[ The Girl Who Doesn't Believe ]
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S H O R T Y
It had been a week or two since Scotty had join Jordan and the Sandlot group. She was proud to see the her friends be good for him, even though the teasing hadn't stopped, Scotty didn't mind at all.
Smalls would easily notice her discomfort with the fence that barricades the baseball field. It would be this recent game that showed Scotty why Jordan wouldn't even come close to the old ratchet fence.
"Hamilton 'The Babe' Porter. 'Long Ball' Porter. Come on, Shorty," Ham speaks, getting ready to swing his bat, before making the classic Babe Ruth pose.
The freckled boy points out over the field, looking down proudly.
This made everyone, even Jordan and Benny, laugh hysterically.
The girl had laughed so hard, she almost stumbled out of the pitcher's spot.
"Yes, I see it," Benny taunted with a smile, joining his friend's enjoyment.
Jordan contained her laughter and threw the ball sharply.
Ham ended up missing it, having Benny, who was the catcher, have the ball right in his glove.
"Woah," He said in awe, acting as if Ham had hit the home run.
"You call that pitching?" Ham exclaimed, "This is baseball, not tennis."
"Give him a tennis racket," DeNunez joked.
"Give me something to hit!"
"All right, hon," Jordan sweet talks, catching the ball that Benny threw to her, "This one's my heater. I dare you to hit it."
As the Watts still hears the boy's on going jokes, she mutters to herself, "You want the heater? I'll give to you."
Jordan threw the ball and knew immediately when the baseball left her hand, it wasn't her best throw. Luckily for Ham, he hits the ball just right, making to travel all the way out and over the fence, and even crashing into the junkyard.
"No!" Jordan quietly pleaded.
"Yeah! That's how you do it," A prideful Ham cheered, starting to run his bases.
The Rodriguez boy threw down the catcher's mask in irritation. "Ham, you idiot! Now we can't play no more."
As the rest of the boys, except Smalls, threw there gloves and hats, calling Porter names, an annoyed Jordan walked over to an equally annoyed Benny.
"Son of a bitch," She comments, "Do you have enough money?"
"Nope, how about you? Does your sister have money?"
"No, we're just as broke."
Benny sighed, with his arms crossed, "And I thought today was gonna be a long one."
"Welp, think positive. You won't see anyone of our ugly mugs," Jordan chuckled to her joke.
Despite what she thought, Benny didn't mind her face. He actually found her quite pretty... really pretty. But of course, not seeing Jordan wasn't the only reason why he was mad about the home run.
"No!" Everyone hears Squints dragged out his shout.
The Sandlot kids all looked to see Smalls climbing up the fence, the only thing that protected them from their biggest fear.
Everybody ran as quick as they could to the boy. They were in such a rush to get to him, Benny and Jordan outran them all.
All the kids pleaded and called out to Scotty, as everyone grabbed a hold on the boy, pulling him away from the fence.
"Get off of me! Now!" Smalls screams to him, as Bertram and Benny put the boy down to the ground.
"You're gonna get yourself killed!"
"Killed, man, jeez!"
Watts and Rodriguez exclaim to the boy.
Ham breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath, just like everyone else. "Holy crap, you could've been killed."
"Yeah yeah, truly. What are you doing?" Yeah-Yeah asked.
"You guys were leaving, s-so I just thought I'd hop——" Smalls tried to explain.
Squints interrupts, "If you were thinking, you wouldn't have thought that."
"You can't go back there, Smalls," Jordan tells him.
"Then how do we get the ball back?" Scotty asked.
"We don't," Timmy answered.
"We don't," Tommy copied.
"It's history."
"It's history."
"Kiss it good-bye."
"Kiss it——"
"Shut up, Tommy."
Bertram told him, straightforward, "It's gone, man. Gone."
"Game's over, man," Benny breaks it to him, "We'll just get another ball tomorrow. We'll never see it again."
Smalls looked over at Jordan, who looked very uncomfortable, looking straight at the fence and rubbing her left arm.
Benny wrapped his arm around the girl's shoulder, pulling her away, as all the Sandlot boys began to walk away from the fence and go home.
"Why not?"
All the kids turned back to Scotty, looked at each other, ready to finally tell him.
"The Beast," They all state.
"What is that?"
Benny was the only one who got in front of the Scotty boy, to tell him what to do.
