Jocelyn Mertle ※ benny rodriguez

One

I walk around my house while my dad is asleep. I slowly open the door to his trophy room and I look at all his baseball stuff. I smile. He used to play baseball with Babe Ruth, the best baseball player in history.

But don't let that fool you.

I'm no baseball player, but I am a cheerleader. In fact, I'm the captain of the squad.

The thing is, behind the fence surrounding my backyard, is a baseball field. And it's called the Sandlot. There's also these two boys next door that has a treehouse overlooking our backyard. Those two boys happen to play baseball on the field too.

And some nights, they have their friends over and they have a campout in their treehouse which keeps me up all night.

I never really paid attention to them really. Probably because I know nothing about baseball. And I don't really give a damn about guys.

I walk out and gently close the door. I tiptoe to my room and curl up in bed. I close my eyes and let sleep control me.

<>¥Benny¥<>

I slowly wake up and get up. I change into a denim flannel, white tank top, jeans, and black converse. I grab my backpack and walk out of my room. Three more days left of torture, also known as school.

"Bye mom!" I shout.

"Bye Benny have a good day at school!"

I nod and run out the door to see my friends already outside my front door waiting for me.

"Hey Benny," Ham starts. "There's a kid moving across the street from you."

I look across the street to see a boy unloading boxes from a U-Haul. The boy looks over at us and waves. I wave back but none of the others did.

"That kid looks like a blockhead," Squints says.

I punch his shoulder.

"Ow!"

"Shut up! Now c'mon! Let's get to school."

They nod and we start to walk.

I'm the oldest of all of them. I'm a freshman in high school while all of them except Tommy and Ham is in 7th grade. Ham is in 8th grade and Tommy is in 5th grade. But the elementary, middle school, and high school are all next to each other so we walk to school together.

We make it to the courtyard of the school which is where the 'distraction' is.

The 'distraction' isn't some little kid in a chicken suit.

The 'distraction' is Jocelyn Mertle. Hottest girl in 9th grade and captain of the cheerleading squad.

"Holy crap," Yeah Yeah mutters.

All of them are in love with her, even Squints who is in love with Wendy Peffercorn.

Me? Nah, not really. I think girls are distractions from my passion for baseball.

But today, Jocelyn had her light brown hair in a French braid with a big white bow on the back of her head, and she was wearing her cheer uniform along with the rest of the cheer squad. Our school colors are crimson and gold so that's what the colors were. She has all white shoes on.

Out of all the cheerleaders, in my opinion she was the most pretty. And pretty much every guy here thought that too. Some guys from the football team were flexing, some were throwing the football around in hopes that she'll notice, and five were talking to her.

"I hope she's into baseball players," Ham says brushing off his outfit.

"Ham don't you dare," I say.

"What? Jealous?"

I gasp.

"No!"

The crew laughs and I shake my head.

"What a blockhead."

I walk off ignoring them calling out my name. I shake it off and keep walking until I feel someone back up into me and the person drops all their stuff.

"Oh god, I'm sorry!" The person exclaims, bending down.

I look over and freeze when I see who it was.

It was Jocelyn Mertle.

Some guys look at her while she's bending down.

Perverts.

She finally collects all her stuff and tells the football players to go talk with their friends. They walk off and she turns to me.

"I'm so sorry again," she says.

I open my mouth to say something but I feel like my whole body shut down. I can't speak.

"Aren't you gonna say you're sorry too?" She asks.

I look down at my feet.

"S-sorry."

She chuckles.

"You're shy. But that's okay."

I look back up at her to see her smiling.

"I'm Jocelyn Mertle," she says.

"Benny Rodriguez."

She mutters something to herself.

"I've heard of you. Aren't you the baseball kid?" She says.

I manage a weak smile.

"Yeah."

She chuckles.

"Well, I better get inside. I'll see you around?"

I nod.

"Yeah. I'd like that."

She giggles and nods.

"Okay."

She starts to walk up the steps into school when two of her cheerleader friends run up to her and they laugh.

I shake my head.

There's a long summer ahead of me.