"Just remember, it's your first time trying so no one really expects you to be good at it." Smalls whispers, smiling a soft, reassuring smile as they continued to walk towards the baseball field. From their perspective view, they could see Squints and Yeah-Yeah abhorously bantering with one another while the other guys all stood hovered around them trying to bring their irate arguing down to a simmer.
"Guys, can we please just get back to the game before lunch hour is over?" Benny sighs exasperatedly, flickering his pleading gaze between his two friends; who'd both made no initiative in halting their rebuttals.
"Yeah, we've only been playing for ten minutes! What the hell are you two yackos fighting about anyway?" Bertram inquisitively inquires, standing with his arms akimbo and his countenance marring a bored expression.
Cree quietly stood back, observing as the squabble began to increase. "Do they always act like this?" She asks, glancing over at Smalls who only sighed heavily and nodded his head in response. He raises his forefinger mid-air, indicating that he would be right back then jogged over to where the rest of the guys where.
She could see Smalls exchanging words with his friends, then suddenly the arguing halted and all of their scrutinizing glares all flickered towards her. She felt an inadvertent blush flushing her cheeks as she stood their under their gawk. She exhaled a deep breath and slowly lugged her feet towards their direction once she saw Smalls waving her over.
"Hi." Cree says, bringing her hand up in a small wave and offering them a genial smile.
"She was sitting alone over there under the tree and I invited her to come over." He explained, mostly to Benny who only stood there mute with his mouth hung slightly agape. "I figured she could spend the rest of the lunch hour with us instead, you know?"
"You play?" DeNunez asked as he chewed down on the waddled up piece of cherry flavored bubble gum that was in his mouth. Cree shook her head and chanced a hesitant glance over at Smalls. "Well, we already have a full team but you can play left center with Smalls if you want. What do you say, Benny?" He asked and it was now Benny who felt his cheeks pooling a warm blush in chagrin.
He cleared his throat and sheepishly rubbed at the back of his neck before shrugging his shoulders. "Uh, yeah-yeah okay." He stammers, causing Cree to smile softly at him.
"Are we seriously letting a girl play with us?" She hears Ham utter in a scoff. She raises a challenging eyebrow up at him, he falters under the heat of her scrutiny.
"We play with you everyday, you don't hear us complaining." Smalls hastily interjected, patting Ham on the shoulder as he smirked at Cree — who mimicked the gesture upon feeling grateful for his amicability and for him coming to her defense.
"Oh! Piss off Smalls and get your ass over there so we can finish the game." Ham deflects, brushing the resting hand off of his shoulder before reaching down to pick us his catchers gear. He places his helmet on, giving Smalls a jovial grimace before returning to his crouched position behind the home base.
For the remaining duration of their lunch hour, they finished playing the game as intended. While Smalls encouragingly urged her to attempt to catch a ball, Cree preferred to stand back and observe. She watched as the guys bellowed vulgar obscurities to each other whenever they were angry or if someone hit the ball too far for anyone's reach. While watching the guys clamor loudly at each other was certainly entertaining, what Cree heeded at mostly was Benny.
She thought that everyone on the team all shared an equal talent, she didn't know much about baseball but she could tell that they're all good players. Benny, however was different. Playing the game seemed easy for him, like it was second nature or something. She could detect it through the determined and concentrated look that flickered in his eyes every time or how his movements were deft and suave anytime he would run to steal the home base. Baseball was easy for him. It was his life and she could tell that just from looking at him.
"You're really good." She compliments upon approaching him after they finished their game; which considerably she was glad that she didn't participate in because all of the guy's clothes were murked with dirt and they smelled heavily of sweat. Benny halts, his eyebrows furrowed confusedly while that same sheepish, yet adorable look rested on his face.
"Oh. Thanks." He responds abashedly, his eyes were averted downward, glancing at his now scuffed up pair of converse. "You should've played with us today." He says causing her to guffaw.
"Yeah, no. I've never been good at sports, trust me it would've not been pretty if I was out there. Besides, I'm much better at drawing then I am at playing sports." She shrugs as she slides her hands into the front pockets of her jeans. She finds herself smiling softly as she sees his eyes suddenly widen with an evidential inquiry.
"You like to draw? I do too, I mean I'm not that good at it— it's only a side hobby that I just started."
"Really? I would love to see some of your drawings sometimes. I could even show you a few of mine. I have my sketch book over there." She says, pointing over to the tree where she was previously seated at. Her sketchbook and textbooks rested atop of her bookbag that was propped against the base of the tree.
