It was just a normal day, my best friend Ben Tennyson and I were sitting at our desks, waiting for the school year to end and the summer to begin. Ben was busy folding a piece of paper into a paper airplane. Then he threw it at our teacher, Mrs. Morrison. When she felt something hit the back of her head, she turned around. Ben hid his face in his book so she wouldn't notice him.
~💚~
~💚~
Ben and I were waiting patiently for the bell to ring. Indicating the end of the school year. "Come on, come on." I heard him whisper from behind me. "And I just want to remind you all that I will be teaching summer school this year and it's not too late to sign up." Mrs. Morrison said. I giggled and whispered, "yeah, right" under my breath just like Ben.
~💚~
Finally, after waiting forever; the bell rang. "Yes! Out of here!" Ben and I exclaimed. "Everyone, have a good vacation and I hope to see you all again in the fall." Mrs. Morrison said. Ben and I were about to leave the room when I heard her speak again. "Benjamin, could I have a word with you before you go?" She asked while holding up the paper airplane.
~💚~
Ben and I went back to her desk. "Mrs. Morrison, Ben and I actually have to get going. Our parents are waiting for us and they hate it when we're late for something important," I said. She looked at me but didn't say anything. Mrs. Morrison sighed, "All right, you two. Go on." We hurried out of the room. When Ben and I were far enough away, we started to laugh.
~💚~
"I can't believe that worked. I thought for sure that she would catch on," I said. Ben laughed, "I know right? Come on, Paige. We got to go. Grandpa's probably waiting for us." I nodded and we continued to walk towards the exit.
~💚~
As Ben and I got to the bottom of the school steps, we could see the school bullies; Cash and J.T. They were intimidating a boy with black hair and glasses. "Normally, we'd take your money and beat you up but since it's the last day of school, we're going to give you a break. Now, fork over the cash so we can get out of here." Ben was looking on at the scene with anger.
~💚~
"Stay here princess." He whispered in my ear. Princess is the nickname Ben gave me when we were young. He walked over to the three boys and said, "Leave him alone." I watched as Ben stood there with a definite look on his face. I just hoped that Cash and J.T wouldn't hurt him too bad. "Get lost, shrimp." J.T. taunted Ben.
~💚~
Ben stood his ground. "I said back off." Cash and J.T smiled at each other. "Looks like we've got us a hero. Suppose we don't want to back off." Cash continued to taunt as he and J T. stalked towards Ben. "What are you going to do about it, Tennyson?" J.T. asked him. Ben yelled and charged at both bullies. From the start, I knew that things weren't going to go well.
~💚~
The next thing I know, Ben and the boy with glasses were stuck on a tree branch; hung by their underwear. I thought about using my magic but my mom Emma Swan and Ben's grandpa Max told me never to use my abilities around people who didn't know about them. I wish that I could tell Ben but I'm afraid that if I tell him, he'll leave me. Then I'd be all alone.
~💚~
"Thanks a lot," The boy with glasses said. "I was just trying to help," Ben said, looking down at the ground. "Next time you want to play hero, make sure you can back it up," The boy with glasses said. Finally I'd had enough of the kid's attitude. I marched up to him. "Hey! At least someone was trying to help you. Do you see anyone else around?" I asked, annoyed. No one talks to my best friend like that.
~💚~
All of the sudden, I heard a vehicle pull up along the side of the road. "Come on Ben, Paige. Let's go! We're burning daylight. I want to make it to the campsite by nightfall." Max informed us. "Grandpa, Paige, a little help here?" Ben asked us. Max got out of the RV and stood beside me. I looked at Max and by the look in my eyes, he knew what I was thinking.
~💚~
Max took me aside so Ben wouldn't hear. "Remember to focus and do it just like we practiced." I nodded and I could feel my magic pumping through my veins. The next thing I knew, my magic, as clear as the wind, was aiming for the tree branch. I could hear it creaking and cracking until finally it snapped in half. With Ben finally free, the three of us headed into the Rust Bucket. 'I've so been looking forward to this," Ben said.
