got enemies?
𐬿 𐮚 ミ★☆彡 𐮚 𐬿
SCARLETT PORTER AND JAMIE DARLINGTON continued to butt heads throughout the following week. Scarlett found out for herself that Jamie hogs the bathroom, using up most of their hot water by the time she'd try and shower, only to be met with ice cold water. Today Jamie had taken forever in the bathroom that Scarlett was running late, her usual routine of meeting up with the boys at the back of a grocery store before they headed over to The Sandlot.
The redhead had become impatient waiting in front of the door for what felt like hours until finally the lock clicked and revealed the brunette. She glared at Jamie as she walked out of the fog of steam, sighing in delight with a towel covering her head.
"Bathrooms all yours." Jamie threw her a smug smirk before stepping away, hiding away into her temporary room. Scarlett's eyes followed Jamie's every move until the girl disappeared from her view, huffing once she stepped into the bathroom, preparing herself for a cold shower.
It was brief, the freezing rainfall causing nothing but discomfort for the girl. She shivered, goosebumps littering her lightly tanned skin and held her towel tightly around her body. She couldn't help but move like a zombie just awakened from the dead, she could've guessed that the guys were probably long gone and already at The Sandlot, their patience always worn thin.
But she didn't care about that now, she was just thinking of ways to murder Jamie Darlington for using up all of the hot water.
After getting ready for the day ahead, Scarlett glided her way towards the center of town when she noticed Allison and Jessica adjacent to the street from her. They had a group of girls she'd never seen before huddling around them, whispering and giggling with each other when they noticed the lone redhead.
The group of teenagers eyed her like hawks, the number of girls intimidated Scarlett and she couldn't help the feelings of uneasiness creeping up on her, the two girls had certainly built an army. But she kept a straight face, not wanting them to notice her weakness and tear her apart right on the spot. She tore her eyes from them and quickly stumbled behind the familiar building, surprised to see that the boys were in fact still waiting for her.
Benny noticed her arrival, perking up from his slouch, "Scarlett, you're finally here. I was starting to get worried." He said with his eyebrows creased, turning all of his attention onto the girl with red hair approaching to his side.
The other boys groaned in relief seeing Scarlett making her way towards them, they would've left hours ago if it weren't for their heart eyed friend, wanting to be there when she eventually showed.
"Sorry, I had a problem blocking our only bathroom," She scoffed, Ham let out a snort knowing exactly who she was referring to as the 'problem'.
"It's okay, I'll always wait for you!" The tanned boy assured, reaching out for her hand. Scarlett smiled while grasping his calloused hand and all of the negativity from Jamie, Allison and Jessica and their new little minions from this morning seemed to vanish from her thoughts but stick itself to the back of her mind somewhere she'd wonder about later.
The couple pulled the other into a needed hug and she couldn't help but breath in the toxic scent of Benny's familiar cologne, oak-moss, sage and leather. It calmed her and made her feel at peace when she was with him.
"Okay, lovebirds! Can we get to the Sandlot now?!" Ham voiced, irritation lacing his tone. The two separated, but not fully as they still held the other in their arms.
"Shut it, Ham!" Benny snapped, his eyes softening when he glanced back at the girl standing in front of him, "We should probably get going." She nodded, tugging him along with her as they followed after their retreating friends, their feet guiding them to The Sandlot.
𐬿 𐮚 ミ☆★彡 𐮚 𐬿
The boys were going along with their normal baseball game, Benny hitting the ball out to each boy and having them play for their base while Scarlett laid over the bench in the dugout, a magazine provided by the thoughtful boy. Benny smacked the baseball out to Squints and he made the play to third bass, tossing it to second base where Timmy then threw the ball to their first base man, Bertram.
"Ah, shit!" A whine from Squints was heard from across the field which caused the other teens to turn and see what he was whining about.
Scarlett glanced up from her magazine, her face immediately turned into a scowl but her heart fell into the pit of her stomach seeing who arrived. Jacob Phillips and gang biked their way onto The Sandlot, their field.
