THE BOY NEXT DOOR

Chapter Two

Benjamin's POV

By the end of the day, I'm exhausted. I walk outside of the school to find Anna sitting beside Oliver, both so deep in their own world that they don't notice me until I tap Oli's shoulder.
"Hey!" I smile, the smile falls from Anna's face as she runs her eyes over me. "Hey, Benjamin." she says, her reaction makes me a little sad but not far behind her greeting is Oli's, "Benji! How was day one?" he asked and I smile brightly, happy to have his attention on me.
"Oh, well my classes are all super good! I got all my favorite teachers, plus the classes we share was a bonus! I didn't think we'd have any together." I gush, I love school, learning more specifically.
Oliver ruffles my hair, smiling. He stands a couple inches above me at 5'9, but Im not far behind him at 5'6.
"Benny!" Elisa is the only one who calls me benny, everyone except Oli calls me Benjamin or Ben.
"Hey Els! how was your day?" I turn to her, Oli's attention turning back to Anna, who perks back up. A frown takes over my face, I already dislike the idea of Oli getting a girlfriend. Mostly because he'll have less time for me.
"Hello! Earth to benny!" Elisa waves her hand in front of my face and I gasp. "Yea! what? sorry.." I mumble. She sighs loudly, "You're in your head to much." is all she says before walking away and getting on her bus, Anna follows close behind her, they ride the same bus. Once Anna is gone, I sit beside Oli, grabbing his pinkie, he squeezes back. The butterflies in my stomach come alive as he talks about his day, never letting go of my pinkie while we wait for the bus.
"Benji?"
"Yea?" I say after a couple minutes of being zoned out. He laughs.
"You haven't been listening at all. Where is your head at today?" Oli says, getting up as our bus pulls in front of the school. I shrug, following behind him and taking our seat on the bus.
"So my house or yours?" Oli says, I smile, almost thinking he would've forgotten.
"It's your turn." I say.
Every year on the night of the first day of school, we spend the night at each other's house, eating pizza and watching movies, talking about what we're most excited for.

"So, hows your search for a girlfriend going?" I ask as we walk toward my house. He grabs me by the shoulders, a big smile on his face.
"I got Anna Smith's number."
He walks into my house. I lag behind, shocked and a bit hurt. All I can think about is how him getting a girlfriend will mean we have less time to spend together. God that's such a girl thing to worry about.

I walk in a couple seconds behind Oli and my mom, Angelia, greets us both with a hug.
"There's my two favorite boys! How was your first day?"
Oli smiles, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl on the table and replies for both of us. "It was amazing, and I think this is gonna be a good year for both of us."
"Still following the tradition, aren't you? The sleep over?" She asks and I smile, bouncing up on my toes.
"Of course!" I say and Oli nods. walking over to me and ruffling my hair. He loves to do that.
"I think Benji would go crazy without me." He states as a matter of fact.
I think so too, but i don't say that out loud. Instead I excuse myself to go pack an overnight bag, I know we live next door but in the spirit of the sleep over we never go to the others house so we always bring anything we need.
I pack my night clothes, school clothes, grab my bag for school, my phone and charger, then i'm ready to go.
When i walk downstairs my mom and Oli are talking about Anna, and how he's asked her on a date, I stop just shy of the kitchen, out of site.
"I wish ben would put himself out there like that." she says. Oli smiles a bit.
"I'm sure he will this year, he's just shy."
My mom shrugs. "I think there's someone he's got his eye on." I clear my throat and walk into the kitchen.
"Ready?" oli says and I nod and we wave goodbye to mom, making our way across the back yard to Oli's house.