《Benny and Jaz sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.》

June 9th, 1994

Lin opened her eyes, wondering why her alarm had not been annoying enough to wake her up that morning. Her vision adjusted to the roof of the cramped treehouse and she remembered the events from the day before.

"Shit," she mumbled under her breath, sitting straight up in her sleeping bag. She was the only one awake. She breathed in, listening to the music coming from the radio of the Timmons' house. Standing up, she got quick glances of the rest of the room and grabbed her camera from her bag.

"And I swear, by the moon and the stars in the sky," she mumbled the lyrics to the song, examining the people in the treehouse. Next to her bag was Yo-yo. She laid, still asleep, with one of Yeah-Yeah's arms and one of Squints' legs draped over her.

"Ha, she called it," Lin said as she took a picture of the three. Ham was sleeping in a chair, chocolate and gooey marshmallow still covering his face. Kenny, Timmy, Tommy, and Smalls were covered in blankets in the center of the treehouse. One wrong step and someone would wake up. Scotty had a bit of drool coming out of his mouth as he slept. Lin laughed to herself, taking another picture.

Her picture-taking was interrupted by a yawn. She turned her head to see Bertram yawning. "Morning stranger," she said, taking a picture of him.

"Hey! Put that shit away!" he groggily complained, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.

"No, I have to take one more picture," she said, moving her camera. Bertram turned to where her camera was pointing and his eyes widened at the sight of Jaz's head resting on Benny's shoulder.

"Shit, I must've fallen asleep before that happened."

"Yeah, me, Smalls, and Squints were the only ones awake-they both were up against the wall, asleep, so we moved them closer to each other and covered them with Jaz's blanket."

"But, they hate each other!"

"No, they are like totally in love."

"You think?"

"Yea, they just don't know it yet," Lin said, finally taking a picture of the two, "now that's one for the books."

"Yea, but if either of them wake up...one of us is dead."

"Oh yeah," Lin laughed, changing the subject "do you believe him?"

"Believe what?" Bertram asked as he mumbled the lyrics to the end of the song that was still playing.

"That he was in the bathroom when y'all were at the pool."

"Yeah, um," Bertram almost did not know what to say, wondering what all Lin knew, "I mean, why would he lie?"

"I don't know...just wondering," Lin shrugged.

Bertram eyed the girl as Scotty began to wake up. Smalls yawned, causing Lin to turn her head and smile at the blonde. He smiled at both her and Bertram as he shook Timmy up. Timmy yawned as well, getting up and running out of the treehouse to check on breakfast.

Yo-yo began to stir, but Yeah-Yeah pulled her closer into the one armed hug-performance that they were doing. Squints' leg still rested awkwardly on top of Yo-yo's. The girl moved again, but her eyes refused to open as she turned her body, facing Yeah-Yeah.

Lin's eyes moved between them, Smalls, Bertram, and Jaz and Benny. They stayed on Benny and Jaz for a moment; she smiled, seeing how calm they both were. There is definitely something there, she thought to herself. What she did not know was that the two had a history-a history neither of them were willing to tell.

     This time, Jaz moved her head a bit. This caused Benny's eyes to slowly open as he noticed there was more movement going on around him. The sun shined through the window, blinding him as he awoke. He sighed, moving his head a bit to see Jaz on his shoulder. His mind traveled far and noticed the girl's features were highlighted in the morning sun-but he had little time to dwell on that.

"Bennyman!" Squints called over to him, smiling a mischievous smile.

"Not funny Squints," Benny said, glaring at him as he slowly moved Jaz from his shoulder.

"I'll say it was! Benny and Jaz sittin' in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

"Shut up Squints!" Ham yelled over at the glasses-wearing boy, standing up from his sitting position. Benny nodded over at Ham in return.

"Yeah Squints, you're talking about Benny and Jaz when you should be looking at them," Kenny said, pointing at Yeah-Yeah and Yo-yo. The two still laid asleep, facing each other.

By that point, everyone else had already been awake for about a minute or two-waiting for Timmy to come back with the anticipated news of food. A series of yawns came from multiple people in the room, including Jaz who had just woken up with Benny already on the other side of the room. Yeah-Yeah's arm still remained wrapped around Yo-yo as Lin took one more picture of the two. Jaz walked up to Lin, smiling as she looked down at the view.

"So, what happened with these two?" She said, chuckling at the sight.

"Nothing. Before they fell asleep they were arguing about something; something about him being a lazy ass and girls being a "different species"-to be honest I don't even know. But when I woke up I found them laying there like that," Lin said, putting her hands together and making a heart above the two.

"Eh, they don't look that cute together," Jaz shrugged. Tommy and Kenny both nodded in agreement as they examined the two.

"Who knows, they've probably made out with each other and not told us," Bertram said, sparking an interest in what exactly was going on with Yo-yo and Yeah-Yeah.

"Huh, I never thought of that," Squints said, taking off his glasses and cleaning them.

"Like Lin said-they already fight like a married couple," Benny said, earning a glance from Jaz.

"Should we wake them up?" Kenny asked, scratching the top of his head.

"I don't know, maybe it's best to just watch," Ham remarked. They all nodded in agreement, continuing to just stare at the two. Any one outside of the treehouse would find it rather strange to see a group of preteens and teens all huddled in a circle; especially Timmy, who presumed he was missing out on something important.