Her little brother stormed out from the batting cage, stomping his way to the left outfield where Phillips and his team parked, not liking that Phillips had the audacity to show up on their territory. All of his friends quickly following after him as they roughly threw their gloves and caps onto the ground. Scarlett reluctantly stood from her spot on the bench, finding herself fiddling with her fingers as she lingered behind.
Benny glared daggers at the dirty blonde, keeping a grip on the wooden bat in his right hand. The Jet had thought he taught Jacob Phillips a lesson by beating him up many nights ago, but clearly Phillips hadn't learned anything from it, maybe he could collaborate with the bat he was grasping this time. The teenagers faced the other in silence, all lined up with disgust on their faces. Scarlett stood next to Benny but she could feel the boy pulling her behind him protectively, out of Jacob Phillips's sight as he bravely eyed her up and down.
Jacob was the one to break the deadly silence first, a smirk appearing on his lips, "It's easy when you play with a bunch of rejects, a fat kid, and a beauty who's quite the eyeful, Rodriguez." Phillips stated with a snicker, his orbs traveling up up Scarlett's legs and to the end of her skirt making her want to simply pass away on the spot.
Benny could feel her anxiousness, his own anger increasing in seconds as he tightened his grip on the bat, "Shut your mouth, Phillips!" He threatened.
"What'd you say, crap face?!" Ham seethed, red showing on his face as his fists clenched tightly. Ham was mad that Phillips had insulted him right in front of his face, but most of his anger was because he called his sister beautiful.
She couldn't control the bubbling threatening to spill over, not thinking twice when she pulled from Benny and giving the boy who stole her trust a harsh death stare, "You better watch your tongue before I cut it off!" The only girl on the field fumed, taking a warning step forward, feeling the hatred for this kid increase as the time passed. She wanted nothing more than to slap the stupid smirk right off his face, no not just slap him, she wanted to cut into him deeply like he had done to her. A small hand stopped her movements making her glance down to see a frightened Scotty Smalls, silently pleading her with his eyes as he shook his head, as if knowing what exactly what she was thinking.
"Oh, still feisty I see. I like that." Phillips teased, all of the boys around her threw a glare of hatred down his way, "I don't think any of you should even be allowed to touch a baseball. Except for Rodriguez, you're all an insult to the game."
Scarlett could feel the tension rising, she knew that something was going to happen today.
"We'll take you right here, right now! Come on!" Ham challenged, all of the boys agreeing beside him.
Phillips scoffed while looking around The Sandlot as if it was a pile of dog shit and Scarlett could feel her lip curl, "We only play on a real diamond, Porter." He dramatically paused before adding, "You're not even good enough to lick the dirt off our cleats."
"Watch it, jerk!" Ham warned.
"Shut up, idiot!" Phillips yelled, tightening his grip on his bike handle bars.
"Moron!" Her little brother threw back.
"Scab eater!"
"Butt sniffer!" Scarlett rolled her eyes at the boys insults, they were so childish. If she wanted to, she could make the boy cry and beg for mercy.
"Puss licker!" Phillips snapped.
"Fart smeller!" Bertram sniffed the air and then let out a satisfied 'aaah', which caused Scarlett to giggle behind her hand.
"You eat dog shit for breakfast, geek!" Phillips argued.
"You mix your Wheaties with your mama's toe jam!" Ham claimed and Scarlett could tell that her brother was feeling really confident about himself.
"Yeah!" The boys around her all laugh and encouraged Ham to go on.
"You bob for apples in your toilet... and you like it!" Phillips smirked, looking pretty proud in himself making the girl roll her eyes.
"You play ball like a girl!" Ham roared, his plump face turning red as he used all of his rage to raise his voice.
All of the boys around Scarlett peered at him wide eyed and 'oooooed' at Phillips as his face flushed in embarrassment, appearing that he had taken the insult to heart. Even some of the boys on Phillips team had a good snicker causing the dirty blonde to shoot them a nasty glare that shut them up quickly. Smalls and Benny glanced around at their friends who mindlessly laughed at Hamilton's clearly sexist comment, they were all waiting for a death wish from Scarlett Rae Porter.
