A flashlight in the shadows.

Chapter 9: Bikes and mayhem.

My head throbbed the next morning. I didn't want to open my eyes, but the sun was making it hard to keep them shut. I opened them up, not moving from my current position. Almost immediately, I recognized the room as being Bennett's room. His bed sheets smelled like fresh linen, like the dryer sheets. I heard some snoring, so I scooted to the edge of the bed. I saw Bennett curled up on his side, wrapped in a heavy green blanket on the floor. I giggled and thought about plugging his nose to stop the snoring, but decided against it. I sat up slowly, my head protesting. I stretched and checked the time on his alarm clock; 5:26 am. I swung my legs over the side, careful not to hit Bennett. The window was cracked a little, letting a breeze in, making the curtains sway. I got up and realized something; I wasn't wearing my own clothes. I mean, I was, just not on top. I had on a black T-shirt with a red stripe going across the chest. I also had on a pair of Bennett's sweatpants. The clothes had a nice smell to them. I pulled the huge shirt up a little, so I could smell it. I looked over and saw his easel against the wall with the painting I'd seen the other night. I caressed my fingers over it, careful not to stir Bennett. It was a beautiful mixture of blues and greens, it looked like he was trying to create a sea. I spun around and saw something sitting next to his computer; binoculars. Smirking, I picked them up and studied them. Nothing out of the ordinary. I looked out his window through them, into my room. I was shocked at how good they were. He could probably see me slee-. Oh. My. Gosh. I heard him yawn and sit up. I spun around , still gripping the binoculars. I looked through them at him and said,
"Spying on me?" His eyes widened and he stood up, taking them away.
"No! Theses are just...Cc's."
"Uh huh, sure, Bennett." I smirked and looked back at the painting. "Your an amazing painter." He looked behind him and blushed. He was wearing a long sleeved shirt, as always, and a pair of black sweatpants. His hair was messy, but in a good way.
"Thanks, there's a bathroom over there, I brought some clothes from your house." What? He looked through my closet?!? I was panicking on the inside, but I smiled and walked inside his bathroom, shutting the door behind me. He'd brought my blue sweater with a pink heart on it and a pair of blue Jeggings with my brown uggs that Hannah had got for me last Christmas. After I'd thrown everything on, I looked through his drawers to try and find a hairbrush, but stopped when I saw a foil packet; a condom. I tried to hold in my laughter, but couldn't. He came in and said,
"What?"
"You're a nasty child, ya know that?!" I kept laughing. He rolled his eyes and pushed me out.
"C'mon, I gotta change too." He shut the door and I sat on his bed, waiting for him to come out. I noticed a notebook on the night stand, and tried to refrain from looking through it, but being the nosy person I am, couldn't resist. I opened it and was surprised to be reading poetry.

'Notes of love are hard to find.
Especially with torn pages,
But the ones that are hardest to find,
Bring the best of all changes.'

I smiled and flipped through it, finding that most of the pages were taken up. He walked out of the bathroom in a black sweatshirt with white splatters everywhere and black jeans with white and black converse. When he saw me looking through the book, I looked up and said,
"I didn't know you wrote poetry!"
"Put it down, now." I shrugged and set it down, getting off the bed.
"Where's a hair brush?" I asked, walking past him. He gripped my arm firmly and said,
"Do not tell anyone about that, ok?"
"K," I replied, walking into the bathroom and finding the hairbrush at last. He went down the stairs and I brushed my hair. Since I couldn't find any hair ties, I just let my hair stay down, something I hated doing. My friends thought it looked good, but I hated sweeping the hair out of my face for the whole day. It gets tiresome after a while. I slipped on my glasses and walked down the stairs, only to be greeted by a sweet smell. I saw cc sitting at their dining room table, talking to Bennett about what appeared to be math homework. He sat next to her, bent over and trying to be patient. I saw their dad sitting at the table, drinking coffee and reading a news paper. Bennett's mom was at the stove, baking what looked to be croissants. She smiled when she saw me.
