NEW GIRL AT HIGH SCHOOL

Chapter-3

BENNIE'S POV

"Ben, please, wake up" I could hear mom's voice, but everything is black around me.

"Ben, I shouldn't have let you join public high school. It is my fault" I could also hear dad, but why can't I see anyone.

Why is everything black?!!

Then I realized that my eyes are closed.

I slowly tried to open my eyes and tried to adjust to the brightness around my room.

"Ben, thank god you are awake" mom's eyes were teary.

"It's okay, mom. I am fine now, "I assured her.

"I am not letting you go to that high school again," dad said in a strict voice.

"Dad, come on" I know I can't pursue them but still what's wrong in trying.

"Ben, the discussion is over" he gets up and leaves my room.

"Mom, I am not going to do home school again. I am fed up with staying home. You know I have overcome my phobia, then why?" I said making puppy eyes.

"Ben, you know how stubborn Ricco is" mom sighs.

"Then I am also his daughter, a stubborn one" I show her the evil smile.

"Ben, no" I could see the shock on her face. She recalled the last time I was stubborn.

"Mom, yup" I was laughing so wide that my cheeks started to hurt.

I am going to be stubborn now. Last time when I was stubborn, dad had to renovate the whole house to make me 20 million dollars, a Chanel-inspired closet. And other times when I got stubborn, I paid for my own car. People who know I have androphobia, which is very few also know that I worked at an old age home, and they paid a fortune just for working five days a week. And as for that boy whom I hated the most...sorry... I HATE the most, thinks that this precious car is bought by my parents. But I don't really care what he thinks.

"Ben, I am not going to listen to you this time. You have suffered enough, darling" Dad told me over the dinner.

"But Dad, I didn't faint because of him. I passed out because I was being too hard on myself. And you know how suffocating it is after you have recovered from your fear and then also you cannot go outside and connect to the world. I could have gone to a girl's public high school, but I wanted to face my problem myself. I want to spend my high school years as an ordinary teenager. Though I cannot because your female bodyguards are always around me like my shadow. Even when I go to the restroom, one of them follows me inside. Dad, if you don't agree with me, I will- I will leave the house without your money. That's it" I sat on my chair with my arms folded.

What does dad think of himself? This time I am going to win.

"Bennie, what I am saying is final. Do you know you had a cardiac arrest? If we hadn't AED at home, you might have not been eating dinner right now with us!!" Dad nearly shouted at me. He never called me by my full name. I think this time I need to listen to him.

My dad let out a huge sigh. When I said huge means the loudest and deepest sigh you would have ever heard. The last time he let out this type of sigh was when he received a call from my school 5 years ago thinking I caused some trouble. Some might think, how do I know when I was in school. Well, my mom told me when everything calmed down.

"Ben, when will you understand how much worried we are till you reach back home? Do we need to install AED in every car that we own for emergencies? Why do you always have to be so stubborn? Do you ever think how bad we are hurt when you suffer through this? How can you be so selfish?" this is the first time I realized how selfish and self-centred I was being.

Why did I not consider their feelings? When did I become so stubborn that I didn't realize that I am hurting the people who always stayed by my side during my hard times? How can I be like this, that dad shouted like he never did before? I should apologize to them.

"Sorry mom, sorry dad for being stubborn. I know you are worried about my health, and I promise that I will do what you tell me to regarding anything. Right now, I think we should complete our dinner and go to our bed, and we will talk about this tomorrow morning at breakfast. What do you think? I am okay with it if you both want to discuss it right now" I said politely, taking care that I don't hurt them again.

"Yeah sure, Ben. I know you realized what I said. It looks like you, your mom and I had quite a long day. Let's talk tomorrow. Okay?" he asked the last question facing towards mom.

"Yeah. It will be better if we talk about this with a calm mind." Mom said while smiling towards me.

We finished our dinner and mom took plates to the kitchen. Dad came over where I was standing up, kissed my forehead and wished me good night.

"Mom, I want to help Anna with the rest of the work, so you should go to bed early too," I said, entering the kitchen.

"Okay, sweetie," She said with a small smile and also planted a kiss on my forehead like dad.

She left the kitchen and went up the stairs. Now it is time to know what exactly happened.

"Hey, Anna. How can I help you?" I said, without letting her get a hint of what I was planning.

"Bennie, you don't need to hide your curiosity from me. You know that I already know what are you going to ask." she laughed while cleaning the kitchen slab.

Anna is our housemaid, more like my personal nanny. She is the only maid in our house who calls me and my mom by our name because she used to work at my mom's house before mom got married to dad, and she practically raised me from the day I was born. She is like my second mom because mom and dad used to be busy handling their hotel and restaurant business all around the United States.

"Then may I get the honour to listen from this beautiful young lady who is right now cleaning the kitchen slab made from one of the most expensive marble in the house of the famous business entrepreneur?" I said exaggerating things to make it sound funny, but I can already sense Anna rolling her eyes.

"Oh, come on, Anna, please?" I said while leaning onto the slab.

"Looks like I have no choice" She sighed.

All the people in this house sigh so much. I sighed thinking that.

See! I told ya!!!