Austin

The next day once again found Cat and the boys playing baseball on the Sandlot. Benny and Cat were glad that the boy weren’t treating them oddly, since he had asked her to be his girlfriend the night before. They had been out their for a few hours, when suddenly Ricki pulled up in her car, calling Cat to her. Rolling her eyes, Cat ran over there and the boys could see that they were in a deep conversation. When Ricki drove off, Cat stood their for a minute, before she finally turned and walked back to the group. She walked to her position and waited.

“Are we going to play ball, or stand around like a bunch of weenies?” she shouted, her mood foul.

Squints and Ham looked at Benny and he shrugged. They glanced back at Cat and decided that if they didn’t start their game soon, she might hurt someone.

As they played, they could all see that something was up with her, but no one dared press her on it just yet. After their game ended, Cat grabbed her glove and left the field, this time not bothering to wait for Smalls or Benny.

When they finally caught up to her, she only grunted responses. When Smalls finally went into his house, Benny was prepared to yell and get her to talk. But the minute Smalls was out of view, she stopped and hugged him.

He held her, confused. “Cat you okay?”

She shook her head. “It has been a very bad day.”

He nodded and hugged her for a few more minutes before they pulled apart. “What happened?”

She hesitated, then sighed. “I sent a video in for this contest…it is a singing contest. They watch it and pick a winner and runner-up. I didn’t win and…I don’t know, it’s just hard.”

Benny knew that she was lying, but he didn’t press it any further. She sighed with a shaky breath, she’d been trying not to cry, and smiled. “Thanks, Benny.”

He nodded and kissed her. “You going to be okay, Cat?”

She smiled. “Yeah. I will be fine. I’ll see you at 8.” Then she turned, and walked to her house without looking back.

After she went inside, Benny ran to Smalls house. After knocking, his mom answered. “Hello Benny.”

He smiled. “Hi Mrs. Smalls. Is it okay if Scotty can come to a sleepover in the tree house tonight?”

She smiled and nodded. “Of course. I will send him over there.”

Benny nodded and ran for the rest of the boys. Once they were all there, Benny cleared his throat. “Okay something is up with Cat.”

Ham looked at him. “Duh. Benny, she has been acting weird all day.”

Benny nodded. He was going to speak again, before he remembered his promise to her. She didn’t want the boys to know about her singing, and he was suddenly stuck trying to figure out what to say.

“She told me she entered some contest and didn’t win. But it doesn’t make any sense. She never gets upset over these things. She’s hiding something, and she feels like she can’t talk about it. She’s our friend…we have to do something or our game is going to be down another person.” he rambled.

The nodded. “Something is definitely up.” Squints said.

Benny nodded. “Yeah. I figured we should figure out what to do, and this is the best way.”

They all agreed and tried to come up with ways to confront her and figure it out, yet after nearly an hour, they got nothing. They dropped the case for a while, hoping something would come to them, but Benny couldn’t stop thinking of her and the thought of her hiding something killed him inside. He’d figure it out…he had to.