Benny strolled upstairs to his room, it was a couple of days later, and he still couldn't get what Ethan said out of his head. On top of that, now it was like every time he saw Lily around school, he turned into a kid again - a blushing schoolgirl who giggles whenever she sees her crush. He sighed, opening up his calculus book and beginning to study.
Before long there was a knock at his door, "Benny," Evelyn started, "Someone's here to see you,"
Benny frowned, looking up at his grandma, "Who? Is it Chad? Because I told him I couldn't make practice tonight,"
She shrugged, "No, not Chad, it's a boy called Ethan, is he new friend of yours?"
"Uh, yeah," he cleared his throat, "He's, uh, helping me with my calculus homework," he pointed to the books in front of him.
"Oh, I see," she grinned, "I'll tell him he can come on up,"
"Wait, grandma," she turned around to face him, "Do you, uh, remember anything about a girl called Lily?"
Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows, "No, sorry honey, why?" her frown then broke into a smirk, "Does my little Benny have a crush?"
"What? No!" he chuckled, "I was just...wondering,"
"The only Lily I know is the one who works in the pizza place down the street," she smiled, "Lovely girl, quite shy, but she always gets my orders right so, what more could I ask for?" she chuckled, leaving the room.
Some seconds later, Ethan walked in, "Thank god, I didn't think you'd let me up,"
"Hey, I may be a jock but I'm not a total bully," Benny rolled his eyes, "What do you want anyway? This better not be about that magic thing,"
Ethan sat next to Benny on his bed, "So, you're telling me that you don't believe me whatsoever? Some part of you must remember me, and if not me then Lily at least,"
Benny kept his gaze on the floor, "I'm not - it's just - I dunno,"
"You do, don't you?" Ethan smirked, "You just don't wanna admit it,"
"Shut up, okay?" Benny shrugged, "That Lily chick keeps entering my mind, it's weird," he sighed, "Don't get all excited when I tell you this, but, this totally hot babe invited me to a party this Friday, and I said no,"
Ethan frowned, "And why exactly would I get excited over that?"
"Because you were the reason I said no! Well, Lily was actually, I felt like I was cheating on her, even though I'm not with her,"
Ethan's eyes immediately lit up, "That means you do remember! And Lily probably does too, we have to find her and-"
"Hey," Benny interrupted, "I never said I'd help you,"
"C'mon Benny," Ethan pleaded.
Benny thought about it for a second: maybe once he helped the nerd, he would forget about Lily, and everything would go back to normal; he could get any girl he wanted, and not feel any deep feelings for anyone, at least, not like the ones he was currently feeling for Lily.
"Fine," he huffed, "But if anyone finds out I'm hanging out with you, then the deal is off,"
"Sure," Ethan stood up, "Okay, now we need to convince Lily, it'd be kind of weird going to her house since her mom doesn't remember us, so-"
"There's no need to go to her house," Benny shrugged, standing up too.
"What do you mean?"
"We can just go to the pizza place she works at, it's, like, a five minute walk," Benny explained, walking out of the room.
"Lily has a job?" Ethan frowned, following Benny.
—
"One pepperoni pizza?" Lily asked, placing a plate of pizza in front of a customer. She smiled as he thanked her and began to walk away, whilst dusting off her apron. She sighed as she stood behind the bright red counter, she hated this job with a passion. The teen was naturally shy, so being faced with strangers on a daily basis wasn't something she enjoyed, however, she had no choice, since her mom barely worked, and was still grieving over the loss of her dad years ago.
"Hey,"
She looked up to see Benny, matching the colours of the restaurant in his red varsity jacket, and Ethan, who looked unusually happy, "Uh, hi," she frowned, she wasn't expecting the two to be seen together so soon after their conversation at Ethan's house, "If you sit at a booth, I'll come and take your order,"
"We're not here for pizza," Ethan explained.
Benny shrugged, "I mean, this is a pizza place, and who can say no to pizza, right?" he muttered.
"But aren't we kind of busy right now?" Ethan whispered back, as Lily stood in front of the two, arms crossed.
"Look, if this is about that magic thing, I already told you that-"
"What magic thing?" Benny asked, innocently, "We just came here for pizza,"
Ethan furrowed his eyebrows but immediately smiled when Benny nudged him; obviously, he had some sort of plan.
"Okay then..." Lily replied, slightly suspicious, "Sit down at one of the booths, and I'll, uh, be right with you,"
The two boys nodded and smiled, before sliding into one of the red booths that was closest to them.