"Smalls, listen to me. Go to that fence... real slow, and be quiet."
"But... I-I think——"
"No, no, no. No, no." He shakes his head. "Just go and peek through that hole."
"But I—But I saw something. What's back there?"
"It's okay. Just go. Just go."
Then the whole team tells him to go over to the hole, to have him understand and see where they're coming from.
Jordan even added, "Go, Smalls."
The boy had slowly made his way over there, with a few times looking back to his friends in making sure they weren't pulling his leg. But, everyone of them was dead serious.
As Scotty drew himself closer and closer to the hole, Jordan puts her hand on Benny's, when the all the boys scooted back.
Suddenly, a large paw came slamming down on the baseball, releasing a huge growl and making Scotty run back to his group of friends in total fear.
"Something got the ball," He gasped, "W-What was that thing?"
The sandlot boys looked at each other and knew exactly what to do.
"Camp out."
♢
Jordan was set to packing her bag for the camp out.
A camp out is where everyone from the sandlot goes to Timmy and Tommy's tree house, since they live right next to the Sandlot, and talk about the legends of the Beast and other complete crap.
Jordan threw her bag on the floor and walked into the kitchen to grab actual food to eat.
"Where the hell are you going?" Angela asked her sister, looking at her sister's sweatpants and baggy t-shirt she was wearing.
Jordan went over to her microwave to heat up the leftovers from last nights. "Camp out, tonight. I'm heading to Timmy and Tommy's place in a bit."
"Wait, you're going to a boy's house?"
"I mean, yeah. But you know they're all like my brother's, Benny is gonna come with me."
"Benny is coming with you?"
"Yeah, he's coming. What the hell is your problem?" Jordan rolled her eyes, as she takes out her heated food.
"First off, you're going to an all boy's sleepover. I can't tell if I should be worried for you or not care. Secondly, I think I should be worried because Benny is coming with you," Angela explained.
"Why are you so concerned if Benny coming?"
"Jesus, you're an idiot," The older girl groans, "You are going to an unknown location of my knowledge, with a boy... Do you get my picture?"
Jordan automatically turned red from embarrassment. "Ew! What the fuck, Angela?!"
"I'm just saying if you get pregnant——"
"Stop, stop! It's not like that."
As Jordan starting to eat her leftovers, as Angela looked at the girl in confusion but also amusement.
"So, you don't like Benny?"
"Ye—I mean, no. No way, dude."
"So you're telling me, since you and him became friends, you've never even had thought about you liking him? Not even a little?"
"W-Why the hell do you care anyways?"
"Because, holy hell, it's very obvious that you do! And him too! It goes for both ways."
Jordan only denied, "No, no. You must be talking about your stupid movies or something because Benny doesn't like me. I mean... you know, he only will see me as-as a friend, nothing more."
Angela looked closely at her sister, and saw the insecurity in her eyes.
Yes, Angela was aware for her rudeness toward her, but in the end, she didn't mean it to be so effective.
All she saw in front of her now was a girl who just wanted her best friend to like her back; it reminded her of how she used to be with her boyfriend.
But what got her a bit annoyed was how obvious Benny was with his feelings and that her step-sister didn't see it.
She never talked to Benny, the only interaction she and him had was when she open to the door for him one time, the rest was just her watching him in the room.
But, from her silent observation, it was clear that Benny did like her.
"Okay, look," The step-sister sighs, "I'm not the best person to give advice, because god, I can't even give myself some, but... If you do like him, then go for it, because no one never really waits for people. So, if you're not gonna tell him, don't pout and whine when he asked another girl out."
In that moment, first once in her life, Jordan listened to Angela. Of course, she was weirded out by the sudden change of heart, but she did listen.
She had to admit her sister was right, but then she had her doubts about it.
Benny and her are only 14, what the hell do they know about feelings?
♢
In the end, Benny and Jordan went to the camp out together.
Most of the boys were there already, the only person they had to wait for was Scotty.
The two set their sleeping bags beside one another, and got themselves comfortable for it would be a long night of 'scary' stories from Squints and bizarre conspiracy theories from Bertram.
After a few s'mores and many laughs, Scotty finally came to the camp out.
"Hey, guys, sorry I'm late." Smalls sets his stuff down on the ground. "My mom made me out on a jacket, and then she made me to the dishes."
