The Middle (Ben Hanscom x Reader)

School's Out

Y/N POV
After the bell rang I went to open my locker, wearing my black cutoff shorts, Queen t-shirt, & dark green flannel combo. I put the rest of the stuff from my locker into my bag, knowing I might dump it all before I return to the apartment.

"Hey Y/N," I hear Beverly say as she approaches me.

I look at her and see a soaked backup, "what happened with that?"

"Gretta happened," she sighed

"Well, fuck her. Let's get out of here," I say as a close the locker.

We left out at the nearest exit and started walking down the stairs. There was a kid at the bottom of the stairs, making us stop in our tracks. He had a project in his hands and a Walkman on with the headphones over his ears. He was trying to get his bike out of the rack. Beverly reached out to him and tapped on his shoulder

"You gonna let us by or is there a secret password or something," she asked, half-jokingly.

"Oh. Um, sorry," he says, softly.

"Sorry's not a..." she got out as he dropped his project, "password." We watched as his bike fell over after that.

"Henry and his goons are over by the west entrance, so you should be fine," I say.

"Oh, I wasn't..."

"Everyone knows he's looking for you," Beverly said and he responded with a nod. "What you listening to," she asked him while taking off his headphones to find out. She held them up to both of our ears and we smile.

"New Kids on the Block," we both say in unison with a smile plastered on our faces.

"I don't even like them. I was just..."

"Wait. You're the new kid, right? Now I get it," she figured out.

"There's nothing to get."

"I'm just messing with you," she smiles and puts his headphones back, "I'm Beverly Marsh, this is Y/N."

"Yeah, I know that 'cause we're in the same class. Social Studies. And you were... I'm Ben. But pretty much everybody just calls me..."

"The new kid. Well, Ben, there are worse things to be called. Let us sign this," she takes his yearbook and we both sign it. "Stay cool, Ben from soc class"

"Uh, yeah. You too, Beverly and Y/N."

"Hang tough, new kid on the block," Bev called back to him as we started walking away.

"Please Don't Go, Girl," I heard him call out. "That's the name of another New Kids on the Block song."

I look over at Beverly as we walk down the road that leads directly to our apartment building.

"What's your plan this summer," I ask her.

"Mainly to avoid my dad, what about you?"

"To go out and play guitar in more areas of Derry."

"Oh, I hope that goes well. There's the fountain in the town square that you can play at and I'm sure there are other nice places to go."

"Yeah, that's what I'm hoping for. I've been playing too much outside of the library that the librarian is getting worried," I laughed as I looked up at our apartment building.

"Well, good luck Beverly," I say as I head to my own separate apartment.