July 7, 2021

DeNunez threw the ball as hard as he could. Right as the ball got to the perfect spot, I swung with all my strength. All the boys watched as the ball soared through the air while I threw the bat to the ground and sprinted towards first.

"Go, Ella!" Benny yelled with a fist in the air.

Hearing him cheer me on gave me a spark of energy that coursed through my veins. My foot landed on first base, then I quickly changed directions toward third.

The ball dropped right next to Smalls, who couldn't see it in the air because of the sun. He ran to the ball then picked it up and looked towards the field to see who to throw it to.

I touched second then ran swiftly towards third. It was like I was floating as I ran, I could barely feel the ground beneath my feet.

Smalls threw the ball to Squints on second, but I was already more than halfway to third.

"Throw it here!" Bertram yelled seconds before I got to third.

Squints chucked the ball through the air towards him, but I had already touched the bag and ran towards home.

Bertram caught the ball and turned in my direction. I sped up again as I ran towards home.

"Throw the ball you dumb ass!" Ham yelled while clapping his hand in his glove above his head.

My heart was racing at a hundred miles per second. I'd never run this fast in my life.

Bertram sent the ball Hams way, but just before he caught it, I slid through the dirt and into home.

"Damn it!" Ham yelled throwing his headgear to the ground beside him.

As I lay there in shock at what I had just done, I heard someone running towards me. I looked up to see Benny who grabbed my hand and pulled me up and into his arms with ease.

I could hear the rest of the boys running our way from the mixture of foot stomps and them yelling "yeah Ella!".

As I pulled away from the hug, Benny looked deep into my eyes, then kissed me. Our lips locked together as we kissed passionately. For a moment I forgot everyone else was there watching us. When I realized the cheering had stopped, I pulled away and looked at Benny with wide eyes, but I still had a huge smile across my lips.

We looked into each other's eyes for a couple more seconds until we heard

"What, the, fuck."

Shit. We still hadn't told the rest of the guys about us.

My hands were still on his shoulders and his were on my waist as we turned and looked at the boys. Their eyes were wide as they stared at us in shock.

Tommy's mouth was wide open, until Timmy used his hand to close it without looking away from Benny and me.

I quickly pulled away from Benny, making his hands drop to his sides. I awkwardly dusted the dirt off my legs as I cleared my throat. Benny scratched his neck.

"What was that?" Smalls said in a shocked, yet happy, voice.

I opened my mouth so I could explain, but was cut off before I could say anything.

"We're dating." Benny blurted.

This time Timmy's mouth dropped which Tommy reached up and closed without looking away from us.

Ham, who was standing behind us, came up and put one hand on Bennys shoulder and the other on mine.

"It's about time!" He said with a smile, his head looking back and forth between the two of us.

Squints was the first to shake the shocked look off his face and cheer again. The rest of the guys followed after he shoved them and hyped them up.

Benny and I started dying laughing with ham still standing between us, but we could look at each other over his head easily.

"Fuck baseball, let's go get ice cream!" Ham yelled as he let go of us and ran towards the dugout, the rest of the guys following and yelling "yeah! Let's go." But not in unison.

Benny took my hand with a smile. Our fingers interlocked with each other as we both walked towards the dugout together, but not as quickly as the rest of them did. I was definitely blushing scarlet, but I was hoping no one would notice since my face was already red from getting a home run.

We held hands in the back of the group the entire way to the ice cream store. I felt higher than I ever had before knowing he was mine.

Although I was excited we were finally together, I couldn't help but think 'this one's gonna hurt'. I promised him I would come back as much as I could, but we were going into high school which meant there would be twice the work, a new softball team I had to worry about, and the drive from Texas to California wasn't very fun at all. Of course, I would come back next summer, but I was afraid of losing him over the school year.

Benny squeezed my hand when he noticed my smile was fading. I looked up at him with wide eyes.

"What's up?" He asked concerned.

"Nothings wrong." I lied with a fake smile.

He squinted his eyes and jerked his head back a little.

"You sure?" He said not convinced that I was okay.

