TIME FLIES WHEN YOU'RE HAVING FUN, or in Benadette Sterling's case, life's fun when you're having flies. Flies being the crumbling interest of Hawkins, Indiana. From its ever-so-inviting ambiance of a basic town square to the super luxurious recrea...
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RIGHT BEFORE SHE WAS GOING TO INTERVIEW RICK SPRINGFIELD FOR HIS GRAMMY, HER STATE OF UNREALITY WAS RUDELY INTERRUPTED. The sound of an obnoxiously loud alarm clock filled the room with a ring that would make anyone insane. Her eyes didn't want to open, and the light streaming through her curtains (failing to do their simple job of preventing her from going blind) made her feel like Count Dracula after a successful night of blood lust.
Benny knew if she didn't have the ratchet sound machine, she would be an hour late to school every day. The girl rolled to look at the red digits that read 6:45, making her groan and hitting the snooze. She turned over, realizing that a copy of one of her Nancy Drew novels was lying in the same position as yesterday when she fell asleep.
A cool tip of a nose nudged her hand to indicate her puppy (he is well over four years old) needed attention. Han was a rambunctious chocolate lab that acted like an old man despite his age and loved nothing more than to sleep in with Benny on a Saturday afternoon.
Benny gave him a small pet before sitting up and rubbing her eyes, removing any remaining eye gunk in the inner corners. Her vision came into focus, and her mirror became less blurred the more she examined the reflective glass sitting on her chest of drawers. The wooden frame around it was decorated with stickers from many family vacations and a note list of monthly goals she had written to herself.
Her grim expression fell more when she noticed her misbehaved morning look as her bob looked like a rat's nest of untamed curls. She had become accustomed to seeing the dark bags under her eyes and sighed, knowing her mother so graciously bestowed the trait upon her.
Every teenage girl seems to be in a constant battle with society, telling her how presentable she is, so why should Benny be different? After all, she worked for the school paper, so no one paid attention to what she wore, and it wasn't like she had time to plan outfits days in advance despite her unhinged obsession with deadlines, as her friend Candy would put it.
She fell back to her pillow, feeling like she could sleep for another eight hours. High school was a drag; anyone who enjoyed it was popular and uninteresting. Saying Benny hates school was an understatement, even though her mother told her it was impossible to hate something or someone. She's never been to present-day Hawkins High School.
Her mom was Miss Popular and often compared Benny's lack of human interaction to her obsession with movies and writing. Jacqueline Hopper, now Sterling, was the Prom Queen of Hawkins and dated the football team's star. Her standards were far-fetched for an awkward teen who can not handle crowds.
While curled up under her comforter again, her mind drifted into another deep sleep, knowing that her snooze would wake her again. But the person who swung open her door had other plans. A stir came from the foot of her bed as Han leaped up to exit the room. Beverly Sterling gave out a dramatic gasp at her sister's stationary state and belted out, "Mom! Benny hasn't gotten up yet."