"Yeah, I'd like that." They both sat cross legged underneath the tall willow tree, the open drawing book was placed in Benny's hands as he flipped through the pages, observing and approvingly nodding his head. He was amazed by her deftly artistic skills and how she visibly captured the realistic measures of her sketches. "Wow!" He whistles as he now stares at a drawing of an old, rustic looking house.
Cree harrumphed softly as she looked down at the page. "It's our old house, the very first one my sister and I moved into together. It wasn't much but that was the only place that ever felt like home." She admits, the sullen timbre of her voice causes a throng of solemnity to wave over him. He closed the book shut, figuring that she had probably had enough unwarranted memories of her past haunting her for the day.
"I'm sorry." He says and she ganders down at him with a slightly bemused and perplexed expression warring her face. She tilts her head to the side in question, the gesture unmistakably indicating that she wanted to know the reason for his laments. Benny shrugs as he idly fiddled with the worn creases on her book. "It seems lonely, doing all that moving. I've lived here for most of my life, you know? I really don't have anything to compare it to."
"I think you're lucky; you've got a group of friends you've grown up with, stability within a home. Me?" Cree sighs heavily as she pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her around them she smiled weakly as she began to reminisce on her life. "Let's just say I've grown accustomed to not getting attached to anything or anyone."
They inadvertently fell into a stilled silence, each of them consumed in their own reverie. There had been times when he was younger where he dreamed of living anywhere but here. He never disclosed of this to anyone but, there were instances where he contemplated on if being the kid who pickled the beast was enough. He always thought it was silly, him wanting to escape especially since moving here is what got him playing ball in the first place. He thought he wanted something new, that a new change of scenery could help him understand these unwarranted thoughts that circled around his brain. But after talking to Cree, he learned that loneliness wasn't something easy that you could escape from.
"I just noticed something." She says after a moments silence, retracting him from his deep reverie. He sees a small smile tittering on her lips. "This is like the first full conversation you and I have had." Benny blinks as he began to recall their previous encounters. "I'm surprised, I was starting to think that you didn't like me." She smirks impishly at him, a mirthful glint flickered in her pupils.
Benny chuckled abashedly as he rubbed at the back of his neck. "Y-You thought that I didn't like you?" Cree shrugged her shoulders in response, her gaze diverted elsewhere towards the empty field where she previously stood not too long ago watching while the guys played baseball.
"Mhm. I thought that maybe you didn't want another new kid trying to slyly insert their way into your group again, not that I would blame you and if you were looking to accept people it probably wouldn't be a girl that knows absolutely nothing about baseball, right?" She inquisitively ponders with a raised brow. Her entire statement completely staunched Benny and caught him off guard. Did she really believe that his behavior made her presume that he wanted nothing to do with her?
Benny felt awful that the reasoning for his cautious distance towards her was because of these weird, yet complicated feelings that he had inadvertently developed towards her. This was new for him, even now he still wasn't completely confident or sure about how to act around her. But of course, he couldn't tell her that. So he opened his mouth and began to stutter out whatever pathetic excuse came to mind.
"Benny, I was only kidding." Cree says, placing a hand on his knee and relieving him of any further chagrin. He blushed softly as his eyes lingered towards her hand's placement. Cree noticed and hastily pulled her hand away, feeling her own cheeks pooling in warmth.
"Sorry."
"No, it's okay." The bell that indicated that the lunch hour was now over interrupted the hushed silence that transcended amongst them again. She smiled genially at Benny as he extended his hand out and offered to help her up. "Thank you." She says, dusting off the remnants of dirt that settled on her pants. They both collected their respective belongings.
"I know you said that it was just a hobby but I'd love to see some of your work next time if you'd be up for it?" Much to his own dubiety, he nods as he gathered the remainder of his belongings.
Cree smiled softly and clutched her books to her chest, bidding him goodbye with a small wave before she began to gaiter towards the school. She stopped after hearing a voice call after her. She turns around to see Benny jogging up to her. "I uh, I was wondering if I could walk with you to class? But it probably seems weird so never mind." He interjects upon noticing the slightly bemused expression that shifted on her face. He winced inwardly at his futile attempt and began to walk off.
"Benny," He halts upon feeling her hand genially wrap around his wrist, lightly tugging him back. "I'd love it if you walked with me." She assures him with another heartwarming smile that make his heart flutter.