Unfortunately for the girl, she was used to the sexism from the boys at her age, it was widely accepted to bash on woman. Most believed that girls were beneath them, only here to serve them and provide them the supposed "American Dream". Women were expected to cook, clean and robotically operate their homes while birthing and raising the next generation to repeat the cycle. Scarlett always went against those commands, which was a reason why she was sent away to the boarding school, her mother wanting to instill the rules into her head. No matter how many times Helen told her that this was just the way that life is, the rebellious teenager was going to take her future into her own hands, not by the biding of a useless man.
A shaky breath passed her lips, she could feel the rage being built inside of her from the words of her annoying little brother, but she'll deal with the situation at hand later. Benny tightened his grip on her waist, discreetly seeing if she was okay and all she could do was give him a short nod as she glared daggers into the back of Hamilton Porter's head.
Phillips breathed out a laugh in disbelief, "E-Excuse me?"
"You heard me." Ham replied smugly, the boys behind him patting on his shoulder in encouragement.
Jacob Phillips shook his head, contemplating his next words, "Baseball game tomorrow, 12 o'clock. Our field." He ordered before turning his bike, "Let's go!" The boy biked off The Sandlot, the rest of his team following behind him.
"We'll be there buffalo butt breath!" Ham shouted after him, all of the boys cheering around him and praising him. The celebration was cut short when the girl stalked her way towards her brother and they grew quiet, watching carefully as she approached her little brother surprisingly calm.
'Here we go.' Smalls thought, his eyes glancing down towards her clenched fists.
At first she smiled at him, causing the boy to raise a suspicious brow towards her strange behavior. In a blur, he was taken back by surprise when she harshly slapped him across the face and started blowing punches into his plump stomach. His friends winced, noting to themselves to not make Scarlett mad with them. Benny ran over, grabbing the raging girl by waist and lifting her away from his best friend, keeping her hostage between his chest and his iron grip.
"You're a dick, Hamilton Nikolas Porter!" Scarlett screamed as she wiggled ferociously in Benny's grip, seeing nothing but red.
The curly redhead held his cheek in pain, groaning at the stinging that finally made itself known, "What the hell, Scarlett?!"
She continued to thrash around in her boys arms, "You're the one insulting me right in front of my face! 'You play ball like a girl'?! Did you really think I would hear that without knocking some sense into you?!" Scarlett screeched, birds that were chilling on a nearby tree flew away from their perch at the high pitched noise.
"I-It wasn't m-meant at you! It's not like that, you're different! I-I-" He stumbled over his words, feeling the guilt of his chosen words begin to creep up on him. When did he get so soft? He questioned to himself.
Benny held her even tighter and tried whispering soothing words to her, but she chose to ignore them, "What does that even mean? Of course it pertains to me, you seemed to have forgotten that you're sister is a girl. Are you trying to tell me that I'm not woman enough or something because that's the dumbest bullshit I've ever heard and it's sad to hear that it's coming from you, Hamilton." By the time she finished, she began to calm down and the grip around her waist cautiously loosened.
Ham kept quiet as he watched his sister carefully, a part of him expecting her to attack him again and the other part already regretting his actions. Scarlett shook her head at her brother before sprinting off the baseball field, all of the boys calling after her but she ignored them.
"Good job, Ham." Squints sighed while watching after the girl who disappeared from their sights.
"What?! You guys were the ones who laughed!" Ham defended, glaring at all of boys who stood around him.
"Yeah yeah, but you never say things like that in front of a girl, especially your own sister." Yeah-yeah voiced with a shake of his head before turning around and heading over to his spot in the center of outfield.
"Ugh, why am I always the one who everyone's mad at?!" Ham groaned before walking off to follow his team who got into their positions.
𐬿 𐮚 ミ★☆彡 𐮚 𐬿
Scarlett spent the rest of her day cooped up in her room, singing along to the music playing from her radio. She leaned her head against her knee as she painted her toenails pink, not really finding anything else entertaining to kill time. Since she didn't have her girl friends anymore, she didn't exactly have anyone else to spend time with other then her brothers and their friends. She could ask her mother but she knew her mom was exhausted from working and didn't want to tire her out even more, and she refused to ask Jamie to hang out with her as they both disposed the other, so she was left to her own avail.