~💚~
Then out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Gwen, Ben's cousin. "What are you doing here? What is she doing here?" Ben asked Max, questioning Gwen's presence. "Take it easy, dweeb. This wasn't my idea. Somebody convinced my mom that going camping for the summer would be a good experience for me," Gwen said. Then she slumped into her seat. "Grandpa, please. Tell me you didn't," Ben said.
~💚~
Max looked at us and said, "I thought it would be fun if your cousin came along with us this summer. So Paige wouldn't be the only girl. Is that a problem?" Ben and I looked at each other then he looked at Gwen. None of us said anything. Ben and I sat down next to each other as Max started the RV and we left the school. "I can't believe it. You and I wait all school year to go on this trip and now the queen of cooties is along for the ride, Paige." I didn't say anything, unlike Ben; Gwen and I got along great. She's like a sister.
~💚~
She says that when we get older, we'll be like sisters since I'm marrying Ben. Every time Gwen says that, I tell her that there's no way that Ben and I'll get married. She says that best friends make the best relationships. My thoughts were interrupted when Gwen spoke. "Hey! I had my own vacation already all planned out, too, you know. Each activity is color-coded so I never do the same thing two days in a row," Gwen said, as she shows Ben and I her vacation schedule.
~💚~
Ben looked shocked, looking at the piece of paper. I was actually quite impressed. "Now I'm stuck with my geekazoid cousin and his best friend going camping for three months." Ben and Gwen had a stare down. "Geek" "Jerk" They insulted each other. I didn't say anything, I just went into my backpack and got out my copy of Romeo & Juliet to read. I loved the story. It reminded me of Ben and I except for the fact that our families aren't fighting and we're not together... yet.
~💚~
"Something tells me it's going to be a long summer." I heard Max say. I thought the same thing. As long as I was spending time with Ben, I didn't care who was with us. Finally, we made it to our campsite. Ben, Gwen and I were at the picnic table, waiting for Max to bring out dinner. It was such a beautiful night, I couldn't help but stare up at the night sky. "Chow time," Max says as he sets a bowl of something on the table. We all look at the wiggling mass in question. "Ok, I give up. What is that?" Ben asked his grandfather.
~💚~
"Marinated meal worms. Hard to find them fresh in the States. You know, they're considered a delicacy in some countries." Ben and I looked at each other and mentally gagged. "And totally gross in others." Gwen said as one got out of the bowl and slithered across the table. "If these don't sound good, I've got some smoked sheep's tongue in the fridge" My stomach turned again, all I wanted was real food.
~💚~
"Couldn't we just have a burger or something?" Ben asked. Max chuckled, "Nonsense. This summer's going to be an adventure for your taste buds. I'll grab the tongue." My stomach was tossing and turning like crazy. The thought of eating worms and sheep's tongue didn't sit well with me. "Ok. I've got a half-eaten bag of corn chips and a candy bar in my backpack. What do you have?" Ben asked. "Some rice cakes and hard candy," Gwen replied. They both turned to me. "A sandwich and peaches." "Think we can make them last the whole summer?" Ben asked. We all slumped down in our seats. Disappointed at knowing that our food wouldn't last for three months.
~💚~
After dinner, Ben and I were sitting down relaxing. I was watching him play Sumo Slammers and Gwen was on her laptop. "Who wants to roast marshmallows?" Max asked us, trying to get our attention. When he saw that that didn't work, he tried something else. "Ok. How about we tell scary stories?" "Scarier than having to spend a summer with your freak of a cousin?" Ben asked, laughing. I frowned but didn't say anything. "I'd like to, grandpa but I'm busy doing a web search on cures for extreme doofusness. Nothing yet, Ben, but let's not give up hope," Gwen said. "Oh, come on, you three. We're all in this together. You can mope around like this all summer or we can have some fun. Now, what do you say?" Max asked us. I stood up, "Yeah, come on guys, I think that it would be fun to make s'mores." Max looked at me with a smile.
