《Alan, you are my new favorite person.》

June 8th, 1994

IT WAS A NEW day at the sandlot, with a less aggravated Yo-yo and Jaz. The girl had managed to escape Squints by a hair, leaving Squints to just fall. He did almost get slapped and Jaz had marched off in frustration while the boys just sat with shocked expressions.

But, as previously stated, today was a new day. Yo-yo and Marylin sat in the dugout with Yeah-Yeah, Smalls, and DeNunez. Lin gladly sipped on a ginger ale she bought at the drugstore while Yo-yo flipped a quarter.

"Boy this was worth every penny," she said taking one last sip.

"What was?" Smalls asked as he looked at Jaz and Benny, who were both leaned against the dugout-not making eye contact.

"This soda. God I'm sure I would've died without it," she said, capping the bottle and placing it next to her.

"Nah, you're too pretty to die," Squints said as he walked over to them. Both Yeah-Yeah and DeNunez nodded in agreement.

Lin just gave off a light smile as she looked at the boys. Yo-yo laughed, placing the quarter in the pocket of her denim shorts and walking off, beckoning Lin and Jaz to follow her.

Since June fifth, the girls had all eyes on them, from Benny Rodriguez to Tommy Timmons. To them, the girls were the most beautiful thing any of them had ever seen-of course, if you don't take Wendy Peffercorn into consideration.

"They got no idea what they're doin'," Kenny said.

"Yeah yeah they do," Yeah-Yeah said as the girls glanced over at them.

Benny only gave out a frustrated sigh as he looked at the eight other boys in the dugout, all mesmerized by the sight before them, "Base up you blockheads."

"Come on Benny! You gotta admit they are some of the hottest babes in the valley," Ham said as he stood up from his spot.

"And Jaz is the only hot chic in the ninth grade you haven't kissed," Timmy said, glaring at Tommy to not repeat him. A couple of them raised their eyebrows, but most weren't that surprised since they could tell that Jazlynette hated his guts.

"When one of you can get one of them to kiss you, then we'll talk," Benny said as he turned towards the field. About a minute later, the three girls had shown up in the dugout once again-but this time Marylin had a very important question.
"Have any of y'all, besides Benny, actually kissed someone before?" They all stayed quiet for a moment, wondering whether a magazine picture counted as actually kissing someone. Squints then smiled from ear to ear as all the other boys looked over at him.

"So, yes or no?"

"Campout!"

♡

Jazlynette, Yo-yo, and Marylin all had rushed to Yo-Yo's house in preparation for the camp out later that evening. Marylin had ran over to her household to gather a couple things and ask her mother if she could go to the "sleepover". Jaz had called her dad from Yo-yo's house phone. Each parent had reluctantly agreed to let there daughters go, but under the condition that the three girls stuck together.

They all sat on Yo-yo's bed, per usual. Marylin had on a hoodie with a pair of spandex she usually wore for volleyball. Yo-yo wore a simple striped shirt and a pair of loose shorts while Jaz had on a baseball jersey with a tank top underneath and a pair of shorts.

"What do you think we are gonna do there?" Lin asked as she looked at the ceiling.

"I don't know, probably just talk and sleep," Jaz said as she threw a baseball in the air and caught it.

"I hope. I really don't want to wake up with one boys arm on top of me and then another ones legs draped over me," Yo-yo shuddered at the thought. Jaz just chuckled.

"They don't have enough balls to even be that close to us," Lin laughed as she moved her thin, round glasses farther up her nose.

In truth, all three of them were excited about this so called campout that they would be attending, all for different reasons. Apart from the excitement, there was also the aching nerves of anxiety; just the thought of sleeping in a treehouse with nine boys almost drove them off. For a moment, each of the girls laid in their own silence, all wondering where the events of the night would lead them. The silence was interrupted when Yo-yo began to speak, "Hey Jaz, what's up with you and Benny?"

The fourteen year old girl frowned as she just looked at the ball in her hand, pondering how to answer the question, "Nothin', I just know him from school," she lied; well, half-lied.

"Whatever you say, but I think you two would have great chemistry," Lin smiled as Jaz playfully rolled her eyes.

After a few hours of talking over the "non-existent" chemistry between Jaz and Benny, and also the very much existing chemistry between a couple other people, the three girls had sat down at the Diablo dinner table. With the baseball field and the nine boys, Mrs. Gloriana Diablo had much she wanted to talk about, but she was interrupted half way through by the ringing of the doorbell. Each one of the girls had a very different expression on their face; Jaz's being no change at all, Lin's being a bright smile, and Yoyo's being a face of utter shock as a surge of anxiety ran through her...just as her dad rushed to the door.