A knock echoed throughout the fours walls and Scarlett moved over to turn off her static radio before plopping down into her bed, covering herself up with her blankets. She laid in her bed, her gaze out towards the window and her back faced the door when the curly redheaded preteen walked in.
"Hey, Scarlett." Ham greeted, his eyes glued to the wooden floor of her room.
"Hey, butt-face." Scarlett bit back, turning around in the sheets to look at her little brother. He rolled his blue eyes but a laugh fell from his lips, he slightly shifted in his spot until his sister motioned for him to take a seat on the side of her bed, the boy careful not to sit on her.
"Look Scar, I'm really sorry for what I said back at The Sandlot. It just slipped past me because I wasn't thinking right," Ham sighed, looking down at his beaten up converse.
"It's whatever, you get used to it after awhile." Scarlett shrugged, the blankets around her making a ruffling sound.
The boy vigorously shook his head, "No, it's not whatever. You should, like, hate me forever, right?" The words made it sound like he was questioning what he was even saying. She laughed and Ham blushed, knowing he sounded unsure.
Scarlett sat up in her bed, allowing the blanket to fall from her shoulders and revealing that she was wearing one of Benny's t-shirts, "I'm not going to hate you forever Ham, even though it did hurt my feelings," He glanced up at her in shock, she was never one to talk about her feelings or communicate what distressed her, he could tell this was a big step forward for her, "I know what you boys think nowadays, and even if some girls will just accept it, a lot of other girls won't." The girl only spoke of the truth, remembering how Allison allowed boys to walk all over her while Jessica would have them pinned to the ground in a second. The more she thought about them, the more she started to kind of miss them but things were different now.
"I know, I'm so sorry Scarlett." Ham apologized and wrapped himself into her arms. His sister was surprised at first but shook it off and immediately hugged him back, missing how close the two used be.
"You better kick their asses tomorrow, or I swear, I will kill you." She threatened but gave her little brother a famous Porter smile.
Ham laughed heartily and awkwardly shifted himself in her hold, "I'll keep that in mind."
The fan that stood on Scarlett's dresser where she had broken her mirror blew cool air into the slightly humid room, it's sound of humming was the only thing to be heard in the silent room as the Porter siblings continued to embrace each other until Ham broke the silence.
"I miss dad." He whispered, barely audible if she wasn't sat so close to him. Another stillness fell over the two, they haven't really talked about their deceased father together. Scarlett had a shoulder to cry on with their older brother and Helen eventually found David, making the girl realize that her little brother never really had anyone there for him. A wave of guilt washed over her like a tsunami, he had to deal with such a tremendous loss at a young age all alone, no wonder he was reluctant to open up to people.
Scarlett pulled from the hug and surveyed the boy in her arms. He had never looked so innocent when he gazed up at her, the sight of his blue eyes sparkling with incoming tears completely broke her heart.
She sucked in a deep breath before cracking, her throat swelling up on her, "So do I, Hammy." He nuzzled himself back into her chest, clutching onto tightly as if she'd disappear out of her life too.
Hamilton Ported never really knew how to comfort his older sister with thoughtful words, as he had never seen her this broken since their father died and that was only a few years ago. He found guidance from her, in his eyes the girl was always so strong and brave but he never took much thought to how much the world had really defeated her. It stole her innocence, her courage, and her passion. But since the day she had met Benjamin Rodriguez, she was slowly becoming her authentic being, not hiding away in the cocoon she had built for herself and the boy was proud of her for that.
The Porter siblings didn't need to share any other words, grasping into each other arms as they shared long awaited tears. The only noise in her childhood bedroom that was filled with so many unspoken memories from the girl sobbing into his shirt, hoping that he would never leave her in the way their father had.
✃------------------------------------------------
a/n:
im honestly living for a good sister/brother relationship between Hammy and Scarlett </3
PLS COMMENT IF THERES ANY ERRORS AND PLS VOTE
Word count: 3403
ILYSM🤍
revisited & edited: 1/07/2024