I Love You, Benjamin Stone

Annaleigh

We were standing outside of the English classroom, gathered in a small circle, seeming more like a football team rather than a small group of English students. At any moment, somebody could have yelled ‘break’ and we all would have separated and ran off into the distance, our costumes fluttering in glory. Or at least, Curtis would have, despite the headache that he had today as a result of his fainting episode from yesterday. Though I couldn’t see the bump on his egg-shaped head, it didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt none the less.

“Alright team!” Parker nearly shouted in an enthusiastic voice. He was wearing his ‘King Claudius’ costume which consisted of his white button-up shirt, dark wash blue jeans, a cape and a crown. Along with these, Parker insisted that he have a fake moustache to add effect. When he was questioned on why he thought that, he claimed that men in Shakespearian days with status had moustaches, the king wasn’t an exception. Whether or not this was true, was another mystery. “So today is the big day. We’re either going to blow this thing outta the water or sink and get eaten by Nemo. It’s up to us to determine our destinies and it’s up to you guys to make I, the King, look epic.”

Benjamin cracked a grin and adjusted the small beret placed on his head. It looked more like a Jewish cap than a beret and to be honest, I wasn’t even sure why he was wearing it in the first place. It didn’t really matter though, anything he wore made him look gorgeous.

“Nemo? Really, Parker, Nemo wouldn’t do anything but nibble on our toes. Now Bruce would be the way to go, or even Jaws.” Benjamin adjusted his cape and frowned when it wouldn’t stop wrapping around his legs. He sighed heavily and gave a defeated shrug.

Curtis, unlike the others, was the only male person in our group dressed up in a dress. He had borrowed one from his mother, who must have been a large lady. The extra fabric that floated around his tall frame floated around him every time he moved, making the ugly flower print look like a garden sea. He was adjusting his bra, which was filled with water balloons, while laughing out loud. If Curtis would be able to pull this act off without feeling up his fake boobs, I decided that we might be alright.

“Jaws is nothing but a joke, Benny,” Curtis scoffed as he stared down at his newest additions. “If anything, it’d be the Hulk floating around down there in a scuba suit. That’s the way it’d be.”

Parker rolled his eyes and moved his lips. The moustache swayed on his lip.

“Whatever guys, the point is that we ought to try and do a good job. Annaleigh would probably have a heart attack if we got a bad grade and we definitely don’t want that guilt on our shoulders,” I’m sure his intentions were good but it still felt like a jab.

I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear and flipped my braid over my shoulder. I was just wearing a poofy dress I borrowed from Courtney. With her ever-changing styles, she always had something that seemed to accompany whatever we were doing.

“I don’t believe that bad grades can be obtained without effort,” I replied and crossed my arms over my chest.

The three boys turned to look at me, their eyes raised in interest. It had probably been awhile since they had heard mature words from someone our own age. Benjamin’s face softened in thought. His bangs brushed his eyes, bringing out the long length of his thick lashes. I had to drop my gaze down to my feet, too shy to actually lock a gaze with him.

“Well, that’s why a lot of people cheat. There’s effort in that and you don’t get bad grades,” Curtis pointed out with a brilliant smile. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes in denial. There would be no way that Curtis would understand the underlying meaning in my words.

“What Yoda meant was that bad grades are caused by people who don’t do anything, just like you Curtis,” Parker stated nonchalantly.

“She isn’t Yoda, she’s just… mature for her age,” Benjamin said slowly, seeming like he was choosing his words carefully. What an amazing soul!

I couldn’t help but smile to myself like a tool. Getting a compliment from Benjamin was like finding the Holy Grail. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, it was amazing. There was nothing that could ruin my day now, not even Curtis’ idiotic comments. Just earlier, he made a comment that the bra he bought was so much better than one I could have loaned him, only because he was sure he’d actually have ‘boobs’. After the dirty look I gave him, he shut up awfully fast. He probably remembered that I now had dirt on him.

“Are you guys ready?”

I couldn’t help but jump, surprised by the feminine voice behind me. After being surrounded by masculine voices (including Curtis’ woman imitation, which was still rather manly) it was weird hearing a lady.

Jennifer, a typical cheerleader type, was chewing her gum at an obnoxious level. It snapped and snapped, popped then went back to the mushing sound of teeth squishing gum. I resisted the urge to rip off her jaw.

Wow, I’m really turning into Courtney.

“We were born ready, hoe!” Curtis exclaimed in a gangster/lady voice while doing the electric slide across the hallway floor. Benjamin gave the girl a sympathetic smile before fiddling with his cape again.

“In other words, yes. We are definitely ready, right Annaleigh?”

