hard knock life ◇ sandlot

✖ | chapter fifteen

HAM DIDN'T STOP shooting yeah-yeah death glares. and yeah-yeah didn't stop flipping ham the bird.

there was a sense of - what felt - like dread that hung over the group. though it certainly felt like it'd been there all evening.

"...alright," benny cleared his throat and stood up, making it so that he was visible to every boy.

"what is up with you guys tonight?" he questioned, scratching the back of his neck. he was truly stumped on why his friends were behaving in such hostile manners.

"seriously. what's going on? timmy?" he turned towards his first baseman, who looked as though he were about to collapse. the older of the two brothers was not looking too hot at the moment.

"...why does everyone keep saying that? nothing's wrong! everything is fine-"

"no, it's not."

everyone turned to the boy whose voice was barely audible.

such a rare occurrence it was to hear tommy timmons speaking his own thoughts.

"...tommy." timmy hissed, and tommy's eyes swelled with tears.

"our dad left, and mom and timmy both think it's for good, and then mom married another man, and he's just so mean." the words came pouring out, and kenny wrapped an arm around tommy.

tommy buried his face deep into kenny's shirt, who looked just about as shocked as everyone else. aside from bertram and timmy, of course.

"...mean?" someone asked, and timmy sighed, flopping down on his back.

"we're handling it." he signed, tugging his hat down so that it covered his face.

"doesn't sound like it." someone else fired, however there was no response from timmy. but the sudden outburst from tommy seemed to get the wheels rolling.

"...i have a detention monday." kenny shrugged, not letting go of the kid who still cling desperately to him.

everyone temporarily forgot about timmy and tommy's situation, and became engrossed in kenny's. he laughed - though it lacked any happiness. it sounded sad.

"...yeah. for walking in the hallway. with ham." kenny shook his head, and the boys fell quiet. there was a reason ham didn't have a detention, and Kenny did.

"momma doesn't know...and i don't plan on telling."

"why not?" smalls instantly asked, forgetting momentarily that was considered prying.

"no use crying over spilt milk." kenny shrugged. though they all knew the situation was far different than what he'd compared it to, kenny was far too humble to make a big deal out of it.

tommy finally sat back, his face red and puffy. he didn't dare to look in timmy's general direction.

"and i'm going to military school."

everyone instantly whipped their heads to yeah-yeah, their jaws all dropping.

"what!"

"when?!"

"why?!"

"what did you do?!"

yeah-yeah seemed to be pleased he now had the floor.

"yeah yeah, my mom said that i needed to learn how to behave like...well...not me, pretty much."

"when are you leaving?" squints asked, his face looking rather pale. it was no secret those two were the best of friends. always glued at the hip.

"ah...i dunno." he shrugged his shoulders, and the group fell silent once again. before anyone else had time to share the shitty thing going on in their lives, there was a sudden noise from outside.

as if you were to throw down something in the grass.

benny cautiously raised a hand, signaling for the boys to remain silent. he slowly peaked out the window, and a scowl instantly formed across his face.

"what is it benny, man?" kenny asked, shifting where he sat. benny stormed out from the treehouse, when an all too familiar voice called out in a sing-song tone,

"oh, sandlot babies! come out to play!"

a/n: oh hi, thanks for checking in i'm still a piece of garbage~