The day had finally come, the first day of school. You and Benny had spent the night prior celebrating his birthday, but as soon as the sun came up, it was now school season.
You didn't hate school, as you were pretty good in most of your subjects, but there was just a sense of being annoyed all the time whenever you were on school grounds.
At least you and Benny were going to the same school this year.
He had encouraged you to show off your relationship to everyone at school through PDA. You couldn't say you hated it, but you kept getting weird looks from some of the more popular kids. Not Benny, per say, just you.
You see, in school, Benny was very popular, being a baseball player and all. Also, the fact that he was one of the better-looking kids in school. You on the other hand, kind of stuck out like a sore thumb when it came to the standard popular girl. They were all preppy, and beautiful, with their long curls and made up faces. You were pretty, very pretty... but you dressed and acted differently than the rest of them.
When lunch time rolled around, you and Benny were invited to sit at a table with some other more well-known kids at the school. Benny had instantly fit in, and began talking with some of the other guys. You wanted to talk to them too, but some of the girls at the table had gotten your attention.
"You know, we gotta hand it to you, we never thought that Benny would settle for someone like you, but here you are. That's pretty impressive." One of the cheerleaders sitting across from you said.
Even though Benny was sitting right next to you, he was tuned into another conversation, so he couldn't hear the girl's remarks. If he had heard anything, he might have said something he'd regret.
"Thank you?" It came out more as a question than anything. You didn't know whether to feel insulted by the statement, or proud that you were the only girl who could get Benny.
"Yeah, we always thought he'd end up with Susie, from his math class. She's super smart, and she models for the town catalog. She always used to catch his attention before, but I guess he's lowered his standards." One of the other girls had added on, giggling as she did so.
Geeze, that hurt. Sure, you weren't the most traditionally attractive girl in the world, but there was so much more to you than just looks. It really hurt you that the only one who could see that was Benny.
Speaking of which, Benny had just now come into the conversation, not hearing the last thing that was said.
"What are we talking about?" He interjected playfully, making you smile. He reached down between you two and grabbed your hand, making your grin spread wider.
"Just bout how impressed we are that Elz tied you down. We thought you'd never pick a girl." They spoke to him with very different words, as to not upset him with the way they said it to you. You were also surprised to hear the name Elz come from the girls. Usually everyone just called you Mack.
"What can I say, she's the greatest girl out there." He leaned over and kissed your cheek, making you blush insanely. The other girls wouldn't show it, especially in front of their boyfriends, but they were crazy jealous. All the girls had been after Benny for years, and now today he just strolled in with his arms around you. They were probably not going to be nice to you at all this semester.
You were very shy when it came to talking with other girls. Simply just because you never seemed to fit in with them whenever you tried. Not that you tried that often, but it still wasn't something you'd ever really be good at. You had a lot of guy friends, and they seemed to like you well enough, even though most of them didn't even know you were a girl.
After lunch was over you had a few classes, one of which was with that girl Susie the others were mentioning earlier.
You didn't dare talk to her, you feared you might stutter, or say something stupid. You had a habit of doing that lately. You just observed her from a distance, seeing as her near flawless face was framed with her long cascading red hair. She looked like a movie star, probably why she was in so many catalogs.
You immediately felt self-conscious about your looks as soon as you saw her. She was everything you weren't, and you couldn't help but feel as if you weren't good enough for Benny anymore. He was an angel, and deserved a pretty girl like Susie, not a girl that wore her dad's old baseball shirts and hats. He deserved a girl that could walk a runway, not the infield.
You kept on with the rest of your day, surrounded by girls that were better than you in every way. It didn't help that you were practically dumb when it came to topics such as dress shops, makeup boutiques, beauty parlors and other things like that. You only ever shopped at the sports warehouse stores, and usually, you wouldn't even go. You'd just let your mom pick something up for you.
When it got to the end of the school day, you found Benny waiting for you by the main entrance doors. He was just standing there, hands folded behind his back, and rocking back and forth on his feet.
You felt so much better just seeing him standing there, and made a beeline straight to him.
"Hey angel." You said, coming from behind him. He smiled and turned around, taking you in his arms tightly.
"Hey, my love, how were your classes?"
