to me."

"No, I wanna carry it."

"Come on. I paid for it."

"I wanna carry it."

"Oh. Whoa!"

"Give it to me."

I turned to see Squints staring at Wendy Peffercorn walking by.

"There goes my baby," Squints said.

"Jeez Louise."

"What's the matter?"

"Jeez."

It looked like Squints seemed to have a giant crush on Wendy because he couldn't take his eyes off her as the rest of the boys and I started walking off without him.

He stayed in place staring at her in awe.

"There she goes," Squints said with a smile.

"Come on, let's go. We gotta get-," Kenny said, grabbing Squints's arm and pulling it after him.

"No!" Squints shouted, still staring at Wendy.

"We gotta get to the Sandlot. Let's go," Kenny said, dragging Squints after us.

I shook my head.

I guess that's how boys look at girls sometimes.

I looked back in front of me to see Benny staring at me.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," Benny said, as if he had been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to.

I smiled.