* THIS IS TWICE NOW,, benny

[NELL DOE DALE]

Nell was trying not to let the stress of the impending trial get to her, and she gave great effort toward not think about the mere weeks between now and the date. Of course, it was rather difficult when one had Jane for an aunt. Whenever going over to her father’s, the first place she headed to was the kitchen, but before she opened the large refrigerator, she noticed a paper. ”What’s this?” Nell questioned curiously as her father walked in. She took the paper down from the magnet and rolled her eyes. Remember to pack things up for Nell. Some things can be donated to Good Will. xoxoxo, Jane. She waved the paper at her father. ”Why do you allow her to put things on your fridge?” He gingerly took the note, read it over and shook his head before crumbling it up. Again she realized the shared dislike between them, and she was still uncomfortable with it. He didn’t respond to her question, probably because he realized it may just start an argument. It was scary, how atuned to her he was getting.

Of course, now her thoughts were on the trial, and she didn’t want that. She wouldn’t have to pack for a few weeks, and at least she could hold off on that, but it was still distressing to her to consider that come winter, she’ll be in New York facing what she had done to her mother. ”I’m going out,” she said, and Leon raised an eyebrow. ”So soon?” Nell nodded and said, ”Was there anything you wanted to talk to me about?” For once these words weren’t filled with bitterness toward the man, and they were sincere for all they were worth. Her hatred for him had quelled ever since Josh told her about what her father had done for him. Well, for her but still, it was an amazing feat in her mind. Her father had since apologized to her face-to-face and explained himself, and she was glad that he didn’t try for any deeper conversation about her mother. She still wasn’t ready to do that with him, to discuss the woman who was so important in both of their lives.

Realizing that she was being less defensive than usual, he shook his head in one of his minute expressions said, ”Go on and have fun, mija.” Nell wondered if this was what it felt like to repair a relationship. It was strange, but not altogether awful. Could she ever truly forgive him for what he’d done? She was a believer of second chances which was why she allowed her father back into her life, but he had done something very horrible. ”All right, hasta luego.” She depart from his company with a peck on the cheek and soon she was driving over to Timmies to decide what she was going to do with herself. After ordering coffee and a half-dozen donuts, she took a seat and checked her phone to see if there was anyone she could hang out with today. It was the weekend, so unless her friends had made plans, she could just text them and tell them to meet her here. First, though, she ate her donut, not wanting to smear her buttons with frosting from it.

It was chilly out, so she wore a sweatshirt and jeans, feeling like the Earthie she was in the temperature. Soon it’ll be winter, but will I even experience that? She didn’t even want to think about it, so she didn’t. It was easy to lose herself in food, one of her favorite things ever put on this earth. It was why she ordered so many donuts—one or two would be enough for most others, but her twelve other stomachs would like more than that. Of course, she jobbed and exercised to keep healthy—luckily for her, she had a petite frame that couldn’t hold much excess weight.



[We can play it that they found out they were enemies after becoming friends, and this is their first time seeing each other since the war started...? xD]

[nitwit]

“Thanks,” the thunder elemental said to the waitress with a small smile as she placed the cup of coffee down on his table. The waitress was a cute brunette, but probably a couple years older than him. It didn’t matter to him though. Ben didn’t come to Timmies to scout for brunettes. He simply came to Tim’s to relax. A lot was going on these days. With the war and all, Ben just really needed some time to himself. At the moment, Ben was undecided when it came to choosing between the two sides. He’d go with his own element, but he didn’t want the water and earth elementals to consider him an enemy. He didn’t know much of the argument either. Well, he heard some tidbits here and there from overhearing his peers, but he didn’t have enough information to make an educated guess on what was really happening anyways. Until then, he’d remain with his element. Ben didn’t really want to, but he had to sleep in a room with them, so yeah, it wouldn’t be best to declare neutrality in front of the people who could do some pretty bad stuff to him as he slept. The major thing that bugged him about it was that he couldn’t really talk to the water and earth elementals.

Ever since he came to the academy, he had been friendly with every element. After all, he did have a problem with assuming what a person was like just on how they looked. He had to break that habit. And so far, the pages inside the book of some people have really surprised him. Benny really didn’t want his page burned within them. So the question was, what would he do if he ran into an earth or water elemental? He honestly didn’t know.

