Benji's POV
I woke up in the morning at 5 am. I shivered from the cold, my clothes were still damp from yesterday and when I got up from the bed I groaned in pain. My ribs hurt really bad and my palm pulsed in pain. I still had dried blood on them. I took a shower and left early for school, before my dad got up.
I went to the Coffe House to get a drink but it opened at 7 am, in half an hour. School starts at 8 so I had time to lose. I decided to go to the park and read my new book, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. It was the beginning of autumn so it was still warm outside. I had been reading for 10 minutes when I noticed someone on a bench opposite of me. He was dressed all black: boots, jeans, t-shirt and a leather jacket. He had a buzzcut, black hair but I couldn't see his eyes well. He was smoking and looking at his phone and I guess my gaze lingered a little to long because he turned his face towards me and looked me in the eyes. He looked so scary, as if he could kill me easily. I quickly got up and gathered my stuff before going to the coffee shop.
I ordered a latte and the cute barista asked for my name "to write on the cup" even though that was an unusual thing at that cafe. He looked about my age so I told him my name and he smiled, telling me his is Cameron. I took my latte and decided to stay there to drink it because I had nowhere to go to.
I was reading and enjoying the coffee when someone sat at my table. I looked up in surprise to see Cameron smiling at me.
"I hope it's ok I sat here. The shop's a little vacant so I'm on break."
"Yeah, su-sure". I was looking at the table, anywhere else but I just couldn't look him in the eyes. And I was still wondering why a guy that beautiful was talking to ME. We spent the next half an hour talking and then I had to leave. He went to the register to assist a costumer and told me to wait a little bit. I then got anxious and told him I had to leave. He then started saying something but I had already walked out of the cafe.
—————
It was lunch, Mal and I were talking when Luke came and sat down.
"Hello, Mallory!" and then he nodded his head at me.
"Is it alright if I sit here today?"
"Yeah, sure" said Mal as she blushed.
"You look really nice today" said Luke with a smile and then they continued flirting right in front of me. I excused myself and went to the bathroom which was a bad idea because I bumped into Jake. Everyone was at lunch so the halls were empty. Jake saw me and he and his friends circled me.
"Well, well, well, look who it is, the little lady" and they all started laughing. I tried to go back to the dining hall but somebody tripped me. I fell face first, my glasses rolling on the floor, my ribs hitting the ground, hard. Jake came in front of me:
"Whoops, looks like you tripped. Let me give you your glasses" and he went to them and crushed them under his feet.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I lost my balance and stepped on them". One of his friends, Jill, took them in his hands and, as the crushed lenses were falling to the ground, he said:
"I'm sure you can still use them" and he put the glasses on my nose. I felt a sharp sting near my right eye. A piece of glass had penetrated my flesh, near my eye, making my eyes water in pain. I ran to the bathroom and tried to get it out and I finally did. It hurt so much and my eyes couldn't stop watering. A two centimeters (1 inch) red mark had been left on my face. The bell rang and I went to class with a sigh. Great, now I had science and we'd have to be assigned a partner. I didn't understand why we had to work in pairs, we'd have to communicate and I didn't like that one bit.
I entered the class and sat at the back. Miss White started explaining this year's program but I quickly lost focus. I was thinking about what had happened earlier when I heard my name being called. I was utterly confused and I didn't understand what was happening until I looked up at the teacher.
"Benjamin Wadsworth, I told you to find a partner, but I guess you were in your own world. Everyone has a partner except for you and because you all are an odd number you won't have a partner until the absent student comes to school. Now pay attention Benjamin or you'll fall behind. As I was saying, today we'll learn about..."
The teacher got interrupted when someone entered the classroom. It was the delinquent looking guy from park. Great. I hope he won't be my partner. The boy didn't even look at the teacher and took a seat in the back.
"Mister Silar, I'm happy to see you again. Maybe this year you'll put school on the first place of your to do list and so we won't have to see you next year, again. Mister Wadsworth will be your lab partner this year" and she pointed in my direction. The boy looked at me and then back at the teacher with disinterest. The teacher rolled her eyes and continued speaking. Sometime during the class, the newcomer got up and left without a word, the teacher started yelling after him but then gave up and continued talking to the class.
—————
"Benji, what happened to your face?" said Mal in a concerned voice. "And where are your glasses??"
"I tripped when I was going to science and a shard of glass scratched me, but I'm alright. Don't worry" was what came out of my mouth. I don't know why, but I couldn't tell her I was getting bullied, again. She was so happy getting closer to Luke, I just didn't want to upset her. She looked at me incredulously but didn't say anything else.
"Hey, who's that guy?" I asked her when I saw my new lab partner.
"Oh my god, don't look at him. I heard he almost killed a kid last year. He's Elias Silar and he's repeating the senior year. Why are you asking?"
"Uhm..., he's kinda my new lab partner"
She almost spit her juice. "No wayyy!!! You have to talk to miss White and change partners. He could kill you"
"I think you're being dramatic. I don't think they'd let a criminal in this school"
"His parents are very, very rich. That's why they haven't expelled him yet. You gotta be careful Benji"
—————
I was going to AP English when I saw those beautiful blonde curls again. It was Cameron. He saw me and came to say hi
"Well, what were the chances?"
"You..., you go to this school? I ha-have never seen you"
"I just moved here" said Cameron with a smile
"You left before I got to say goodbye to you"
"You know, I-I, uhh I, you know"
"Yes sure, don't sweat it. It's alright. Where're your glasses?"
"I..., I don't know" damn it. I have always been bad at talking with someone else except Mal. I just can't think of anything to say and I always, always stutter and can't look the other person in the eyes.
He laughed thinking it was some kind of a joke and then the bell rang. "Oh shoot, I have to go to class, just..., I hope I'll get to talk to you again"
"Uhm, yes, well, yes" I awkwardly responded. He left and I was left wondering how come a guy like him was talking with someone like me.
—————
Mallory drove me home and luckily my father wasn't at home. I did the dishes and then went to bed. After dressing in my pajamas I saw I had a notification on instagram: cameron_barryy started following you. I started smiling and opened his profile. I was looking at a 2 year old post when I accidentally liked it. I started panicking and instead of just unliking it, I unliked it and liked it again. I threw my phone on the floor in frustration and I heard my father going up the stairs. His footsteps were unequal which meant he was drunk. I quickly took my phone from the floor and turned off the lights pretending to be asleep. I heard the door open and light invaded my room. My face was facing the door so I hoped he wouldn't see I wasn't actually asleep. I heard him enter the room and my heart tightened, what if he is going to...He had never done anything to me besides verbal and physical abuse but, who knows? He then left and closed the door. I stayed like that for a minute and then opened my phone. I decided I wouldn't unlike his post as he had probably seen my notification so I decided to follow him and then I went to sleep.
YOU ARE READING
He's not THAT bad
Romance(Enemies to lovers) Benji is just trying to survive this last year in high school but it doesn't seem that his bullies and his father want him to. During this year, he makes unexpected friends with unexpected people and he experiences surprising th...
