Never Again

09

"We play on a real diamond Porter, you ain't good enough to lick the dirt off our cleats."

"Watch it, jerk!"

"Shut up idiot!"

"Moron!"

"Scab eater!"

"But sniffer!"

"Pus licker!"

"Fart smeller!"

Bertram then sniffed the air and let out a breath. The sandlot boys laughed along with Annie.

"You eat dog crap for breakfast! Geek!" The other boy yelled.

"You make your weave with your mamas toe jam!" The sandlot boys screamed yeah while Annie just laughed to herself about the comebacks.

"You bob for apples in the toilet! And you like it!"

At the last comeback from the other boy Ham lowered his head before open his mouth to speak once again.

"You play ball like a girl!" It soon got extremely quiet.

"What?" Annie spoke slightly offended slowly moving from behind Benny to face the others.

"Am I seeing this right? Rodriguez you must be so desperate you play with a girl!" The boy on the bike laughed out as his teammates laughed.

Annie's mouthed opened in hurt as she looked at the sandlot boys who looked at Phillips with anger.

Annie was about to open her mouth to say something to the boy before stopped standing in shock. Her body froze and she let out a small gasp.

The boy on the bike was the same boy who was at the store that one day. 

"Annie?" Scotty whispered.

Annie stared at the boy with slight fear as he looked at all of them before his eyes rested on Annie who lowered her head not wanting to be recognized by him if she hasn't already.

"They might play baseball with me, but the fact you would stoop so low to come here and insult us shows how much of a kid you are. You're only way to show dominance is to hurt others but that will get you nowhere except down Karma lane." Annie said to the boy who's face visible hardened.

"Yeah!" The boys yelled.

"You think your so great huh? Tomorrow, noon. At our field. Be there Buffalo butt breath." Phillips said the last sentence glaring at Ham.

"Count on it pee drinking crap face!" Ham yelled back.

The other team began to ride away but Phillips stopped at turned to Annie with a sinister smirk.

"Don't think I forgot you, doll." He said before riding away.

The boys yelled until Timmy spoke up.

"Why'd he call you doll?" He said to Annie.

"Why'd he call you doll?" Tommy repeated.

Annie lowered her head shaking slightly at the memory of the grips on her arms and how quickly that situation changed for her.

"He was there that one day." Annie mumbled.

"It was him!?" Timmy yelled gaining attention.

"It was him!?" Tommy copied gaining more attention.

"It was who?" Bertram asked looking at the three.

"Nothing. Nothing." Annie said shaking her head.

"Yeah it was! It was him!" Timmy yelled and Tommy copied again.

"What're they talking about?" Scotty asked.

"That boy, Phillips I think is his name, he was there that day. When we first played here." Annie whispered to Scotty before whisper yelling another sentence. "Don't yell, if you do it'll be crazy and messy. Just don't." Annie said and Scotty shook his head.

"He can't get away with that Annie." He said as Annie mumbled.

"I'm fine. Like I said that day, they were just some guys being dumb." Annie said.

"Still, that's messed up!" Scotty shouted.

"Oh my god, next time I'm gonna say I saw a snake." Annie said with a sigh.

"What happened?" Benny asked going over to the two siblings while the others came behind him.

"Phillips and probably two of the other guys with him were the same ones that hurt Annie." Scotty said and there were gasps and quiet growls heard.

"I wasn't hurt. You exaggerate too much Scotty." Annie said rubbing her face.

"It was him?!" Benny yelled gripping his bat.

"Yeah." Annie mumbled only causing Benny's jaw to clench.

"That's it, he's gonna pay." Benny said and began to walk forward near the entrance of the lot.

Annie yelped before placing her hands on his shoulder and chest stopping him.

"That won't do anything but make it worse, and who knows, maybe it could encourage him to do more." Annie said looking into Benny's eyes.

"She right. You can't do that." DeNunez agreed earning a thankful smile from Annie.

"Just let the idiot be. It happened weeks ago. I'm fine, we're all fine, and tomorrow we're gonna beat their asses and win." Annie smiled and slowly Benny's face went from anger to a softer look. The hatred in his eyes left and he gave a small smile back.

"Yeah yeah, let's practice and win!" Yeah-Yeah yelled and the others agreed before going back to get their gloves.

Annie sighed as she had possibly just stopped an ugly fight between Benny and Phillips. She was still upset with Phillips for what he did and slightly scared but she would not want to see someone's face with bruises and blood and whatnot.

Annie placed her head on Bennys shoulder but it wasn't laying on it since he was taller than her so it rested on the side. Benny looked down at her and smiled.

"I'm so tired." Annie said closing her eyes for a moment. "But we have to win, so let's go." She said lifting her head up and pulling on Benny's bat to bring him to home plate before she ran to the out field as they began playing.

•••
Chapter Question:
What would you have done if someone said to you, you couldn't play sports?