~💚~
"Sorry Paige but I vote for moping," Gwen said. I frowned, knowing that there wasn't anything else that I could say. "I'm going to take a walk. Come on, Princess. Smell you around, Gwen," Ben said as he took my hand. "I think they're starting to grow on each other," I heard Max say. "Oh, man, this is going to be the worst vacation ever. We might as well have gone to summer school, Paige." "Now, I know that Gwen coming with us was something that neither of us expected. Let's look on the bright side, Ben." He looked at me with a smile. "You're here with me. That's the only thing that's the bright side for me." I smiled. Then I looked up at the sky and saw a shooting star. "Look, Ben! A shooting star!"
~💚~
Ben and I didn't have a chance to admire it for long as it came straight for us. We gasped and Ben immediately pushed me out of the way so we wouldn't get hurt. After the shock wore off, we went to go inspect whatever fell from the sky. Ben and I could see that it was glowing. "Looks like a satellite or something," Ben said. I shrugged because I had no clue what it was. The next thing I knew, the ground crumbled and Ben fell. "Ben, are you ok?" I asked, concerned for my best friend. "I'm fine, Paige." I nodded, then came down to were he was.
~💚~
Finally, the pod opened to reveal a watch. It was glowing green and was black and grey. Ben and I looked at it with curiosity. "A watch? What's a watch doing in outer space?" Ben asked. "I don't know, Ben. But I don't think that we should touch it. We don't know what it is," I said, starting to become frightened. He looked at me with gentle eyes and said, "Paige, I promise; everything will be ok." I nodded as Ben smiled at me. He looked back at the watch and smiled as he reached his hand out.
~💚~
Suddenly, the watch was on Ben's wrist. "Get off me! Get off! Get off!" Ben shouted, freaking out as he tried to get the watch off. "Grandpa!" He yelled. "Hang on, Ben. Calm down," I said. I found a stick and picked it up. "I think that this will help get the watch off." Ben saw the stick, nodded and I put the stick under the watch. But no matter how hard I tried, the watch wouldn't come off. The stick snapped in half and Ben and I groaned in defeat.
~💚~
Ben went to inspect the watch further. The ring on it popped up and startled Ben and I. Then an image came up of what looked like a human but different. Ben saw this and said, "Cool!" He put his finger on it and pressed down. In a flash of green light, Ben was the fire monster that we saw on the watch. I screamed as loud as I could. "Paige, it's ok. It's me, Ben." He went to touch me but then remembered that he was on fire. Suddenly, the reality of the situation hit him.
~💚~
Ben started running around like crazy. "I'm on fire! I'm on fire!" He yelled and screamed. "Ben, please calm down,' I pleaded with my friend, afraid that he would do something dangerous. Finally Ben calmed down. "Hey, I'm on fire, and I'm ok. Check it out. Princess, I'm totally hot," He said, laughing. "Sure you are," I thought to myself, blushing and glad that Ben didn't see it. He spotted a tree, "Oh, yeah. Paige, stand back." I did as Ben asked. "Here goes," Ben said as he shot a fireball at a tree branch and it exploded. "That's what I'm talking about." Then Ben created a bigger fireball in his hands. "Liking it," He said as he threw it at multiple trees and they exploded.
~💚~
Ben smiled, impressed with himself. Then he looked horrified. "Wait, stop!" He shouted, the forest was on fire. Ben immediately tried to start putting the fire out but it only made things worse. "Paige, stay back!" Ben commanded me. "Oh, man. I am going to get so busted for this," Ben said, terrified about what was happening and the result of it. Ben tried harder to put the fire out, tree branches were falling down everywhere. It was also getting harder for me to breathe.
~💚~
"This would be so cool, if it weren't so not cool," Ben said. Then he looked at me, guilt swimming in his eyes. As he saw how I was struggling to breathe. "Paige, I am so sorry that I got you into this." I smiled at my best friend, "It's ok, Ben. I know that it's an accident." I struggled to get every word out. Which I knew made Ben feel worse. After this, I was going to hug him and make him feel better. Then, out of the corner of my eye; I saw Gwen. She had a fire extinguisher, putting out the flames and she was coming toward us. She sprayed Ben with the extinguisher, he turned around and she screamed.
