[The Girl Who Told Her Story]
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S H O R T Y
"Wait, you've seen the Beast?" Smalls looked to his friend.
Jordan simply nodded her head, acting nonchalant as possible. "Mhm, I have the bite to prove it."
"Tell him the story, Shorty," Timmy suggested.
"Tell him the story, Shorty," Tommy copied.
The girl sat herself up when noticing that she gained all the boy's attention to her, anguish to hear her story.
So, she did as she was told, she told her story...
♢
S M A L L S
Jordan Watts was around 10 years old when her incident happened.
It was a time where the Sandlot wasn't even formed; there was only Benny, Ham, and her.
As the girl watched her two friends mess around, she didn't notice Benny's rival, Phillips, decided to have a laugh by picking on her.
The mean boy ended up takes the girl's cap — the one that belonged to her mother gave her — and swings it in front of her, taunting her as she tries to grab it.
Of course, Ham and Benny ended up trying to save the day, yet Phillips had run away, he already flung the hat over the fence, before they could do something about it.
There, without thinking, Jordan went over to the other side of the fence to retrieve her only item that belonged to her mom.
Ham and Benny pleaded with her to stop and leave so that they wouldn't get into any trouble with the person at the home.
It was way back when the Beast wasn't a popular story. The kids haven't even heard of a thing behind the fences, they only assumed a guard dog.
Ignorantly, Jordan went down and grabbed her hat; with was only for a second of going in and out. She was about to leave without a scratch until she heard deep growls from behind her.
Suddenly, a towering furious thing — a goddamn beast — came charging to her, barking madly.
Jordan screams in fear, hurrying to get over the fence.
As she was about to pull herself over, a sharp pain came from her right leg. She kicked and screamed great bloody murder as the Beast had a loose hold on her leg. The Watts girl ended up kicking the Beast, where the creature let go of her completely, letting her escape from her utter doom.
Benny and Ham were quick to catch her when she swung herself over the tall fence.
They noticed her jeans had a big damn blood spot. The two pulled up her loose jeans to see that thick blood was rushing down to her ankle.
As the three had left Mr. Mertle's backyard, Jordan went home with tears and an injury that would take a long time to heal.
♢
S H O R T Y
The story itself was a basic one, but it really did leave some obvious trauma with Jordan.
For the short story to be so bland, it was a tale that everyone seemed to be so desired to know.
The boys honestly were satisfied with the story. They thought it was awesome how they had their friend handedly escaped the Beast's clutches and had a 'battle scar' to prove it.
Scotty's questions of why she was so timid on the outfield were answered. A good reasonable answer, like that. From what a small glance he had of the Beast, he saw Jordan as some kind of hero.
"Show them the scar!" Bertram shouts.
This caused all the boys to start chanting and clamoring about showing the scar to them.
"All right! Fine, fine, fine!" She gave in, despite herself not wanting to.
Rolling up her sweatpants, to show the bite mark, the boys all gasps at the Beast's huge scar on the girl's right calf. The oval shape that was covering most of her lower leg, as it was merely skin now.
Benny did remember that day, he was practically scared to death for her.
He remembered that painting fear and panic she had on her face when jumping out of the fence, he also remembered the constant humorous panic attacks and comments Ham had in the background.
"Nuh-uh," Scotty denied, "No. None of that is true." He turns to Jordan, who was covering the scar back up. "Now that, that is true. But the rest, the story? You guys are just making this up to scare me."
"Oh, yeah?" Squints raised his eyebrows. "Stick your head out that window... and look down."
Small did what Squints told him.
He walked over and stuck his head out the cut-out window, which was right beside the Beast's backyard.
♢
I learned that more than 150 baseballs had gone over that fence... and not one of them was ever seen again.
♢
Jordan and Benny looked at each other and back at Smalls.
They really did believe an actual Beast was out there, but it was sort of crazy to them was how Scotty didn't. Soon enough, a heavy low faint growl came, with a chain rattling from outside.
♢
Even when some brave kid, like Jordan, worked up enough courage to peek over the fence.
They had to not have luck on their side. I knew it was true because when I looked down in there, I didn't see a single... solitary... one.
♢
The white boy screams in terror, pulling himself back in the house, now a believer in the stories.
"He's down there!" Scotty exclaims, in a hushed tone.
"You bet he is," Squints replies.
Ham shakes. "Whatever goes on that fence... stays there."
"It becomes property of the Beast... Forever."
♢
One by one the Sandlot boys started to crash, either from the stuffed stomachs of s'mores or from staying up so late in the early morning. When it was almost about to be around 3 am, Jordan was sitting on the little balconied treehouse, swaying her legs with her body leaning on the rim.
"Shouldn't you be asleep?"
The girl turns her head to see Benny, with a smile on his face as he sits by her.
"I should be asking you the same thing."
"I couldn't. Not with Bertram's snoring."
The girl chuckles and continues to be in comforting silence, letting crickets chirp their tunes.
"What are you thinking about?" The Rodriguez kid asked.
"Come on, Benjamin. I think we both know what I'm thinking of."
