If Not For You

Chapter 41

Lena gave Jenna a ride home from school, where she spent the next two hours getting everything ready for Paul and Ben to come over for dinner.  Jenna just wanted everything to go right tonight.  If it all went to hell tomorrow she wouldn't care.  She just wanted somebody in her family to be happy for her that she found somebody who cared about her.  She just wanted a normal family.  One that wanted her to be happy.  She would give anything to have a mother she could've had the talk with, a father who scared away her dates, a grandmother who told her parents they were being too hard on her.  She would give anything for parents who would be hard on her.

She was running around trying to make dinner to keep her mind off of the inevitable apocalypse that was going to happen.  She had told Ben that she wasn't exactly upfront with her grandmother about who was coming and he supported her in her decision.  He said worst case scenario was her grandmother would scream at him and kick her out.  Ben could handle being screamed at and Jenna was already always getting kicked out anyway.  Together they would face this.

The plan was that Paul and Ben where going to go to practice and meet back up at Paul's so they could ride together over to Paul's grandmother's.  When Ben and Paul pulled up to the house they were greeted at the door by Jenna.  Jenna reached out and grabbed Ben's hand and held it while she introduced Ben to her and Paul's grandmother as her boyfriend.

The dinner went as well as could be expected.  Their grandmother was on her best behavior and even after Paul and Ben left she told Jenna that she approved of Ben.  Jenna knew not to count too much on this being a change in her grandmother, Jenna knew that in time she would use Ben as something to throw in Jenna's face, but Jenna didn't care.  She loved Ben and for one evening she could pretend that she was a normal girl with a normal life, introducing her extraordinary boyfriend to her family.

Ben was sitting in the passenger side of Paul's vehicle.  He could tell that Paul wasn't taking all the stuff Jenna told him well.  He hadn't showed up for practice.  He had told coach that he had some family business he needed to take care of and he drove off.  Ben was surprised when Paul actually came back to the school to pick him up. 

Paul missed the turn off for Lucas' place but Ben didn't say anything.  He figured since it was early yet maybe Paul just wanted to hang out after the rough day he had.  It wasn't until Paul pulled onto the highway that Ben spoke up.  "Uh I think you missed my turn."  Ben wasn't sure what Paul's response was going to be.  He didn’t have any idea what was going on in Paul’s head.

Paul didn't take his eyes of the road.  "We are going on a little road trip."  He said without any emotion at all.

Ben raised his eyebrow.  Paul wore his heart on his sleeve, you always knew what he was thinking and for the first time in their lives Ben couldn't read him.  "Where are we going?"

"Hawthorne Academy."  He answered short and sweet and his response only left Ben with more questions.

Ben was tired of the ring around.  "What's going on Paul?  What's at this school?"

"The guy that ruined Jenna's life."  Paul’s grip tightened on the steering wheel as he said it.

Ben was shocked.  "What the hell are we going there for?  What are you going to do?"

Paul sped up on the highway and passed a few cars before he acknowledged Ben's existence.  He reached across the seats and opened the glove box.  It took Ben's eyes a few seconds to adjust to the dim blue light before he could make out the outline of what Paul had wanted Ben to see.  "You can't be serious.  Paul what do you plan on doing with that?"

"I'm going to ask him out.  What do you think I'm going to do with that?"  Paul continued increasing his speed.  "He took her life so I am going to take his.  That's the way it works."