"Ahh, Sarah, nice to see you, how's your head feeling?" I rubbed it and sighed.
"A little sore, but I'll be ok."
"Thank you for letting cc cook with you yesterday, she was very happy."
"Oh, no problem. It was my pleasure." She smiled at me and gestured to a seat at the table.
"Please, sit." I obliged and she handed me a plate with a croissant on it. I ate it and was filled with its warm and flakey goodness.
"This is amazing!" I said once I'd swallowed. She smiled and nodded her head.
"Thank you," then she turned to Bennett and said, "Bennett, eat your food before it gets cold!"
"I'm helping cc quick!" He replied, looking over at her. I shrugged and said,
"I can help her, what's the subject?"
"Math." He stated, sighing. I nodded and got up, pushing him away.
"Skat, I'll help her, you go eat." He smiled and switched places with me. "Ok, if I had one apple, and I gave you one, how many would I have?"
"Hmm...one?"
"Right!" She smiled and we worked on it until 7:30. Bennett handed me my back pack and we all got in his car. I turned to him and said,
"Can I borrow your phone and tell dad where I am?"
"He knows, I called him last night," he replied, smiling. I leaned back in the seat and we listened to 'Don't stop Believing,' by journey. When we pulled up to the elementary school, Bennett helped cc unbuckle and he walked her across the street. She asked him something. He nodded, gave her a hug, and twirled her before she ran in with the sea of children. He watched her for a moment, then came back and sat in the car. I poked him and said,
"You really are a good brother." He smiled and shrugged.
"Thanks. Is Jane your only sister?"
"Yeah." I nodded and crossed my legs. He started the car and we drove towards the school. We passed several random building on the way there. I adjusted in my seat and looked at him.
"Thank you, for saving me." He smiled and said,
"Your welcome."
"How'd you know he was there?" I asked, still looking at him. He sighed and shrugged,
"I wanted to send you an email about how sorry I was, and when I looked over, I saw you two struggling." His cheeks lit up and he said, "are we ok? Are you still mad at me?" I frowned and shook my head.
"No, I wasn't really all that mad before." He looked at me and smiled.
"You weren't?"
"No, I know how important your ego is to you. I should've known when to leave." His smile faded and he looked back to the road.
"My ego isn't all that important,"
"Why do you hang out with those butt holes all day, then?" I asked. He shrugged and said,
"I-they're my teammates. Plus, I don't have any actual friends." He stopped, regretting the last part. I opened my ,mouth, closed it, and said,
"I'll be your friend." He looked at me and smirked.
"No offense, but you already have your established clique at school. If I hung out with you, you'd be in the direct path of nothing but gossip, which I know you hate." He was right about that. Gossip isn't fun for anybody. I nodded and smiled.
"Point taken."
"Yup. So, do you wanna work on the skit after school? No more delays or distractions?"
"Sure. I'll catch a ride with you home, k?"
"Ok, meet me in the back parking lot." He parked the car and we both got out, heading our separate ways. I met up with Dina for prime time. When I came in, she flung her hands in the air and said,
"Why don't you wear your hair down all the time!"
"Because it's too much work!" Exclaimed, pulling out my books. She rolled her eyes and huffed,
"I swear, if it's not down tomorrow, I'll rip the hair tie straight outta your hair!" I laughed and read some of my new book, 'We Were soldiers once, and young.' I turned the page and read the last few lines;
'We who have seen war, will never stop seeing it. In the silence of the night we will always hear the screams...'
"Sarah Appleton!" I shot up, staring at my prime time teacher, Mr. Banks. He was an old creep who enjoyed smiling at you with his yellow teeth. I cringed and replied,
"Yes?"
"You are needed at the principles office." I nodded and gathered my things. I was used to the principle calling me to ask about jane, but that's not why they called me this time. I walked into Mrs. Pinkskin's office, waving and sitting in the fabric chair.
"Hello, Mrs. Pinkskin."