I moved his arm around my shoulder without letting go of his hand.

"I'm fine," I lied again but this time more convincing, "Just tired from getting that amazing home run."

"It really was amazing." He said. I could practically hear the smile on his face. "Not gonna lie it was kinda hot."

My eyes went wide and a huge smile came across my, now very red, face.

"Benny!" I said in shock as my head shot up to look at him.

"What?" He laughed. "It was!"

I shook my head even though I didn't hate the fact that he thought I was hot one bit.

He removed his arm from around my shoulders, but kept holding my hand. I could feel his eyes on me the rest of the way there.

When we finally got to the ice cream shop, all the boys, besides Benny who was still holding my hand, ran up to the counter to check out all the flavors.

"Don't worry guys," Ham said opening his arms out, "it's on me tonight!"

The rest of the guys cheered and patted him on the back or punched him on the shoulder.

Benny and I ended up sharing a brownie sundae because we weren't that hungry, ham got a double scoop chocolate cone, Timmy and Tommy got vanilla, Smalls got strawberry, DeNunez got cake batter (which I had never heard of until now), Bertram got a chocolate shake, and Squints and Yeah Yeah both got chocolate chip cookie dough.

As we all laughed and ate our ice cream, I tried to push the thought of me leaving to the back of my mind.

"You know," DeNunez said, "Ella was running pretty fast there today. She was probably going as fast as you Benny."

Benny choked on his ice cream which made me die laughing.

"What? No." He shook his head with his lips pressed together and his brows furrowed.

I stopped laughing and looked at him with challenging eyes.

"Sorry," I said raising an eyebrow, "you think I couldn't beat you in a race?"

"Well, I mean-"

"It's because I'm a girl isn't it?" I said as seriously as I could.

His eyes went wide as all the guys went "oooooh".

"What? No, I didn't mean that." He said nervously.

"Benny," I laughed, "I'm kidding. Calm down." I reach across the table and put my hand on his.

The rest of the guys laughed.

"Oh my god. You little... you know what?" He said dipping his finger into the whipped cream on top of our sundae.

"What?" I laughed.

He leaned across the table and smeared the whipped cream all over my face.

"Oh no, you didn't," I said with a mischievous smirk on my face.

"Oops, it slipped." He laughed.

While he was getting high fives from the rest of the boys, I got a spoon full of ice cream.

"Hey, Benny?" I said trying not to laugh.

"Yes?" He said with a cocky smile as he turned his head to face me.

I put my finger on the tip of the spoon and flung it at him before he could shield himself with anything.

He sat there with his eyes closed and a face full of regret.

"Okay, I deserved that." He laughed as he wiped the ice cream off his eyes.

"Oh," I gasped, "wait!" I took out my phone from my pocket excitedly then stood up and walked over to his side of the table.

There wasn't any room for me to sit next to him since he was sitting on the very edge, so I sat in his lap and opened Snapchat.

"Say cheese!" I said holding the camera out far enough to get both of us in the picture.

He smiled big as I planted my lips on his cheek and snapped the picture.

I admired it for a moment then stood up and went back to the other side where I was sitting before.

"Okay now wipe that off your face so we can get a group picture." I laughed as I cleaned the whipped cream off my nose.

Smalls handed him a paper towel which he used to wipe the ice cream off his face and shirt.

I stood up once again and kneeled down in front of the table.

"Everyone get in!"

The 9 boys all squished together, making sure no one was left out from the picture.

I took the picture once I was sure everyone was in the frame and ready.

"Three, two, one!" I counted then captured the picture.

All the boys shoved at each other as they sat back down to their seats. I stayed kneeling on the floor looking at the picture with a smile. When my eyes got to Benny in the picture, he wasn't looking at the camera. He was looking at me.

I turned to look at him, who was still admiring me like in the picture. I blushed and pressed my lips together in a smile.

I never noticed it before, but I loved the way he looked at me. It gave me enough butterflies to feel like passing out, but I loved it.

We kept eye contact for a while, him staring at me like I was the only girl on earth, and me blushing as red as a tomato until he stood up.

