The Project

Chapter 5

"Homework?"

I turned around in my desk to face Benny, handing him the note back.

"Class hasn't started yet, you can talk to me instead of passing notes," I inform.

Benny just shrugs. "Can I have the homework or no?"

"One day I'm gonna say no," I warn, pulling last nights homework out of my folder and setting it on Benny's desk.

"No you're not," Benny murmurs, snickering at the glare I gave him.

As he copies my answers, Johnny walks into the classroom and over to his seat next to mine.

When he sets his backpack on the floor, our eyes meet, and we start laughing like we had been the night before.

Benny looks up from the homework, watching us laugh out of nowhere. He frowns. "What're you guys laughing about?"

Johnny and I settle down from our sudden outburst of laughter. Benny looks between us, utterly confused.

"It's just about something that happened yesterday," I inform.

Benny still frowns. "What happened yesterday?"

I look at Johnny. He's smiling, trying not to laugh again.

"The waitress thought we were dating and only gave us one cherry coke when we ordered two," I explain, chuckling and shaking my head.

Benny raises his eyebrows, again looking between Johnny and I.

"You were at a diner?" He questions. "And the waitress thought you were dating?"

"Yeah, we took a break from our work at the library and it was right across the street," I say.

The bell rings then and Benny doesn't say anything more as he continues back to copying my homework.

"Alright class, today we have an assembly to go to," Mrs. Peters says. "So leave your backpacks here and go to the gym."

Benny silently hands me my homework back and walks ahead of me out of the classroom.

I begin to follow him but can't catch up because he's too far ahead and someone had called my name.

Turning around, Johnny is behind me and we walk next to each other down the hall.

"Hey, uh, I was wondering if you wanted to sit together at the assembly," Johnny quietly suggests, chuckling. "I know it's lame but I don't really have anyone else to sit with."

He was blushing and I could feel my own face heat up too.

"Yeah, of course," I answer. He smiles shyly.

We make our way to the gym, finding an empty spot to sit beside Benny. I sit between him and Johnny.

"Are you okay?" I wonder to the black haired boy.

"Yeah," he mumbles, fumbling with his thumbs, a habit of his.

I knew he wasn't okay. What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't?

"You can talk to me if you gotta," I remind.

Benny smiles. "I know. Thanks."

I smile back and the assembly starts then.

It's another assembly about drugs and alcohol that no one really listens to but at least we were getting out of class.

About 10 minutes in of scolding from the presenter, Benny whispers to me, "Do you wanna skip the rest of this assembly?"

I was about to agree until I hear a sigh coming from my other side. Then I remember Johnny.

"I shouldn't leave Johnny," I reply to Benny. "He wanted to sit with me."

Benny shrugs. "Just tell him you gotta use the bathroom."

I glance at Johnny, who seems to have a naturally innocent expression as he listens in on the assembly.

Already I felt bad, but it'd only be a few minutes.

"I'm gonna go use the bathroom," I lie.

Johnny nods and I sneak out of the gymnasium.

I wait for Benny in the empty hall once I get out. He's out a moment later and smirks.

"Let's go!"

We start walking side by side to our special spot under the staircase.

There, Benny pulls a pack of cigarettes out from his back pocket, casually sticking one in between his lips and lighting it up.

"You didn't get too much out of that assembly, did you?" I tease, taking the cigarette out from his lips and setting it between my own.

He shoves the box back into the back pocket of his jeans.

Benny chuckles. "Neither did you."

"I don't play any sports though," I sass. "You need to save your lungs for baseball."

"Are you my mom?" He sarcastically says.

"No," I reply.

We silently share the cigarette until 10 minutes have passed by and I want to get back to the assembly.

"I don't wanna go back," Benny whines as we start walking back to the gym. "It's a dumb assembly. Even Johnny, who I've never seen show emotion, looks bored and miserable."

I chortle. "You saw him laugh today."

"Yeah, I didn't realize you two became such good friends," Benny comments, looking down at his converse.

"I hardly know him, Benny," I inform. "What, are you jealous or something?"

Benny raises an eyebrow, looking up from his shoes and to me. "Me? I don't get jealous."

"If you say so."

We make it back to gym, sitting back in the same empty part of the bleachers where Johnny was by himself.

He doesn't say anything, but he sees me walk in with Benny, so he probably figured out that I wasn't using the bathroom.

The assembly is just about over now. I felt bad for the school, who probably worked on hard on putting the dumb assembly together, because no one would listen to what it had to say.

People were going to do drugs and drink alcohol and there was not a thing the school could do about it.

Benny and I depart as he goes to his 6th hour, and Johnny and I go to ours.

"So where were you?" Johnny asks as we walk to math.

"Under the stairs," I respond truthfully. There was no point in lying, especially because there was just no way he'd believe me.

"This might be a dumb question," Johnny starts and I'm already nervous. "But are you and Benny dating?"

I want to burst out in laughter. "Benny? And me? God no, we're best friends and nothing else."'

Johnny snickers, ruffling his hair shyly. Everything he does seems shy. "Yeah, that's what I thought. But I wanted to know for sure."

We go to our own desks on the opposite sides of the room when we make it to math.

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