"They were fine, I'm pretty sure I got everything, but I did doze off a few times, so we'll see." You joked around, trying to cheer yourself up by making Benny laugh, which he did.
"You'll be fine, you're the smartest person I know." He said, making your eyes light up with a smile.
You both then walked out of the school and started on your way home.
When you got there, Benny dropped you off at your house, before returning to his own.
There was something on your mind that night, and you couldn't stop thinking about it. It was a plan on how to make yourself pretty enough to fit in with every other girl at the school. If you could do that, then at least you wouldn't feel so bad about Benny not having a good-looking girlfriend.
Before you went to bed that night, you laid out an old dress your mom bought you, but you only wore once, the day your mom and Mikey took you out to lunch. You were also going to try and do your hair nice tomorrow.
Maybe, just maybe, you could prove to those other girls that you deserved Benny as your boyfriend.
-
You woke up early the next morning with a determined attitude. Even though you hated what you were about to do, there was no doubt in your mind you were going to do it and do it well.
You took a shower before doing anything else, trying to wake yourself up a bit faster. You would normally never even think of getting up this early, but it was gonna be hard enough to get yourself together this morning so you figured you could use the head start. You let your hair dry before plugging in a curling iron. You'd never used it before, but it was just a curling iron so how hard could it be?
You started to roll your hair around it, but you burned your hand immediately.
"Shit." You murmured, sticking your now burnt finger into your mouth to sooth the red spot.
You huffed out a sigh, looking yourself in the mirror. "Let's try this again." You said to yourself, carefully taking the end of your hair and wrapping it around the skinny piece of hot metal.
You were able to finally get it around without burning yourself, and after a few seconds of holding it still, you released the hair to behold a beautiful curl.
You honestly were so proud of yourself for figuring out how to do this after all these years of swearing you never would.
It took about twenty minutes, but because your hair was short, it was easy to get done fast. Now you had a beautiful head of rich, curly hair. You looked yourself in the mirror once more, starting to like what you saw.
You got up from your seat and started to put on your dress. You hated wearing dresses, but all the other girls were wearing them, so you thought it might help you fit in.
It was light yellow, and had a tank strappy top to it. It had a small sash around the middle to accentuate your waist, and one at the top of your back. There were some pretty sunflower embroidery stiches on the waistline and chest, making the dress to have a summery feel to it. It also had two green ribbons that tied over your shoulder.
You zipped up the back, and tried to tie the sash, but you couldn't get it right with your shoulder.
You huffed, opting instead to go ask your mom for help. You had hoped you could leave the house before she saw you, but you were not so fortunate.
You walked into the kitchen, seeing your mom clad in hair rollers and a bath robe. She turned around, not only surprised to see you out of bet at this time, but also with curled hair, and wearing a dress.
"Wow.... Who are you, and what have you done with Ellis?" She joked, leaning back on the counter behind her to allow a better view of you.
"I know, I know... I'm just trying something new. Could you help me tie this?" You turned around, holding out the ribbons of the sash out to her.
"Of course, I'm so proud of you expanding your wardrobe." She commented. At least she didn't bring up the fact that you were wearing an actual bra today. You didn't want that conversation.
"Thanks, now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find some shoes to go with this." You turned on your heels, your bare feet clapping down the hallway as you walked.
Shoes.... You definitely didn't need high heels; you were already as tall as the other girls that wore them when you stood on flat feet. Also, you didn't know how to walk in them. If you tried, you might damage your other shoulder along with the rest of your body.
You didn't really have anything else in your closet though, except for converse and PF flyers. You figured it wouldn't matter what shoes you wore, as long as your dress looked okay. You pulled your PF flyers out and pulled them onto your feet, lacing them up.
You stood up and walked over to your mirror to check yourself out, and dang did you look different. You almost looked like the rest of the pretty girls at school.
You gave a little twirl of your skirt, seeing the way it spun around your body nicely.
You got distracted and you almost didn't hear the window of your room slide open. You'd started leaving your window open for Benny so he could just come in himself. You did this because usually you didn't wake up on time and he would have to get you up.
"Hey Benny." You waved at him before moving to grab a few things from your dresser. He hadn't looked at you yet, trying to still climb into the window without getting all dusty.
