Waiting It Out - Benny Rodriguez - Book 1

Study Group

"I bring this study group to order." Kenny says after slaming his hand on the table.

Me, Benny, and Bertram have come to his house to study for our tests. It's Sunday so our first one, biology, is tomorrow.

"In all seriousness, we're gonna need to study four subjects today." Bertram tells us.

"Yeah. I don't want to study after doing an end-of-year exam." Kenny agrees.

"Agreed." I say.

"Which one are we starting with?" Benny asks.

"Bio, probably." Kenny says. "Considering that test is tomorrow."

"Hey, kids." Kenny's mom says as she walks into the dining room where we're sitting. "It's about lunch time. You hungry?"

"I could eat." Bertram says.

"You could always eat." Benny retorts.

Bertram nods, wordlessly saying it's true.

"I can make you guys sandwhiches or pasta." Mrs. DeNunez offers.

"Whatever's easier on you, mom." Kenny tells her.

"Pasta it is. That way I don't have to take orders." she says. "Everybody's good with red sauce, right?"

We all nod and she heads into the kitchen.

"Go to the back of your textbooks. To the practice questions." Bertram tells us and we do. "Kenny. You wanna lead?"

"Oh, yeah." he responds and goes a few pages further to where the answers are. "Bertram. What is a hybrid?"

"C. The result of cross pollination."

"Correct." Kenny says.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You guys wanna go into math now?" Kenny asks.

"Sure." Bertram answers.

"I'll take my break now." I say, standing up.

"Where are you going?" Bertram asks me.

"You know she doesn't need to study math." Benny defends me.

"All the more reason to have her here." Kenny says.

I stand behind Benny and rest my hands on his shoulders.

"I'll be right back. Just start with the easy stuff." I tell them.

"There is no easy stuff." Bertram complains.

I lightly squeeze Benny's shoulders before walking out, going into the kitchen to see Mrs. DeNunez.

"Hey, honey." she greets. "You saying for dinner? You are all welcome to stay."

"I'm game. I can tell the others when I go back." I respond.

"By the way, Jen told me about you and Benny." she starts and a smile appears on my face. "It's going good, yeah?"

"Yeah, it is." I answer. "Really good."

"I'm very happy for the two of you. Can't say I didn't see it coming." she says.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"The two of you getting together." she answers. "I've been waiting for the two of you to get together since you guys were in kindergarden."

"Oh my god." I say, putting my face in my hands.

"It's nothing to be embarrased about." she reassures. "You guys have always had a sort of... energy. It's like you were destined to be together and we were just watching it play out."