"The Beast?"
"Bingo."
Jordan shakes her head. "I-It just bothers me, man. That thing fucked me over big time. I won't play out-field, I have this huge bite on my leg, and I'm literally terrified of any big dog that comes near me. It's ridiculous."
Benny didn't know how to reply. She was speaking the truth, ever since the incident, she was paranoid over a lot of things.
One time, a hungry stray Great Dane was walking toward the both of them. Jordan automatically wanted to leave, dragging Benny into walking the long way, and completely avoiding the dog; she never wanted that moment to be brought up.
"Hey, look at me."
Jordan didn't. She only scooted herself over to the boy, who wrapped his arms around her, in comfort.
"It's okay. You'll be okay, Jordan."
The blonde liked the way Benny held her, the way that she comforts her so easily; it's something Jordan liked a lot about him.
"I was actually surprised you showed them your scar. You seemed so cool with it," The Rodriguez boy spoke up.
"W-Well, you know, they wanted to see it——"
"But you're always so uncomfortable about it."
She sighs in defeat, "You're right, I am not uncomfortable about it. When have I ever been uncomfortable about it?"
"You can't fool me, Amada. I know you, and I know that every time the boys try to get you to show your scar you always hate it, but you still do it because you don't want to admit that you are insecure about it."
Jordan furrowed her brows, already annoyed by the topic. "Please, I assure you that you're just overthinking it."
"Okay then. Fine, fine."
Jordan was a stubborn person at heart. No matter if Benny was right about her scar, she wouldn't admit it. In reality, the scar did bother her, a lot.
Yet showing it to the Sandlot boys, was something that she thought must be done. It was a way to show that maybe it was a cool battle scar, it made her badass, but every time, it just made it worse.
She doesn't roll up her jeans so much, where it would show.
She couldn't wear any dresses or shorts Anne gave her, because it would be an easy bullseye for everyone to see; it wasn't like the bite was a small one.
She would remember the times where she did like to wear dresses and skirts, but the girls would tease her, whenever she did wear one. They would call her bite 'ugly' and 'disgusting to look at.'
Of course, that would take a toll on a 10-year-old.
She really did believe what the other girls had thought, so she started to dress more comfortably in her taste — jeans and pants.
The Sandlot boys praised for her new sense of wardrobe, making her look more like them, but it didn't stop the girls from teasing. They would now make fun of her fresh clothing.
That was until she started to defend herself through her fist.
Jordan slowly pulled her sweatpants down to make sure the scar was covered as if it was starting to show.
Benny only sighed, "Just so you know... you still are pretty. With or without the scar."
The Hispanic kid got up and went back to his sleeping bag to get more sleep, leaving a blushing Jordan to be alone, once again.
♢
"Who's gonna tell them?"
"Stop staring at them!"
"Do you think they're dating yet?"
"Wait, they aren't dating?!"
All the boys look over the two kids. Jordan was using Benny's chest as a pillow, while Benny had his arm wrapped around her waist.
The two both suddenly slowly woke up to the sandlot boys quietly educating Scotty on the situation that was Watts and Rodriguez.
They had noticed how close they were, so they moved away from one another, blushing madly.
"Jesus Christ, you two finally woke up!" Ham looked over to the two, making everyone else join.
"How long did two stay up?" DeNunez asked.
The two were silent to answer, but as soon as they were about to Timmy and Tommy pull up in the treehouse.
"Good news, guys. My mom made waffles and bacon today."
"Waffles and bacon today."
All the boys exclaim, rushing down the treehouse to grab their plates and eat, leaving Jordan and Benny to themselves.
"So..." Jordan cracks, "how did you sleep?"
Benny smiles at the girl, even snickering at her awkward nature.
He gets up and walks to her, holding out a hand to her.
She gladly takes it and Benny lifts her up.
The two then make their way to Timmy and Tommy's kitchen, where the rest of the sandlot ate like there's no tomorrow.
After eating breakfast, the team decided to make their way home, and have a break so that the night game would be a blast.
Jordan and Scotty walked side by side to go home, while Benny was talking with Bertram and Yeah-Yeah.
"Can I ask you a question?" The small boy asked his friend.
"Sure, hon."
"W-Well, are you and Benny, you know... a thing?"
The Watts girl was quite baffled by what the kid was saying.
She scoffs nervously, "No! What makes you say that?"
"But don't you like him?"
"Okay, where the hell are you getting these questions?"
"Oh, I've always just assumed that you two were a thing. I don't know, it just surprised me that you weren't."
The girl rolled her eyes, but answered his question,
"If I told you that I did, you will not tell anyone?"
"Yeah, of course."
"Then you have your answer."
Scotty Smalls wanted more of his questions answered, but denied against it, like how come they weren't together and if she even told him.
He was quite shocked by how oblivious they were.
It seemed so obvious to everyone else, but them.
♢
I could never seem to understand how blind my two friends were. Even when talking to Benny and Jordan, I always thought that it would be easy to tell a person that you liked them, then again, this was coming from a 12-year-old who only cared about baseball and 'The Andy Griffin Show.'
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