Yo-yo's father opened the door to two boys. And for the first time ever, Yeah-Yeah and Squints had been at a loss for words.

"Um sir, we came to, um, pick up your daughter and take her to the um, camp...thing...tonight...I think..." Yeah-Yeah managed to say as Mr. Diablo stared at the two with questioning eyes.

"Yo-yo, you might want to come over here before I say something," He said as Yo-yo popped out from behind him.

"Thanks dad, I can handle it from here," Yo-yo said as she waved at the boys while the other two girls went up the stairs to grab their pillows and bags. "Love you honey! Have fun girls!" Yo-yo's mom yelled from the dinner table as the girl's dad hugged her.

"That was weird," Squints said after they walked for a minute.

"Yeah yeah, did you see the way he looked at us? His eyes were piercing our souls."

"Alan, that's my dad you're talking about," Yo-yo just glared over at him as he insulted her father.

"Don't call me that."

"Alan."

"Don't even-"

"Alan! Alan! Alan!" Yo-yo annoyed him as the other three laughed. Alan just sighed in frustration as he almost laughed as well.

"Hey Alan, did you bring the marshmallows?" Squints asked in between laughs.

"Yes, Michael, I did."

"MARSHMALLOWS!" Yo-yo practically yelled as Yeah-Yeah took out the bag.

"Yeah yeah, what'd you think we were gonna have?" The bazooka chewing boy said, a smile perking on his face.

"Alan, you are my new favorite person," Yo-yo stole the bag from him and quickly opened it. She grabbed one and popped it in her mouth eagerly.

"Hey! Give me that!" He grabbed the bag and pulled it towards his chest; though he did feel a light leap of joy at being called Yo-yo's "favorite person."

After a bit more walking, they were up to the Timmons' front door, where they were greeted by a mother holding a two year-old girl. "Timmy! Tommy! Some more of your friends are here!" Mrs. Timmons yelled as she smiled at the five, letting them in. She smiled lightly at them and returned to whatever she was doing.

They felt the blast of AC as they walked through the door. The smell of rosemary seemed to cover the cozy-looking place. It had a touch that only a mother, or grandmother, would have; it easily reminded Jaz of her grandmothers house in Tallahassee. While the girls admired the decor, the boys searched for a sign that another person of male gender was nearby.

Instead of being met by one of the Timmons brothers, Benny came from another part of the household. A sigh of relief came from Yeah-Yeah and Squints as soon as they saw him. "All the guys are here besides Bertram and Kenny. Ham's gonna start making s'mores soon," Benny said as he nodded over at the girls who sheepishly stood there.

Squints and Yeah-Yeah walked past him and the girls followed. Yo-yo saw a bright light inside of the treehouse and heard the sarcastic laughter that she had become so accustom to. After Squints and Yeah-Yeah, Jaz climbed up the ladder.

The moment Jaz stepped in, the room became partially inactive as the noise of Ham opening a box of graham crackers only continued to get louder. She sat her stuff down and walked over to Ham to make a s'more. Yo-yo and Lin awkwardly came in after her, still a bit stunned by the idea of sleeping in a boy's treehouse. Yo-yo placed her stuff next to Squints' and Yeah-Yeah's and then followed Jaz. Marylin randomly placed her stuff down and did the same.

A bit after that, Bertram and Kenny walked in and immediately the place got more exciting. Everyone was talking and enjoying themselves in some sense. There was multiple conversations going on-and let's just say some did not involve words. "Hey Vasquez! I got a story," Ham said, attracting Lin's attention.

"What?"

"About a year ago I had to explain to Smalls what a s'more was," he said as he made one for Scotty right then, "I swear it was the funniest thing-I mean, he didn't know what a s'more was!"

"Really?" Lin turned to Smalls, who's face had changed to a light shade of red.

"Y-yeah, I mean, I-" Lin just giggled to herself as Scotty tried to manage to say something.

"It's fine Scotty, not everyone can be met with such an amazing experience," she smiled, trying to say it in a serious voice but failing to do so.

While this rather embarrassing conversation was going on, Yo-yo was stuck sitting between Benny and Yeah-Yeah. We all know Benny was lost in his own thought, not paying much attention to Yo-yo, but Yeah-Yeah was another story.