"You gonna stay on the floor forever?" He smirked and held a hand out for me.

I took his hand and he pulled me up like I was as light as a feather, not breaking eye contact.

We looked into each other's eyes and our faces weren't far apart at all. He was slowly leaning in, but I didn't want to kiss in front of the guys again, so I broke eye contact and let go of his hand.

"You missed some." I laughed and pointed to his collar.

"Some what?" He said surprised and looked down at his shirt.

I used the finger I was pointing to his collar with to flick his nose as he was searching for any leftover ice cream he missed.

He squinted his eyes and smirked at me.

There wasn't any ice cream on his shirt.

"Should've seen that coming." He laughed.

I didn't say anything back. I just smiled mischievously as I sat back down to finish the small bit of what was left of our Sundae.

"Can you two stop flirting?" Bertram scoffed, "some of us are trying to eat and not throw up."

Benny sat down and rolled his eyes with a smile.

"It's okay Benny," squints said putting his arm around him, "they just don't get what it's like to be a man with a girlfriend."

The rest of the boys sighed and grunted.

"For the last time squints, Wendy isn't your girlfriend." Ham spat.

"Yeah yeah, you just jumped her while she was saving your life." Yeah yeah laughed.

"Plus it happened a year ago bud." DeNunez shook his head with a smile looking at squints.

All the boys started laughing at him.

I could tell what they were saying was bothering squints, so I decided to stand up to them for him.

"At least he's kissed a girl before," I said defending him.

Squints looked over at me with a smile as the rest of the guys shut up.

"The only girl you guys have kissed is your mommies." Squints said perking up in his seat.

I let out a laugh which made the rest of the guys besides Benny and Squints faces turn red.

"Yeah," yeah yeah said rudely, "well at least my mommy doesn't still read me bedtime stories." He spat.

Now squint's face was as red as the rest of the boys.

Benny and I were laughing quietly while watching them argue.

"They're comforting okay?" Squints crossed his arms.

"Like that blankie, you still sleep with every night?" Yeah yeah said.

"Well, at least I don't have to sleep with a night light and a lullaby playing on tv." Said squints.

They were both angrier than I've ever seen them before. I had a bad feeling this wouldn't end well so I kicked Bennys leg under the table and gave him a look that said 'do something'.

He nodded once then turned back to the fighting boys.

"Guys!" Benny said finally while still slightly laughing.

All their angered faces turned to look at him.

"Stop fighting and act like men," Benny said maturely.

I looked at him in disbelief. It was kinda funny. He was like the dad of the group. Since he was the oldest, he always put the boys back in their place.

"Fine," Squints said looking back at Yeah Yeah, "well act like men."

He started scooting into the rest of the guys so they would stand up one by one so he could get out of the booth.

Once he was finally on his feet and off the bench, he pushed his glasses up with his pointer finger.

"Let's take this outside like real men then." He crossed his arms again.

Yeah yeah pushed his way out of the booth as well then stood inches away from Squints. They stared daggers into each other's eyes.

"Fine." Yeah yeah spat.

"Fine." Squints said back.

"Wait no... that's not what I meant!" Benny said with wide eyes.

They didn't listen to him. Instead, they stomped their way outside and into the side alley between the ice cream shop and drug store.

Benny and I looked at each other with worried eyes then ran outside with them.

"Come on guys," I said nervously, "it's just a little argument. Plus you guys are best friends remember?"

"We're not friends right now." Yeah yeah said not looking away from squints' eyes.

"We're frenemies." Squints said.

They were standing across from each other, the rest of us in a circle around them.

"Oh come on," Benny said walking in between the two hot-headed boys. "This is stupid."

"You're stupid." Squints said in an annoyingly high-pitched voice.

Benny squinted his eyes and jerked his head back.

"I'm trying to help." He said defensively, "don't get mad at me."

"It's fine Benny," yeah yeah said in a stuck-up manner. "This will be over pretty quick." He cracked his knuckles.

"Yeah because I'm gonna pound your face into your non-existent brain." Squints yelled.

"Bring it, blankie boy!" Yeah yeah yelled back with his arms out wide.

