MAGE ; benny weir [1]

twenty-three

Wincing at her friends, Ellie stood in the back of the yearbook committee meeting watching as Ethan and Benny bombed their pitch.

"In conclusion," Ethan ended. "Our yearbook needs a face-lift."

"Yeah, or at least some serious botox," Benny added. 

Ellie chuckled at her best friends' idiocy. They wholeheartedly thought that they could pull this off.

"A lot of us spend a lot more time gaming than we do at school," Benny stated.

"We think that we should use our avatars as our yearbook photos," Ethan explained. "Why look like yourself when you could look like a Level 25 StormRanger?"

"I feel like the best way to represent me is with Thor," Benny said, holding up a picture of the God of Thunder. As they concluded, Hannah Price looked at them and shut their idea down.

"Um, no. I don't think we're gonna use that," Hannah finished. "Thanks, anyway!"

"I propose that we go totally retro and use this old-school camera for the student photos," Hannah suggested. The other students applauded her idea while Ellie met with snickers towards Ethan and Benny.

"Sorry, but that was honestly really funny," Ellie said to the two of them.
"We know."

"That's my camera, too. Well, it was Grandma's," Benny said. "I sold it to Hannah at that yard sale on Saturday."

"Well, that's your fault for selling her that camera," Ellie blamed.
"She gave me ten bucks! It goes right to the go-kart fund!"

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"I'm getting my hair done after school. You two wanna come?"
Erica inserted herself into Ellie and Sarah's conversation at Sarah's locker, causing her to furrow her eyebrows.

"Why are you getting a makeover for the yearbook photo?" Sarah questioned. "Vampires don't even show up on film."

"Yeah, isn't that kinda useless?" Ellie asked.

"This would have been my first hot yearbook photo ever. The other ones were..."
Erica trailed off as Sarah finished her sentence. "—Not the best pictures of you."

"I don't care if everyone can't see it. I'll know I looked good," Erica admitted.

"I'd kill to go with you, Erica, but I have some stuff to get done. Later!" Ellie told the two vampires as she exited down the hall.

It wasn't until Ellie finally reached her locker when Ethan quickly ran up to her, almost slamming himself into the metal wall.

"El, I need help. A girl just asked me if she could trust me," Ethan explained. "What does that mean? Is it a trap?"

"What does that mean?" Ellie looked at him.
"What do you mean?" Ethan squinted.

"Who was it?" she asked him, before he told her that it was Hannah Price.
"Look, you know that I'm not an expert on flirting, since I've been friends with you guys my entire life," Ellie explained. "But I'm sure it's nothing."

"I'd ask Sarah, though," she added. "She'll know more than I do."

"Okay. Thanks, El!"

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"So, this morning, Hannah went up to me and asked if she could 'confide' in me," Ethan explained. Benny laughed as he sat beside Ellie in their English class.

"Dude, it's a trap," Benny told him. "I knew it!"

"What? No!" Ellie butted in. "Don't listen to him; he doesn't know much about girls."