Beauty and The Baseball Player | Benny Rodriguez |

The Sandlot

- Natalie's P.O.V-
The boys, Scotty, and I were walking towards the sandlot when Bertram started complaing "Why'd you bring him and his sister, Benny?" I looked over at Scotty who had a slight frown on his face. "'Cause there's eight of us, and he makes nine." "Yeah, yeah, so would my sister, but I didn't bring her." I rolled my eyes at them, they at least could've talked quieter instead of pretending we weren't hearing everything. "With nine guys we've got a whole team, Yeah-Yeah." Benny said while looking a slight annoyed. "No. With Elswenger we had a whole team. Elswenger could catch." Ham started "And throw." One of the other boys continued. I was really getting fed up with their conversation and I didn't want Scotty's feelings getting more hurt so I pulled him aside from the rest of the boys and waited until they were a few feet away from us.

"Hey, how are you?" I said holding onto his shoulders and looking into his eyes eye. He looked at me for a moment and shrugged "Alright I guess. Come on I just wanna play." He said while shrugging my hands of his shoulders. We continued walking to them when I heard Squints say "The kid is... a L-7 weenie." while doing some hand movements. Then Yeah Yeah added on "Yeah, Yeah. Oscar Mayer even. Foot-long! Dodger dog! A Weenie!" I was getting really fed up so I smacked both Yeah Yeah and Squints upside the head. I quickly glanced at Benny, seeing that he had a small smile, but then it quickly disappeared. "Hey what was that for?" They both said while holding the back of their heads. "That's for being a blockhead." I said while rolling my eyes and slowly walking to where Scotty was, smiling inside that Benny was looking at me. I was standing like 10 feet in the back of Scotty, just being an observer of how good these boys can play.

Benny walked halfway towards Scotty and told him to go left center. Scotty nodded and moved left. I shook my head, this child needs a baseball education a.s.a.p. before these kids kill him. "Here?" He asked Benny. I jogged towards Scotty and moved his body a few feet back and like 5 feet to the right. "No here." I said then walking back to my spot. Benny looked at me and smiled and nodded, then went to the catchers spot to go and bat. "Come on, Benny, man. He's never gonna catch the ball anyway. Let's just play." Squints said on the field. After about two minutes of them warming up I got a bit bored so I started kicking the dirt with my shoes. Then I heard a thump and I looked up to see Scotty straight on his ass and the ball a couple feet behind me. I grabbed the ball, hearing some growling sounds coming from the persons yard and jogged up to Scotty to see if he was alright. I gave the ball to him and right when he was about to throw it, he stopped and started jogging to Kenny, handing him the ball. When he returned I looked at him wide eyed "What in the actual hell was that?" I asked while hitting him upside the head. Right when I looked up Benny was there, I walked away from where I was and went back to near the gate, I could hear more of that 'thing' in the back.

- No Ones P.O.V-
Benny jogged back to the batting spot after his little lesson with Smalls about how to throw and catch and about thinking too much. Benny grabbed the ball, quickly spit on it, and twirled it in his hand, looking at Smalls. Smalls had his glove, high in the air talking to himself "Please catch it. Please catch it." he repeated over and over. Benny threw the ball in the air and BAM! flying over everyone's heads. Everybody stopped and looked at the ball following with there eyes where it was going. Scotty kept chanting "Please catch it. Please catch it." while closing his eyes, ready for any impact. Then, something nobody thought was gonna happen happened, Scotty actually caught the ball. Natalie looked at him with a big proud smile, she was happy her brother caught his first ball, well, with his hands. Scotty looked at the ball in his glove with astonishment, he couldn't believe he finally caught a ball and the boys couldn't believe it either. Scotty threw the ball to Bertram and he examined it for a moment, "Okay. Lets play some ball." he said while throwing it to Kenny. Scotty gave a proud thumbs up to Benny and Benny gladly returned. Natalie couldn't believe her somewhat crush actually taught her somewhat dorky step brother how to throw and catch a ball. While the boys were about to start the game, Scotty got distracted by a growling sound, Natalie quickly jumped when she heard it too and started backing away from the fence. Natalie and Scotty both saw the silhouette of a big beast, Natalie was horrified at what she just saw.

The boys kept continuing their game, Scotty getting a little better than before. Everybody was taking a short break under a big shady tree a few meters away from the baseball field. Benny refused to stop playing but he eventually got talked into taking a short 10 minute break so everyone could just sit, relax, and catch their breath. "Im just glad Smalls here is better at playing ball than a girl." Ham said while picking grass from where he was sitting. "Yeah Yeah, girls are absolutely the worst baseball players ever." Yeah Yeah added. Natalie gasped, "What! Girls are not bad at playing baseball." She said while standing up, dusting some dirt off of her shorts. Benny raised his eyebrow "Uh, yeah they are. Everyone in the world knows it." He said while standing up coming face to face with Natalie. She crossed her arms and looked up at him, "If they have great teachers then they could be better than boys." She said while rolling her eyes. The guys all went into hysterical fits when that came out of her mouth. Natalie blushed in embarrassment as all of them were laughing at her. "Alright, well, lets try teach you some baseball." Benny said while giving Natalie a ball and a bat while he took a glove for himself.

Benny took Natalie, showing her how to swing the bat and how to hit the ball. Natalie was getting pretty bored considering she knew all of this stuff already. Natalie pretended to do everything wrong so the guys, who were now back in their places, would be shocked. When Benny started wrapping his hands around her, showing her the correct position, she was getting tired already. "Okay, okay, I get it now. Can we play?" She asked while swinging the bat around. Benny nodded and took Ham's position as catcher. The boys were telling the pitcher, Kenny, to hit her with his "heater." Kenny nodded and chuckled, "She'll never hit this." He said while winding up. As soon as the ball came within a close enough distance, she swung the bat, the ball flying high into the sky. Natalie dropped the bat and started running to first, second, third base! The boys were fumbling around trying to pass the ball to one another. Natalie made a home run! She stuck her tongue out at the boy and Benny as they circled around her. "What?" "How'd you do that?" "You're a freaking girl!" They were all so confused. Benny came up to her and smirked "Ah, you knew how to play all this time. You must've liked the attention i was giving you huh?" He said while smirking. Natalie scoffed then smiled a bit "Rodriguez, you wish." she said while picking the bat up and handing it to him.

While everyone was walking back from the sandlot, all Natalie could hear was questions about her and baseball. When Natalie got to the house, she said a quick goodbye and disappeared inside. They were gonna go play ball at 9:00 during their 20 minute break at school. Natalie smiled to herself, as thoughts of Benjamin Rodriguez were floating through her mind.