A flashlight in the shadows.

chapter 43: A place of learning.

The first half of the day was absolute torture. People all over the school believed Sabrina's story, and they all resented me for it. I never thought I'd be as happy as I was when the bell for lunch rang. Hannah and Kendra joined me in the line, which today supplied broccoli and cheese. Hannah was ranting,
"Who the hell does that bitch think she is? She can't talk about you that way! And these people are idiots for even believing her snotty ass!"
"Yeah!" Kendra said as we went to sit down at our table. The lunchroom was bustling with gossip and laughing, except for at my table. There were murderous plots being told at my table.
"Hannah, I swear, all we need is some hair remover-" Kendra was talking to Hannah. And then, in the middle of her sentence, we were all dumbfounded. Bennett walked up and took the seat next to me, smiling.
"Hey Sarah, hey everyone, what's up?" Hannah and Dina stared with big eyes. Kendra smirked at me, and I asked,
"Bennett, what're you doing?" He frowned and said,
"Uh...eating lunch? How about you?"
"I didn't mean that, I meant, why are you eating lunch with us?" He was about to reply when I heard an icy voice,
"What do you think you're doing?" I turned around to see Sabrina glaring down at me. I clenched my teeth,
"I am not doing anything. What are you doing?" She scoffed and said,
"Uh, I'm getting my boyfriend away from trash like you, come on, Bennett." But he didn't move. He only replied,
"No, Sabrina." She stopped and turned around.
"Uh, what?"
"I'm not sitting with you today, I'm sitting with Sarah." She looked at him like she was about to cry,
"Have you read my article?" He looked at her with a straight face.
"Yes, I have." She sniffled and said,
"Then you know what she did to me-"
"I know that's bullshit, Sabrina. Stop your crying.' He said loudly. The lunchroom became quiet as everyone was eager to listen. She looked at them, then to him,
"I don't know what you're talking about-"
"Sabrina, you were lying on that article. You made Sarah out to be a bitch, but the only bitch I see right now is you, and by the way, you have lipstick on your teeth. Now, take your gossip and lies somewhere else, because I'm not, nor will I ever be, interested in you." She stared at him with an open mouth and wide eyes. The whole lunchroom was whispering. Some people even oooed. She walked away, crying and sniffling while people laughed at her. Bennett turned back to us and sighed.
"Well, what should we talk about?" I looked at them and sighed.
"I'll be right back."
"Where are you going?" Lucy asked. But I ws already up and dumping my tray. I went to the girls bathroom and heard some crying in the furthest stall. I realize that it may have been dumb to comfort someone who hated me, but I also realized that she was a human being. She had dreams, she had ambitions. And I would be no better than her if I sat with everyone else and laughed at her. That's never a good thing to do, no matter how much they might've deserved it.
I approached the door and said quietly,
"Sabrina?"
"Go away!" She shrieked, sobbing some more. I stood outside the door, waiting. She eventually came out and went to the sink, wiping her face with a wet wipe.
"What do you want? Did you come to gloat? Laugh at me?" I shook my head and said,
"No, I just thought you could use a shoulder to cry on." She turned to me, mascara running down her face.
"W-what? Aren't you mad at me?" I sighed and said,
"You know Sabrina, I could spend my energy on being mad. Or, I could spend it on making myself and others happy. Which one would you rather choose?" She sniffled and wiped her nose.
"I, I guess I never thought about that." Then, she looked at me and smiled.
"Thanks." I nodded and asked,
"Are you going to be ok?" She sighed and looked down.
"I think so." I nodded.
"Good, I suppose I should be going." I turned to leave.
"Sarah," she stopped me at the door. I turned to face her,
"Yes Sabrina?" She looked at the trash can, then at me.
"Bennett's lucky to have someone like you." I didn't bother to correct her, I simply nodded and left to class.
I gathered my things after the final bell rang and walked out to my car. Since lunch, the whole school was debating on wether or not Sabrina's story was true. Several kids asked me, but I politely ignored them. Gossip is the worst thing in the world, because it's impossible to know if it's true or not. I hopped in the car and started for the library. As I pulled up, I orchestrated many possibilities for his explanation. I also had a lot of questions for him. How long had he been doing it? Did he like it? But most of all, why did he do it? I walked in and smiled at Mrs. Damon. She smiled back,
"Hello Sarah, I haven't seen you in here for a while." I smiled and sighed.
"I know, life's been busy." She nodded,
"Yes, I heard about you on the news." I nodded.
"Yeah, it's been crazy. Anyhow, have you seen a boy with brunette hair and a doofy smiled come in?" She nodded and pointed to the stairs that led upstairs to a section of encyclopedias. I thanked her and headed up the stairs. They creaked under my weight, echoing through the library. When I reached the top, I walked to the other end where I found Bennett sitting on a couch, writing in his notebook. His glasses were in place, and the light reflecting off them gave him this cool glow effect. He heard me approaching and looked up, smiling.
"Hey." I smiled and sat next to him,
"Hey, how was you're day?" He shrugged and sighed.
"It was alright," then he asked, "where did you go during lunch?" I bit my lip and said,
"I went to talk with Sabrina." He lifted one eyebrow.
"And?" I shrugged.
"I comforted her." He frowned.
"Why?" I rolled my eyes.
"Because you should do onto others as you would have them do onto you." He sighed.
"You sound like a second grade teacher." I shrugged.
"Maybe that's a good thing." He shrugged.
"Maybe." We went silent for a few minutes. He finally sighed and said,
"Well, I guess you want answers?" I nodded.
"Yes, please." He nodded and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath in. After he let it out, he opened his eyes and looked out the window we sat next to.
