Jocelyn Mertle ※ benny rodriguez

Ten

♥︎♡Benny♡♥︎

"Benny!" Bertram shouts from his position at second base.

"What?" I shout back at him, annoyance in my voice due to the pause in the game of baseball we were playing.

"I gotta go home and eat dinner!" He shouts. "This game is running really late!"

I sigh and take my hat off of my shoulder.

"Damn it," I mutter under my breath. "One more pitch, DeNunez. I'll hit it."

Bertram groans as I get back into my hitting stance and wait for the pitch to roll in. DeNunez begins his windup and finally lets go of the ball. I grip my bat before swinging the bat, and the ball begins to fly in deep left field, towards Mr. Mertle's house. I hit it over the fence and I sigh before hanging my head as I begin to run the bases until I'm at home plate.

"That's a wrap for today," I yell. "Sorry we have to get once again another ball."

"It's fine! I gotta go!" Bertram yells back before breaking into a sprint away from the field. I gather all my stuff as everyone else does the same. Everyone began running off the field, leaving me alone with all my stuff in my arms. I let out a sigh and begin to walk towards the exit. I didn't have much on my mind at the moment, the only thing I was thinking about was baseball.

All my friends say I'm going to move on to bigger and better games. I couldn't tell myself it was true at the moment, but I felt like they were right. I loved to tell myself I was good at baseball, because I knew I was. Playing baseball just feels so right.

I finally made it to my house, and when I stepped onto the front porch I pushed the door open.

"I see it was a long day for you, huh?" My dad asks from where he was sitting on the couch. I shrug as I slowly make it over to my room. "Hey, I saw that kid that you play baseball with walking home a while ago um, Scotty isn't it?"

I nod as I set my things down in my room.

"He got sick," I reply as I make my way to the fridge. I grab a bottle of water and begin to slowly chug it down.

"Oh," my dad says. "Well, at least you didn't get sick."

I didn't react to his last comment as I looked to the front door.

"Where's mom?" I ask.

"She had to go to Natalie's place and help her pack," he says. "She's moving about six hours away."

I sigh and nod as I throw my now empty water bottle in the trash can.

"So, sandwiches for dinner?" I ask.

"Yep."

☆

I woke up the next morning and immediately got onto my feet. Once again, I was dying to play the game I loved.

Baseball.

The word rang throughout my head as I slipped on a pair of jeans, black PF Flyers, and a blue flannel. I put my LA Dodgers hat on my head before grabbing my glove and bat. I head out of my room to see my dad in the kitchen.

"Bye dad!" I shout. Before I could see his reaction, I was out the door. This is what I did everyday when it was time to go to the sandlot.

Baseball.

Baseball was the only thing I ever cared about. Ever since I was little, I always dreamed of making it to the big league. Of course I would miss everyone at the sandlot, but I always knew I would never stop being friends with them. I knew I wasn't going to forget about them either. Bringing that up always made me scared though. What if they forget about me one day?

But I shook it off. They couldn't just forget about me. They were my best friends.

Once I was at the sandlot, I noticed Ham and Smalls were already there. Usually, I always got the first but this time, it was different.

"Hey Benny!" Ham shouts. Smalls looks up and waves at me as I nod my head in return, giving a small wave.

"Where is everyone?" I ask. They both shrug.

"They should get here soon," Smalls replies. I sigh as we walk over to the dugout and sit down as we wait for everyone to appear from the outfield.