Riley woke up early the next morning and changed into a striped shirt with some dungarees, tying her plaid shirt around her waist before slipping her cap onto her braided hair. She let out a breath as she remembered what she told herself the night before, Don't let his words affect you as you aren't like other girls and that's perfectly okay; You were born to stand out, not fit in. She smiled to herself as she slipped on her PF Flyers and headed into the kitchen where Scotty was sitting, eating pancakes covered in maple syrup.

"Morning Scotty!" Riley greeted cheerfully as she ruffled his hair. She sat down next to him as her mother plated up some pancakes in front of her, Riley drenched the sweet breakfast in maple syrup. "You aren't mad?" Scott asked his sister who simply smiled. "No, Ham's fine..." Riley responded with a smile. "Ham will be happy to hear that, they were all worried that they had lost a friend on behalf of Ham's childish actions," Scott explained before finishing his food.

"You know me, Scotty. I don't let this stuff get to me," Riley told him with a smile before grabbing both of their empty plates and putting them in the sink. They grabbed their gloves and headed outside where the team was standing with Ham in front of them. "Hey guys, whats--" Riley started only for the team to shush her. "Riley, I'm really sorry for upsetting you with what I said. I let the jerk get me angry and I didn't think about my words," Ham spoke after being nudged by half of the guys.

Riley smiled before chuckling softly, "That's kind of you but I'm already over it. I do appreciate the apology, now, don't we have a bunch of jerks to teach how to play real ball!" The boys all cheered before hugging Riley who laughed until she stumbled into Benny's arms, the boy quickly caught her from falling over. She blushed lightly as she looked up at him, "We should, uh..." Riley cleared her throat and stood up straight before walking past Benny who was smirking.

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"PLAAAAAY BALLLLL!" Ham shouted to the two teams on Phillips team diamond. DeNunez strikes out the first batter, Riley smirked at the random comments that Ham was making to distract them. The second batter grounds to Yeah-Yeah at short, Yeah-Yeah grabs the ball and throws to first base which completed the out. The third batter hit a lazy fly ball to the right-centre field where Scotty and Bertram ran for it - watching the ball and not each other, they stop and the ball drops between them.

Batter three rounds second base as Benny yelled for them to grab the ball, Scotty picks up the ball and fires for home for all he's worth. The batter rounds third, the ball rockets towards Home, batter three slides in a cloud of dust. The ball blasts into Ham's mitt and Ham drags the baseline. The dust clears, Ham's got him tagged. Riley cheers for Ham before looking over to Benny who smiled at her causing her cheeks to dust over pink, which Phillips noticed and he didn't like it.

Phillips went up to bat with a cocky smirk towards Riley, he held the bat tight in his grip. "Hey!" Phillips called out, "We never discussed what the winner gets!" Ham rolled his eyes as Riley glared at the back of Phillips' head. "Can it jerkface! Let's play ball," Ham snapped. "Winner gets a date with the baseball babe," Phillips said before looking to Riley with a wink. Riley rolled her eyes as the boys all glared dangerously at Phillips. "No way--" Scotty began only for Riley to step up with a teasing smirk.

"Hey DeNunez, I'll pitch," Riley stepped up and grabbed the ball from Kenny, the two did their own personal handshake before DeNunez stepped off the diamond. "How about this, Phillips... If your team wins, you can take me on one date and if I have fun, I'll consider a second," Riley began, she couldn't see the angered expression on Benny's face as she spoke. "I like the sound of that," Phillips spoke with a cocky tone.

"But!" Riley pointed at Phillips with a smirk on her face, "If my team wins, not only will Benny get to take me on a date-" Benny flushed pink with a lazy lopsided smile as she said that "-But you and your boys have to skinny dip the local pool!" The boys on her team all laughed as Phillips gulped knowing that Riley and Benny were good players and if they were to skinny dip the local pool then his father would be heavily unimpressed.

Riley smiled sweetly at Phillips, "So Phillips? What's it gonna be?" The little leaguers were shaking their heads knowing they'd be dragged into the punishment. "I hope you like fancy food, 'cause our date will be better than anything Rodriguez would treat you to!" Phillips teased leaving a smirk on Riley's face. She pitched the ball and... "Strike one!" Ham called out before throwing the ball back to Riley who laughed, slowly biting her lip.

Benny watched her closely as she readied her next pitch, he was always stunned by her pitch; well, anything Riley does. She pitched the second ball and... "Strike two!" Ham shouted and Riley could tell that Phillips was getting antsy. "That date with Benny is sounding real nice," Riley teased, Phillips was unimpressed. She rounded up her third pitch but Phillips hit this one, Riley turned her head to watch the ball as Phillips ran to first base.

Riley watched as Bertram rushed the ball, grabbed it and threw it straight to Benny who tapped Phillips out before he made third base. Riley laughed to herself before Benny looked over to her, she smiled brightly at him before focusing back on the game. Phillips grumbled to his team about ensuring them the win but they all looked uneasy as their captain fumed on the bench. The rest of the batters were either grounded or struck out, Riley was enjoying the whole game so far but now it was their turn to bat.

Ham, Kenny, Timmy, Tommy and Squints went one after another, all of them hitting the ball and managing to reach bases before being tapped out. Scotty, Bertram and Yeah-Yeah reached home with almost homers. Riley hit a homer and ran the bases with a smile on her face. Now it was Benny's turn to bat and Phillips was pitching, he had no hope of winning the game now but he could at least prove that Benny wasn't the best in the game.

Phillips pitched the ball with all of his force, Benny hit the ball with a bang. Single to left. They threw it to first - too late. They threw it to second - too late. They threw it to third - too late. He's on his way home. They threw it to home - And.... safe! The game was over and Benny had won it with his home run. Riley stepped up next to Benny in front of Phillips, "Best of luck with the skinny dip, I expect to hear all about it." Riley winked at Phillips before walking away with a laugh.

Benny winked at Phillips before jogging after Riley, he took off his cap and ran his fingers through his hair as the other boys cheered with Riley before they headed off to the Sandlot. "Riley!" Benny called out, she stopped her conversation with Bertram and turned to Benny with a raised brow. "We'll continue this conversation later," Bertram said before nodding at Benny and walking away from the two. Benny walked closer to Riley before licking his bottom lip, "About the bet..." He wasn't sure if it was real or if Riley was just taunting Phillips.

Riley smiled up at Benny as her cheeks flushed red, "Oh yeah! So when's the date, Rodriguez?" She was completely serious and to be completely honest, she got tired of waiting around for Benny to make a move despite her former argument with herself and Phillips set up the perfect opportunity to make it happen. "W-Well, uh, t-there's a-a fair in town... And I-I was gonna take the t-team... M-Maybe w-we c-could..." Benny sighed and looked down with flushed cheeks, he'd never been in this situation before.

"Benny breathe," Riley cooed before smiling sweetly at the flustered boy, he took in a deep breath with his eyes closed before opening them and smiling. "Maybe we could sneak away from the others and get to know each other better," Benny spoke with a shaky tone, Riley smiled and nodded. "That sounds like a plan. I'll see you later," Riley turned to walk away but stopped with a smile and turned back to Benny, pushing up on her toes, she kissed his cheek before skipping home to get ready for their first date.

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-Rose <3
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