S A M

"Hello!" Sam chirped as she stepped inside Zoey's house. Heads shot up from the couch; Zoey and Charlie. Jacob was cuddled up in Charlie's lap, no surprise there.

"Sammy!" Jacob gasped and jumped down from Charlie's lap before running over to Sam and hugging her legs.Sam kneeled down and hugged him. He then pulled back and pointed at the television that was on and playing a show. "Flinstones! Bam! Bam!"

"Yes, go on ahead and keep watching, Bamm-Bamm." Sam laughed and ruffled his hair. He pulled out of her grasp and ran back to the couch. Instead of sitting down on Charlie's lap, he sat next to her.

"So?" Zoey came into view. "How'd it go?"

"I—we uh," Sam's index finger started twirling a strand of her gold, blonde hair. Her cheeks started to warm up as her lips curled into a smile. "We're back together."

"Yes! Oh my god!" Zoey squealed and wrapped her arms around her best friend in a tight hug. Sam tried to hug her back but her arms were around them also, so she couldn't lift them up. She was hugging the daylight out of Sam.

"Zoey. Can't—breathe." Sam wheezed.

"Oops," She giggled and stepped back. Sam took a deep breath in and ran her right hand through her hair. "Sorry but, finally!"

"Okay, okay." Sam kept smiling, but she smiled bigger, if that was even possible.

"Look at you! You can't stop smilin'!"

"Alright, I get it!" Sam laughed. Her eyes started to wander around the room and they landed on Charlie. She was looking down at her feet, biting her bottom lip. Sam's smile faded away and guilt started swimming inside of her, eating her alive.

"Charlie," Sam sighed. She looked up, but then back down. Sam's feet walked up to her then her hand gripped her left arm. Sam pulled her up and she stood in front of her, but her eyes keep darting to everywhere but Sam's face. "I'm sorry."

With that, she finally looked up at Sam. She mentally sighed. "You can do whatever ya' want with Bertram. I overreacted 'cause I was mad about what Benny did to me. I thought you were betraying me or somethin'. I overreact a lot, so I promise to control myself. I'm really sorry, I just need my best friend back."

"Come 'ere." Charlie opened her arms. Sam walked into them and hugged as hard as she could. Charlie did the same. "I'm sorry for trying to make ya' go back to Benny. I knew what happened but that completely slipped my mind."

"No, ya' shouldn't be apologizing." Sam stepped back and held her hands in her own tightly. Sam smiled and Charlie returned it.

Everything was alright again. Except for the fact that Sam still had a problem with her parents and Wendy, but other than that, everything's back to normal.

⚾

"There are the boys," Zoey gushed, two weeks after Sam's get-back-together date with Benny. "It might happen today."

She was talking about Sam and Benny's first kiss after years of having their last one. Of course Sam told the girls, she told them everything.

"Ya' say that everyday." Sam shook her head, giggling. Everyday Zoey said it, it was getting old then.

"Yeah but, I have a really good feeling about today."

"Ya' say that everyday too!" Charlie exclaims, throwing her hands in the air. Zoey rolls her eyes as they keep walking down the hallway. The three girls and the rest of their team approach the boys that were standing in the hallway, but there was someone was missing; Benny.

"Where's—"

"Your boyfriend?" Squints teased, cutting Sam off. "Oh, Benny!" He said in a high pitched girly voice before making kissing noises. Sam rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"Seriously, where's—"

An arm wrapped around Sam's shoulders and lips pressed against her  temple softly. "Hey, Sweetheart."

"H-hi, Benny." Sam breathed out as she looked up to him. His lips were curled into a smile and Sam smiled back before wrapping her arms around him and cuddling his side. Sam breathed in his scent and thought how lucky she was, she had the best boyfriend in the world.

"So..." Bertram trailed off and turned his head to look back. His attention was on Charlie, who left the group to stand in front of her locker and rummage through it. Sam leaned in and softly punched his arm.

"Go get her, tiger."

Bertram smiled and his cheeks turned red, before he pulled down his shirt a little more and started to head toward Sam's best friend.

"Another start of a beautiful relationship.." Zoey sighed dramatically and stared off into the distance.

"So dramatic." Zoey rolled her eyes at Sam and stuck her tongue out. "Anyways, we should get going to class."

"She's right," Benny said. "We should get going."

The boys and Sam's team nodded and they started heading to class. Most of Benny's and Sam's team split up and kept walking, they were in lower grades than Sam and Benny. The only ones that were in Benny and Sam's grade were Bertram, Zoey and Charlie.

When they arrived to class, Phillips was sitting in his usual seat in the front. His book bag was sitting in the empty seat beside him, holding that one for Benny. Sam lifted Benny's arm from her shoulders, placing it back to his side.

"Benny, ya' better not forget about practice after school." Phillips warned, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Sam in the eye. Sam crossed her arms and glared back. Benny has been forgetting about the team, because he wanted to give all his attention to Sam, now that they were back together. Sam loved the attention; she was being treated like a princess, but Phillips didn't like it, so Sam wanted to back off a little to avoid new problems.