"Oh god," I said putting my face in my hands.

"Can't we just talk about this?" Smalls said stepping up into the circle, but staying far enough to not get injured in any way.

"It's okay Smalls," Benny said in a stressed tone, "I got it."

Then out of nowhere, both the boys started to run towards each other.

The rest of the boys started cheering them on, yelling "get him Squints" or "go Yeah Yeah!".

Benny, who was still in the middle of the two, stuck both his arms out to his sides as they raced towards him. I'm guessing both their eyes were closed because their foreheads landed in the palms of Bennys hands. Squints kept trying to run, but couldn't move because Benny was too strong. Yeah yeah, on the other hand, was swinging at the air unable to move as well.

"Come on Benny," squints said out of breath, "let me at em!"

"Yeah yeah, let me at 'em!" Yeah yeah copied, still swinging at the air.

Benny rolled his eyes and looked up at me.

"A little help here?" He said still holding both the boys back with his hands on their heads.

I ran over behind Squints and grabbed both his arms and held them behind his back as I pulled him away from Benny.

Once Benny knew I had his arms locked behind his back, he let go of Yeah Yeah, who started running towards Squints and Me. Before he could reach us, Benny grabbed both his arms and restrained him like I was doing to Squints.

"This is not what I meant by being men you dumb asses," Benny said, struggling to keep Yeah Yeah back.

Both the boys struggled to get out of our grasps for a while, when finally Squints gave up.

"Fine. We'll be mature then." Squints said out of breath. "Right, Alan?" He said Yeah Yeah's real name sharply.

Yeah yeah hesitated for a moment as he stopped resisting Bennys restraint, then caught on to what Squints was trying to do.

"Right, " he nodded, "Michael." he spat Squints' real name out like it was a sour grape.

"Good," Benny said letting go of Yea Yeah.

I gave Benny an unsure look, but let go of Squints anyway.

Just as I predicted, the two boys ran at each other once again, but this time Smalls got between the two. He attempted to do what Benny did when he stopped them with his hands, but it didn't work due to his lack of strength and height.

The two boys ran right into Smalls, making all three of them fall to the ground.

I ran back up to the three boys and knelt down by Smalls.

"You okay?" I asked with worried eyes.

"That was a mistake." He said as he laid on the floor in pain.

"It was brave though," I laughed.

"You think so?" He smiled as he sat himself up.

"Yeah," I laughed, "I didn't think you were the fight-stopping type."

"Well, obviously I'm not." He put his hand on the back of his head.

Squints and Yeah Yeah were still laying on the floor in pain.

Benny walked over to where I was knelt on one knee next to Smalls.

"You good man?" He said genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, probably just got a bruise somewhere." He said, trying to act tough.

"Yeah..." Benny laughed as he held out a hand to help him up.

He took his hand and Benny pulled him up like it was nothing.

"Right, now what do we do about these two men?" Benny said as he knelt down next to me and put an arm on my shoulder.

"You take Yeah Yeah home. I'll take Squints." I said looking back and forth between the two boys laying on the ground in pain, "they need time to cool off. I'm sure they'll be fine with each other tomorrow."

"Good idea."

We both stood up and went to help both of them up.

"You good?" I asked squints as I helped him up.

When he didn't say anything I turned him to face me and saw he was crying. I let out a sigh and walked over to Benny who was standing next to Yeah Yeah and holding his arm to make sure he didn't charge at Squints again.

"I'll see you tomorrow." I kissed him on the cheek, making him smile, then walked back to Squints.

I put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a sympathetic look.

"Let's get out of here," I said leading him away from the rest of the guys.

He didn't say much on the way to his house. I could tell it was really bothering him because tears were falling down his face, but I wasn't sure what to do.

"You know, If I had a chance for my mom to read me a bedtime story again, I would take it," I said trying to make him feel better.

"Yeah but that's different," he said looking down at his feet as we walked, "my moms still here and treats me like a baby. Yours is gone."

My heart stopped. Why would he say that?

"Look I know you're upset right now, but that was low Squints."