"You ever been to a baseball game?"

"Yeah, I went to one right before movin' here. Me and my dad had gone to the Atlanta Braves game on May 4th."

"Really? What was the score?"

"Sixteen to Ten, and boy was it fun to watch," Yo-yo smiled at the memory.

"I've never been to a real game before," Yeah-Yeah said.

"We should all go to one in L.A. one day," Yo-yo suggested gleefully, liking the idea of having all their friends go to a game together.

"Yeah yeah, but by then we'll have to have a lot of money, so we'd be really old," Yeah-Yeah blinked away the thought of going to a game anytime soon.

"Eh, true. What do you think Benny?" Yo-yo said as she turned to the other boy.

"Oh, um, yeah," Benny said as he realized the attention was on him. Yeah-Yeah and Yo-yo both gave him a confused look as they turned over to where his eyes were looking towards. Jaz was sitting right next to Bertram and Kenny, laughing at something Bertram had said.

"Ok ok, so you're telling me-that y'all actually were stupid enough to chew chaw on a fair ride?"

"Yeah, you should've seen Ham-it was the most disgusting thing any of us had ever saw," Kenny said as he shuddered at the memory.

"Alright listen up!" Squints had the stage now as everyone's eyes moved towards him, "It all happened last summer on probably the hottest day ever..." but by then, each person remembered the day in their own way...

The day started out as any normal day. It was Yeah-Yeah's turn to get a ball and somehow he had found enough money by selling magazines. Both him and Squints walked out of Vincent's drugstore arguing over the baseball that Yeah-Yeah had bought. And that's when she passed by them. Squints was loosing it at just the sight of her. Little did that boy know who was right behind them at that time.

Jaz had just moved into the valley only a couple weeks before-and she had moved in right next to Benny, so of course she had seen the boys there once or twice. She had only laughed to herself as she saw Squints reaction at seeing Wendy, who she had trained under to be a lifeguard. Yep, today was Jazlynette's first day on the job-and she could not mess it up. And of course, fate had a way of screwing her over.

The boys then rushed to the field afterwards. By this point each of the boys were already sweating, and came to the rough decision that today was not about playing baseball.

"So what are we gonna do?" Benny asked the group after he sadly had been outnumbered.

"Scam poll hunnies!"

Jaz had already propped herself up in her chair on the other side of the pool. She enjoyed watching all the younger kids play around, but it got boring fast. She needed a new form of entertainment-and luckily the boys got there when they did. Across from Jaz's tower was Wendy's. The teenage girl sat up there oiling herself, which any guy out there would find rather tempting.

As the boys all jumped into the pool, Jaz found one that caught her eye the moment she saw him. And she had also caught the eyes of each of the boys-who were surprised that their was another girl almost prettier than Wendy at the pool.

"Who's she?"

"I don't know, she move here?"

"She's my neighbor."

"Woah Benny! Really? Lucky man!" At this point, all the boys eyes had gone from Jaz and back over to Wendy.

"Aw man."

"Yeah yeah, to cruel."

"She don't know what she's doing."

"She don't know what she's doing." Tommy repeated.

"Yeah she does, she knows exactly what she's doing," Benny said, but he was not looking at Wendy. Next thing you know, Squints is jumping off the diving board and is surrounded by almost everyone from the pool. And that's when he did one of the lowest things any of them had ever seen, but to them it was kind of cool. He kissed a woman, and he kissed her long and good.

"We got banned from the pool forever that day...but it was the best day of my entire life," Squints finished his story as the two girls sat there in half shock and half astonishment, and in a bit of disgust.

"Wow..."

"Yeah, I definitely did not see that coming."

"Wait a second Benny, you weren't there when Squints made his move," Smalls said, realizing it had only been him and the seven other boys there. At Scotty's words, four people in the room had wide eyes as the other boys realized Benny had actually not been there.

"Wait, where were you Benny?" Lin asked, curios to say the least. Benny didn't answer.

"Jaz, you still work at the pool?" Timmy asked.

"No, I was...fired."

"Wait, back to Benny, where were you?" Kenny asked this time.

"Yeah Benny, where were you?"

「ok, so longest chapter with 2,714 words!
what do u guys think is going on with
jaz and benny?
also, yo-yo does not have an older sister
and i updated the cast page with some
new characters that'll come in soon so
go check that out,
thanks for reading!」

The pool scene is not my own-all credit goes to the Sandlot directors, producers, and writers