Sam rolled her eyes and started to walk to her seat in the back of the classroom as Benny said, "I totally forgot about that!" Then a hand softly grabbed hers and turned her around. "Do you and your girls want to watch us?"

"We would love too." Sam smiled in relief, Benny always calmed her down no matter what. "We're going to practice at least one inning before you guys take over."

"Then, I'll se ya later." Benny smiled back and leaned in before kissing his girlfriend's nose. Sam giggled, reaching her seat.

⚾

"Hurry up, Charlie! They're comin'!" Zoey yelled as she was positioned on home base, swinging her bat impatiently.

"Just wait, will ya?!" Charlie yelled, looking at the ball.

"No, I can't wait 'cause Phillips will start bitchin'!"

"Charlie," Sam sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and pointer finger. "Stop eyein' the ball and throw."

"Fine, fine." She grumbled, then swung her arm back and forth, before releasing the ball. The ball whipped to Zoey and she swung. WHACK! The baseball flew across the field to Zoey's left and whipped past Sam's face, barely touching her nose. She leaned her head back as her eyes widened, trying to avoid getting hit fully on the nose. Sam's eyes then followed the ball and it was heading straight towards Phillips' face.

Phillips was approaching the field and lucky for him, he ducked and the ball kept going until it hit the metal fence with a clank. Phillips stood back up, his face showing complete fury. A giggled bubbled up in Sam's throat, but she looked to the left facing her team, biting her lip to avoid laughing out loud. Some giggles were heard from the girls, and Sam gave up; she let her giggle escape also.

"Ya' think this is funny?" Phillips screamed. They all laughed and snickered harder while Sam covered her face with both her hands and her eyes started to well up in tears. Suddenly, hands gripped her wrists tightly, bringing her hands down. Sam was met with Phillips. Of course, Sam grumbled mentally.

Sam shoved him by placing her hands on his chest and releasing her wrists from his grip. She crossed her arms and gave him a 'What do you want?' look.

"Get off our field." Phillips barked.

"Not like that we ain't." Sam said, motioning towards how he commanded her and the team to leave.

"Oh, so now you want our field?"

"This ain't your field."

"If ya' want it, you're gonna have to play for it."

Sam rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time that day. Phillips only plays for everything he wants."Fine," Sam huffed. "Even though we don't want it. We have our own field."

"Ya' mean that dirty old sandlot? How 'bout at little wager." Phillips smirked. Uh oh, Sam thought. This wasn't going to be good. "If we win, the sandlot's ours."

"And if we win?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"You get to keep this field, and we play somewhere else." Sam held her breath in nervously, and glanced back at the girls. Their faces were pleading Sam to turn down the challenge and just leave. They didn't want to lose the sandlot, Sam didn't want to either.

"Alright," Sam breathed out. "Even through this field belongs to the school. Let's play ball."

Gasps came from the girls. Phillips catched a bat that was thrown to him by one of his teammates. "We get to bat first."

Sam just nodded and turned to the girls. Charlie rushed up to her and held her shoulders tightly in her hands. She shook them violently. "What were ya thinkin' Sam? Now we're gonna loose the sandlot!"

"Again with this, no we ain't! We're gonna win, I'll make sure of it." Sam assured, while all the girls were surrounding her in a circle. "We just need to do this to finish Phillips once and for all. He lost to us once, I'm sure he'll leave us alone after he loses to us a second time."

"Alright, but if we loose the sandlot, I swear—"

"I know, I know." Sam cut Charlie off. "Let's just get this over with."

B E N N Y

"Phillips," Benny said, spinning him around to face him with his hand on his shoulder.

"What?" He spat in Benny's face, his eyebrows furrowed together in anger and annoyance.

"We," Benny motioned to himself and the boys that were on the original sandlot team. "Ain't playin'.

"Why, you don't want to hurt your lil' girlfriend again?" Phillips teased with a high pitched baby voice. He also pouted to anger Benny. It worked, Benny's face twisted and his lips slightly pursed.

"Exactly. It's not fair for you to take away the sandlot."

"It is for me. Whatever," Phillips rolled his eyes and made his lips curl into an evil smirk. "I don't need ya' anyways." He snapped his fingers and more players replacing Benny and the rest of the boys, appear behind Phillips like they were waiting behind him the whole time.

"Fine!" Benny snapped. "We don't need you either."

S A M

Sam turned around to walk back to her spot on the field, but before she did, she caught a glimpse of Benny and the boys sitting in the field's dugout. It looked like they weren't going to play. Sam smiled as Benny noticed her and turned his face to look at her. He smiled back and winked, making warmth flow throughout Sam's cheeks like always.

  ⚾ 

WHACK!

Sam dropped the bat to the ground, and her feet and legs started to sprint her body to first base. She looked to her left and saw the ball bounce off the fence. She then mentally cheered and kept running as fast as she could. She heard the girls, Benny, and the boys, cheering her on.