~💚~
"Look, I know that I look weird but there's no reason to be scared," Ben tried to explain to her. "Paige, get behind me," Gwen said. Instead of arguing, I just got behind her. The next thing I knew, Gwen hit Ben over the head with the fire extinguisher and sprayed him again. "Hey!" Ben yelled, coughed from the fire extinguisher and looked at Gwen with disdain. "I don't know what you are but you'll stay down there if you what's good for you," Gwen threatened. Ben raised his hand and burned the top of Gwen's shoe. She put it out and looked at it with disgust.
~💚~
She raised her weapon above her head, ready to strike, "I warned you." "Don't even think about it, freak," Ben said. Gwen's expression changed, "Ben, is that you? What happened?" She asked as she walked up to him. "Well, when Paige and I were walking, this meteor fell from the sky and almost smushed us. Except that it wasn't a meteor or a satellite but this cool watch that jumped onto my wrist. When I tried to get it off, I suddenly was on fire. Only it didn't hurt when I was accidentally starting this mega forest fire," Ben explained to Gwen.
~💚~
All of the sudden, Max comes into view. "Gwen, are you allri- What in blazes?" He asked, startled by what he was seeing. "Hey grandpa, guess who," Gwen said, gesturing to Ben. "It's me, grandpa," Ben said, waving to his grandfather. Max looked at me, silently asking me if I did anything to change Ben, I shook my head. "Ben? What happened to you?" He asked. "Well, when I was walking, this meteor--" Ben was cut off when Gwen started to speak. "Excuse me? Major forest fire burning out of control. Remember?" "What do we do?" Ben questioned. "Backfire. Start a new fire and let it burn into the old fire. They'll snuff each other out. Think you can do it, Ben?" Max asked his grandson.
~💚~
Ben got a determined look on his face. "Shooting flames I can definitely do." He ran off to start the new fire as Max, Gwen and I went somewhere safe. Now, we were all sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows. Ben insisted that I sit away from him so he doesn't hurt me. I sat beside Gwen and we throw marshmallows at Ben so he can toast them. "And you say that this watch just jumped up and clamped on to your wrist?" Max asked, trying to figure out how this happened. Gwen threw a marshmallow at Ben, he toasted it and popped it into his mouth. "This time it wasn't my fault. I swear," Ben said. "I believe you, Ben," Max said, trying to comfort Ben. "Think he's going to stay a monster forever?" Gwen questioned.
~💚~
"He's not a monster. He's an alien." I tensed up when Max said that. I know all about Max's past life with The Plumbers. A secret group that took done aliens and other beings. He told me all about it when he was training me to use my abilities. Ben and Gwen don't know any of it. Just like they don't know about my magic. Ben and Gwen gave their grandpa a questioning look. "I mean, look at him. What else could he be?" Max said, trying to cover up what he said before. "Yeah, I don't want to be fire guy forever. How am I supposed to play Little League this fall if I charcoal the ball every time I catch a pop fly?" Ben voiced his concern. "Don't worry, Ben. We'll figure this thing out," Max said. I nodded, "Everything will be ok Ben, I promise," I said, trying to soothe my best friend. He looked at me with a smile.
~💚~
All of the sudden, we heard rapid beeping. Then, in a flash of bright light; I saw the brown haired, green eyed boy that was my best friend. "I'm me again!" Ben exclaimed, happy to be back to normal. I ran to give him a hug. "I'm glad to have you back," I said, relieved that Ben was ok. "Too bad. I liked you better when you were a briquette," Gwen said, gesturing to her untoated marshmallow. "I still can't get this thing off," Ben said, trying to get the watch off of him. "Better not fool around with it anymore until we know exactly what we're dealing with," Max said. "I'll go check out that crash site. You guys stay here until I get back," he continued, gesturing to the three of us.
