》Are you trying to get Bertram to kiss you or something?《

June 7th, 1994

   YO-YO WAS NOT A tomboy, but she also wasn't a "girly girl". Sure she enjoyed hanging out with boys and playing baseball some days, but she wasn't all about that life like Jaz was. She was sort of both-but she had her days where she was one rather than the other, and June seventh happened to be one of those days.

    The girls had been playing at the sandlot for almost three days now, and everyday was the same. No one kept score, no one checked the time, no one was separated into teams-they just played ball. Benny and Jaz would sometimes rotate with the bat. Lin and Kenny also rotated pitcher, otherwise Lin would be in left field with Smalls. Yo-yo usually was in the right field with Squints-which never ended well. But Ham also let her be in the catchers position when he needed water. Every once and a while, the positions would change to give another player a chance to bat, but usually it just staid the same for hours.

    Yo-yo had put her hair up in a pony tail and was playing right field left while Squints was playing right field center. Both were sweating, as was Yeah-Yeah who stood not far in front of the two. Yo-yo stared over at Benny who was up at the bat.

    Damn, Lin was not wrong. He is as hot as hell.
The girl thought to herself as she continued to watch Yeah-Yeah catch the ball that Benny had hit just a few seconds before. The game continued for about another thirty minutes until it was interrupted by Squints yelling, "I. Need. Water!"

    All twelve of them rushed to the dugout where they were greeted by the glorious sensation that filled them. Yo-yo huffed as she sat down her bottle of water and looked at the eleven other people who chugged it down their throats.

    "Come on! You guys take forever!" Yo-yo let out an exasperated sigh as the guys just breathed for air.

    "Yo-yo.....it's like......one hundred degrees out there!" Timmy said between breathes.

    "100 degrees!" Tommy repeated.

    "Yeah yeah! We might be crazy, but we're not that crazy," Yeah-Yeah said, referring to the many times Yo-yo and Lin referred to them as "crazy, no-good boys;" which did not making the girl any happier. It was one o'clock, which meant that in an hour everyone would head home for lunch and eventually return for another game-which, at the moment, seemed unlikely.

    "Yo-yo, I'd never want to stop playing baseball, but this is too hot-even for California!" Jaz complained. Even she did not have enough energy to break more sweat than she already had-and she knew that at any given moment, Yo-yo would be unable to even stand.

    "Nah, I agree with Yo-yo. We only have so much time in a day," Benny looked straight over at Jaz, as if saying it just to go against her point. Jaz glared, and as much as she loved baseball-she hated Benjamin Rodriguez much, much more. But then again, there was some very mixed emotions here.

    "I say we just come back later and see if it cools down-if not, we just do whatever," Lin shrugged, obviously not really in the mood to play baseball for another hour...or for the rest of the day.

    "I agree. Boy is it too hot to play right now!" Squints says while fanning Lin with his baseball cap. Of course he thought about Wendy Peffercorn constantly, but what guy would only stick to one girl when there is another one right in front of him? Definitely not Squints, that's who.

    "Shut up Squints!"

    "Yeah yeah, shut up Squints."

    "Shut up Yeah-Yeah."

    "Ok, I say, we do a vote," Lin interrupted the short banter. The humidity was already getting to most of them and there was no chance that someone was going to go on that field without needing a water bottle after ten minutes of playing.

    "Fine, if you wanna be a chicken who can't even have a bit of chaw without hurling it, then raise your hand," Yo-yo said. The boys thought about it for a moment, none of them really wanting to admit to their mistake from over a year ago. Slowly, Lin raised her hand and was eagerly followed by Squints, Timmy, Tommy, Smalls....and eventually Yeah-Yeah, who was just really hungry at that moment in time and did not want to be drenched in any more sweat. Yo-yo glared at the six afterwards, leaving Lin to just roll her eyes.

    "I say we just wait till later on, I mean, what's the waste when we only have an hour till lunch," DeNunez said as he threw the ball in his hand to Ham, who then threw it back. Benny, Bertram, and Jaz all nodded their heads in agreement. Leaving Ham and Yo-yo to decide.

    "I honestly just don't really care, ya know? I mean, we already play almost everyday, and I'm ready for lunch," Ham said as he cracked his knuckles.

    "Yo-yo?" Jaz turned to the girl who was sweating more than most of them, due to the fact she had been pacing back and forth outside the dugout.

    "Ugh, fine," Yo-yo sighed as she responded.

    "Bitchin'. Any of y'all wanna have lunch over at Timmons' or somethin'?" Benny said as he looked amongst the group. Occasionally, the boys would all go over to the Timmons' house or Ham's house for lunch when they didn't want to be far from the sandlot. Most of them then nodded in agreement.

    "Okay, I'll go ask my mom real quick," Timmy said as he ran off towards his house, followed by Tommy.

