Hate Every Beautiful Day
Chapter 20
By: Makena
Friday was a home game, because it was Homecoming. The football team was doing okay - they were in the lead by 5 points. Half time was more significant that it usually was, because that's when the Homecoming court was introduced, along with the Homecoming King and Queen - a couple of popular people Benji disliked. The game continued, and they ended up winning. Again.
And then it was Saturday. The day of the dance.
Benji woke up early in the morning - ten, actually, which was early for him. He waited around the house, watching TV and reading and writing song ideas down on paper, until it was almost seven. He took a shower and dressed himself in a pair of kaki pants his mother had bought him for church almost a year before, and had to borrow a sweater from his brother, because he had ruined his when he and his brother Josh had gotten into a small argument one day after church in the spring.
Benji sighed and looked himself over in the mirror, a little creeped out by what he was wearing - especially by the sweater.
"Woah..." Joel said, looking at Benji through the bathroom doorway. "You look... nice, I guess." He paused and laughed. "Nobody's gonna be able to tell us apart." Benji looked over at his brother to see what he was wearing. Joel had on the same pair of kaki pants on and his other good sweater, patterned differently.
"Your hair is blond," Benji pointed out, glancing at himself again. Joel shrugged.
"I didn't think you'd actually go," he admitted, letting Benji pass into the room so he could grab the little money he had and shove it into his pocket.
"Well... I am," Benji said with a small sigh. "With Shannon."
"Shannon... oh, that girl! She moved her from Canada a couple years ago, right? Red hair?"
Benji nodded. "Yeah. Who are you going with?"
"Kathleen," Joel replied. "I asked her, and she said yes." He shrugged and followed his brother out into the living room where they were met with a blinding flash.
"You two look so nice!" Benji could hear his mother say. "I hope you have fun at the dance!"
'So do I,' Benji thought bitterly as his mother snapped another picture. He walked to the fridge and picked up the red rose corsage he had bought for Shannon the day before. He didn't know what she was going to wear, but he figured that she would like it anyway and bought it.
Joel got the keys and drove him and his brother to the dance, and they made it to the school at quarter after eight. They could hear music blasting through the speakers from the parking lot as Joel locked their car while they walked towards the front entrance.
Shannon was standing outside, alone, waiting for Benji to arrive. Nervous, Benji slowly approached the front door, holding the plastic container the corsage was placed in. She looked around and finally smiled when she noticed Benji walking up to her.
She was wearing a long, silverish colored spaghetti strapped dress that fell to her ankles. Her hair whisped out to the sides in a 70's hair-do' and her black eye-liner was replaced with a silver colored one with glittery colored eye shadow. She smiled as he approached, and he could see a thin layer of lip gloss spread across her lips.
"Hi," she said. "Um... hi," Benji said back. "Sorry I'm late."
"It's okay," Shannon insisted. "The dance doesn't really start till 8:30. I mean... that's when all the people start showing up and whatever."
Benji nodded and suddenly seemed to remember the corsage. He took it out and showed it to her before he placed it on her wrist.
"Oh, wow..." Shannon gasped, allowing him to place the red rose on her wrist. "It's beautiful... you didn't have to get me a flower."
Benji gave a half smile and shrugged. It didn't exactly match her dress, but it was still pretty and Shannon seemed happy with it.
"My friends are inside," she informed. "We should go in, I guess."
Benji nodded in agreement and they walked in together. Shannon began to pay her own way in, but Benji wouldn't let her and paid for the both of them.
"You clean up nice," she admitted as they walked towards the small section of bleachers that had been opened. Benji shrugged slightly and followed her reluctantly, allowing her to loop his arm around his.
Standing by the wall next to the bleachers stood the Magnificent Seven, plus Aaron and Paul's date, a Sophomore girl Benji didn't know. Nicole was wearing a black and red plaid dress with safety pins here and there.
The straps were black, and most of the bottom was black except for some strips of plaid materials, but the fabric around the chest was all black. Her nails were painted black, and she wore army boots instead of dressy shoes, but she had put her hair up a little. Both Billy and Paul were wearing tuxes, as was Aaron, Brian and John.
Makena was dressed in the same silvery material Shannon wore, but hers was shorter and it fluffed out. Her hair was down for the most part, except for some small braids randomly done in her hair with two of them going around her head like a halo. She had little eye make up - just a little glitter and some lip gloss, and her shoes were being held in her left hand. And she had butterfly wings.
