The Edge of Dawn | Ben Drowned x Reader

V.

       The sun glimmers through the tree branches as they zoom past the window. I let the sun wash over the skin on my face for the first time in weeks. It feels comforting. I'm snapped out of my quiet state by a familiar voice.

       "Did you make sure to grab everything you needed?"

       "Yes, Dad."

       "Alright. I just don't want you to forget anything on your first day back."

       "I know, Dad."

       I watch the houses passing by curiously hypothesizing what the families in each one are like. I wonder if they're all just as miserable as my Dad and I. I see a woman and her child walking down the sidewalk toward the bus stop, hand in hand. I sigh and turn my gaze away from the window.

       As we arrive at the high school I get a heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach. My Dad notices.

      "You'll be okay bud. If you need me at any point just call me okay? I'll be watching my phone like a hawk," he says.

       I give him a small smile. "Okay," I respond with a slightly shaky voice. He pulls up to the curb and I open the door and hop out.

       "Bye, bud! Love you!" He calls out.

       I wince a bit, hoping he didn't draw any attention to me. I turn to wave at him. "Love you too, Dad." I walk towards the high school's front entrance, keeping my head down. I can feel people's eyes on me as I walk through the small crowd of students to get inside the building. It's a small town, and unsurprisingly, word traveled fast about my mother's fatal accident. I decide to ignore some of the looks I was getting and head straight for my locker at the end of the hall. 

       I struggle with my locker combination, I haven't had to use it in so long and my fingers are shaking from all the anxiety coursing through my body. As I'm fumbling with my lock I can hear a familiar and high-pitched voice calling my name.

       "(Y/n)? (y/n)!"

       I turn around and I'm greeted with a bright smile. "Oh my god (y/n)! You didn't tell me you were coming back today! Wait do Ash and Rey know? Oh my god, why didn't you tell me you were coming back today? I would've prepared something for you like some of those cookies I make that you love! Oh no, I'm sorry am I talking too much?"

       Gloria's energy is something that would exhaust me normally if she was anyone else, but she's not, she's Gloria. She and I have known each other since freshman year and is one of the best friends I have ever had. There's no one quite like her that I've met before. Gloria is the type of person you want to take home to meet your parents, the kind they'd always compare you to.  They'd ask "Why can't you be a little more like Gloria?" and you wouldn't be able to argue against it because deep down you know that you really should be a little more like Gloria. Her positive familiarity brings me the comfort that I needed to soothe my anxiety.

       "Hey," I chuckle lightly. "Sorry, I didn't tell you guys I was coming back, to be honest, I didn't really plan to. I decided on a whim last night after my dad and I had a talk. I didn't wanna make it a big deal."

       "It's okay, I get it. We've just missed you, you know? I was getting worried about you, we all were." she pauses before continuing, "How are you and your Dad doing?"

       I sigh and turn back to try my combination once more. "To be honest, not that great," I confess. I get my locker open and start grabbing the books I need for my first class of the day. "My Dad has been struggling and started drinking again. I have fallen really behind in school and it's gonna take me weeks, maybe months, to catch up with everyone," I add. I turn back to face Gloria, her energy dropped a bit and her grin has turned into more of a small and sympathetic smile.

       "I'm sorry. You don't have to worry about catching up, I'll help you. I'm actually a bit ahead right now so I have the time to help," she suggests. 

       I give her a thankful smile. "Of course you're ahead," I laugh. "But yeah, you're help would be great, thank you."

       Gloria perks up. "Hey, without you here to have fun with, Ash, Rey, and I haven't hung out as much and I've had a lot of extra time on my hands," she explains.

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       The cafeteria bustles with energy as I go to sit down with my tray of food. I sit at a circular table with Rey to my left, Gloria to my right, and Ash right across from me. 

       "Okay, either I've been gone for so long that I don't remember what the school lunch looks like, or it's gotten moldier looking since I left," I joke. 

       Ash laughs and replies, "No I think you're right, the brownies have definitely grown fuzz." He holds up the brownie to the light.

       Rey cringes at the description. "Dude, ew, I need to start bringing my own lunch," they groan.

       Gloria rolls her eyes and takes a bite of her apple. "Ya'll are so dramatic. And Rey I swear you say that at least once a week but never end up bringing your own lunch," she says.

       "Okay well it's a lot of work to prepare, and the few times I did prepare my lunch I forgot it at home," Rey replies.

       "Maybe if you woke up earlier like I suggested you wouldn't be rushing out of the door every morning and so you'd be less likely to forget your lunch," Gloria argues.

       Rey waves a hand in a dismissive motion. "I would rather sleep in I'm not gonna lie," they confess.

       Listening to their banter brings a soft smile to my face, I missed this. Just as Ash starts chiming into the topic of Rey's horrible sleeping habits, I look past his shoulder and spot someone I've never seen before. His head is full of messy blond hair, his skin is so pale and void of any color, and his frame is very angular and slim. My eyes travel to his outfit. He is wearing a black t-shirt over a white long sleeve, the t-shirt has small text on it that looks like code. I look down at his pants, they're army-green cargo pants with a large chain hanging from the belt loops. My gaze wanders back up and I'm suddenly staring right into his eyes. I quickly look away and act like I didn't just make direct eye contact with this random guy. I hesitantly look up once more and see that he's now immersed in conversation with the people he's sitting with. 

       "Who is that?" I abruptly ask.

       My friends look at me and then look for where my glance falls. 

       "The blond guy? That's Ben, one of the new kids," Ash answers.

       "One of?" I question.

       Rey nods and adds, "Yeah, he and a bunch of his siblings moved here while you were gone. He's sitting with some of them right now." Rey gestures at their table. "They're the Calloways."

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Hey guys! So if you didn't notice, I updated the cover for this story and I hope you like it because I spent a very unnecessary amount of time on it since I was editing it together from scratch on procreate lol. But I like it, maybe I'll change it later on or just have multiple versions of the cover Ill show you guys. We will see. I hope you're enjoying the story! As you know from the description of this fic I'm taking inspo from Twilight but its only a few elements that I'm taking from it so don't expect an exact storyline lol. Thank you for reading and supporting! <3

- Jay Vee