"Good morning, Sarah. Our sheriff would like a quick word with you," she got up and left the room, leaving me alone with sheriff Leroy. He looked like your typical sheriff, older with grey hair, wrinkles, although not overweight. He smiled and sat down, leaning forward a little. Carson had inherited his fathers eyes, but I'd say that's about it. He stuck out his hand and said,
"Hi, Sarah, I'm sheriff Leroy, but you can call me Jim."
"Hi Jim, nice to meet you," I said, because I was at a loss for words.
"Nice to meet you too. I won't take long, I'd just like to ask you a question or two about my boy."
"Carson?"
"That would be him, yes." The sheriff had a southern accent, although we were just about as far from the south as you can get.
"Ok."
"Now, I understand his behavior isn't, well, good. Let me tell you the story he told me, and you just fill in the holes, k?"
"Ok."
"Ok. Now, he says that you two was meeting at your house to do homework. Then he says that you were a little suggestive, and he was willing to take you up on it. But meeting you in person, I am seriously doubting it." I smiled at that one.
"Go on."
"He then told me that you then hit him with a bat and invited the neighbor kid to beat him up. That's the story he gave me, now, what's your story?" I told him what really happened. About how he treated me and the picnic and the house ordeal. I even showed him the mark he left on my side from the blow dryer. After I was done, he nodded and smiled.
"Don't worry, he won't bother you again."
"You'll get a restraining order filed?"
"No need. Much as I hate to say so, my boys as cowardly as they come. Don't worry, have a great day."
"You too, Jim. And for the record, you are much nicer than your son." He tipped his hat and left, me being excused to my next class, which was biology. When Hannah and Dina saw me, Hannah hit my arm and whispered,
"Why didn't you say anything about Bennett driving you to school?!?" Oh crap. This meant that half the school probably knew about it. I shrugged and said,
"I didn't think it was important."
"It is!" Dina said, laughing. Miss. Krendler came over and smiled at us.
"Hey girls, here's your assignment." We got two pages. Dina and Hannah groaned, but I shrugged and got to work on it right away. They shook their heads and sighed.
"You know, we should pay you to do our work." Dina said, scribbling on her notebook. I thought of Bennett's notebook as I answered questions about frogs intestines.
After school I went to my locker and grabbed the skit scripts I had typed and printed. When I turned after shutting the locker door, I came face-to-face with Sabrina and her snobbish friends. One had bleach blonde hair and too much pink eye shadow, and the other had dyed her hair completely while and I could see the foundation lines on her jaw. Sabrina flipped some of her straight, highlighted hair out of her face and sneered at me with straight teeth that her parents had payed for. She had on extra foundation to try and hide the black eye that had formed when Kendra punched her. I tried to hold back a snicker. She crossed her arms while her friends made sure no teachers were watching.
"So, you're the nerd who thinks she can just talk to boys like Bennett?"
"Uh, no. I don't THINK I can. I know, I can." Her friends kissed their teeth at me while Sabrina scrunched up her nose and took a step forward.
"Listen, this is how HighSchool works. I, the pretty and popular superstar, talks to boys like Bennett. You, the weird, ugly nerd, does what I say, when I say it. And I say, leave him alone. He's never going to like someone like you." Her friends snickered and nodded.
"Yeah!" The one with white hair shouted.
"Shut up, kiley." Kiley shut up. I sighed, smiled, and said,
"Well ladies, as much as I've enjoyed chatting with you, Bennett's expecting me. We're going to work on our project, all. Night. Long. Bye," and with that, I walked past Sabrina and her crew, leaving her standing with her mouth wide open. Once at the car, I walked up to Bennett, who was leaning against his car.
"You ok?" He asked, concerned. I hadn't noticed that a few tears had escaped my eyes. I wiped them away and nodded,
"Yeah, I'm good. Ready to practice?"
"Well..." He trailed off, getting in the car. I sighed and got in, buckling up.
"Well, what?"
"I promised cc I'd fix her bike..." I rolled my eyes and smiled.