"So, what exactly are we doing?" Ethan questioned, leaning his elbows on the table.
Benny rolled his eyes, "Gaining her trust, dude," he shrugged, "We'll invite her to eat some pizza with us and then convince her, trust me, no one can say no when they're eating a slice of pizza,"
Ethan chuckled, "I guess there's some logic behind that,"
"Ya know, I never really used to like this restaurant," Benny shook his head, "And now, suddenly I'm excited to order pizza here, when I know it'll taste like dirt,"
Ethan raised his eyebrows, smirking, "You and Lily used to come here all the time together,"
Benny frowned, leaning forwards, "Like, to hang out?"
"Sure, something like that,"
"Okay, what can I get you both?" Lily asked, her hair was messy and she had flour on her cheek, yet Benny thought she was adorable, although he wouldn't admit it.
"One large Italiano Deluxe, please," he grinned, she nodded, jotting it down on her pad before beginning to walk away, "Ya know," she turned to face him, "It's a large, so we probably won't be able to finish it all,"
Lily raised her eyebrows, whilst Ethan looked at the teen expectantly, "Care to share?"
—
Lily sat next to Benny, digging into a slice of the massive pizza in front of them, "I know why you've offered to share this pizza with me," she said between chews, "It's because you think I'll agree to helping you whilst eating it,"
Benny frowned, "How did you get that from us innocently offering you some Italiano Deluxe?" he turned to her, "Ya know, I really get the feeling you don't trust us,"
She chuckled, "It's not that, it's just," she glanced from Benny to Ethan, "I get a weird vibe from you two,"
"Understandable," Ethan shrugged, "So, why'd you start working here?"
"My mom hardly works and I needed extra money," she said simply, "she's still torn over my dad's death, she's got this whole big conspiracy that he was murdered or something,"
Ethan took another piece of pizza, "Hate to break it to you, but your mom's right,"
"What do you mean?"
"He was killed by a wizard, vice principal Stern actually," Ethan explained, "In my version of reality, Benny's grandma told your mom that she thought he was murdered, she told her about magic and everything as well. I guess in this reality, the fact that she didn't made his death harder for your mom to deal with,"
Lily sighed, "Ethan, this is crazy, wizards aren't real, okay? Neither are witches, or, uh, werewolves, or whatever other magical creatures you believe in,"
"She's got a point," Benny agreed, his mouth full of pizza.
"Oh, c'mon," Ethan started, "Benny, you said it yourself that you have some weird connection to Lily,"
"Dude!"
"Sorry!" Ethan sighed, "But it's true, somewhere deep down you two remember each other, and me and Sarah, and probably even Jesse,"
"It's true," Lily said, her eyes focused on her pizza, "When I first saw you the other day, I felt like I had met you before, it was like some weird Deja vu," she told him, "And, uh," she turned to Benny, "Every time I see you in school, I feel like I wanna run over and hug you, it's really annoying,"
"Well, I mean, most chicks feel that way about me, so," Benny chuckled, but after looking at the two stern faces in front of him, he sighed in defeat, "Alright, fine, yes, I feel that way too,"
"Exactly," Ethan stated, "So, with that in mind, is there any chance of you both helping me get things back to normal?"
Both Benny and Lily glanced at each other, before they both shrugged and nodded.
"Great," Ethan stood up, "Meet me at my house after school tomorrow, it's not gonna be easy, but I'm gonna have to teach you how to use magic again, which I don't even know how to do," he shrugged, "Just, promise me you'll both be there?"
They both promised before Ethan left, and the two were stuck in an awkward silence, Benny chuckled, "You should probably get back to work, huh? Don't want your boss to fire you because of me and Ethan,"
"Right, yeah," she stood up, "here," she handed him some money to go towards the pizza bill, but he wouldn't accept it.
"It's fine, really," he also stood up, "I'll, uh, see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah," Lily smiled, "See you tomorrow,"
He flashed her his signature grin, before walking out of the restaurant.
Lily hated to admit it, but she was definitely excited to see the two boys again.
Hey! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm so close to the end of this book now it's unreal. I really wanna start another book but I have no idea who to write it about lol
Also I feel like I'm not active enough on this account, so I'm gonna try to reply to comments more, because some of the comments I see are really funny ya know
Anyways that's all, this was a really random authors note but oh well