The Sandlot // Benny Rodriguez

6.

The week flew by surprisingly fast and then it was time for the camp out. School wasn't as bad the rest of the week. Lisa and Phillips weren't as big pain in the butts they first were, which was tremendously satisfying.

It was maybe five in the afternoon and the boys agreed we'd stop playing baseball to go get our stuff when it began getting dark outside. Ham was up to bat and I stood a few feet behind him.

"Hamilton 'The Babe' Porter!" Ham shouted, swinging the bat back and forth. "'Long Ball' Porter! Come on, DeNunez." He threw his hand in the air, calling his shot just like Babe Ruth. All of us burst out laughing.

"Give him a hockey stick!"

"Yes, okay!" Benny called from behind Ham, hitting his hand into his glove. "I see it!" DeNunez pitched the ball and Benny caught it in his glove, standing up. "Whoa!" The boys laughed again.

"You call that pitching? This is baseball, not tennis!" Ham yelled.

"Give him a tennis racket!"

"Give me something to hit!"

"Alright Ham, this is my heater!" DeNunez called. "I dare you to hit it!"

"You'll be sorry," Ham mumbled to himself.

"You want the heater?" DeNunez said. "I'll give it to ya." He threw it and Ham hit it, sending it flying through the air. We all watched Scotty catch it and it was silent as we all stared at each other, then we all burst out laughing for the third time that day.

"Oh shut up!" Ham yelled, dropping the bat and trading places with Benny.

• • •

We played for a good three hours before it started to get dark. "Alright," Benny said, picking up his bat. "Lets go get our sleeping bags, then meet at the tree house, yeah?" We all agreed, then ran to our houses. I wondered how my mom and Bill would feel about this. Scotty and I ran into the house. I sent Scotty to get our sleeping bags, so I could ask my parents. They were both set on the couch, watching some tv show.

"Mom, Bill?" I called, cautiously walking into the living room. They looked up at me. I decided to get to the point. "Can Scotty and I go to a camp out?"

"With those boys you've been hanging out with?" My mom asked, her eyebrows furrowing together.

"Um, yeah." My mom looked at Bill and he shrugged.

"Will you be the only girl?" I nodded slowly. "I don't know, Em. Boys can be..." she trailed off.

"Mom, please. Scotty's going and it's not like that, we're all just friends."

"Well," she started. "I guess, but be careful and I want you both home at 8'o'clock sharp." I grinned and hugged both her and Bill.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" My mom laughed.

"You're welcome, but first I want the dishes done and both of you wear jackets, it'll get chilly later." I nodded eagerly, then ran up the stairs to tell Scotty the good news.

• • •

We climbed up the ladder and into the tree house. "Hey guys, sorry we're late," Scotty said, going to sit across from Ham. "My mom made us put on our jackets and then she made me do the dishes."

"Aw, your poor little mommy made you do the big, bad dishes?" Bertram mocked with a laugh. I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, you want a s'more?" Ham asked Scotty.

"Some more what?"

"No, no. You want a s'more?"

"I haven't had anything yet, so how can I have some more of nothing?" I slapped my hand onto my forehead.

"You're killing me, Smalls!" Ham yelled. "These are s'mores stuff. Okay? pay attention. First, you take the graham, you stick the chocolate on the graham, then you roast the 'mallow. When the 'mallow's flaming, you stick it on the chocolate, then you cover it with the other end, then you stuff." He said, taking a bite. "Kinda messy, but good, try some." He handed it to Scotty, then turned to me. "You want one, princess?" I nodded gratefully, then turned to find a place to set up my sleeping bag.

"You can put yours here," Benny said, pointing to the only empty spot right next to him. I smiled at him, my cheeks burning bright red as I set my sleeping bag next to his.

"Emmy," Ham called. "Here!" He stuck a s'more out to me and I grabbed it, thanking him, then sitting next to Benny on my sleeping bag.

"Okay, quiet you guys!" Squints yelled over all the chatter. "Quiet!"

"Yeah, yeah quiet!"

"Lets tell them the story of how Benny and Phillips became enemies." Squints said. "It all started two summers ago..."

"Benny played for the Tigers, with Phillips and the rest of those jerks."

"Benny was the best on the team, the captain."

"And Phillips always wanted to be better..."

"So, he told the coach that Benny threatened to beat him up."

"So he kicked me off the team, because he didn't tolerate violence."

"So, we went to Phillips' house late at night and toilet papered it, but..."

"One of the neighbors saw us and called the cops."

"They called our parents and we all got in big trouble." Tommy finished.

"That's it?" I said with a scoff. They all turned to look at me.

"Yeah." DeNunez answered. I laughed.

"You made it sound like someone got killed." I said.

"Well, it was a big deal at the time." Squints said.

"It's getting late," Benny said. "Lets call it a night. We all agreed, turning out all the lights, and getting comfortable in our sleeping bags.

• • •

I woke up the next morning to the sun shining straight in my face. I covered my face up in my pillow. That's when I realized Benny had his strong arms wrapped tightly around my waist. My eyes snapped open and I turned to look at him. His eyes we closed and his mouth was slightly open. He was all the way on my sleeping bag, his body pressed closely to mine. I looked around to see if any of the boys were awake, but they were all gone, their sleeping bags folded neatly in a corner. My eyes widened. That meant they saw Benny and I. Boy, I would never hear the end of this one.

Benny," I whispered. "Wake up." His eyes opened slightly, when he finally realized he had his arms around me, he let go and sat up quickly.

"Oh, I'm-" He stuttered, his voice raspy from just waking up. "I'm sorry. I didn't-"

"No, it's okay." I interrupted.

"Where's the guys?" he asked, scratching the back of his neck.

"I don't know, they weren't here when I woke up."

"Lets go find them," Benny said, standing up and stretching. I had to stop myself from staring at his exposed biceps. Together, we exited the treehouse and into the Timmons' backyard. The screen door was open a crack and I led Benny over to it, opening it slowly, relieved to see all the boys sitting down, eating breakfast.

"Pass me the syrup," Ham said to Timmy, his mouth full of food.

"Finally you two sleepy heads woke up," Mrs. Timmons said, turning to give us a smile. All the guys turned to look at us and I suddenly felt uncomfortable. "You hungry?" Benny and I nodded, taking a seat at the large table. She set two plates of pancakes, bacon, and eggs in front of us and we both dug in. All the boys stared at us with smirks on their faces.

"What!" I said, harshly.

"You know," Yeah Yeah said, wiggling his eyebrows at us.

"Eat your food, you morons." Benny said, rolling his eyes. I turned to look at him, his cheeks were tinted pink and I raised my eyebrows. Benny Rodriguez blushing? Now, that was rare.

After we finished eating, we all gathered up our stuff and went home to change, agreeing to meet each other at the sandlot in an hour.