"Some of them were made by them. But I started cutting myself right before we left France. It was the day after he had used me in a ritual for the first time. I had always wondered about it. If it really did make the pain go away, and once I tried it, I found that it did. The rush of pain took my mind off the other kind, and it wasn't as intense. I know it wasn't right, and I swore to myself I wouldn't do it again. But then he kept using me in rituals. And I kept cutting and cutting...the day you rejected me, I decided to just end it. End all the pain, but I know that was wrong." He finished and searched my face for my reaction. I just stared. He asked me then,
"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" He looked down at his notebook. "I guess I don't blame you. I thought I was crazy the first time I did it." A tear left his eye, but no others followed. I lifted his chin with my hand.
"No, I don't think you're crazy." He smiled and sighed in relief,
"You don't?"
"No, but promise me something." I said, looking into his eyes. He nodded,
"Anything."
"If you ever feel like doing it again, call me, and we'll work it out together, ok?" He nodded again and sniffled once.
"Ok." I smiled.
"Now that that's put of the way, I need help with French homework." He smiled and nodded.
"I still need to do mine, we'll work on it together." I nodded and we took out our things. We were each supposed to choose a town in France to write a history on. Bennett chose cherbourge, because he knew a lot about it. I chose Fontainebleau because I had heard of it in a movie. As it turned out, not many encyclopedias had very much on that particular town, so it was a good thing that Bennett had been there.
"My aunt Micha lived there. We used to visit all the time, it was such a beautiful town. I got to go every summer and play by the river. Wild lilacs used to grow by the bend, and I loved the smell of them." I listened to his memories with a warm feeling inside. After two hours of talking and working, but mostly talking, the library was closing down, and we were asked to leave. Bennett offered to drive me, but I declined, because I had driven my own car there. As I pulled in the driveway, I saw that Cassandra was at the house. When I walked in, all I could smell was bacon and cookies. I walked in to see dad and mom laughing while they looked through an old picture book.
"Haha, do you remember that day?"
"Oh god, how could I forget? We were stuck with a goat for two weeks!" They laughed and saw me standing in the doorway. Dad smiled.
"He sweetheart, how's my baby girl?" I smiled and shrugged,
"I'm pretty good, dad. I see you two are having fun." Cassandra giggled and dad laughed,
"Yeah, your mother and I are just looking through an old album of mine." I grabbed a piece of bacon and walked behind him. They told me stories about their trips to Peru and sweeden. They flipped through it until we came upon an old picture. It was of my mom in a pink hospital gown. She looked extremely exhausted, but happy at the same time. And there, in her arms wrapped tightly in a pink blanket, was me. My eyes were closed, but my cheeks were red and I was completely bald. Cassandra brushed a thumb over the picture.
"October 22, 1996." Dad nodded and shook his head.
"That was a hectic day. The house almost caught on fire at breakfast, I accidentally shaved the hair off my head," then he sighed and said, "well, at least one good thing came out of that day." I smiled and hugged him. After we pulled away, I went up the stairs to my room. The second I walked in the door, my computer went off. Sighing, I walked over and flipped open the thing.
'Forgetting something?;)' I looked over to see him holding up my calculus textbook. My heart skipped a beat. It would have been disastrous if I had lost it. I quickly typed,
'I'm coming to get it.'
'My mom will have a cow, thanks to the incident this morning;)' I rolled my eyes and tapped back,
'That was your fault. Will you please bring it here?' He frowned.
'To your room?' I huffed and typed,
'No, to the car. Yes to my room!' He smiled wickedly and typed,
'Be there in 5;)' I suddenly felt in dangor at his last message, and thought briefly about arming myself with a bat. But I decided not to be extreme and waited patiently for him to arrive. I didn't have to wait very long, because he came into my room a few minutes later, still smiling.
"Here you go my forgetful one." I took it and rolled my eyes.
"Oh, haha, very funny."
"I know, comedy is my natural gift." I rolled my eyes. He sat down next to me on the bed and asked,
"So...where's Jane?" I shrugged and giggled,
"Probably off smoothing with Jacob." He raised an eyebrow.
"Smooching, you say?" I giggled again.
"Yeah, that's what I said." He smirked.
"Do you suppose it's French smooching?" I threw a pillow at him.
"I'll have to tell dad if it is." We laughed for a minute, then became quiet. I could hear my parents distant laughter. I sighed and shrugged,
"Well, I guess you should be going-"
"Its not what everyone thinks it is." He interrupted. I frowned at him, confused.
"What isn't?" He looked at me and smiled.
"A French kiss." I couldn't help but feel my cheeks getting redder. I looked down and said nervously,
"Oh, it's not?" He lifted my chin with his hand and shook his hand.
"No, it's not." Our faces were only inches apart by now. I couldn't look him in the eye, so I looked down sheepishly and asked,
"Well, what then?" He smiled and whispered gently,
"It goes a little like this," he closed the gap between us and our lips connected for the first time.
I felt myself freeze. He smiled in the kiss, and he set a hand on my cheek. I finally got hold of my senses and moved my lips to match his pace. He first kissed my upper lip, then my lower one. I felt tingles erupting all over my skin as his other hand found its way around my waist. He slipped his tongue in my mouth, but only grazed mine with it before pulling it back into his own. This act made me want more of it. I kissed him a little harder, but he only kissed me one more time before pulling away, smirking. I breathed for a second before looking back at him with wide eyes. He chuckled slightly and said,
"Was that what you expected?" I shook my head and blushed more.
"Not at all." He nodded and said,
"That means it was done the right way." He then got up and left my room, my lips still tingling from his kiss.

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Oh my gosh I broke a nail! Enjoy the next one, bye! :)