I waited for Scotty to catch up but once we turned the corner at the store, there was a group of guys. All of them were different from the other.

The first one I saw was standing and mumbling something to the group. They didn't know what he was saying until he took whatever he had in his mouth out. The name was very clear and familiar.

"I'm the great Bambino!"

a series of 'ohs' and 'oh yeahs' went around the group. Until I heard something that kind of shocked me.

"Who's that?"

Everything went silent and all eyes were on Scotty.

"What did you just say?"

He definitely had no idea what they were talking about. They looked at him like he was stupid but 'tall boy' didn't react to much. I noticed that about him a lot, he doesn't judge people. Out loud at least.

"What did he just say?!"

"What were you born in a barn, man?"

"Yeah yeah, what planet are you from?"

Aren't these guys all from the Sandlot? The same idiots who made fun of Scotty.

"Okay we get it"

They looked at me again and stared. I was annoyed and confused about why they kept staring at me like that. I gave an annoyed look back at them and they turned their heads back to Scott, one of them blushing. 'Tallboy' still had his eyes on me but I let it go.

"H-have you ever heard of the Sultan of Swat?"

"The Titan of Terror"

"The Colossus of Clout"

"The Colossus of Clout!"

I looked at the smallest one in the group. Why did he repeat him? Now that I look at it, they look similar. They might be brothers.

"Yeah Smalls, The King of Crash, man"

I could tell he still had no idea. How could he like baseball so much and not know 'The Great Bambino'.

"Oh yeah, The Great Bambino, of course. I thought you said… The great Bambi?"

"That wimpy deer?"

"Y-yeah, I guess, sorry"

I could tell he lied from the hesitation in his voice but I didn't say anything. I won't ruin this for him.

"Anyway, Pretty boy, Smalls, that’s Timmy and Tommy Timmons-"

They both spit on the ground after Benny said their names.

"Michael 'Squints' Palledorous, Alan McClellan we call him 'Yeah-Yeah', Bertram Grover Weeks, and Hamilton Porter we call him 'Ham'."

"Guys this is Scott Smalls"

"Hi!"

Squints spit again

"And this is Y/N"

I didn't say anything just nodded my head

"Yeah um well- their gonna play with us cause both of them make 9 so now we got a whole team. Were wasting time so let's go"

"Benny its 9 o'clock in the morning!"

They grabbed their stuff and started walking towards the Sandlot.

-

"Did you really have to bring him? I mean don't get me wrong but an 8 player team would've been a lot better, I would rather just Y/N"

"Dude there was 7 of us and 8 wouldn't make much of a difference"

"Yeah yeah, so would my sister but I didn't bring her!"

"With 9 guys we got a whole team Yeah-Yeah."

"No, with Elswanger and Kenny we had a whole team. Elswanger could catch, and Kenny could throw!"

I started to get annoyed with their complaining over Scott. If they can't deal with it then oh well.

"Guys drop it. He can learn to be just as good as the rest of us"

"See Y/N gets it! I mean now I get to rotate 8 positions instead of 6, I need the practice guys!"

"You're the best on the team! You don't need any practice, Benny!"

"Come on the kid sucks!"

"And, you're all being jerks about it"

"It's not my fault the kid is a foot-long! Dodger dog! A weenie!"

"What are you laughing at Yeah-Yeah, you run like a duck"

"Okay okay, but I'm…"

"It's part of the game right?"

"Mmm, yeah"

"Then how come he don't get to be?"

"He's a geek man"

"He can't catch!"

"Man, base up you blockheads"

I was about to say something again but I felt a hand on my lower back. Benny shook his head at me and I got the message. He didn't want me to blow a fuse on them. I immediately felt calm under his touch and all the tension I felt before got released in one breath.

They all got to their bases and positions while Benny grabbed my hand taking me to the pitching position. I blushed at our cupped hands. He didn't let go when we got there, he looked in my eyes and I looked back at him.

He seemed concerned

"You okay?"

"I'm fine now, thanks"

"I don't know if you got it but I just don't want you to be angry with them, they aren't worth it"

"Yeah, I'm good now"

He smiled at me and I smiled back feeling my face heat up a little more. He finally let go of my hand and he went over to Scott.

He walked back to his position and I realized I had the ball in my hand. He waited for me to throw it to him.

I drew back and threw it making him hit the ball pretty hard. It soared across the Sandlot and 'Yeah-Yeah' caught it, throwing it to Bertram and so on making it back to 'Ham'.

I looked over at Scott and smiled at him. He waved for his response.

"Nice pitching Y/N!"

I smiled at the compliment and 'Ham' threw me the ball and I caught it in my glove

Benny looked over at Scott

"Smalls! Throw it to second!"

I heard a distant answer from him

"Okay!"

I threw the ball again and Benny hit it over to Scott. I have to say, Benny is an amazing batter! He looked up with his hand in the air but ended up falling. I felt a little disappointed but he just needs to learn is all.

"Come on Benny why would you hit it to him!"

I looked over to Yeah-Yeah and was going to say something again but got cut off with another insult towards my best friend. Benny looked straight at me telling me to calm down and I took a deep breath.

"Kids a square, Benny"

I looked back over to Scotty to see he was about to throw it but stopped himself and started running towards me.

"I don't believe this"

"You gotta be kidding me right Y/N?"

"Shut it Yeah-Yeah"

I didn't say anything after that, I just waited for Scott to get to me

When he got to me, he handed the ball to me and whispered a quick 'sorry' before running back to his position.

It was silent. I sighed and Benny started running over to Scott. He motioned for me to come over too.

I ran to left-center field and stood next to Benny in front of Scott. Benny was the first to speak.

"You can throw it you know?"

Scotty seemed frustrated with that and took his hat off.

"No… I can't, I don't know how"

I felt a little bad and Benny looked like he felt the same

"... Thanks for taking me here, but I think I'd better go"

"Hey, hey wait, you're thinking too much. Bet you get straight A's and shit huh?"

"Actually I got a B once"

"Scott that was an A-minus… I was there"

"Oh yeah… Well it should've been a B"

"Man this is baseball, you got to stop thinking!"

"I know, Y/N tells me that all the time!"

"Just have fun, I mean if you were having fun you would have caught that ball"

I patted his shoulder and Benny started talking again

"Have you ever had a paper route?"

"I helped a guy once"

"Well chuck it like you would throw paper route, like this, and once it gets here just let go alright?"

I started walking back with Benny but he asked another question

"How do I catch it?"

Benny looked at me and I suddenly had an idea. He probably thought about the same thing.

"Just stand there and stick your glove out in the air, we'll handle it"

He ran back and I was about to go but Scott asked me one more thing

"What if I can't do this?"

"You can, and you will. Benny and I will take care of it"

I smiled at him and ran back to my spot. When I reached my position Benny nodded his head at me and I nodded back.

"Smalls! Throw it too second!"

I put the ball up to my face and blew onto it for luck. I was silently hoping this would work. I drew back and threw a curve ball and Benny hit it over to Scott again. His arm was in the air again but he did like we told him.

"Not again!"

"This is a waste of time, Benny"

The ball soared through the air and directly at Scotty. He caught it as expected and I was extremely happy for him. His eyes opened and he looked at the ball in his glove.

Everyone was surprised to see it happen except for me and Benny of course. Benny cheered out loud.

"Yes!"

"He's alright"

"I told you so man!"

He threw the ball to second base and Bertram caught it.

"Okay! Let's play some ball"

The ball got passed on, back to 'Ham' and the game went on and on.

I caught Scotty looking at the blue fence behind him a lot which was kind of weird. What was he looking at?