The sandlot team laughed and chuckled to Scotty, even Jordan did. As Smalls had his attention to Ham's little stand, Jordan was comfortable being close Benny, having his arm getting wrapped around her shoulders, making her get pulled closer to him, which they both didn't mind.
"Hey, you want a s'more?" Ham asked the new kid.
"Some more what?" Scotty sits across from his friend.
"No, no, you want a s'more?"
"I haven't had anything yet, so how can I have some more of nothing?"
Benny and Jordan both looked at each other in amusement, then back at the two friends.
Scotty really seemed to be pulling their leg.
"You're killing me, Smalls," Ham irritatedly spoke, "These are s'more stuff. Okay, pay attention.
First, you take the graham. You stick the chocolate on the graham."
As Ham was listing off what he was doing, he was also showing it, too. "Then, you roast the 'mallow. When the 'mallow's flaming, you stick it on the chocolate. Then, you cover it with the other end. Then, you stuff it."
When Jordan was trying to pay attention to Ham and Scotty, Benny stole her s'more out of mischief. The girl whips her head to the boy and was quick to fight him over it.
"You son of a bitch!"
"Amada, calm down!"
It was too late for Jordan to save her snack, because Benny ate the last bite of it. Instead of throwing her pillow, like how she's been doing, she tackled him to floor.
"You're dead meat, Benjamin."
Before the boy could even make a comeback, Squints interrupted everyone, with him standing in the front of the room.
"Okay. Quiet, you guys," The four-eyed kid warns.
But everyone still was chattering and laughing, not even listening to their friend.
"Quiet! Are you trying to wake it up? It just went to bed."
This finally shuts everyone up, except a oblivious Scotty.
"What just went to bed?"
The Sandlot team shushed him,
"The Beast."
"Oh, yeah!"
"Shh!"
After everyone was finally quiet, they all got into place, ready to hear the story of the Beast.
Benny and Jordan were still sitting closely together, so close that Jordan was using Benny's chest as a pillow for her.
"Now quiet," Squints orders, telling the tale, "The legend of the Beast goes back a long time... before any of us could even pick up a baseball. Back to a place called Mertle's Acres. It all started about, mmm, 20 years ago, when thieves kept stealing junk from Mertle's Acres junkyard. So Mr. Mertle, the guy that used to own the place, got him this new pup loose in the junkyard. And the pup was grateful."
Jordan couldn't help but roll her eyes to the story. Her belief was that the story was taken out of great proportion, by a long shot.
"And so, in a few weeks, the pup grew into the Beast. And he grew big, and he grew mean... so that he could protect the junkyard with only one thing on his mind : To kill everyone that broke in.
And he did, and he liked it, a lot!
The Beast was the most perfect junkyard dog that ever lived. A true killing machine. But after a while, the cops started getting phone calls from people... reporting all the missing thieves, the ones the Beast had killed. It added up to about 120–173 guys. It's true. They never found a single body. Not one."
This story practically brainwashed all of the team to believe in this story. In all truth, Jordan believed that their was a beast behind that fence, but it definitely didn't have this stupid origin story.
"Some people say they all got away. But we all know what really happened. The Beast ate them. He ate the bone and all. The Beast was too good at his guard dog job, so the police said he had to retire.
My father, Squidman Palledorous, was the police chief back then. He order Mr. Mertle to turn his backyard into a fortress... and chain up the Beast and put him under the house... where he could never get out to eat children and stuff."
Jordan looked at everyone around her, to see that they were completely invested into this story. She silently groaned to herself.
"That's where it's been for 20 years. And that's where he'll be for the rest of his life. Because Mr. Mertle asked the cops how long he had to keep the Beast chained up like a slave, they said until forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. Forever. And so, the Beast sits there under that lean-to, dreaming of the time where they can break the chain and get out, dreaming of the time to chase and kill again."
Finally, Squints sets his flashlight down, turning it off.
"See, man? That's why you can't go over there. Nobody ever has. Nobody ever will," DeNunez tells Scotty.
"Two kids did, but nobody has ever seen the first kid again," Ham spoke up.
"That ain't true."
"Yeah, it is. He got eaten."
"Well, who was the other kid?" Smalls asked.
The whole Sandlot turned their heads to the only kid who lived to tell the tale of what they saw behind the rusty metal fence — Jordan Watts.
"Is it my time to talk now?"
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