Blinking twice, the boy tried to stop thinking about it. He came to Timmies to relax, no? His brain though was fighting to think about it. Maybe a little coffee could keep him at ease. Picking up his cup, he took a sip of it and as he was lowering it back down onto the table, some person bumped into him, making the thunder elemental drop his plastic cup, letting it spill all over the floor. A little got on his pants too. “Damn’t,” Ben muttered, looking down at the mess. Furious eyes looked at the man who bumped into him, but his eyes soon looked back at the floor. The guy was a senior, no doubt about it, bigger than him too. Benny couldn’t pick a fight with him, especially if the guy was an elemental. Back before he knew he was an elemental, Ben would get back at the guy, who laughing with his friends, in some sort of way, but he could seriously get his ass kicked here. As hard as it was, Benny simple inhaled deeply, keeping himself from doing something he would regret.

Taking some napkins out of the container on the table, he placed it on his pants, trying to absorb the hot coffee. It the hot coffee burned. Well, shit, now what was he going to do? Taking his wallet out of his pocket, the boy opened it to see had no money left. He had more of course, but he didn’t want Great, no money; no coffee. Well, now there was no reason to stay. Actually, he could draw. That always kept his mind at ease. On the floor, the boy’s backpack leaned against his chair. Opening it up, Ben searched for his sketch book. Damn, he forgot it at home. What an unfortunate day so far?

Zipping up his backpack, Benny stood up and started to head out. Before he reached the door, the boy saw a familiar face. It was Nell, a friend of his. They had met outside of school and pretty much hit it off. He was the one to interact with her though, thinking she was a cute brunette around his age, but decided to aim for the friend zone as soon as he realized that she was a good two or three years older than him. She was a senior who attended his school and that was pretty much all he knew about her life. Maybe if he sat down with her, he’d get to know a little more about her. Another plus, she had donuts. Ben had not eaten in a while and had to admit, he was quite hungry. Now, he knew it was bad to mooch off a friend he had only met once before, but she did have quite a lot. Would she eat it all though? Nell didn’t look like a porker to him, so he was leaning towards “no”. Oh well, if she would decide to eat it all, at least he could still talk to her. He could last another hour or two without food. He didn’t come to Timmies to eat anyways. He simply came to get his mind off of things.

Walking over to her table, he gave her a friendly smile. “Hey, Nell,” he said, taking the seat on the other end of the table, resting his backpack on the floor. “What’s up?”


[Sure thing, Benny doesn’t know what element Nell is, so once she breaks the news to him, let the awkwardness begin XD]

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[NELL DOE DALE]

Nell had been busy enough with her donuts that she didn’t notice Benny until he approached her. She looked up with a languid smile, even though seeing him now gave her an uneasy feeling. The boy was a friend from outside of the Academy, and she liked him, she really did, but a recently discovered detail about him had her a bit on edge. In the halls, she’d overheard a conversation labeling him as a Thunder. And even though she was friends with another Benjamin, she knew from his last name that it wasn’t a case of mistaken identity. But…I like him. Nell was friendly and pleasant with everyon no matter what, but her issues with Thunder in the past made her rather nervous with the element. They had launched a war against her when the dying leader had thumbed her as the murderer, and that had been a little traumatizing. Before—since she was a late enroller and had little to no idea of how the Academy worked—she thought she could get away with being friendly to everyone. It didn’t work like that.

However she gave no insight to her thoughts when she said, ”Sup, Bens.” Her demeanor—as usual—cheery, even though she couldn’t expunge that fluttery nervousness in her gut. It didn’t sit well with the donuts, that was for damn sure. She even laughed lightly at his words, even though he hadn’t said anything particularly funny. Nell was just a happy person by default. ”Not much, just eating and being all lonely.” Should I say something? Should I mention what I know? No, what she should do was control her thoughts, and that was what she was working on when she said, ”I was actually going to see if anyone wanted to hang out, but you’re here now. My hero!” She mocked a swoon, her hand fluttering above her chest and an expression on her face reminescent of Bill Cosby. The girl was expert at not letting things get to her, she was pro at pretending. One half of your family is Thunder, your father is. But that didn’t change much. Depending on the relative, her family either wanted her dead, incarcerated, or simply away from civilization. And it was probably in part the fact that her father was Thunder that made it so difficult for them to get along—other than the whole eleven year abandonment thing. However, she noticed that she had some of her father’s traits, and in turn watered-down Thunder traits.

