The Sandlot // Benny Rodriguez

8.

That night, I got home and locked myself in my room, falling asleep briefly after that.

I woke up in the morning and trudged downstairs, really hungry from skipping dinner. I pulled open the cupboard, grabbed a random box of cereal, the milk, then a bowl and spoon. I fixed myself some cereal, then put the milk and cereal back, turning to sit down at the table. I spilt some cereal onto the floor when I turned around to see Scotty and Benny sitting at the table, staring at me.

"Um," I said, taking a seat across from them. "Is there a reason you're in my house?" Benny squirmed in his chair uncomfortably as he turned to look at Scotty.

"I-I invited him," Scotty stuttered. "For breakfast, then we're going to the sandlot, you coming?"

"I guess," I mumbled, the tension in the room building. I finished my cereal, put my bowl in the sink, then went back up to my room to change. I put on a blue shirt with shorts and my infamous black converse, then I grabbed my glove and went back downstairs. The boys were out front, tossing a baseball back and forth.

"Man, what's wrong with your sister?" I heard through the cracked open window.

"I don't know, but it's weird," Scotty answered. "I've never seen her like this."

"Yesterday, when she said she thought I was different, what was she talking about?"

Scotty shrugged. "Beats me." I cautiously opened the door, acting like I didn't hear anything they had just said.

"We going?" I asked, shutting the door behind me. Scotty nodded, exchanging looks with Benny, then we took off towards the sandlot.

• • •

"Squints, that's not even true!" DeNunez said.

"Is too!" he yelled back. "My dad told me."

"Then your dad was lying, because that's not true." Bertram said, shaking his head. The boys saw us and they became silent, staring at me.

"Stop staring at me before I beat all of you up," I mumbled, not in the mood for this today. Their eyes widened and they turned to get in their positions. I followed Benny and Ham over to the batting area, my arms crossed over my chest.

"Wanna bat?" Benny asked, holding the bat out to me. I just stared at him. He slowly brought the bat back and turned away from me. "Okay, I'll take that as a no." He got ready to bat and when DeNunez pitched the ball, you could tell he was mad by how hard he hit it. It flew over the fence and he sighed heavily. "Great, now we can't play no more."

"Smooth," I mumbled.

"You know," he said, turning to look at me. "I don't know what your problem is, but none of us ever did anything to you." he muttered through clenched teeth.

"Oh," I let out a sarcastic chuckle. "You never did anything to me?"

"Yeah!" he yelled. "So, I don't understand why you're being like this to your only friends!"

"You did do something to me, Benny!" I yelled right back.

"What?" he yelled. "What did I ever do to you?"

"You were swooning over that stupid lifeguard!"

"So what? I'm a teenage boy! That's what we do!" he yelled. "Why do you even care, anyways?" I couldn't take this anymore, I was about to snap.

"BECAUSE I LIKE YOU, BENNY!" I shouted. " I LIKE YOU, OKAY?" His face softened as he stared at me. "And I knew this was gonna happen, I just embarrassed myself, because you don't even like me-" he cut me off by crushing his soft, pink lips onto mine. All around us, the boys were yelling "OOOOOOOO". I just shook my head as Benny grabbed the ends of my shirt and pulled me closer to him. We finally pulled away from each other, both of our cheeks burning red.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to hear that," Benny said with a grin. "I didn't expect it to be like that, but that's okay." I laughed, turning away from him slightly. "Hey," he said grabbing me by the waist and turning me back to face him. "I like you too."

"Well, that's good to hear," I said.

"Emmy, would you like to be my girlfriend?" he asked, giving me a shy smile. I was shocked. Benjamin Rodriguez had asked me out. Never in a million years would I have ever thought he would ever ask me to be his girlfriend. I nodded eagerly and he grinned, pulling me back into him, his arms wrapped tightly around my waist as he kissed me again.

"Okay," Ham said from behind us. "Get a room." I turned around and shot him a glare. I didn't care if the boys were watching, I wanted this moment to last forever.