𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑦

Everyone was already there when Smalls came in

"Hey, guys, sorry I'm late. My mom made me put on my jacket, and then she made me do the dishes."

Everyone started laughing at him, except for Benny, Ham, and me

"Aw, your poor little mommy made you do the big, bad dishes," Bertram said, teasing him

"Hey, you want a s'more?" Ham asked Smalls

"Some more what?"

"No, no, you want a s'more."

"I haven't had anything yet, so how could i have some more of nothing?" Smalls asked, completely clueless

"You're killing me, Smalls, these are s'more stuff, ok pay attention, first you take the graham, you stick the chocolate on the graham, then you roast the mallow, when the mallows flaming you stick it on the chocolate, then you cover it with the other end, then you scarf, kinda messy but good, try some,"

"Wow, Ham, what an amazing tutorial," I said

"Thank you," he said with a smile

"Okay, quiet you guys," Squints yelled

Everyone kept talking

"Quiet! Are you trying to wake it up? It just went to bed, " he said, annoyed

"What just went to bed?" Smalls asked loudly, "SHSHAHHH," everyone hushed Smalls

"The beast," everyone said, scattered across the room

"OH yeah," he said, to which everyone shushed him again, annoyed

Then Squints shushed everyone

"Now quiet, the legend of the beast goes back a long time before any of us could pick up a baseball, back to a place called Myrtle's Acres..."

Squints went on with his story, but I was so bored and decided that looking out the window was a better option

"Bored?" Benny asked

"Yeah," I said kinda monotone."Same, you know it's been a while since the two of us hung out together," he said

"Ok, two things, one, we see each other every day, and two, we hung out like two or three days ago," I said

"Yeah, that's a long time, and even though we see each other every day, we also see these blockheads," he said defensively

"Yeah, I'm sure we'll find time this summer, Benny," I said, reassuring him

"Ok,"

Squints was still sharing the story of the "beast"

"The beast was too good at his guard dog job, so the police said he had to retire, my grandpa, Squidman Palledorous, was police chief back then, and he ordered Mr. Mertle to turn is backyard into a fortress and chain up The Beast and put him under the house where he could never get out and eat children and stuff, and that's where he's been for 20 years and that's where he'll be for the rest of his life, because when Mr. Mertle asked the cops how long he has to keep The Beast chained up like a slave they said until 'forever' 'forever' 'forever' 'forever', and so The Beast sits there under that lean-to, dreaming of the time when he can break the chain and get out," he said finishing his story that took longer than necessary

"See, man, that's why you can't go over there. Nobody ever has. Nobody ever will, " Bertram said

"One kid did, but nobody ever seen him again," Ham said

"That ain't true," DeNunez said, which I agreed with

"Yeah, it is, but he got eaten," Ham said while eating a graham cracker

"Nuh uh, no, none of that's true, you guys are just making this up to scare me," Smalls said, which he really shouldn't believe in The Beast

"Oh yeah, stick your head out that window and look down," Squints directed. Smalls

Smalls gave in and walked in the direction of the window

Then Smalls screamed and whispered, "He's down there."

"You bet he is."

"Whatever goes over that fence, stays there,"

"Becomes the property of The Beast, forever," Squints said

"Are you guys done talking, i'm tireddd" i said, yawning

"Yeah, I think we should all go to bed," Benny said in agreement

Collective ok's were scattered across the treehouse

I was setting up my sleeping bag when I realized I had forgotten something

"Crap, I forgot my blanket," whisper shouted. "We can share, mine pretty big anyway," Benny volunteered,

"Ok," I said

Everyone was starting to slowly fall asleep, one by one eventually

Everyone was asleep, except for me, I couldn't fall asleep, I decided to go outside the tree house and silently watch the moon drift in space

I was sitting there until I felt a warm body sit next to mine. It was Benny

"Hey Rodriguez," I said

"Hey hermosa," he said, yawning. "Couldn't sleep?" he questioned."Yeah, I don't know why, though," I answered

He nodded

We sat there, it wasn't comfortable or uncomfortable, it was just silence

We were sitting like that for about 10 minutes

"Do you ever think about what we're all gonna do when we're older?" Benny asked out of nowhere,

"I mean, i've never thought about it" i said

"But I do know, you're gonna play for the Dodgers one day and i'm gonna come to all your games" i said

"Oh please, i dont know if in that good" he said

"Really Benny, a-are you kidding me, your'e the best kid i know, and thats saying a lot" how could he possibly think hes not that good

"i mean i am better than you" he said, i mean maybe he was

"Oh ok Rodriguez, dont get ahead of yourself" i said trying to keep him humble

"Yeah ok but do you really think i can make it that far" he questioned

"Benny i know you can make it that far, i mean you can probably make it further, whatever further is. My point is you can do a lot of things most people are very much capable of Benny, but baseball is something you are genuinely good at, i mean you really are fun to watch play" i said assuring him he's gonna go far

"Thank you y/n, you're truly and amazing friend, i dont know what i'd do without you"

"Eh you're alright Benny" i said playfully

"We should try and get sleep" he said

"Yeah let's go"

We both stood up and walked inside the tree house

We lied down on our sleeping bags and put the blanket over the both of us

"Goodnight y/n/n"

"Goodnight Rodriguez"

Authors note:
sigma
Word count: 1.07k