Word Count
1166
Date Published
11-17-18
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Lacey
"Hey." The boy said, he had a baseball bat in his hand. Scotty just looked up and nodded.
"Hi." I shut my book and sat up right.
"You like the Yankees?" He asked, seeing my shirt and hat.
"Yeah, they're my favorite. I like watching baseball."
"What are you talking about? You love baseball and you play baseball. She's really good too." Scotty interrupted.
"Scotty!" I whisper yelled, elbowing him in the gut.
"You play baseball?" He asked curious.
I wanted to keep it more of a secret because I'm scared of how everyone would react to a girl baseball player. Back in my old town, I was the only girl who played baseball. My team was shockingly supportive. I was constantly being told I was better than most of the boys. I wasn't sure if they said that cause I was a girl and wanted to make me feel good. I got lots of attention in school. I was popular and I hated it. Everyone expected so much from me. It gave me a lot of anxiety, but after I found out we were moving, I felt so relieved. Don't get me wrong, I miss my friends but it feels good to get away from all the things that caused me stress.
"Yeah, I do. But I wanted to keep it more to myself."
"Why?" The boy asked.
"Cause I know how people react when they hear a girl plays baseball."
"I ain't like that." He shrugged. "Anyways, I'm gonna play some ball and we need an extra guy. But since there's two of you, you guys wanna go?" He looked at Scotty and back to me.
I just shook my head. I opened my book back up. I was almost done. I was on the last chapter. I was at the part where Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter are being crowned princess/prince and king/queen of Narnia.
"Nah, thanks." Scotty says as he glances up from his glove.
"Why not? Don't you guys like baseball?" I looked up from the novel.
"Yeah, but I'm almost done with my book. Maybe another time."
"What're ya readin'?"
"The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe."
"I hate reading." He chuckled.
"I love it. It's so calming." I laughed back.
"You can take the book with you and read." He suggested.
"Alright fine." I gave in. He smiled. "You comin' Scotty?" I got up from my seat on the steps.
"No."
"How come?" I asked.
"Well, uh-m-my glove it's busted. So, I can't go." The brunette boy rolled his eyes."Thanks though."
"It's okay." He reached into his back pocket. "I got an extra one." He tossed Scotty the glove. "Come on, let's go." Scotty threw the other glove into the house and called inside, saying we were going.
"Hold on." They waited as I ran to my room. I threw my book on the bed and grabbed my glove. I came back outside to them still there.
"You changed your mind?" He grinned.
"Yeah." We began walking to wherever. "So tell me about you, just so I can be sure you're not a serial killer." I made him laugh.
"Okay. I'm Benny." He brought his hand to the side of his cheek to 'secretly' say, "Last name; Rodriguez." Then removed his hand from his face. "I've been playing baseball forever. I'm fourteen, goin' into high school, I like the color red, I hate reading cause it's real boring, and I am not a serial killer." I laughed.
"Oh, thank goodness." I smiled.
"Now you." I playfully rolled my eyes.
"Okay. I'm Lacey Smalls, this is my little brother; Scotty. We're three years apart. Um, I've been playing baseball since I was eight, I'm also fourteen, going into high school, I like the color maroon, I love reading cause it's relaxing, and I happen to be a serial killer." I joked at the end. Benny and Scotty laughed.
"Wow, we don't have much in common. Ya know, besides baseball." He chuckled.
"Yeah, guess not." I laughed back.
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We came to the front parking lot of some store. There were six other boys. They were all chewing on bubble gum cigars. One kid was chewing on so much gum that when he talked, it all sounded like mumbling.
"I'm the Great Bambino." The boys looked at each other confused. Some said 'what?'. He repeated himself. I weirdly knew what he was saying.
"He said 'I'm the Great Bambino'." I answered. I heard a few oh's. The freckled kid turned to me.
"Thank you." He faced his friends.
"Who's that?" Scotty asked. Benny gave me a funny look. I never tried to talk about baseball with Scotty cause he never understood it. They all looked at Scotty, absolutely appalled. I was rubbing my forehead.
"What?" A kid asked.
"What'd he say?" The kid full of freckles asked. He seemed scared because my brother didn't know who Babe Ruth was.
"What, were you born in a barn, man?" A tall kid with glasses asked.
"Yeah, yeah. What planet are you from?!" A short tan kid asked.
"You never heard of the Sultan of Swat?!" A short pale kid questioned.
"The Titan of Terror?!" A boy in a red and white baseball cap cringed.
"The Colossus of Clout?!" A medium height kid interjected.
"The Colossus of Clout?!" A shorter kid repeated.
"The King of Crash, man." Benny said then shook his head.
"Oh- yeah, the Great Bambino. Of course." Scotty said, pretending he knew what they were talking about. "I thought you said-" He paused, trying to think of something to say. "The Great Bambi..." He was embarrassed and I felt bad.
"That wimpy dear?" The freckles kid leaned forward.
"Yeah, I guess, sorry." Scotty nervously said.
"Anyway, Scott and Lacey. That's Timmy and Tommy Timmons." They both spit on the pavement. "Mike 'Squints' Palledorus." He took off his glasses, and spit. "Alan McClennan; we call him Yeah-Yeah." He spit. "Bertram Grover Weeks. He's our age, Lacey." He spit next. "Kenny DeNunez and Hamilton Porter. We call him Ham." They both spit. It was gross. "Yeah, I'm not gonna spit. I never do." Benny shook his head. "Guys, this is Scotty Smalls and his older sister, Lacey."
"Hi." Scotty waved. I just smiled. Squints spit again. Ham looked over at me and asked why I was there.
"I bet you're some cheerleader like all the other girls." Ham scowled, but then let out a small snicker.
"Shut up, Ham." Benny snapped.
"No. Baseball player." I smirked.
"Yeah, umm, well they're gonna play with us cause they make ten. So now we got a whole team. We're wasting time. Let's go to the sandlot." Benny said.
All the boys started shouting at him, saying how early it was. I turned on my heal to follow Benny. From the corner of my eye I saw the boys shoving Scotty. I just rolled my eyes.
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Hey my loves! Here's chapter 2!! Hope you enjoyed <3