    "Alright, So what do we do till then?" Jaz asked, sipping on another water bottle.

    "I don't know, we usually don't stop playing," Bertram said in response.

    "What do you guys do besides play baseball?" Lin asked.

    "Well, you see, the thing is we don't really do much," Squints said.

    "Squints!" Yeah-Yeah hit him in the arm with his glove.

    "Hey! What was that for?!"

    Lin just rolled her eyes at the boys, "do you guys ever, ya know, talk?" The boys took a moment to think.

    "Every now and then, but I mean, what is there to talk about besides baseball and babes?" Bertram said as he laughed a bit with all the boys nodding in agreement, a bit of whispering here and there.

    "Well, there is always more to talk about then that, trust me, but since that's all you guys seem to think about-who y'all crushing on?" Lin raised her eyebrows at the nine boys, expecting some very interesting answers. The boys went silent for a moment, for two reasons: 1) Most of the guys' crushes were standing right in front of them and 2) None of them had the guts to say it aloud, especially in front of girls. But, thankfully, Timmy and Tommy Timmons had saved their asses.

    "Hey! My mom's making sandwiches if you guys want some!" Timmy yelled and the statement was repeated by Tommy. The boys all rushed out of the dugout as the girls just chuckled to themselves.

    The three followed closely behind. "Hey Yo-yo, you ok with not playing baseball right now?" Lin asked.

    "Yeah, I was just overreacting, it's no big deal anyway," the girl shrugged.

    "I've never seen you care about playing baseball that much, but I agree with the statement before, we really needed a break," Jaz said as she laughed to herself.

    "Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking. I probably smell like a dog right now," Yo-yo laughed.

    In front of them, the boys all mumbled and whispered amongst themselves, wondering if there was anyway they could respond to Marylin Vasquez's question. They all decided that the best answer was to just ignore it, which would not be smart in the long run.

    The group walked into Timmy and Tommy Timmons' backyard, where Mrs. Timmons was setting out cheese and crackers and was also followed by a little brunette girl.

    "Good afternoon Mrs. Timmons," all the boys said in unison as the woman smiled at the nine of them.

    "Hello boys! How has your afternoon been?" Mrs. Timmons said before noticing the three girls who popped up behind the group, "and who might you three be?"

     "Mom, that's Yo-yo, Jazlynette, and Marylin. They are the three girls Tommy was telling you and dad about the other day," Timmy said as the three waved at the taller woman.

    "Oh well it's great to finally meet you three!" The woman gave off a cheerful smile that would remind anyone of a 1950's Housewife. She raised her eyebrows, noticing the girls' clothes were just as dirty as the boys. Jaz could tell that the Timmons' mother did not like the idea of girls on a baseball field...or any field for that matter.

    The group sat down at the picnic table and began snacking as they waited for Mrs. Timmons' famous sandwiches. On the right side of the table sat Squints, Lin, Smalls, Benny, Jaz, and Bertram. On the left side sat Timmy, Tommy, Ham, Yo-yo, Yeah-Yeah, and Kenny. Yo-yo felt awkward as Ham basically was pressed against her side and Yeah-Yeah just kept either looking in her direction or at Jaz. This was mostly cause Jaz had a very awkward facial expression as she was pressed towards Bertram as if her life depended on it. Bertram didn't mind though, the two had been friends for awhile now and he had been through enough with her to know what was going on.

"Lunch is ready!" Mrs. Timmons came out of the pale green house holding a plater consisting of peanut butter and jelly and turkey sandwiches. The entire table almost burst out of their seats as she sat the plater down. Each person grabbed their own choice for lunch and gladly ate. But the joyous moment did not last as long as expected-well actually, it was expected considering their was nine boys and three girls all sitting at one table....but it was mostly due to Yeah-Yeah and Squints' poor (idiotic) choices.

Yeah-Yeah eyed Jaz and Bertram, and said one of the most stupid things ever, "Jaz, are you trying to get Bertram to kiss you or something?" And then came the steam from the dragon.

    "No!" She quickly moved from Bertram but was met by Benny's shoulder, causing both of their eyes to widen, "you know what, I'm just gonna move next to Squints." The girl zoomed over to the other side of the bench, making everyone move down. She then plopped herself right next to Squints and let out a puff of air. But clearly, Squints was not paying attention the entire time and here is what he got from this: "Ew! No! I'd much rather have Squints. You know what, I'm gonna sit right next to him."

    And, Squints' very small mind decided to make a very stupid move. He leaned in.

Approximately ten seconds afterward

"He's in deep shit!"

「i'm going to be honest
this is mostly just a filler chapter,
but I promise the next one will be
much better.
a LOT of foreshadowing in the last
couple chapters btw.
any comments? oh, and
what do you think of the cover?」