~💚~
Ben and I were now sitting behind the Rust Bucket. Ben was messing with the watch, trying to see how it worked. I was watching him, I didn't agree with him messing with something that we didn't understand. I didn't say anything to him though. "I wonder what this does," he said, as he saw another alien form on the watch. "Caught you!" Gwen said, startling Ben and I. "Very funny. Like your face," Ben said, clearly annoyed. "Grandpa said not to mess with that thing." Ben continued to mess with the watch, ignoring his cousin's comments. "Yeah? So, what's your point?" Ben asked Gwen.
~💚~
"Did your parents drop you when you were a baby?" Gwen asked. "Come on, you can't tell me that you aren't a little curious what else this thing can do," He said to Gwen. "Not in the least," Gwen said, uninterested in the watch. "You sure you're related to me?" Ben asked. "Look, if I can figure this thing out, maybe I can help people. I mean really help them. Not just, you know, maybe things worse." I didn't say anything but I knew that Ben was serious. He really wanted to help others, like that boy was being bullied by Cash and J.T. "So, what did it feel like going all alien like that?" Gwen asked, curious. "It freaked me out at first. It was like I was me, but it was also like I was somebody else," Ben explained. "Hey, I think I figured out how I did it. Should I try it again? Just once?" He asked, playing with the watch.
~💚~
"I wouldn't," Gwen said, fright behind her words. "No, duh. You wouldn't. Come on, princess. Should I try it again?" I shrugged, unsure what to say. Ben slammed his hand down on the watch. In a bright flash of green light, he was a dog like alien with orange fur. "Eww! This thing's even uglier than you are normally," Gwen said. "Bow wow. Put a flea collar on this mutt. And no eyes? What good is this one? It can't see!" She continued, then Gwen got a look on her face like she'd just thought of something. She went behind Ben and went to swing her stick like a bat.
~💚~
Before I could warn Ben, he jumped up and landed on top of the Rust Bucket. "Ok. So maybe it's not a total loser," Gwen said. Ben landed in front of us. "Eww! Two words: breath mints," Gwen said, plugging her nose. I did too because Ben had very bad breath. Then Ben kicked his back legs and put dirt in Gwen's face. Then he ran to the forest. "Ben, get back here! Ben! I'm going to tell grandpa that you turned into some freaky animal monster thing and went swinging around the forest when he told you not to," Gwen said. Then she paused and realized how weird that sounded. "This is a majorly weird day." I put my hand on her shoulder and said, "I second that." Gwen smiled at me, "Princess?" I blushed, "Yeah, you remember; Ben gave me the nickname when we were younger." "I remember but you know when a boy gives you a nickname, it means that he likes you." I blushed and shrugged. Then I thought, "Does Ben like me?"
~💚~
I was worried about Ben so I got a shovel and went to see what he was up to. I saw that something was about to hurt him so I made my move. I hit it with the shovel, hard. "Back off, sparky. No flying tree trimmer is going to hurt my best friend." Then I hit it a few more times just to be safe. "Am I glad to see you, Paige. Thanks for the help, Princess," Ben said. I smiled, "No problem. We're a team, remember?" Ben nodded. Then whatever the thing was burst into flames. We ran as fast as we could away from there. "I was worried you might get popular with that thing on your wrist. That's why I asked you not to fool around with it, until we know what the heck it is," Max said, reprimanding Ben.
~💚~
"Sorry, grandpa. But at least I figured out how to make it work. All you do is press this button. Then when the ring pops up, just twist it until you see the guy you want to be. Slam it down, and bammo! You're one of ten super-cool alien dudes!" Ben said, trying to convince his grandfather. Max looked unimpressed. "What about staying a super-cool alien dude and not transforming back into plain old pizza face?" Gwen asked. I gave her an angry look and that kept her quiet. "I kind of haven't figured that part out yet," Ben said. I put my hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him. Ben smiled and put his hand on top of mine.
