Hate Every Beautiful Day
Chapter 10
By: Makena
Benji groggily lifted his head and looked around. He was sore, he was suffering from a small hangover and he was alone. He looked over at Joel's bed, but he wasn't there. Sunlight poured into his bedroom from the window on Benji's right side. He squinted and sat up, holding onto his head.
Slowly, the previous night came back to him. It was Friday - there was a football game. His team won, and he got a lift home with Aaron and Makena.
'God knows what they're doing now,' Benji thought bitterly, wincing as he tried to swing his legs around to the side of the bed.
"Ah... he's up!"
Benji frowned and looked around the room. Joel was standing in the doorway with what looked like a half eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich in his hand.
"What time is it?" Benji asked, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand.
"Almost noon," Joel replied. "Some one is here to see you or something."
Benji frowned. "If you say Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny, I'm going to be very upset."
Joel laughed slightly and shook his head. Benji got up and quickly got dressed, thankful he had taken a shower the night before. He followed Joel out into the small living room where the girl with the dark hair was standing. She was wearing black bondage pants this time and a white muscle t-shirt over a regular white tank top. She stood with her arms crossed, looking around the small room at the few pictures that hung on the walls and at the carpet below her.
She looked up at him once Benji had made it into the living room and smiled at him. "Hi," she said.
"Um... hi?"
"I'm Nicole," she explained.
"I know."
"Oh." Nicole paused. "Anyway, I'm here to pick you up."
Benji frowned. "Pick me up?" he repeated, a little unsure about where he was going. "Where are we going?"
Nicole let out a little laugh and glanced over at Joel, who was watching the conversation instead of his sandwich.
"I'm in your sixth hour World Lit. class," she explained. "Mr. Lewis put us together for a Shakespeare project. We talked about you coming over yesterday - well, I did, but..."
Benji nodded. He vaguely remembered talking to her - rather, her talking to him - during sixth hour. He remembered the World Lit. teacher (who was also the French teacher) putting them together and he remembered her assigning them Shakespeare.
But between sixth hour and the football game and his drink, he had forgotten about it. Benji disappeared into his bedroom for a moment to slip a hoodie on over his black Casualties shirt and grabbed what little money he had and slipped it into his pockets, just in case. He didn't like to be places without money, no matter how little it was.
"My car is just outside," Nicole told him when he reappeared. "There are some people coming over, so research might be kind of hard for a couple hours."
Benji nodded. He went into the kitchen to make himself something to eat before he promised to meet her outside. Nicole agreed, said bye to Joel, and stepped out into the drive way where her old car was sitting. Shannon was trying to climb out, but was being tied down by Paul, who had tackled her in her seat.
"Get... off!" Shannon screamed, falling out of the car and onto the pavement. "Well... fuck."
Paul laughed at her from the inside of the car as Nicole opened the driver's door.
"Well?" Paul asked, ignoring Shannon completely. "Is he coming?"
Nicole nodded and explained to her friends what she had told him.
"So... you lied?" Shannon asked, using the open door to help herself stand up before punching Paul hard on the arm.
"Well... not exactly," Nicole said. "I mean, we are supposed to do a project for World Lit., but Mrs. Lewis is giving us plenty of time to research in school."
"So... he's coming over, but you guys are gonna research and not hang?"
"No, he's coming over and we're going to BEGIN to research, but then you guys are gonna distract us and THEN we're gonna hang."
Nicole looked up at the front door of the twins house as she heard the door slam shut. Benji stepped outside with a half eaten sandwich in his hand. Shannon climbed into her seat and quickly shut the door and Billy - who was in the front seat - climbed out. Benji noticed him and frowned slightly as he walked towards Nicole's car.
"Like I said, some of my friends are coming over," Nicole said.
Benji nodded and shrugged, climbing into the back seat with Shannon and Paul. They watched Benji climb into his seat and buckle his seat belt. He looked up at them and frowned, suddenly aware that he had been watched.
"Hi," Shannon said suddenly.
Benji frowned.
"So..." Paul said. "You play guitar."
Benji shrugged. He didn't have a good feeling about the day.
-----
Benji and the other four - Nicole, Shannon, Paul and Billy - all made it to Nicole's house ten after twelve and he seriously began to wonder if he and Nicole would get any work done or not. Not like he cared - because he didn't. But he was going to be pissed if he got tricked into going to Nicole's house and they didn't do anything but "hang out." They all began to pile out of Nicole's car when she decided to speak up.
"Good game last night," she said to Benji. He frowned.
"You were there?" he asked her. She nodded.
"I don't normally go to games. That was your first game, right?"
Benji nodded and climbed out of the car, leaving the door open so Paul could get out.
"Hey," Paul said, slamming the car door shut and following Benji up the driveway. "You're parents aren't home."
"Thank you, captain obvious," Nicole said, rolling her eyes.
"Just like to make observations known," Paul said.
"My parents went to my aunts house for a while," Nicole explained, unlocking her front door. "And I'm grounded... remember? So - that's why you're all over."
It didn't exactly make total sense, coming out of her mouth, but Benji got what she meant and followed Nicole and Billy into the house, shortly followed by Shannon and Paul.
The inside was nice and clean. There were hardwood floors laid down beneath their feet, except for a green rug that was at the front for wiping dirty feet onto. The stairs leading up to the second floor were hard wood with a red carpeting running down the middle. The walls were a bright, yellowish-beigeish color. The house, on whole, was bright. And happy.
"I'm gonna go get some snacks," Nicole said, but Benji didn't know if she was talking to her friends or to her "study partner." Benji nodded and stood, uncomfortably, on the hard-wood floor in the dining room.
Paul and Shannon were scrambling to get their shoes off and raced each other to the living room where they turned Nintendo on and began to battle with each other.
"I'm Mario," Paul told Shannon with a grin.
"Fuck you," Shannon shot. "I'M Mario - I NEVER get to be Mario."
"But it's just not fair if Mario keeps dying and Luigi keeps winning."
"I assume that was supposed to be a burn, but I'm gonna whoop your ass, child."
Benji sighed softly and took his own shoes off, placing them by the other shoes, and looked at the table. It had some books on Shakespeare and some of the plays/books he had written were scattered about, and there were a couple of notebooks under the pile somewhere. Benji picked one up and read the title. "All's Well That Ends Well." He laughed softly and shook his head.
'Right,' he thought to himself.
"Hey, Benj," he heard Shannon call. "Wanna play?"
Benji turned around and looked at Shannon and Paul. He shook his head and played with his hoodie pocket.
"You sure?" Paul asked. "She's really easy to beat."
Benji shook his head again and managed to finally speak. "I'm good," he replied.
"I'm back..." Nicole announced, re-entering the dining room with Billy. They were each carrying snacks of some sorts - potato chips and chex mix - and they all had cans of drinks.
"Not that I'm the expert or anything," Billy spoke up, setting a drink down on the table for Benji. "But... if we're not supposed to be here, won't your parents notice all their pop and snacks missing?"
Nicole shrugged and put some snacks down before sitting down at the table, motioning to Benji to do the same. He reluctantly sat down and ignored his pop.
"Not if I put them in the recycling. Besides... mom doesn't drink carbonated stuff, and I don't think my dad realizes when things go missing." Billy laughed and sat down, attempting to watch the pair study up on Shakespeare.
'Well THIS is going to be fun...' Benji thought bitterly, opening a book.