what if → Benny Rodriguez

chapter 14 | moonlight

July 3rd 2019

I hadn't seen Harper since Benny's house, which was two days ago. and i was getting a little confused to say the least. the feeling of July was now in the air. the feeling of a month of summer gone, disappeared, and unfortunately the feeling of school starting the next month.

Evelyn has mostly recovered from whatever illness she had. and i no longer worried about it considering she seemed back to her normal, bratty, 11 year old self.

when we walked through town today it was buzzing with the excitement of the fourth of July being the next day. People were out buying groceries, and decorations for their parties that would be held.

"ghost in the graveyard!" i yelled and started running back to base.

the grass between my bare toes ticked as i ran away from Timmy who had been the ghost.

we were playing at Yeah-yeah's house which unfortunately meant running into Bella. But out of all of us, his yard is the biggest and has the best hiding places for games like ghost in the graveyard and sardines.

i made it back to the base, which is their swing set, safely without being tagged. now, Timmy turned his attention to Ham, who was also running back to base.

Bella sits at the end of the slide texting or whatever the hell she was doing on her phone. i don't really care to know to be honest. Yeah-yeah was alway very against the idea of his sister hanging out with us. he also knew how she treated me and wasn't fond of it, to say the least. Yeah-yeah always had my back when it came to Bella. all the boys did. i'm surprised she even had the audacity to be around all of us after all the shit she's been pulling ever since i got back in town.

"if you're not going to play, then get back in the house Bella." Yeah-yeah snapped.

"aw you're so cute, thinking you're the boss of me little bro." she walked over to him and ruffled his hair, to then situate herself on the ground beside Benny. as soon as she sat down, he got up and walked towards me.

"all we want to do is play one game and you just have to come and ruin it." Yeah-yeah doesn't give up.

"how am i ruining it?" Bella stands up again when Benny has walked away, leaving her alone on the ground. "if anyone's ruining it it's her." she pointed her perfectly manicured finger at me.

i rolled my eyes. i don't really care what she says about me at this point. i knew her games. she was just trying to get a rise out of me. it worked that first night, but ever since then i hadn't let her little comments get to me.

"how would she be ruining it? she's actually playing the game. not just sitting on her ass texting people and watching us play" Kenny defended me.

"i didn't even bring my phone." i laughed. "when i hang out with people i actually want to hang out with them rather than text people." i smirked at her.

"oh, i see how it is." Bella walks up to stand so close in front of me our noses almost touch. "little miss perfect over here has her life together and all you guys basically worship her for no reason." she talks about me like she's not standing a few centimeters in front of me.

"did i ever say i was perfect?" i ask, locking my eyes on hers.

this time i was the one who sent her over the edge. she took her arms from her sides and placed them on my shoulders only to then shove me backwards onto the grass.

a chorus of "hey's!" and "woah's!" went around the boys who all rushed over to stand behind me while Benny lifted me off the ground.

"i don't need help!" turn around and snap at Benny, instantly feeling bad when i saw hurt in his eyes. i was just afraid Bella would see me as weak if i couldn't even get off the ground by myself.