Still, she was all-around Earth, and she didn’t think Benny knew that. ”Here, have a seat, tell me about your day,” she said jovially, gesturing to the empty space across from her. She also pushed her box of donuts toward him and said, ”Take one…or three.” Nell may have been a glutton, but she was also generous, even when it came to food. She leaned back a little, something clearly on her mind since she pursed her lips before saying, ”Hey, I wanna talk to you about something. And don’t worry, this is not the whole ‘I’m leaving you for a Puerto Rican family’ talk.” Nell was still keeping up her humor even though she was anxious about what their elemental differences would mean for them. Her boyfriend was Fire, that was true, but he had also went against his own alliance in the last war. She didn’t expect Benny to change alliances because of her, didn’t even want him to. It was bad enough that she felt guilty about a lot of the decisions Josh made—choosing her over his family, for example—and she didn’t want anyone else to have to lose their home because of her.

[nitwit]

Benny was quite relieved when she said she was lonely. Perhaps she was going to visit with some friends? Or even waiting for her date? He didn’t want to screw up any of her plans. So it was nice to know that sitting there was completely fine. The thunder elemental’s attention then turned to the door as he noticed that that one ass hole was leaving with his buddies. Good, now there probably wouldn’t be any more rudeness coming from them. Returning his eyes back at Nell, he chuckled at her comment. She was so cheerful, which was one thing he liked about her. Though, how she acted though did make him a little nervous. What if she was one of the friendly water elementals? What if she was one of the peaceful earth elementals? What would that make them? Enemies? No, never. Nell was a nice individual. He didn’t want their newly started friendship to end due to a war between their alliances.

Ah, shit, he was thinking about that again. Ben had to remind himself that he wasn’t at the academy at the moment. He had to remind himself that he came to Timmies to relax, not to ponder. Relaxing was his top priority at the moment.

When told to explain his day and offered a donut, Ben gave her another smile and reached into the donut box, pulling out a Bavarian cream donut. “Thanks,” he told her. Bavarian cream donuts were one of his favorites. They were delicious. Shrugging with the donut in his hand, he started to tell her about his day, “Nothing special. Umm… I woke up, did all the things a man would do before starting the day. I had a conversation with two of my fellow tenth graders,” chuckling once, he continued, “It was a funny conversation, had to be there. Umm… Then I left the academy, came here for some coffee, and ran into you. That’s pretty much it.”

Taking a napkin out of the little container in the middle of the table, he placed his donut on it and crossed his arms, ready to talk. “Sure, what’s on your mind?” The boy felt his phone rumble in his pocket, notifying him that he had a text message. He ignored it at the moment. It was probably his father anyways, texting him “Hi”. That was the great thing about texting. He didn’t have to reply instantly like he did while talking to somebody on the phone. Now that he thought about it, it has been a while since Ben said “hi” to his dad. He’d have to call him later.


(crappy post, sorries XD)

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[NELL DOE DALE]

Nell kept smiling when Benny took a donut, always glad that she could see a friend even if they were in circumstances like this. Her friends were the people she truly considered to be family, not the people related to her by blood, and so she cared about them more than anything. They were quite honestly everything she lived for. She wanted to see everyone around her happy. And what will make Benny happy? The Earth girl didn’t know, and she mulled over it as she ate her next donut. Never did she actually feel like a fatass, no matter how much she ate—it was probably the fact that she was more concerend about Benny in this moment. ”You’re very welcome,” she said genially.

Even though he was simply relating the tale about his rather average day, Nell paid attention to every word. Some may have drifted off and simply nodded, said a few ‘uh-huhs’ and be done with it. She committed everything he said to memory. She laughed at his wry jokes, wishing that their elements didn’t have to be what they were. ”I am glad you are vague with your manly routines,” she said in a serious tone when he finished, picking off another piece of her donut. ”And I’ll also take your word on that conversation.” She sat back as she popped the piece into her mouth and seemed to consider for a moment. ”Sounds like a very fulfilling day. I rate it a nine point five out of ten. How was it for you?” She smiled slyly when she said this, her behavior normal and cheerful. She did not offer him tales of her ritual and day, simply moved right on.

He put down his donut to talk, and she wondered exactly how she should put this. Is this what breaking up felt like, a part of her wondered. It was an ironic thought. She’d never broken up with anyone before, and definitely did not break up with Josh, and she wasn’t thinking that she wanted to break up the friendship she had with Benny. Her friends were important to her, but so was their safety. Inter-elemental friendships were not safe, and she didn’t want the Thunder boy to be hurt just because of his relationships. She felt like she had a practical duty to ensure that everyone around her was okay and safe, and if they weren’t…it was the worst feeling in the world.

