Tormented

Chapter 7

'How was your date?' Sarah teases as soon as I see her for the first time at school.

'It was definitely not a date!'

'It was a joke. But how did it go anyways? What is his house like? Did you see his bedroom? I bet it's massive!'

'What? Why would I see his bedroom?'

'James and I do our project in my room?' She offers.

'Yeah, well I'm not about to go sit on Benedict's bed. God knows what I'd catch.' I sneer.

'So you two still hate each other huh?' She says, pointing out the obvious.

'Yes... One week of studying together isn't going to change anything. But I did meet his brother and he was cute.' I tell her.

'Oh yeah?' She says wiggling her eyebrows.

'Yeah, his 9 year old brother...' I correct her suspicions before she says something gross.

'Oh.' She replies looking less excited then she was a second ago.

'You know, something weird did happen though...'

'What?' She asks with curiosity as she reaches into her locker to grab a book for our next class.

'Well the whole reason I had to go there was so he could look after his brother, right? But like an hour in his parents come home and they were like screaming at each other, like borderline ready to kill each other.'

'That sounds healthy. What did Ben say?' 

'Nothing, He just told me I had to leave.'

'He kicked you out?' She turns to me, slamming her locker in shock.

'Yeah, without any explanation.'

'Strange...' She remarks.

'Can you ask James what's happening?'

'I dunno...' She says, pulling a face like she didn't want to get involved.

'Oh come on, please. I'm curious.' I beg, pressing my hands together as I pouted, pulling a classic Sarah move.

'Why do you even care?'

'I don't... I just want to know. I guess I feel sorry for chuck...'

'Chuck?'

'Bens little brother.'

She squints her eyes while she stares at me as if she was trying to read my mind, but there wasn't any ulterior motive then satisfying my own curiosity.

'Fine.' She caves. 'I'll ask James, but I'm not going to keep asking him stuff. If you want to know Benedict, talk to him. Ask him what's going on.'

'Oh no, that's not happening. It's just this one thing and that's it. He wouldn't talk to me if I asked anyway. He was super closed off after his parents came home.'

'Okay then.' She says as she pulls her phone out and texts James.

Sarah - Hey, weird one, but do you know what is happening with Bens parents?

James - Hey Babe. Er... They're splitting up. Ben doesn't like talking about it, but his dad was having an affair. His mum took it pretty hard. I think they tried therapy from what I could work out, but it didn't work. Bens mum is trying to keep the house, but his dad is fighting her for it. They spend a lot of time with their lawyers fighting over it at the moment.

Sarah - Thanks babe

James - Do NOT tell Ben I told you! And don't tell anyone else!

Sarah hands me the phone, letting me read the response. My heart dropped in my chest as I read the words.

'How sad.' I say to Sarah with my eyes on the screen.

'Yeah, that's got to suck.'

'What a bastard.' I say to her, talking about his father.

'Yeah, I know right. Who does that to a family?'

'What are you talking about?' A voice booms behind me making me almost drop Sarah's phone as I tried to clear the screen.

As I fumble with the phone before smacking it face down on the table, my eyes shot up to see a tried looking Benedict.

'Nothing.' I lie terribly, noticing the bags under his eyes that are usually there.

Or maybe they are and I've just never really looked at him face to notice until now?

'Sure... Not that I actually care.' He adds.

'Can we help you?' Sarah asks looking over her shoulder to Benedict, but again he ignores her and looks straight at me.

'We need to finish the History assignment.' Was all he says.

'Yeah...'

'So you can come around tonight to finish it. I'm busy tomorrow.'

'Yeah, we're busy tomorrow too.' Sarah tells him. 'With it being Friday night and all.' She adds.

It's at her words I remember the party she was forcing me to go to and I feel myself slump into my chair at the thought.

'Yes... No?' Benedict asks, pulling me back from my trance.

'Oh er no. I'm not studying at your house again. We can use the library.'

Then something mischievous crosses my mind that I know will annoy him.

'Actually you can come to my house.' I tell him with a big smile ready for him to fight me on it.

'Fine, I'll meet you after school.' He tells me as he turns and walks off.

Both Sarah and I watch him walk away wondering what the hell just happened.

'Did he just...?' I ask, staring down the hall in shock.

'Yep.' Sarah tells me.

'Without fighting me...?'

'Yep.' She confirms.

I'd only known Benedict just over a year and never have I heard him agree to something so easily. He's the sort of person who has to fight you on anything and everything. But he just agreed to come to my house to study? I didn't even want him in my house it was supposed to be a joke. A joke that most certainly backfired. But I wasn't about to back down now. If I had to endure being in his house and having to bear witness to his parents domestic then he could come to mine.

I mean, what's the worst that can happen?