"Hey, I didn't think you'd be awake yet, I-" He paused, finally looking up at you and seeing you all dressed up. You stood there kinda awkwardly, arms crossed behind your back, waiting for his reaction. His eyebrows raised and his jaw fell open, looking you up and down, then up again. "Wow."
You smiled shyly, a small blush starting to form on your cheeks.
"You look beautiful." He slowly started to come towards you, still taking it all in.
"Thank you." You replied, stepping towards him so he could meet you in the middle.
"What's uh.... What's the occasion?" He made eye contact with you for the first time since he came in.
"No occasion, just wanted to try something new."
He gave you the look that said 'I call bull' because honestly, he knew this wasn't the type of clothing you would choose on purpose.
"Did you lose a bet or something?" He joked, making you crack a small smile and a laugh that escaped your lips.
"Ha ha, your hilarious. No, I did not lose a bet. I just thought since I turn fifteen next month, I should start dressing like it." You lied. Benny could tell you were lying, he always could. There was another meaning behind this sudden change, and he would figure it out, just not right now. He couldn't say he didn't like what you were wearing at the moment. Your body was really beautiful, and in this dress, it was easier to see that.
"Well, since you're up so early, why don't we walk to school instead of having your mom drive us." He suggested, bringing his hands to your waist, slithering around to your lower back.
"That sounds fine, I'll go let her know." You replied, breaking away from his hold, and going back into the other side of the house to tell your mom.
She was still in the kitchen, although she'd ditched the rollers and the bath robe.
"Hey mom, me and Benny are gonna walk this morning, I'll see ya later." You ran up behind her and kissed her cheek before going back into your room where Benny was waiting.
You grabbed your backpack and swung the strap over your good shoulder, grabbing Benny by the hand and yanking him towards the window. You hopped out of it, and watched as Benny struggled to climb out himself.
"Why do we never use the front door?" Benny joked, following you down the sidewalk and getting a better grip on your hand.
"Because then you'd have to talk to my mom, and then we wouldn't be on time."
"Fair point."
The walk was not long, nor was it boring. You talked about anything and everything like you normally did. About the dodgers upcoming season, about the fall dance that would be happening next month, and whether you would go or not.
"I mean, I'm just not the party type person." You tried to convince him, but he wanted so badly to take you.
"C'mon, it'll be fun. I love dancing with you, and what better place to dance with you then at a high school dance?" He protested.
"You say you love dancing with me like we've danced a thousand times, I only recall one occasion where that ever happened."
"That doesn't mean I didn't love it." He replied, making you blush a light red color on your cheeks.
You didn't reply, nor make another argument, you just nudged his shoulder and walked past him and up the steps to the school. He of course, didn't waste any time in running up after you. He wrapped his arm around your waist, and walked through the entrance doors with you.
Everyone in the hallway snapped their head around to look at you as you walked by. It was like a scene in a movie, and you were one of the queen bees of the school, walking through your group of followers. The boys were looking you up and down like Benny had done earlier, except they did it in a way that made you feel uneasy. The girls on the other hand, were just looking at you like you were their competition. Of course, you didn't see it that way, you just thought you were fitting in. You were being a regular girl that didn't stick out in a weird way. You were as pretty as them now, so therefore you felt good enough for Benny, unlike you did the day before.
One guy in particular you passed by, seemed a little too confident. He was following behind the two of you, waiting for the right time to strike.
As soon as Benny turned to talk to one of his friends, the guy came up behind you and grabbed your ass.
"Hey, baby. You new around here?" He whispered.
"Please don't touch me." You tried not to retaliate, knowing it wouldn't help you fit in, though normally you would have punched this guy out.
"Sweetheart, I haven't even gotten started." He tried to reach for you again, but you pulled away.
Benny had tuned around as soon as he heard what the guy said, and when he saw this chump, he got furious.
"She said don't touch. If you were smart, you'd leave her alone before I have to beat you into next week." He stood, obviously towering over the short kid. He seemed really overly confident for a guy who was shorter than you. Probably got a napoleon complex going on.
"Benny it's alright, I got it." You pulled his arm back, trying to calm him down so he doesn't kill this dude. Of course, the little weirdo wasn't really helping his case any. He just kept stepping closer.