The boy climbed up into the treehouse, where the group still surrounded the two. "Oh shit, I did not see that coming," Timmy said as he looked at the two while Tommy rushed to his side.

"Timmy! You got food?" Ham asked, moving away from the huddle.

"Yeah, my mom made Eggo Waffles. You guys want some?"

"Yeah man," Benny said, followed by a chorus of "yeahs." They all passed by Timmy, journeying out of the treehouse and quickly forgetting about the two heavy sleepers.

The quick steps during the escape of the treehouse had made Yo-yo slightly flinch. She yawned, opening her eyes. They widened a bit at the sight of Yeah-Yeah's face so close to hers. She could only smile. He moved a bit and Yo-yo quickly closed her eyes again, not wanting to be found staring.

Yeah-Yeah blinked a couple times before fully noticing that Yo-yo was right there. His face had changed to a darker color. He bit his lip, realizing that his arm was wrapped around her. He quickly moved it and shot up, rubbing his face. Yo-yo partially opened her eyes to see him pinch his arm. She cocked her eyebrow and closed her eyes again, almost laughing at the teenage boy.

"This is real?!" He whispered to himself, turning back to her. If not for hearing Ham laugh down at the picnic table, Yeah-Yeah would have assumed it to just be him and her. His eyes moved between Yo-yo and the window. Should I go out there? What if she wakes up? What am I supposed to do?!

Yo-yo laid in silence for a good minute, wondering whether she should "wake up" yet. Still feeling Yeah-Yeah's presence, she decided for it and opened her eyes. In an instant, they met his. Both their eyes quickly widened and he looked away, hiding the redness in his cheeks. The girl then acted as if she had just woken up, blinking a bit while sitting up to stretch her arms.

"Morning," she smiled at the boy who had now turned to face her.

"Yeah yeah, morning'," he said, gathering his blanket that had managed to entangle itself with Yo-yo.

"Where's everyone else?" Yo-yo asked, obviously knowing-but she wouldn't admit to that.

"Eating breakfast, wanna go?" Yeah-Yeah said as he combed through his hair with his hand.

"Yea, I'm starving," Yo-yo got up from her sitting position and was prepared to walk out the door, followed by Yeah-Yeah. There was no denying that her smile had hypnotized him and his eyes had captured her. But neither one of them would admit it-at least not for a long time.

They climbed down the tree house one at a time. The rest of the gang all sat around a yellow picnic table, eating waffles and fruit. The first to notice them was Lin. She smiled at the two and waved for Yo-yo to come and sit by her. This obviously caught the attention of Squints, who turned over to the two-a devilish grin perking on his pale face,"Oh look who decided to show up. The lovebirds."

"Shut up Squints," Yo-yo rolled her eyes at the boy, passing by him and sitting next to Lin.

"Yeah yeah, shut up Squints."

"Shut up Yeah-Yeah," Yo-yo teased, smiling as she said it.

"Aw look, they are flirting," Ham said through chomping down on half a waffle.

"Yeah, aren't they adorable," Jaz said, teasing Yo-yo.

"I mean, obviously. I am the lead in this relationship," Yo-yo jokingly said as Yeah-Yeah blushed, causing her face to lightly change color.

"Really?" Timmy asked, confused on whether they were actually dating or not.

"Really?" Repeat said.

"I'm not surprised, Yeah-Yeah needs a girl to man him up," Benny said, causing the rest of the table to laugh. Yeah-Yeah sighed in annoyance, not coming up with anything in response.

"Wait, so are you guys together or...is this whole thing a joke?" Kenny asked, just as confused as Timmy.

"It's a joke. Pff I don't like like Yeah-Yeah," Yo-yo said, raising her eyebrows and turning towards her food.

"Yeah, ok," Lin and Bertram said at the same time. Yeah-Yeah remained silent, looking down at his food.

"Dude, I'm pretty sure you were just friend-zoned," Squints whispered a bit loudly.

"Eh, I don't really care, it's not like I liked her or anything," Yeah-Yeah remarked, a bit annoyed.

"You wouldn't stop talking about her all week!" Squints said, but Yeah-Yeah glared at him to stop talking. Only Jaz and Benny overheard the two and they both looked at each other smiling; probably for the first time in a long time.

Jaz quickly realized what she was doing and turned back to her plate. She inhaled, removing any thoughts of Benny from her brain and putting her full attention to Bertram, who was talking about how his older brother crashed his dad's convertible.

It was actually an interesting story, one he had told Jaz about a million times. The rest of the team listened as he explained how he was in the car at the time.

"So, you know, I'm in the back, right. And my brother pulls up next to this hot babe who's in the car next to us. She winks then the light goes green. Well, my brother follows her into this drive-in, where we pay to watch some horror film. An' the girl-" He goes on about how his brother makes out with her while the car is in reverse.

But Jaz had blanked out, thinking of a moment that happened just a year ago.

「quick update am i right?
ok, so i'm transferring the story to be
more on Jaz. i decided this is the best way
to do this if i want two/three books.
Lin and Yo-yo will stay be big parts of
the story, you just might be
seeing more of Jaz from now on.
don't forget to comment what
you think and vote!
(btw, i watched The Sandlot
and The Sandlot 2 while
writing this, which is probably
why I wrote it so quick)」

「p.s. for any recent readers,
i updated the cast page (i love
it!) and i also added a
prologue with smalls' narration
so go check that out cause it's
actually pretty good and relevant
to the story」