Sam already stepped on first, second, and third and now she was heading for home. That last run, will break the tie they had, and make Sam's team win. She was panting and losing her breath since she was running so quickly, but she needed to keep running to win for her team, for the sandlot. But her biggest motivation was Benny, he was cheering for her the most, also, he was always there for her, supporting her no matter what.

Sam was a couple of steps from steeping on home base, but Phillips came into view, the ball wedged into his glove. Uh-oh. Sam started to lean her body to her right, trying to go around him, but he stepped in front of her, holding the glove in front of his chest.

Suddenly, he fell forward, digging his glove into Sam's stomach. She gasped, falling to her knees as she wrapped her hand around Phillips arm, pushing him away from her before clutching her stomach in her hands. Pain shot through Sam, mainly through were she got hit, feeling like a knife was going in and out of her abdomen. Sam cried out in pain, and rested her forehead on the ground. She started to cry out even more, and she turned her head to look at Phillips through hazy and cloudy vision.

"You're out!"

B E N N Y

"Are ya' crazy? What'd ya do that for?" Ham screamed. Sam's long blonde hair covered her face as her head rested on the ground, but Benny still saw her desperately clutching her stomach. Her cries of pain pumping lots of anger and hatred through his veins.

"She wants to play with the big boys? That's what she gets! Girls can't do anythin'!" Phillips spat down to Sam. Benny curled his hands into tight fists and and ran to Phillips. Without thinking, he swung his right hand back and into Phillips left side of his face to defend his girlfriend. Phillips stumbled back before falling to the ground.

"The sandlot's theirs, forever!" Benny yelled as he looked down to Phillips. "I quit your drag team! Bug out!"

(Drag -Someone or something that's boring or un-enlightening. Bug Out - To leave the premises.)

"That goes to us too!" Bertram exclaimed from behind Benny, peering over his shoulder to glare down at Phillips. "We quit too!"

"Don't mess with us or their team, and you never ever hit a girl, jerk!" Benny kept ranting, wanting to pound Phillips until he begged for mercy, but he knew he couldn't since they were in school grounds and he would get in deep trouble. He didn't want that, especially since Sam got hurt. He wanted to be there for her.

Two guys from Phillip's team went to Phillips and leaned down, grabbing him by the arms to pick him up. Benny shook his head, laughing; he hit Phillips so hard that he couldn't get up by himself. Benny didn't care though, he deserved getting a punch in the face.

After Phillips got taken away and him along with the rest of the team, Benny turned his attention to Sam. She was being lifted up slowly by Charlie and Zoey, but she didn't have enough strength to stay up. She fell onto her knees with another cry. Benny didn't think twice as he rushed to his girlfriend.

"She can't stand." Charlie breathed out. "She has to be taken to the nurse."

Benny nodded and knelt down to be face to face with Sam. He grabbed her hands in his and slowly brought her up to her feet. She started to fall forward again, but Benny caught her in his arms just in time before carrying her bridal style.

S A M

Sam buried her face into Benny's shoulder as he started to walk out of the field. Sam saw what he did to Phillips, and she's eternally grateful. He has always been there for her, and she knew that even after they broke up, he was trying so hard to find her and talk to her. She always saw Scott around the new neighborhood and she put the pieces together. Sam really regretted leaving him over a stupid misunderstanding. He treated her like a princess, always put her first in front of his priorities, and made her feel so amazing.

Ever since Sam saw Benny at the sandlot for the first time, she always had something inside of her. She knew they were feelings for him but there has always been something stronger. Ever since they met, first talked, and then started to date, that something slowly grew inside of her like a balloon. They've only dated for a little over a month or so, but Sam always admired Benny from afar. She then knew what that something was.

Love.

It bursts and spreads throughout her body in tingles. She couldn't hold that something back anymore.

"Benny," Sam whimpered, she was still in pain, but she didn't care at that moment. She leaned her head back so that she could look at him better. Benny leaned his face down to look at Sam. "I...this is crazy. Benny I..I-I love you."

Benny abruptly stopped and his eyes widened. Sam felt worried that he might not feel the same back, but she don't regret admitting that something to him.

"Sam," He breathed out, lifting his hand and moved the strands of hair that fell into Sam's eyes. His honey hazel-green eyes started into Sam's bright blue ones. "I love you too."

Benny smiled and leaned in, before pressing her lips to his. Sam gave him the most passionate kiss, their lips moving together. Sam melted in Benny's arms right then and there; it felt like forever, Sam missed Benny's lips against hers so much. Unfortunately for Sam, she had to pull back and when she did, both her and Benny were both at a loss of breath, resting their foreheads against each others.

"I love you." Benny repeated, smiling.

"I love you." Sam laughed breathlessly and moved her right hand to the back his neck, pulling him down again, their lips meeting for another kiss.

⚾

woahhhh already? for those thinking it, yes. it is the end, next is the epilogue. :')

xo,

Keillyn