"The girl said It's alright, man." He pushed Benny by his shoulders, and even though Benny didn't budge, the guy kept coming towards you. "She probably liked having my hands on her."
This was not going to end well if this kid didn't buzz off and mind his own business. Benny got red hot, and looked like he was about to punch the guy, but he kept his cool in front of everyone, opting instead to scare the kid by threatening him.
"You're new here, I can tell. Let me tell you something; I don't like bullies. You know what I do to bullies?" He narrowed his eyes at the kid, and you could see the fear growing on his weird little face.
The kid shook his head, keeping his nose up with the last shred of dignity he had. Another mistake for him.
"Let's just say I'm not this nice, alright? Now, if I ever see you lay a hand on her again, or even look at her in a way she doesn't like, I'm gonna run you up the flagpole....... naked." He finished. Though you didn't really care what happened to the kid, it did make you laugh to see how terrified he was of what Benny said. He never even laid a hand on him, but yet he was still scared.
He nodded his head so quickly you thought it was about to fall off. Benny just crossed his arms and nodded his head for the kid to leave. You'd never seen a kid scram to his class so fast before.
"Hey, you alright?" Benny turned back around to face you, picking up your hand and holding it close to him.
"Yeah, I'm fine. You didn't have to do that for me." You offered, but he shook his head.
"Yes, I did, I know it may not seem like it, but if I didn't, he would've been bothering you all school year. And besides, I know how things are with Mikey, and I don't want anyone else thinking they can just put their hands on you." He replied to you, making you look him in the eye so you could understand him. You always did, it was like you both were somehow connected.
"Well, thank you, but Mikey actually hasn't tried anything for a while." You told him, even though he already knew that. Still, it made him feel a bit relieved to know you hadn't been having to deal with any of his crap.
"I just wanna protect you, my love."
The statement melted your heart, and you felt how much he meant it.
"I know, angel." You were going to tell him that you could protect yourself, but you couldn't bring yourself to. He was so precious in wanting to keep you safe. You always felt safe when he was around.
Your sweet moment was cut short because of the loud, blaring, ring of the school bell. You let out a heavy breath of annoyance, letting go of Benny and backing away.
He looked upset by having to leave you, but you both had separate classes at the beginning of the day.
"We better go." He spoke up.
"Yeah. I'll see you at lunch." You nodded at him before turning to leave, but he pulled you back into his embrace quickly. "What're you doing, we gotta get to class?"
"Don't I get a kiss first?" He laughed, making you roll your eyes before reaching your face up and giving him a quick peck on the lips.
"That wasn't a kiss. This," He paused, brining his lips to yours for longer, sending fireworks all throughout your body. "is a kiss." He finished. You were smiling from ear to ear, and couldn't believe he just did that in the hallway where everyone was looking. You thought you heard a few whistles in the background, but you were a little distracted to really know for sure.
"We're in school you know."
"I know." He replied.
You sighed, shaking your head before looking back up at him one more time.
"I'll see you later." You gave your final goodbye and left before he could pull you back in. You did not plan on being late to class because your boyfriend was keeping you.... occupied.
-
After your first few classes, you had to go to the bathroom. As coincidence would have it, the three same girls from yesterday's lunch were also in there. They were whispering things when you first came in, but they turned around when they saw you coming in through the reflection of the sink mirror.
They looked you up and down at the exact same time, and you felt a little bit awkward as you walked in slowly. You waved at them and gave a simple smile, but as soon as you did, they all gave you a look of disgust, the one that you and Benny called the 'stank eye'.
You just put your head down and continued into one of the stalls to do what you came here for. That wasn't the initial reaction you were hoping for, in fact, you'd hoped that they would treat you better because you'd tried to look more like them.
You locked the metal swinging door and were about to sit down but you heard loud laughing, you didn't know what it was about, but it sounded as if someone was being made fun of, maybe it was the girl who just left her stall. You continued to do your business, still listening to what those girls were going on about.
When you were finished, you opened the stall door to see them still crowded around the same sink as they were before. You didn't make eye contact with any of them, neither did you try to get their attention in any way. You just made your way to another sink and washed your hands.
"You know, wearing a dress doesn't change the fact that you're practically a guy." One of them glanced over at you, making you snap your head in their direction.