My name rolled off of his tongue like a beautiful waterfall. For a second, I was so stunned by the fact that he addressed me that I had forgotten to answer. Instead, I stared at him like an idiot, my mouth gaping open like a fish going after a worm on a hook. It never seems to amaze me how my repulsive actions seem to take over at the worst of opportunities.

Rather than get my tongue twisted in my mouth further, I nodded. Jennifer didn’t even glance in my direction but instead gave Parker a flirty smile (which he didn’t notice because of his moustache) and went back to class. Benjamin raised his eyebrows back at his friend and Parker gave him a nonchalant shrug.

The time finally came.

*

“How fares our cousin Hamlet?”

So far, that had been the only line that was correctly said in our play so far.

Not only did one of Curtis’ fake boobs fall on the floor but Parker managed to obtain another moustache from someone else to use as a unibrow, Curtis resorted to female gangster talk as replacement to Shakespeare’s difficult dialogue, Benjamin hid Curtis’ crown, and I managed to stand in the corner while turning red in the face. Now, Curtis had to play Polonius and was rushing to hide his fake boobs in order to appear more manly. It didn’t really work since he put on lipstick as a gag.

“I’m doing good, there’s something bugging me into saying something about a chameleon’s dish and air. Though, my brain can’t seem to figure out what they’d be,” Benjamin was leaning against the wall, looking casual and carefree.

“Whatever man, you sure as hell won’t be once I mess your shit up!” Parker exclaimed, earning a dirty look from the teacher. He gave her a charming smile and coughed into his hand, tumbling It down in front of Benjamin. “What I mean is, Piglet, that I have nothing to say to that. The words are not mine, but rather the literary god, Shakespeare’s.”

I slapped my hand to my forehead, hard enough to nearly knock myself over. Just after Hamlet’s next line, Curtis bounded in. His dress was tucked into some puffier pants, creating large hips and an exaggerated bum. He looked goofy and knew it, his eyes twinkling with mischief. Judging by Courtney’s face across the room, she was going to have a ball making fun of him for this.

“What did you enact?” Benjamin asked, his voice pinched with curiosity. That line was right and for the first time, someone was showing some initiative. Dear Lord, I think I’m boarder line going to faint.

“Julius Caesar salad. I killed the one guy who’s pretty wicked and then some doucher killed me,” the class burst into laughter yet again, earning a beaming smile from Curtis.

Curtis finished his lines with Benjamin and bounded off the stage. Just before he left the room, he tripped and fell on the floor. The roar from the class was nearly enough to send vibrations through the floor. Yes, this was just a disaster.

I ran my hands quickly over my braid nervously. I had to go on after Parker said Polonius’s line. Since Curtis was acting as Gertrude, we needed someone to take over Polonius’s line. Although Parker at first mentioned that King Claudius was way cooler, he later agreed that he would say the line… as long as the moustache could stay on.

Then the line came.

I entered to the center, feeling a slight blush fill my cheeks. All the cast was now sitting in the chairs we had set to watch the ‘play’. I took my place near Benjamin and avoided casting any looks at anyone. This was it and in seconds, Benjamin would have his head upon my lap.

He turned his gaze toward me, his large eyes innocent and focusing on my face. For that moment, I couldn’t breathe. There was no way that I could knowing that his attention was focused on me for this short minute. That look was just short of wondrous, his eyes meeting my face and feeling like they could burrow into the depths of my soul. If Benjamin could never be mine, then I hoped that someday I could find somebody who could look at me like that again.

“Lady, shall I lie in your lap?” he gave me a small wink and I choked on my tongue. Quickly he leaned over and whispered: “I made sure to memorize these lines, they had to be just right.”

Heart bursting love, commence.

“N-no… my Lord,” I stammered and closed my eyes tightly. Breathe, Anna, you can do this.

I opened my eyes and met Courtney’s gaze. She gave me a thumbs up and mouthed: ‘you can do it!’ and I knew that if she had said it, it would have been the way that Rob Schneider always does in movies with Adam Sandler.

Benjamin moved down to lie by my feet.

Holy shit balls, his hand brushed my leg!

“I mean, my head upon your lap?” Oh my God, oh my God, oh MY GOD!

“Ay, my Lord,” the words came out of my mouth in a jumble. My heart began to pound loudly in my chest, to a point where I couldn’t hear anything. I could feel the weight of his head rest down on my thigh and I could feel his jaw move as he spoke. His hand brushed against my foot and I accidentally jerked my foot back, almost knocking him away from me. Curtis began dancing in the corner, quietly singing ‘Dancing Queen’ to himself.

