what if → Benny Rodriguez

25 | Ghosts

October 2nd, 2019

SEPTEMBER SLIPPED away so quickly that i nearly spit out the water that was in my mouth when I heard Squints and Yeah-Yeah start talking about what they're going to wear for halloween.

Kendra joins us at the sandlot after school every once and awhile when she doesn't have dance. Turns out that she's actually not bad at all for never having played before.  

The leaves on the trees have begun to change color, though, so it's hard to avoid the undeniable fact that winter is on its way. Compared to other places I've lived, though, the Valley doesn't get nearly as cold as Minnesota for example. That was one hell of a winter, but I can't say I was complaining about the amount of snow days. I remember there was one day where the kids in my neighborhood had grabbed their ice skates and began skating around the road. Evelyn had gone out with them and reported back that there was about two inches of pure ice out there.

Today Benny, DeNunez and I sat at the public library trying to get away from family distractions and get some homework done. Well, Kenny mostly just sits with his feet up on the table playing clash of clans on his phone.

"Hey, do you guys wanna play among us?" DeNunez whispers.

"No." Benny and I say in unison keeping our eyes on our Algebra packets.

"You're no fun." says DeNunez.

"It would do you some good to get some work done yourself." I pointed at his packet that lies untouched in front of him. "Plus, no one likes that game anymore."

"It can be fun if you make it fun." DeNunez defends himself and puts his earbuds back in.

"What'd you get for number 13?" Benny asks.

"Here." I sigh and push my packet towards him for him to copy down the long equation.

"What would I do without you?" I feel Benny's foot tap around mine and he starts to write.

"So what're we going to be for halloween?" I sit back in my chair.

Benny chuckles. "My mom's gonna be out of town visiting her parents that week and Owen is planning on throwing a big party."

"Are we gonna go?" I ask.

"If you want. Or we could stay at your place watching scary movies. and you can bury your face in my shoulder in fear not even watching the movie." Benny thinks he's so funny.

"Ha. ha." I roll my eyes jokingly. "It's your fault for telling me the scene is over when it's really not... but maybe we can stop by the party for a bit. Who's all gonna be there?"

"He hasn't invited anyone yet just because it's early, but he's planning on just inviting pretty much everyone he knows, which is like everyone in our whole school." Benny says.

"Good luck cleaning that up." I smile.

"Owen has thrown parties like this before. Last New years he threw one and at one point no one was paying attention to who came in and out of our house." He taps his chin with his pencil. "Y'know now that I'm thinking about it, it was a lot like that scene in diary of a wimpy kid. The party that rodrick throws. Me and Kenny were like Greg and Rowley.  But yeah it took us three days to clean up our house completely after that one."

"And Amy never found out?" I ask in amazement.

"Not even a clue."

Just then a flash of blonde hair caught my eye and my eyes were suddenly locked with Bella Mclennan's. Her face twists into a disgusted expression and I'm sure mine unintentionally did the same.