"What?" You asked softly. You were really very confused about what they were going on about.
"You're basically a boy. Wearing a dress one day won't change that." The leader of the three, you think her name is Rebecca, said to you, crossing her arms to look tough.
"Well, I mean yeah... I play ball with the boys. I can't exactly play ball in a dress." You paused, looking down at your outfit and becoming slightly self-conscious. "I thought that if I wore something a little more like you guys it might help me fit in."
The three girls laughed in unison, as if what you had just said was the most ridiculous thing they had heard all week.
"Silly little Tomboy, you'll never fit in with us. Your boyfriend might think you're great and all, but when he's not around, you're nothing but a sad little outcast." Rebecca said, matter of factly. The words had hurt you, and you didn't understand why they were being so mean. You were only trying to be like them. Still, for some stupid, naïve reason, you wanted their approval.
"Maybe I could learn some things from you guys. You're the most popular girls in school, so maybe you could teach me how to fit in." You tried, but again they just laughed at you.
"That has got to be the worst idea I've ever heard. Why in the world would we help such a hopeless lost cause? Face it sweetie, you were just never meant to be a pretty girl. You were meant to be an ugly, ratty tomboy that swings a bat around for fun. You might as well go back to the flannels and jeans, because you can't do that dress justice anyways." She finished taking a stab at you, and you felt as if you were almost going to cry. You held your tears back, knowing that if they saw the effect they had on you, it would make it worse.
"Let me give you a piece of free advice, don't spend time trying to make yourself look better, okay? It doesn't work for you." One of the other girls in the group said, pointing her finger at your dress as she spoke.
"Good one Lexi." Rebecca told her before they all turned on their heels and began to leave the crammed bathroom.
On the way out, Rebecca turned back to you one more time. "If I were you, I'd break up with your boyfriend before he breaks up with you. With all the other beautiful girls in this school, he's not going to want his ugly summer fling anymore." And with that, she was gone.
You couldn't help the rush of emotions flowing through out your body at the moment. You felt so worthless. You believed everything they had to say about you, and it hurt you so horribly. You felt a sharp pang of sadness well up in your chest, and you began to cry. Not the harsh angry tears you'd cried over your mom's and Mikey's engagement, or over anything else you'd cried over in the past year.
These tears were ones of pure sadness and hurt. The words used by those girls were so mean. Why did they have to say those things? Did it benefit them to do that to you? Did it make them feel better about themselves when they put you down so hard? Did they really mean what they said about Benny? Would he break up with you if he found someone better? If he did, you might not ever recover from such a thing. Benny was the only good thing in your life, and if you lost him you didn't know if you'd be able to go on through your rough and tumble life.
By now you had knelt down to the ground, your body weight becoming too much for your legs to hold up. You couldn't be sure how long you were there, just crying on the ground. You just knew it was long enough to miss your next class. You wanted to be able to meet Benny for lunch, and maybe talk to him about this whole thing, but you just couldn't bring yourself to stop crying. Your heart was aching so badly, and all you could do was express it through tears.
So much has happened to you in so little time, and you were beginning to wonder if it would ever get better or if you were just destined to live a hard, sad and depressing life.
At this point, you had gotten yourself up and into a stall. You were still on the floor with your back against the wall, just sitting on the dirty bathroom floor, but you couldn't get up. It was too hard.
The tears never once stopped flowing, and you'd thought if you cried anymore, there would be none left to cry, but you were wrong. By the minute, your body found new ways to produce more tears to your red, sore eyes.
You were so tired of this. You wanted it all to stop. The pain, the tears, the hurtful words that kept circling through your head, all of it.
You could have sworn you heard the door open and close, to which you just held your breath and didn't make a sound. You were able to stop the soft and sad whimpers that were escaping your lips the moment before, but you were unable to stop the tears.
You waited to hear if there was someone in the room, and nearly panicked when you heard footsteps coming near your stall.
"Mack, are you in here?" You were surprised to hear Benny's voice coming from the other side of the thin piece of metal.
You had to act fast, but the only thing you could think of was to play dumb.
"Who's Mack?" Okay maybe not that dumb.
"I know it's you, I can see your shoes. PF flyers, just like mine." He sounded almost annoyed in his tone, and you wondered what he was here about.