~💚~
"With a device as powerful as that watch clamped on you, my guess is we'd better help you learn fast," Max said. "All right! Ben exclaimed, happily. All of the sudden, the radio went off. "Mayday! Mayday! Somebody help us! We're under attack by some sort of-- I know you're not going to believe me, but...robot." Then the radio stopped. "Sounds just like those things that attacked me. Must be looking for the watch. Those people are in trouble because of me!" Ben said. Then he stood up. "I think I can help them." "You? What are you going to do about it, Tennyson?" Gwen asked. I sent her a dirty look. "I believe in him," I said.
~💚~
Ben sent me a smile and looked down at the watch. Then we were off to the forest. He looked at Max before using the watch and Max nodded. Ben activated the watch, "Yeah!" He looked through the choices the watch had. "Eenie, meenie, minie... Here goes." Then he slammed down on the watch and in a flash of green light, he was a green crystal alien. "So what can this guy do?" Gwen asked. "I don't know, but I bet it's going to be cool," Ben said. I was eager to find out. We looked to see a huge robot destroying everything in its path. "Looks like papa-robot this time. I'll get gearhead's attention. You guys get the campers to safety," Ben said. I looked at him, Ben put his hand on my shoulder. "Go. I'll feel a lot better knowing that you're safe, Paige." I nodded and followed after Max and Gwen.
~💚~
"Leave him alone! You want somebody to pick on? Try me." Ben said, getting the robot's attention. It fired a blast, sending Ben crashing into a camper. Then the robot fired another blast and blew up the camper. Ben used his diamond like arm to slice through the rubble. He looked at it and said, "Cool." He charged after the robot to hit it but it lept into the air. It came back down on Ben. "I think I'm in trouble," Ben said. "What is going on here?" The man who Gwen and I helped asked us. "You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you. Now, come on," I said as I ran with Gwen. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that the robot threw Ben. He landed on the car that the man was standing in front of.
~💚~
The robot wasn't done with Ben yet. It advanced on him. It blow up the car but Ben moved out of the way. The next thing I know, the robot hit a tree and it was headed for me. I couldn't move because I froze. I saw Ben running toward me. The next thing I knew, he sliced the tree in half and had a huge diamond sticking out of his back. "So, we even?" "Even," I confirmed. Then the robot grabbed Ben and tried to pull his arm off. Ben made a lot of spikes with his arm and the robot's hand blew up.
~💚~
The robot blasted Ben into a shed. Max and Gwen helped me up and noticed that the robot was stalking toward Ben. "Ben!" I yelled. Ben held his arms up and they reflected the blast that the robot fired. Backfire of the blast came at Max, Gwen and I but we ducked to avoid it. "Come on. Put one in here," Ben challenged. " Get out of there. Run!" Max yelled. Ben used his hands to reflect the blast. The force of it pushed him back a little bit. "What comes around goes around. Let's see how you like it, you techno freak," Ben said.
~💚~
He fired the blast back at the robot and it exploded. "All right!" The three of us cheered. "Way to go, Ben... Diamondhead!" I cheered. "Oh, yeah! Who's bad?" Ben said. "Yeah!" He said as he jumped up and down. The three of us tried to show him the people but he didn't notice at first. When he noticed he said, "Well, I think my work here is done." Then he ran off. The next day, Ben and I came racing to the Rust Bucket. He has transformed into a black, blue and white alien with wheels on its feet and a tail. The visor on the alien's face acted as a mask. I was still on his back when we stopped in front of Max. "Ben?" "Yep. Hey, check this out." Suddenly, Ben and I started to put all of our things from the campsite into the Rust Bucket. "Pretty fast, huh?" All of the sudden, I heard the beeping that signals that Ben's going back to normal. So I got off of his back. Then he was back to the brown haired, green eyed boy that I knew so well. "I think this is going to be the best summer ever," Ben said. I nodded in agreement. "Absolutely." "It's definitely going to be interesting. So, where'd you and Paige go anyway?" Gwen asked. "Princess and I just had to take care of a couple of things before our vacation really got rolling." I smiled, knowing that Cash and J.T. were in a very tricky situation.