Freak
Chapter 9
By: Makena
Jeremy lay on her stomach on her bed, reading "All's Well That Ends Well" by Shakespeare. She actually found Shakespeare a little boring, but it killed time and it she thought some of it was good. She glanced over at the electric radio clock that sat on the night stand next to her bed. It told her it was 10:43 in the red, neon light. She sighed and paused from her book to look up at her Good Charlotte picture. Benji's expression remained the same as it had when she hadn't known him.
"Go figure," she sighed. "It's a poster."
The phone rang and Jeremy raced to the small table on the other side of her room to answer the it before her parents woke up.
"Benji?" she whispered.
"Yeah. Hey."
Jeremy smiled.
"Hi." She paused. "You told them, didn't you?"
Benji sighed. "Yeah. They didn't exactly take it well. I think the term was "mentally challenged." That's what Billy said, anyway."
Jeremy sighed.
"My parents didn't exactly take it well either," she said. "They asked if I had a plan, and then they ignored me and assumed we were getting divorced." She paused. "God... why can't anyone understand?"
"I don't know," Benji replied. "Probably because we just met and it was really random of us."
Jeremy laughed slightly. "Random, yes. But... even if we just met... why can't they just accept it?"
Benji sighed again and Jeremy was sure he had shrugged.
"I don't know." He paused. "This isn't exactly a happy phone call, is it?"
"No. This isn't exactly a happy marriage so far, either."
"Hey! Don't do that... it'll get better. You'll move to Waldorf after you finish high school - and I gotta say, I admire you for even WANTING to finish high school instead of just come with me - and then we'll be HAPPY."
Jeremy sighed some what happily, thinking about leaving her home and her parents and her odd ball brother - for Waldorf.
"Okay," she said. "But I did say so far."
Benji laughed. "Okay, okay. Anyway, what's up?"
Jeremy laughed.
"I'm talking to my posters," she replied. "I do that, by the way."
Benji laughed. "Really? That's kind of..."
"Odd?" Jeremy finished.
"Sure," Benji laughed. "Why not?"
He paused and Jeremy could hear Billy in the back ground. She thought she could make out "what the fuck... do you know how late it is?" and she was almost positive she could hear a semi truck in the back.
"Jeremy?" Benji said.
"Who else would it be?"
Benji laughed. "Right. Anyway, I gotta go. Billy's getting all pissy cause I'm "talking too loud" and he can't get his beauty sleep."
Jeremy giggled and heard Billy yell "HEY!"
"Okay. Bye!"
"Bye. I love you."
Jeremy smiled. "Love you too."
"Really?"
Jeremy smiled again. "Yeah."
Benji paused and Jeremy could tell he was smiling too. "Cool. I love you too. Bye."
Jeremy said good bye again and hung up. Smiling, she returned to her bed and set her book down on the floor and turned her light off.
-----
The ringing in Jeremy's ear stopped once she was shaken awake by her mother. Sun light struggled to get through her closed shades and the door welcomed the light from down stairs into her darkened room. Jeremy frowned and looked up at her mother, her mother’s blond curls bouncing up and down as she shook her head.
"Tisk," her mother said, shutting her alarm clock off. "You dyed your hair again."
Jeremy frowned. "Yeah... hasn't it been dyed?"
Her mother frowned in confusion. "What?"
"And Benji... you and dad were so pissed..."
Her mother laughed slightly. "Whatever. It's Sunday... you wanted to go to the mall to get your CD's today, remember?"
Jeremy looked down at her left hand. There was no ring. She looked around and blinked a couple of times. It was just a dream? She and Benji hadn't actually gotten married?
"Damn..." she muttered, locking her door after her mother left so she could change. "It seemed so real."
She sighed and looked up at her Good Charlotte poster and into Benji's face.
"Too bad," she laughed. "We would have made a cool couple."
She sighed and lifted the tacks up from the poster and grabbed the money she kept from the hole in the wall.
----------
Jeremy got dropped off by her mother and rolled her eyes, trying to walk quickly away from the silver mini van.
"I've said it once, I've said it a million times... this is demeaning."
She walked quickly into the mall to escape the cold, pulling the selves down on her Social Distortion hoodie and clutching her empty book bag. She noticed the pretzel place and licked her lips, mentally reminding herself to buy one before she left.
She made her way towards the FYE store and rode the elevator up to the second floor. It let off across from the Claire's store and she sighed when she didn't see a crowd of teenies or Benji. Or even Joel.
'It was a dream,' she thought, still watching the store as she kept walking.
She suddenly found herself colliding with some one else, forgetting she hadn't been paying attention to where she was going.
"Fuck," she muttered, snapping her attention onto the man she had run into. "I'm sorry... I wasn't paying attention... holy shit."
She looked over the pink and black hair as the man she had run into straighten himself up. He brushed himself off, looking down at his pants.
"It's okay... I was looking for some one and I guess I wasn't paying attention either..."
He paused and looked up at Jeremy. They both stared at each other for a moment before Jeremy finally smiled and stuck her hand out.
"Um... hi," she said.
"Hi," he replied, shaking her hand.
"Your music rocks."
Benji smiled. "Thanks. Jeremy."
Jeremy's heart froze. "What... the hell?" she stammered.
"Sorry..." Benji apologized. "I had this weird dream last night, and... well, you were there and... your name was Jeremy... sorry, I'm freaking out..."
"No," Jeremy said. "That's my name."
Benji smiled. "So... can I accompany you to the music store?"
Jeremy nodded and smiled, letting Benji take her by the hand. "Of course," she replied. "After all... we were married once."
Benji laughed. "Maybe some day again," he said. "Blue haired freak."
The End.