"I have to go,too," I spoke up, my voice barely above a whisper. "My mom's waiting for me." It was only half the truth.
I went around the circle, giving each of my friends a tight hug, saving Ben for last. I tried desperately to keep the tears from...
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•°Corinne's POV°•
"Are you going to confess your undying love to that mystery boy you're always staring at? I'm still surprised you're attracted to another human being," Bev said, a teasing smile on her face. I felt a bit insulted. I'm human; I can feel attraction like anyone else. It's just rarer for me.
"Bev, I can't really call it love. I haven't even said a word to him since he transferred here," I admitted. I'd only ever seen him in the library or in the school hallways. "Then what about him attracts your attention so much? You always beat up any guy that gets close to you," Beverly asked, staring at me with those knowing eyes of hers.
"The way his eyes furrow when he's reading, the look he gets when he focuses on something that interests him, how his face lights up when he smiles... I could sit here and tell you everything, but we don't have enough time," I stated, realizing unknowingly that I had a smile on my face.
"So you're stalking him?" Bev asked, still giving me that teasing look. "I'm not stalking him,"I insisted. "I'm just... able to find him easily in a crowd," I said, smiling at her innocently.
"Corinne, can you sign my yearbook?" a girl from one of my classes asked, walking up to us. "Sure. Bev, I'll catch up with you outside, okay?" I said, putting an end to our previous conversation. I felt like she was judging me for liking someone. I'd never felt this way before; it was all new to me, and it stung that my best friend seemed to be making fun of me.
"Sure thing!" Beverly said, walking away.
•°Ben's POV°•
Pulling my bike from the rack while carrying a project wasn't the easiest thing to do. I got distracted seeing that Corinne's bike was still there. Moving backwards, I hoped I'd get to see her at least once. I didn't realise I was standing in the way of everyone behind me.
"You gonna let me go by? Or is there a secret password or something?"
My head whipped around to see it was Beverly Marsh, Corinne's best friend, who had spoken.
"Oh... Um, sorry," I muttered.
My project fell to the ground, shattering on impact. "Sorry isn't..."I stammered, trying to pick up the pieces. I had to let go of my bike, making it clatter to the ground. I wished I could just disappear. "...a password,"Beverly finished, a hint of amusement in her voice.
I felt utterly embarrassed as I scrambled to pick everything up.
"Henry and his goons are at the west entrance, so you'll be okay," another voice spoke from behind me. I turned around slowly to see Corinne looking straight at me with those intense blue eyes. "Oh, I wasn't..." I tried to explain myself. "Everyone knows he's looking for you," Beverly said. She looked at Corinne. "Some more than others," she added.
Corinne stepped closer and pointed at my headphones. "Can I hear what you're listening to?" she asked. I didn't know how to respond as she took them off my head anyway and put them on. I was terrified she'd think I was weird and judge my taste in music.
"New Kids on the Block?" Beverly asked me. I could only nod, wondering how she knew. "I don't even like them, I was just..." I tried to deny it, my face growing hot.
"My all-time favourite! Looks like we have something in common, Ben," Corinne said, cutting me off mid-sentence.
I could feel my cheeks burn red. I was flustered and surprised that someone knew my name, and that someone was Corinne Summers. "You know my name?" I asked in disbelief. "Of course, we're in social studies together. I'm Corinne, and that's Beverly," she said with her usual bright smile. "Yeah,I know that. And, like you said, I'm Ben, but pretty much everybody calls me..." "The new kid.Well, Ben, there are worse things to be called," Beverly said, sounding like she was trying to reassure me.
Corinne suddenly grabbed my yearbook from my open bag—I hadn't even noticed it was unzipped. "Let's sign this for you,"she stated with a smile.
She gave it to Beverly, who signed it first. Corinne signed it after, but it looked like she was writing a lot more. It made me intensely curious.
"Stay cool, Ben from sosh class. Cori, I'll see you tomorrow," Beverly said, waving goodbye and walking away in a hurry.
Corinne had gotten her bike out of the stands too. She turned to me, smiling. "I better go too. I hope to see you around, new kid on the block!" she said, walking her bike the opposite way from Beverly.
"Please don't go, girl," I said. The words were out before I could stop them. "That's the name of another New Kids on the Block song." I had no idea where that sudden courage came from, but I was glad I spoke up because Corinne stopped in her tracks. She looked over her shoulder straight at me, and I felt nothing but butterflies.
"I know," she said, her smile softening. "And I wish I didn't have to go. I would have loved to stay in your company a lot longer, but I have something important to take care of." She gave me a wink before riding away on her bike, leaving me behind as a blushing mess.
•°Corinne's POV°•
The high from my conversation with Ben, the giddy flutter of butterflies in my stomach, lasted exactly as long as the bike ride home.
It evaporated the second I pushed the front door open and was hit by the familiar, thick smell of stale whiskey and despair. The house didn’t greet me with silence; it screamed it. A hollow, empty scream that echoed off the bare walls.
And there she was. My mother. A crumpled monument to our ruined life, passed out on the stained couch. Another bottle, nearly empty, dangled precariously from her fingertips, threatening to shatter on the floor and join the graveyard of glass that surrounded her.
The blanket I pulled over her was less an act of tenderness and more a burial shroud for the woman she used to be. I did it on autopilot, my hands moving with a practiced numbness that made my chest ache. He left us, I wanted to scream at her still form, but you left me first.
A fragile hope—that maybe today would be different—shattered inside me, sharper than any whiskey bottle. Normal wasn't a thing that happened here. This was the only normal I was allowed.
I didn't walk to my room; I fled. The lock on my door clicked into place with a sound that felt more like a plea than a barrier. I fell onto my bed, the ghost of Ben’s flustered smile still playing behind my eyes. I clung to it, to the sound of his voice saying my name, as I pressed my headphones on.
The upbeat melody of New Kids on the Block filled my head, a defiant, joyful noise against the oppressive silence of the house. I held onto the thought of him, of the way his eyes lit up, and let the music try to drown out everything else. I fell asleep like that, cuddled in my blankets, trying to convince myself that the good feeling was real, and that the world outside my door was just a bad dream.