"You shouldn't be in here, there's a reason it's called a girls room." You tried to say it as if you were fine, but Benny could tell by the soft sniffles he heard; you were anything but fine.
"There's no one else here, or even in the hallway, everyone's at lunch. I was waiting for you. When you didn't show up, I came looking for you." He admitted. He was trying to get to you, but you wouldn't come out of your small confinement.
"You should be at lunch with your friends." You replied. Sure, you wanted nothing more than to just let him hold you and tell you everything would be okay, but maybe that wasn't what he wanted. "Why don't you just go, and I'll catch up with you later."
"I'm not leaving you." He placed his fisted hand on the stall door, waiting for you to come out, but you wouldn't budge. "Not until I know you're okay."
You sighed, placing your head back into the cold wall.
"Can you tell me what's wrong?" He tried again, turning his back to face the cold metal, sliding down it and joining you on the floor, still separated by the door between you.
"I don't know, Benny. I'm just sad okay?" You hid the story from him. You never hid anything from him, but right now you were scared. You were afraid if you said something wrong, it would make him upset with you.
"Love, please? Tell me what made you sad."
You breathed out a heavy breath again.
"I don't know if I should." You admitted truthfully. You didn't want to keep things from him, but you didn't think you really had a choice. What if this was it? This conversation could make or break you. This little talk could determine whether Benny stayed with you or not.
"Mack, please at least open the door." He pleaded with you, standing back up in an attempt to draw you out. You still had tears coming down your face, even though you'd stopped essentially crying, the wetness still fell down your cheeks. You knew it would help you to see him, so you stood and unlocked the stall door, letting it swing open with your head down.
"Hey, c'mere." He held his arms open for you, and you didn't waste any time in collapsing into them. "Who did this to you?"
He knew you well enough to know that someone had caused this upon you, and it wasn't anything that had to do with your situation at home. You cried different tears when it had something to do with your mom and Mikey.
"Some girls. They said some things and I didn't take it so well." You always dimmed down the situation when you spoke of it, as if they barely did anything to you, and you were just making some big deal out of nothing.
"What girls? What did they say?" He was trying to get some answers from you before you tried to close yourself off again, but you were scared to give him the whole story.
"Just some girls that the group was hanging out with. I don't remember names." You lied, you knew at least two of those girls' names, but you weren't going to tell Benny them. Who knows what they might say to him if they knew he found out?
"What did they say to you?" He was still embracing you tightly, and spoke softly so you didn't revert back to your bathroom stall to hide.
"Just some things that weren't entirely nice." You still hid it from him. You didn't want to make him upset at you for not telling him, but if you told him everything, he still might get mad.
"Love, you have to tell me, I can't help you if you don't." He felt you try to pull away from him, but on instinct he pulled you back, not letting you away from his arms.
You sighed, relaxing in the position you were both in. You knew he wouldn't give up; he was too stubborn.
"They said that just because I wore a dress one day, doesn't change the fact that I'm practically a guy." You didn't face him while you were speaking, but kept your head down. You weren't finished with your story and he knew it, but he had to let that first sentence sink in just a bit longer.
"That's not it..." He trailed off, sure he was already pissed that anyone would say that about you anyways, but he had a feeling he was about to get more angry. You were a tough as nails girl, and what you just told him wouldn't have bothered you. They must have said something really horrible to make you so upset.
"No, it's not." You paused, remembering all the harsh and cruel statements before reciting them to Benny. "I told them I wore the dress to fit in, and they said I never would. They said I'm just an ugly, ratty tomboy that just wasn't meant to be a pretty girl." You started to cry again while saying the words that hurt you so badly. Of course, there was more, but you were saving that for last. That was, if Benny even asked you if there was more. If he didn't, you didn't see any need in bringing it up.
"Why would they say that?" He whispered, bringing you close to him again, cradling your head as you laid it on his shoulder. He was mainly whispering to himself, knowing you probably didn't have the slightest idea why anyone would say that.
"Hey, don't you ever listen to things like that. You are so beautiful. Inside and out. You are so kind, and gentle, and full of life. Not to mention how talented of a baseball player you are. If anything, I would think they were jealous of you." He kept caressing your hair, whispering these things into your ear to help you calm down a bit. It helped.
