what if → Benny Rodriguez

chapter 7 | she's my best friend

I really wanted Jordyn to hit the ball, so she could prove herself and be accepted by these boys. DeNunez winds up, and throws the ball. Jordyn swings, and-

Crack!

the ball doesn't soar through the air, but rolls on the ground towards DeNunez. it was a ground ball, but it wasn't terrible considering she had never swung a bat before in her life. i could tell DeNunez let her off a little easy. if he wanted to, he could've gotten that ball and thrown it to first a lot faster. but i'm glad he didn't, because i haven't seen my sister's face light up with as much joy she had standing at first base in years.

-

Squints pours a whole, water bottle on his face and sighs with relief. "it's hotter than hell out here today." he tosses the water bottle in a trash bag.

"we are not going to the pool again." Benny says.

"ok but when i pass out from the heat, it's gonna be on you Rodriguez." i say and we all laugh.

"that wasn't funny. you need to step up your game." Jordyn whispers to me, but i just ignore her. i'm not going to let my sister control what i say now.

"ok let's get back out there and switch it up. Brynn you take second, i'll take first, Jordyn you can be in the outfield, and smalls, Squints and Bertram, you guys are up to bat." Benny gave the order, and everyone followed. he has always been the leader. everyone loves him and trusts him.

as we're walking to our positions, i see a group of boys start to bike into our field.

"oh great." i hear Benny mumble as he stops in his tracks.

"what? who is that?" i ask confused, but get no answer. everyone just starts to walk towards the guys on bikes.

"what do you want Phillips?" DeNunez challenges.

suddenly it clicked. "Oh my gosh! Phillips is that you?" i say surprised. Phillips used to hang out with us at the sandlot all the time when we were younger. i noticed he was missing the first day i got there. but after i said that i looked around and realized i was getting death stares from pretty much all my friends.

"who's this pretty lady?" Phillips starts to get off his bike.

"I suggest you get back on that bike Philips." Benny snaps. geez i wonder what his problem is.

"don't you remember? i'm Brinley my family just moved back here!" i was excited to see my old friend, but was still receiving glares from all the guys. i was honestly confused.

"oh yeahhh." Phillips smiles. "you got hot." He winks at me. which made me feel really uncomfortable. i've never really liked it when guys use the word hot.

B E N N Y
point of view

"you got hot." Phillips winks at Brynn. i mean he wasn't all wrong, but that infuriated me because that's downright disrespectful. and he's our enemy. flirting with Brynn? i wasn't gonna let that happen.

"why don't you go back to where you came from eh?" Bertram nods towards the exit.

"yeah yeah. we creamed you last summer, so why don't you take a hike and leave us alone." Yeah-yeah says to Phillips and his crew.

Brynn turns to me. "why are all you guys being so defensive?" she asks so clueless and innocent. how was she supposed to know that Phillips turned into our enemy?

i shake my head. "times have changed Brynn." she nods in understanding.

"you can get off our lot now." Timmy snaps.