The Skill of Benjamin Banks

The Arrival of Benjamin Banks

     Has there ever been a moment in your life where you felt that everything was correct?
It's that moment that women have when trying on the perfect wedding dress, or when mothers see their children for the first time.

    That was not the feeling that Benjamin got from the Cross Academy. He was only invited there because of his Skill, everyone at the academy had one.

    "Oh Benny look at all the kids!" His mother squeezed his shoulders and pointed at the passing students. Her eyes were huge behind her fake diamond encrusted sunglasses. 

    They stared at him with a sympathy that every child with an uncool mom was familiar with.
    "Geeze mom stop pointing." Ben said through clenched teeth.

    His Mother scoffed. "Am I not allowed to be proud? My son got into THE Cross Academy!"

    It wasn't that much of an accomplishment in his mind. Ben hadn't even applied, the Academy didn't take applications. It was one of those places that found you. Even if he could have applied Ben wouldn't have wanted to.  

    Applying meant leaving all of his friends, moving 5 hours away and sharing a bathroom with a bunch of other people.

    Not an ideal situation in the slightest.

    He had opted for a single room, hoped and prayed that one was still open. Unfortunately, the Academy only had a handful of singles rooms and only people in dire situations got those. Ben briefly thought about using his late night cat video rampages  as a dire behavioral excuse. But, he decided that some people really did NEED to room alone and taking that away from them could cause them major psychological distress. And his mother threatened him with changing the wifi password.  So, after taking the personality quiz and stressing how much of not a morning person he was Ben now had a roommate named Harcourt Manton. Harcourt Monton was a self proclaimed stealth master. As long as he didn't eat all of Ben's cheese sticks the guy was okay by him

    "Oh, let me get a picture of you by the sign!" His mother said, pushing him forward. "Wait until the girls see this!"

     Ben stumbled over the brick walkway, Nearly getting plowed over by some kid zipping by on roller blades. "Sorry little dude!" He called zipping by and swerving around all of the new students.

    It was move in day, everyone explored the campus like ants without a swarm mentality, all focused on their own personal agenda.

    It was a nice enough looking school, a bit too castle-y with all of its buildings resembling grand Gothic fortresses set behind large trees and in numerous gardens. He felt as though each building had some sort of miraculous history behind it, an ancient beauty clearly displayed in their elegance. And some kids were having a water balloon fight in the courtyard. It could have been much worse. 

    But it was the people that made Ben feel out of place.

    It wasn't that they were rude, unhappy, or threatened to beat him up, it was their Skills.

    Every student there had something that they were miraculously good at. There was a boy there that could calculate the likelihood of anything in three seconds tops, and a girl that could shoot a toothpick out of someone's fingers blindfolded. 

    That was what he was up against here.

    "Smile Ben, act like you're happy to be here!" Ben's mother called, the light from her flash flicking on quickly even though it was noon and sunny. She cupped her phone with one hand, trying to block the glare to see if the picture was good or not.

    Ben took her distraction as an opportunity to make his escape. When a group of students strolled by, absorbed on their campus maps, Ben hopped in and matched their pace. It only took a few moments for the group to lead him away from his mother and her picture taking fury.

    However, blending into a crowd was not Ben's Skill.

    "Hey," the girl walking next to said, "Who are you?"

    Ben was not prepared for this. He just wanted to be home with his television and the new episode of What Not to Wear. "Oh. I AM BEN. I'm avoiding my mother, sorry for, you know...sorry." In an attempt to get away from his mother Ben had put himself into a situation that was more awkward than that time he mistook his female science teacher for a Brad Pitt. That was a low point in his life.  Ben began to break off from the group that was hiding him and the girl laughed.

    "Nah, I get it. I'm avoiding my older sister, she graduated from here so she's being super annoying and taking me everywhere." She said folding up her map and shoving it into her front pocket."I'm Annelise by the way, I was accepted for my Skill in memory. I remember everything I hear. " Annelise said.

    "I'm Ben." Ben said. Communication was not his Skill either.

    Annelise laughed again, not a mean laugh though, the kind that people did when they were sharing a joke of moderate humor. In a way, it was good that she mistook Ben's social skills or lack thereof as humor.  " I remember that, what about your Skill Ben? If you're comfortable sharing that is."

    Ben stopped walking and the members of the group that were behind him pushed past.
Annalise took a few steps before realizing Ben has stopped. When she did she turned around and walked back to him. "Sorry, you don't have to tell me."

    Ben sighed. "No it's not that, it's just-"

    Even though he had just met Annalise it was clear to Ben that she  had a cooler Skill than he did. But he had to tell her his Skill, she had told him her's after all.

    Ben took a deep breath. 

    " My skill is dank Memes."

    Suddenly,Ben's human skin began to boil off and slop to the ground in liquid-like chunks, revealing patches of deep green. His jaw unhinged and peeled back with the rest of his head and from it emerged an emotionless frog head. His bones cracked and reformed, bulging beneath their surface. The skin on Ben's back broke open and from it slowly came a unicycle, which he climbed on top of once it had separated itself from his body.

  Anneliese screamed and staggered backwards in horror. "Its DAT boi!" She whimpered.

  "Oh shit." Someone behind her said. "Waddup?"