Basics [A Sandlot Story]

5 || Spits

The following morning, Ty sat glumly beside her little brother on the front porch. Scotty held onto his ruined plastic mitt, turning it over and glaring at it miserably, fingering his purpling eye with his free hand.

"What d'you wanna do today, kiddo?" She asked, trying to find a way to pull him out of his funk. At the back of her mind, a little voice niggled at her, saying that this wouldn't have happened had she been the one teaching him how to catch, but she pushed it away. It was useless in the face of past events.

Scotty just shrugged, eliciting a sigh from Ty in response. For lack of anything better to do, she wound her hair up into her baseball cap, before reaching down to re-tie her runners - which now had a brand new pair of black laces, thankfully - for the second time.

"There must be something?" She pressed, but she knew it was unlikely she'd receive a reply. Turning her gaze to the street, she did her best to search for some kind of inspiration - anything to slap a smile onto her brother's face.

In a way, her hopes were answered, although possibly not exactly how she would have wished.

The boy who lived across the street - the batter from the baseball diamond - emerged from his doorway, baseball bat in hand, mitt tucked under his arm. A loose, unbuttoned baseball tee fluttered around his torso in the breeze, and an LA Dodgers cap sat snugly over his dark hair. Outwardly, he appeared much like any of the other teenage boys who lived in the Valley - lean, sun-kissed, and fairly good-looking.

Ty felt her train of thought freeze in disbelief. She was shocked at herself for applying such a positive connotation to a person whom, for all intents and purposes, had allowed her little brother to be picked on by his buddies. He wasn't deserving of such a label.

Much to Ty's disappointment, as soon as he saw the Smalls children, he smiled awkwardly and made his way across the street, stopping only a few feet away.

"Hey," He said, looking at Ty and Scotty and nodding at each in turn. "I'm Benny Rodriguez, I live across the road." Ty nodded, eyes narrowed. Scotty didn't respond, so she begrudgingly introduced the both of them.

"This is my little brother Scotty." She put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm Tylah Smalls, but call me anything other than Ty, and I will personally ensure that you can never have children." She paused for a moment, enjoying Benny's sudden look of alarm. "We just moved here."

"I saw." He replied, after a beat of silence. He rubbed the back of his neck, an uncomfortable expression still seated deeply in his features. "Where're you from Ty? That's not an American accent."

Ty looked up at him from her spot on the front porch step, scrunching up her nose. Usually after she delivered a line like that, people wouldn't want to have anything to do with her. And yet, for some reason unbeknownst to humankind, he had decided to continue their awkward conversation.

"Australia, if you must know." She informed him, eyebrows raised and voice devoid of emotion. "I moved in with Scotty and my Mum about a year and a half ago." Benny seemed to ignore how purposefully vague she was being, and bobbed his head in acknowledgment.

"Well, I'm gonna go play some ball with my friends, but we need some extra players." He began, slowly shifting his gaze between Ty and her brother, as though if he didn't keep an eye on her, she might just follow through with her earlier threat. "Do you guys wanna come?" Ty opened her mouth in haste, fully prepared to decline - but Scotty beat her to it.