“Do you think I meant country matters?” This was one of the more vulgar parts of the play and frankly, I wasn’t sure how I would make it through it all without turning red as a lobster. Not that it mattered since I pretty much was at this moment anyway.

“I think nothing, my Lord,” I murmured, my voice shaking. This moment was something I’d treasure forever, I would never ever forget it.

“That’s a fair thought to lie between a maiden’s legs.”

As Benjamin said that line, Parker jumped on stage, his moustache nearly falling off of hi handsome face yelled out:

“Unless she smells like fish!”

So much for relying on Parker.

Parker

That was just something that was too good to miss.

Benjamin was literally rolling on the floor, he was laughing so hard. Not only that but the class had changed into something fierce. The laughter in the room was contagious, I could tell. The only person who wasn’t laughing was Annaleigh, but it’s not like I expected her to laugh anyways. She was always so serious but in this case, she just had a horrified look on her face.

I took a bow, rolling my arm downward in a gesture with my moustache in hand. Curtis followed suit, wearing that stupid ass dress and a crown on his head. Curtis can be so fucked sometimes. He’s one of the guys that you definitely know isn’t gay but he’s just so cool with himself that he’ll run around in a bra and a dress.

He made his way over beside me and began belting out the ‘We Like To Party’ tune, a huge smile pasted on his face. Eventually, I couldn’t help it. The play was so trashed right now that there was no saving it with the stupid shit that we had left to do anyway. The big large ‘F’ that was going to be on the report card wasn’t really a big deal, it’s one project.

Annaleigh had gotten out of her chair and began to leave the room, her face red with embarrassment. Overall, I didn’t see what she had to be embarrassed over, it was just a joke after all. Even her freaky looking friend Courtney was cool with the whole scenerio. She was laughing in the back corner with everyone else.

But the door slammed and she was gone. I stopped dancing and licked my lips before bounding out after her, shutting the door behind me. She had already made her way halfway down the hallway, her legs moving her as quickly as possible. The back ribbon to her dress was already untied and fluttered behind her.

“Annaleigh!” I called out, breaking into a jog to catch her. She didn’t answer but instead kept walking, her pace quickening slightly. Finally, I caught up to her and stopped her in her tracks.

Her face was the color of a tomato, fiery and unhappy. Her eyes blinked quickly from behind her glasses and focused on the wall behind me rather than at me. For a minute, I actually felt pretty bad about what I had done. The girl just wanted to get through school with good grades like anyone else and she didn’t exactly get the choice to go in a group with us.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. It’s just that it was too good of an opportunity to miss!” I let out a low chuckle after my own sentence which died out quickly because of the stony gaze I received. I coughed and darted my eyes away from her face.

She inhaled deeply, shaky even, and released a small sound in the back of her throat. It was a sound that was like when someone was trying to maintain some self control, I never actually thought I would ever hear a noise like that from Annaleigh Barker. She didn’t even do that when I told her I hated her in grade 3 for liking me.

“Excuse me, Parker, but some people have places they need to be that DON’T involve people who don’t consider other people’s interests,” she replied in a cold tone. It was strange seeing this side of Annaleigh. It was like seeing a monkey use a wrench for the first time or something.

I rubbed the back of my head with my hand, pushing the crown more toward my forehead.

“Look, I know that we let you down…” I began but was cut off by Annaleigh’s hand.

“Yes! Actually, you guys let me more than down! I’m absolutely disgusted by the behaviour you guys portrayed in the classroom environment and towards our fellow students. Sure everyone seems to be immature and childish enough to find your ridiculous gags funny but I, however, do not. Unlike you children, I actually want to leave this place with a good final mark in my English 30 class because I actually want to do something constructive with my life,” she was yelling and I was in so much shock that I couldn’t do anything but stare. “Not everyone wants to go around and… and… drink and use girls or whatever you imbeciles do with your time! I happen to want to make something of myself and well… well I’m not going to do that if I associate with idiots like you and Curtis!”

“Benjamin was at fault too,” I managed to retort in a defensive voice. Her face turned darker and it looked like she might have killed me if she could have. Why don’t I just bite my tongue?

“Benjamin actually took initiative in this project by actually trying to memorize some of his lines! He didn’t exactly give an Oscar performance but he definitely did a hundred thousand times better than you and that idiot who can’t even remember my name!”

She swung past me, leaving me to my own thoughts. Overall, Annaleigh Barker was definitely right when she said that we were idiots and immature. We really did do nothing but get drunk and pick up girls to have random sex with and we certainly didn’t care enough about our grades to do every ounce of homework that we got in any of our classes.

But who isn’t idiotic and stupid in high school?