After a momentary pause during which Nell took another donut and picked at it, she decided to tell him. ”I heard at the Academy…” She took a breath and met his eyes. Her voice was low now, to keep this conversation safe from the ears of anyone else. ”You’re a Thunder student, right?” Those were pretty much damning words, but the next were even more so. ”I’m an Earth,” she said breezily, like someone trying to get the admission of being pregnant or a crack addict out quickly. Did Benny realize how bad it was now? Fearing that her words may have been taken the wrong way, she said, ”I don’t dislike you now because of your element or anything. I’m just…worried. About you.” She knew now that he had a few friends outside of his affiliation, which was very dangerous. People just didn’t sit by and allow those kinds of things to happen in the Academy. They would literally force you to choose your friends. ”If we’re seen around school…your element is not going to be too happy about it.” She didn’t bring up her element or how they felt, she was solely focused on Benny. Nell almost dreaded how he was going to react to this news.


[oh, it was lovely. <33]

[nitwit]

“Well, to give my day a rating, I’d have to experience the whole thing. Hopefully by the end of the day, my score will be around yours,” Benny explained with a friendly chuckle. That was the thing about days. Mornings were so deceiving. The thunder student would wake up one day feeling great, and then just end up feeling miserable at the end of it. He has had those kinds of days. They sucked. Right then, was he feeling great? Eh, he felt okay. When he woke up, he was tired. He didn’t want to get out of bed just then, but his mind wouldn’t let him. That was one of the things that he hated about him, he could never go back to sleep, well, excluding the times he would wake up in the middle of the night. In the morning though, he just could not get himself back to his peaceful sleep, no matter how hard he tried.

The way Nell started the new topic did not make Benny feel good at all… What did she hear? Did someone start a rumor about him? If someone did, they would pay. How much would they pay? It depended on what they said. The worse they said about him, the worse they’d get. Instantly, a billion thoughts came to his head, wondering about what type a rumor about him was running around school. Did someone say he had some kind of disease?

As Nell’s question escaped her lips, Ben felt like sighing of relief. Okay, so there wasn’t a rumor going around. Good. Now nobody would get hurt. But her question also made Benny feel bad as well. Oh no, was she a water or earth girl? Nodding at her question, he replied, “Yeah, so?” Once she answered his question for him, his expression kind of went blank. Glancing down at the table, he simply said, “Oh…” Damn. Now how were things going to play out between the two of them…? He didn’t want their friendship to end just because of the war. He had no beef against the water and earth elementals, but that didn’t mean anything to his fellow thunder elementals. If someone saw them hanging out together, he’d be considered a traitor. He didn’t have a place to live besides the dormitories since his father and his brother lived in Canada, but really far away from Maple Hallow. He’d get beaten by seniors every night. The thunder student could handle the freshman and probably a few juniors, but he wasn’t strong enough to take on multiple kids. What did that assumption mean for them?

When Nell said she was worried about them, his smile returned to his face. “Don’t worry about me, Nell. Even though you are older than me, I’m still a big boy, I can take care of myself,” he replied, trying his best not to look worried at all. Once she informed them that if they were seen around school that it wouldn’t end well, he told her, “I know.” Taking out a pencil, he took a napkin from the center of the table and started to draw on it. Focusing on his drawing, he talked. “You’re right though, it wouldn’t be good for us to talk to each other in school, but what about outside of school? I’ve got nothing against you water and earth elementals, I hope you know that. This school social anarchy thing is,” sliding the napkin across the table to Nell, he continued, “like a game of chess. I am merely a pawn of it. I have no reason to move forward, but I do it, since our quarreling kings and queens are telling me to. But when outside of school, do you think its okay to just take a break?”

Ben looked down at the table and inhaled some air. The image on the napkin that was across the table was a pretty good sketch of a chess table with the pieces and everything. A small arrow was pointing at the pawns. He hated using chess as a reference or an example, but it was really hard not to, because his father and brother both loved chess, so seeing and hearing about it was something that could not have been avoided. Looking back at Nell, he said, “You probably have been at this school longer than I have, so you probably know more. So what do you want to do? Do you not want us talk until this thing is over or what…?” Looking back down at the table, he was confused. He hated everything about the war. He didn’t want to lose his friends from the water and earth alliance, but he also didn’t want to be tormented by his friends from the thunder and fire alliance either. I guess that’s what you get when you want to be friends with everyone…

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