"I don't have a bra on," she whispered to Nicole, but Benji pretended he hadn't heard her.
"That's okay," Nicole replied. "Your dress gives you enough support there."
"Look who I found!" Shannon said, announcing their arrival. Nicole looked up at the two and grinned at Benji.
"Hey!" she said. "You look all spiffy and stuff." They laughed as Benji stood uncomfortably, listening to the music floating through the gym. Makena looked up at him and grinned.
"You do look spiffy," she said, half mocking Nicole.
"Back off," Shannon said jokingly. "This is my date."
"Fine," Makena said with a laugh. "You look spiffy, too, Aaron."
"Good," he said. "I'm glad spiffy is a word." He paused. "Wanna go dance?"
Makena nodded and let Aaron take her hand as they walked towards the dance floor. She winked at Shannon as she passed and became one of the masses of people that were already on the dance floor. Benji watched them for a moment before sighing and sitting himself down on the first row of seats on the bleacher.
'This,' he thought. 'May be a long night.'
-----
Benji watched people dance for a while, and tried to close his eyes when the DJ turned the strobe light on.
"Did you want to dance?" Shannon finally asked between songs, using the quiet as her opportunity to ask. Benji shrugged but stood up and walked with her to the dance floor where Nicole and Billy were wildly dancing to the end of Love Shack.
"GOD I hate that song," Nicole said after violently banging her head up and down, mocking the dancers around her. Shannon laughed as a slower song came on.
'Aww, crap,' Benji thought, but wrapped his arms around Shannon's waist anyway as the song continued. It was something he had heard before, like in his mom's car when she took him to the park or the store when he was a little younger.
"Did you ever know that you're my hero?" the song said.
"Well, speaking of songs that suck," Billy said, who was dancing with Nicole. "I think my parents listen to this stuff."
Benji looked out among the crowd to see who else was dancing, or who else was complaining about the song. Not too far away, Makena was resting her head on Aaron's chest, because she was only 5'5" - maybe 5'6" - and he was already 6'1." She said something Benji couldn't hear, but he could see her lips moving. He didn't know if Aaron responded or not, but assumed he had when she lifted her head and looked up at him. She shook her head and they stopped dancing.
"No!" he could make out by reading her lips. She shook her head again, frowning. He watched for a while longer as she tried to storm off, but Aaron had a firm grasp on her wrist and wouldn't let her go anywhere. He frowned himself, not understanding why Makena had just tried to walk off.
"Let go!" he read from Makena's lips. She yanked violently, but Aaron was also stronger than she was. She slipped slightly, because she wasn't wearing any shoes. Aaron pulled her closer while she tried to pull away.
"I'll be right back," Benji said to Shannon, walking towards Aaron and Makena. They had moved closer to the bleachers now, but Makena was still struggling to get away from him.
"Stop it, Aaron," he heard Makena say firmly, yet desperately. "Let me go."
"No," Aaron said. "Why the hell are you doing this?" Benji tapped Aaron on the shoulder. He turned around quickly, just in time to see Benji's fist making contact with his eye. Aaron stumbled, but didn't fall.
"Let go of her," Benji said. "She said let go - so let go."
Aaron frowned but let go of Makena's wrist. Makena, who had tried so desperately to get away from Aaron, stood firmly where she had been, watching the scene before her.
Aaron lashed out at Benji and they began to fight again, like they had right after Benji had joined the football team. Finally, they were broken up by Mr. Lantz, who happened to be chaperoning, and Makena, who held Benji back.
"Let me go!" Aaron demanded, unaware that it was Mr. Lantz that was holding him back. "I'm gonna kill him!"
"Aaron! Stop it!" Makena shouted, still pulling Benji away. "Just... stop it!"
"You two have a little explaining to do," Mr. Lantz said. Makena tugged on Benji's arm and nodded towards the back door by the bleachers. Benji looked around at her and frowned.
"Come on," she whispered. Benji looked back at Mr. Lantz, who had turned his back on them to talk to Aaron. He nodded and let Makena pull him towards the door.
They made it outside before anybody could catch them, and Makena fumbled for her car keys from the small purse she had grabbed on their way out.
"We gotta get out of here," she said, walking towards her beat up van. "You just love to start fights, don't you?"
Benji shrugged and quickly climbed into the passenger seat of the van as Makena pealed out of the parking lot and hit the road towards her house.
"It's kind of my thing," Benji replied as Makena tried to ease her foot off the gas. Makena sighed, but smiled.
"Thank you."