what if → Benny Rodriguez

chapter 12 | new girl

June 29th 2019

preparing to go to the sandlot, i throw on my usual. jeans, a t-shirt, converse, and my LA baseball cap. while fixing my hair, i see Evelyn pop her head in my doorway through my mirror.

"yes?" i didn't turn around, just looked at her through the mirror.

"Um..." she walks closer, "no one else is awake right now. and i don't feel so good."

i do turn around now, only to notice how pale she really was. it was like looking at a ghost stand there in my room. "oh my gosh, are you okay?" i walk closer now, "what's wrong? can you tell me how you don't feel good?"

"it's my stomach." she stumbles over to sit on my bed, "it hurts."

"hey it's okay." i say to soothe her, but haven't had any experiences like this before so it was difficult and definitely felt a little awkward. "maybe you just ate something that didn't agree with you. just go back to sleep and if you have to puke or something, do, because then it would be out of your system."

"okay, thanks Brynn." she clutches her stomach and slowly makes her way back to her room.

when i closed my front door to leave, a chill ran down my spine and i stood there completely still for a few minutes. my gut feeling was telling me to stay for Evelyn, but she was fine and back asleep now, so i really don't need to.

Benny broke me out of my trance. "you ready to hit the lot?" he grins, walking up my driveway.

"i was born ready." i toss my glove up in the air to embarrassingly not catch it. We laugh. i always love hearing his amazingly pure laugh. i could pick it out of a million.

-

we were only a few runs into the game, and suddenly i see long blonde hair wave in the wind out of the corner of my eye. i turned my focus away from the game and towards the gorgeous blonde girl, who walked at a steady pace towards us.

she wore black, high waisted lululemon leggings, paired with a tight coral-colored shirt and white adidas tennis shoes.

when enough people had noticed, and diverted their attention to her, the game stopped. i looked around at their faces searching for clues on who this was, trying to read their facial expressions. but then i realized they all looked just as confused as i was. no one really knew what to do.

she eventually made her way to Benny, who was standing in the batter's box with bat in hand.

"can i try?" she spoke softly, holding out her hand for the bat. Benny scratches the back of his neck with confusion, but then places the wooden bat in her hand.

she missed the first two balls, and the younger boys had gone into laughter. i know she'd noticed them laughing at her, but it didn't stop her from trying a third time.

DeNunez pitches, and she hits it. While it looked like she swung with all the strength she could muster, the ball only flew a few feet in front of her. giving her only a sliver of time to run to first, but she made it.

The game went on, as weird as it was having another girl there other than me or Jordyn. she didn't seem to be showing any early signs of pettiness or anything like that, so i decided not to jump to conclusions before i talked to her.

we didn't head to the dugout for a break for a long time after she got there. but when Benny signaled with his head and started walking towards the dugout, all the boys followed his lead. i'm sure they were just as curious as i was.

this had been our lot for basically, ever. no one but Phillips ever dared to show up and challenge us, or even simply ask to play with us. By the way this girl played, i could tell she'd never actually played baseball before.