"Fine, I'll help you." He smirked and we started off to his house.
"So...what happened?"
"Hmm? I don't know what you're talking about." I smiled and watched the road in front of us.
"Your eyes weren't leaking for no reason, tell me." I looked at him, sighed, and said,
"Sabrina told me not to talk to you because I'm a nerd." He rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Oh, please. At least you actually talk to me instead of just agreeing with everything I say and giggling!"
"Exactly!"
"What'd you say to her?" I told him. He started laughing,
"You said that to Sabrina?! Oh my god! I bet she almost shit her thong!" That made me blush and laugh along. He wiped a tear away and sighed. "That was funny."
"You should've seen her face." I giggled as he turned into his driveway. Cc sat on the porch, brushing the hair of a brown cat. I smiled as we walked in the garage.
"What's the cats name?"
"Chestnut, he was a gift from my uncle Paul before we left France." I nodded and looked at the bike. It was turned upside down on a foldable table. Bennett picked up a wrench and sighed.
"Well, what to do first?" I took a screw driver and said,
"What's wrong with it?"
"I don't know. It's got some loose bolts or something." I checked the bike. There were a few bolts loose besides the chain, but that looked to be about it.
"Well, this shouldn't take long. Come here." He walked around the table so he stood behind me. "Ok, see those bolts?" He bended down to look.
"Yeah?"
"Just tighten them and the bike should be fine." He nodded and reached into the gear, tightening the bolts. We pushed it along the ground and it seemed to be fine.
"Cc! It's fixed!" She came running around the corner and hugged me.
"Thank you Sarah!"
"Hey! What about me?" Bennett asked, bending on one knee. She smiled and kissed his cheek.
"Thank you too, Bennett." She set the cat in her little wicker basket and rode off around the house to the backyard. He smiled and turned to me.
"Wanna go for a bike ride?" I rubbed my neck with one hand and replied,
"I-I don't really...know how." His eyes widened and he shouted,
"You don't know how to ride bike?!?" I shook my head and smiled.
"No." He got a devious look in his eyes and nodded.
"Ok, stay right there, I'll be back." He disappeared around the corner, leaving me alone in the garage. I looked around at all the different stuff. There was a car, a fridge, and all sorts of random stuff. When he reappeared, he had a large, completely black bike in hand.
"C'mon, hop on."
"Oh no, no, Bennett!" He picked me up and set me on top of the bike, me screaming. Once I was on, he said,
"Grab the handles and pedal when I say."
"I can't even get started!"
"You won't have to, I'll push you, c'mon!" He started running down the street of our culdasac. I screamed and held on as tight as I could to the handles. He let go and I kept coasting along. I pedaled and kept going, much to my surprise.
"Oh my gosh!"
"Yeah! Go Sarah!" Bennett clapped. I was almost back to our house when the bike tripped over the curb and I went flying, landing in the grass on my side. Bennett came running over to me, "Sarah! Are you ok?" I laughed and nodded. He grabbed my hands and helped me to my feet. I got up and brushed the grass from my Jeggings, sighing.
"Well, that was fun." I looked up to see I was still holding Bennett's hand. He smiled. I blushed and pulled it away, clearing my throat. Jane walked out of the house and waved to me.
"Yo, come help me with my math, I've got an exam tomorrow!" I nodded and turned to Bennett.
"Guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"K, bye."
"Bye," I walked towards my house. Bennett ran behind me and tapped my shoulder,
"Sarah,"
"Yeah?" I said, turning to him. He sighed and rubbed his left arm with his right hand.
"Well...I have this game tomorrow after school, do you maybe wanna come? You know, as a friend?" I smiled and shrugged.
"Sure! I'd love to. See you then!" He smiled and went inside his house. I walked inside and called Kendra before helping jane with her homework.
"Yellow?"
"Hey Kendra. I'm going to the basketball game tomorrow, wanna go?"
"Sure!" She exclaimed, probably thinking about Kenny.

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Bye everyone, enjoy the next chapter! :D