Hate Every Beautiful Day
Chapter 5
By: Makena
Benji skipped most of first hour class and walked down to the athletic office and found Kleets.
"Ah, Benjamin," Kleets said happily. "Made your mind up?" Benji sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Yeah," he mumbled, kicking the ground.
"And...?"
Benji sighed again. "I guess I'll join the football team," he moaned.
"Great!" Kleets yelled happily. "First practice after school today. If you're good enough, we can put you in the game tomorrow!" Benji groaned, but Kleets ignored him. Instead, he kept talking; uniform size, jerseys, if he wanted a letterman's jacket or not, and the first game of the season.
"See you after school," Kleets said finally, sending Benji back to class. Benji moaned, unable to believe he was officially on the football team, and found his way back to Ancient History.
Everyone glanced up at him as he made his entrance, but only for a moment, before returning to their work. He ignored them and walked to Mr. Lantz's desk to hand him his pass.
"Late," Aaron hissed from the table next to him. "Where were you?"
Benji frowned. In the seat next to Aaron was Makena, and Aaron's arm was around her shoulders. "Not like it's any of your business," Benji said, sitting down and eyeing Aaron's red and white letterman's jacket. "But I was talking to Kleets." Aaron blinked and waited for him to explain why he had been talking to the football coach. "He was signing me up for the football team," he explained, folding his arms across his chest. "I'm now playing football for the La Plata Vikings."
Benji glanced over at Aaron. His expression was priceless - it was twisted into a look of surprise, confusing, and slight amusement. Makena made a little "huh" noise from beside Aaron and looked over at Benji.
"You're playing football?" she asked, although the question was more rhetorical. "You don't seem like the type who would go out for the football team."
"I'm glad you enjoy labeling people," Benji shot. "Next time, stick to labeling yourself "bitch" and save the school the trouble of calling you one behind your back."
"How did I label you? All I was doing was saying how you didn't seem like the type to run out and join the football team, but I was wrong so take a chill pill and get off my back."
"Bitch..." Benji muttered.
"Labeler," Makena shot back.
"Prep!"
"Poser punk!"
"I'm not afraid to hit girls, you know," Benji lied, standing up abruptly. In Benji's opinion, hitting a girl was one of the worst things a guy could do in the world.
Makena's face fell. "You should be," she said.
Aaron stood up and pushed Benji back down into his own seat. Benji plopped down into his seat, but was on his feet again within seconds. "Don't you EVER threaten her like that again," he warned.
"You and what army is gonna stop me?" Benji asked.
"I'm warning you Combs."
Benji flinched for a second before letting his fist lash out and strike Aaron's face. Aaron staggered back, but counter attacked with a quick, painful punch to the face. Benji lashed out again and the two were soon at it on the floor, the entire class watching. The crowd parted and Mr. Lantz stepped into the circle. He yanked the two apart and let Makena hold Aaron back as Mr. Lantz held onto a still struggling Benji.
"Well, well," Mr. Lantz said, looking at Benji. "Still picking fights? We'll see what Mr. Gilmore has to say about this."
-----
"I can't say I'm not disappointed in you two," Mr. Gilmore said, folding his hands across the desk top. Aaron and Benji were sulking in the two chairs across from the principal's desk, holding an ice patch to their faces. Benji held one to his jaw, ignoring his swelling right eye or bleeding lip, and Aaron held one to his left eye.
"I realize you're both football players-" Benji winced "-but just because you play for your school doesn't mean you should receive special treatment." Mr. Gilmore paused and glanced over at Aaron.
"I'm very disappointed in you two - especially you, Aaron. I would have expected more from you."
"He started it!" Aaron protested, putting his ice pack down to reveal a large, swollen bruise around his left eye.
"I don't care who started it," Mr. Gilmore broke in. "The point is you reacted when you could have backed off and stayed out of trouble." Aaron scowled and placed the ice pack over his swollen eye. Benji felt his lip tenderly and rubbed the blood from his fingers onto his jeans.
"Fighting on school grounds is a level three... you each get one day of suspension for Monday."
Benji scoffed. He knew very well what a level three was and what the punishment was: three days suspension. He and Aaron HAD gotten special treatment because they were football jocks. Benji wished he could have just taken the three days instead of the one.
Mr. Gilmore excused them to their classes and Benji walked silently out into the secretary's space where a young boy in dreadlocks was waiting. Benji watched him for a moment before opening the door to get into the hall. Joel had been on his way in as Benji left.
"What happened?" Joel asked, not exactly surprised to see his brother exit the principal's office.
Benji put a hand up and walked past his brother. Joel sighed and walked into the office and took a seat next to the boy with the dreadlocks. Joel wasn't exactly sure why he had been called to the office, but he figured it had something to do with his class schedule and sucked it up.
"What'd you do?" the boy with the dreads asked Joel.
Joel looked over at the boy and shrugged. "Not really sure," he replied. "What'd you do?"
The boy shrugged. "I got caught skipping to smoke in the back. Not really a big deal - I'll probably just get a couple days of in-school suspension." He paused and looked Joel over for a moment. "Your brother was just in here." Joel nodded.
"He's in here a lot," the kid continued. "What's he keep doing?"
Joel sighed. "I dunno," he replied. "But he just doesn't care. I wish he would, though - maybe he'd be okay."