"Was there anything else they said?" He wanted to know every little detail, and if that meant hanging out in the girls room for the rest of lunch then so be it.
"Yeah, but... I'm not sure you wanna hear it." You had sniffled a few times, letting the tears let up some more.
"I do, tell me." He sounded rushed, like as soon as he heard everything he was gonna go hunt for these people and murder them himself. "Please?"
You pulled back from him to look him in the eye. You wanted so badly to just tell him the last part without falling apart, but you didn't think you would be able to. You could already feel the pain in your chest returning, and you hadn't even said the words yet.
"They said I should break up with you before you break up with me. They think if you find someone better you'll dump your ugly summer fling." A single tear ran down your face while you were speaking, and honestly you were grateful that you didn't have a waterfall going down your cheeks.
Benny didn't respond right away. He blinked his eyes a few times, not believing what he heard. He couldn't believe someone could be so ugly and mean as to say something like that to you, to say all those things to you. You weren't sure how to read the look on his face. It looked almost blank.
"My love, why would you believe that? There's no way I could ever in a million years dump you for somebody better. There's no one better than you." He softly held the side of your face, looking deep into your red swollen eyes. Even in this state of sadness, with disheveled hair and tear stained cheeks, he thought of you as the most stunning being he had ever laid his eyes on.
"I just didn't know if I was good enough for you..." You were still sniffling away the rest of your sobs, trying as hard as you could to bring the crying to a halt. "All the other girls are a lot prettier than me. And I know that I'm beautiful in my own way, but..... Traditionally, I'm not exactly what comes to mind when other people think of the word attractive." You finished. Benny could hardly believe what you were saying about yourself. It was breaking his heart to hear how you thought about your looks. He didn't even think about how others saw you, because he thought they would all see you as he did. He never saw anything but beauty. Beauty in the way you looked, in the way you treated others, in the way you played ball like a complete pro. Just beauty in everything. When you said that about yourself it just about killed him.
"Please don't say that about yourself. You are completely and totally gorgeous, and if others can't see that, then they're not worth your time. They're the ugly ones, not you." He hadn't even started on the whole being good enough thing yet, but he sure was about to.
"And don't ever say that you're not good enough for me. As far as I'm concerned, you're way to good for me. You are my everything and I don't know what I would do without you." He almost sounded like he was about to cry. This last few minutes really had an impact on him, finding out what you had been through and hearing what awful things those girls had to say, really hurt him deeply. Never again would this happen to you, he would make sure of it.
"Are you sure you don't remember the names of those girls?" He wasn't sure what he would say to them if he knew who they were, but he at least would appreciate to know who they were.
You weren't going to lie to him anymore. It didn't feel right, and you hated not telling him things.
"I know that one was named Rebecca." You replied, putting your head back down.
Benny felt a welling up feeling in his stomach, he knew exactly who you were talking about, and he could have sworn right in that moment that he would have liked to strangle her.
"I uh, I know who that is." He started to pull away from you, wanting to leave before lunch period was over. He had something to say to the bright blonde she-devil.
"Where are you going?" You asked desperately. You wanted him to stay with you, reassuring you that everything was okay, but he had other intentions.
"I have to take care of something really quickly. Can you wait for me by the front of the school yard? I'll be there soon, and we can just ditch the rest of the day." He suggested. He would have ditched the whole day with you had he known what was going to happen.
"But, it's the second day of school- "
"Love, it'll be okay. Trust me?" He asked for your trust, but he knew you would give it to him. There was never a time when you didn't trust him.
"Always."
He gave you a small smile, and leaned down to press a gentle kiss against your lips. He backed away from you until you had to let go.
He turned and walked to the door, but didn't leave without looking back and giving you a thumbs up. You nodded your head, and with that, he was gone.
You gave yourself a moment to get yourself cleaned up, wiping the tears from your cheeks, combing out your hair with your fingers so that you didn't look like a wild animal trying to walk through the school halls.
You left a short period after, and did as you said, making your way to the front of the school to wait for Benny there.
Okay so um..... fun fact that's really me in the picture and other fun fact.... I made that dress. I couldn't find one online that looks the way I wanted it to so I just.... made it.