In My Eyes

Chapter Ten

Ben

I stand outside, by the tree, where my girlfriend and I usually meet up after school. She's running a little late, but I don't mind much. I just wait, sitting on the rock wall next to it, scrolling through social media as I do so.

"Benji!" I hear a familiar voice squeal. Benji, I think to myself. She keeps calling me that even though I told her I hate it.

"Hey," I greet her. Her beautiful dark brown locks flow in the wind. I peer up at her face, seeing her shimmering green eyes in the sunlight. My heart speeds up when I see her gorgeous features, happy to see her again.

I stand up to give her a hug, but she pulls away from me really quickly. I look at her face and see a disgusted look. "I told you not to touch me. You'll mess up my hair."

"Oh, sorry," I apologize, feeling really sad that I can't hold her in my arms. Why is Bianca acting so strangely?

I sit back down, but Bianca looks at me in a very intense way. "You're such a fag. You never listen to me, and you're always crying like a little bitch," she yells. Her voice pierces through my head like a bullet.

"I'm sorry," I whine. She slaps me in the face. Suddenly, her flowing chocolate hair changes shades to a much lighter color. It seems to be somewhat of a dirty blonde. Additionally, her green eyes turn gray, and her freckles fade.

"Stop being such a loser," she sneers. She slaps me again. I start to lose sight of my surroundings. Things begin to fade to black.

"Lexi..." I sob.

I wake up in a cold sweat. I've had dreams like that before, but this time, it was somehow so much worse. Lexi disguised herself as my beautiful Bianca. I can never escape...

Immediately, I text Bianca. "You up?"

A few minutes later, I get a reply, "Yeah. What's up?"

"Do you think we can hang out today?" I ask her. The dream left me feeling so empty, my longing to see her increased exponentially.

"Yeah, I'm not really doing anything. Wanna come over here? I can introduce you to my family," she responds. I smile, my chest filling up with warmth, replacing the hollowness that the nightmare left me with.

"That'd be great," I tell her. So I start getting dressed and brush my teeth, preparing to leave as soon as possible.

"You seem to be in a hurry. What are you up to?" my mom asks me from behind when she sees me in the hallway. I turn to face her.

"I'm going to see Bianca," I reply.

She purses her lips. "Did she invite you to another thing with her friends?"

"I'm just going over her house by myself," I respond.

She gives me a skeptical look. "Why?"

I hesitate. "Because we're dating."

She frowns. "Benjamin, I told you to stay away from girls for now, did I not? I don't want you getting hurt."

My heart aches. "Mama, Bianca's different. Lexi never even wanted me near her parents, remember? Bianca is excited for me to meet her family. And she's also gone through her own share of bullying, so she's really sweet about the topic."