MAGE ; benny weir [1]

three

Ethan sat indignant on his bed, not going downstairs as a way to 'protest' the babysitter. He figured that this was the only way to show his parents that Jane didn't need a babysitter when he was there. His computer started to ring when he noticed that it was Benny video chatting him.

"Hey, dude. Is Ellie there yet?" Benny instantly asks.
"That's the first question you ask me?" Ethan responded. 

"I'm curious!" 

"I haven't called her yet," Ethan stated, before scanning through his friend's list to find a green dot next to Ellie's profile. "Oh, she's online. Let me add her to the call."

Ellie was sat at the computer screen in her room finishing her math homework. She hummed to herself in fulfillment as she found all this new math material stupidly easy.

Ellie was wickedly good at math and science. It was almost like a hobby to her. When she found out that people hated math because they sucked at it, she made it her destiny to understand it so that she could feel some satisfaction. Not just from herself, but from others as well.

She blinked at the desktop screen flashing into her eyes and noticed Ethan adding her to a call. 

"Hey, guys," she answered, seeing both Ethan's and Benny's faces on her screen.

"Hey, when will you be here?" Ethan asked her. 

"Oh crap! Sorry, E, I was finishing up my math homework," she said, as she completely forgot to arrive at his house.

"We had math homework?!" Benny asked.
"I'll be over in five," she told them.

----------

As Ellie was walking over to Ethan's house, she noticed Benny walking a few doors down. She ran up to him, panting a bit.

"Ugh, why do you walk so fast?" Ellie joked, catching her breath.
"Probably because I'm like a foot taller than you," Benny snickered.
"I'm 5'4", in case you forgot," she quipped.

Ellie was an average height for girls at her school but compared to her two best friends, she was tiny. The trio had been the same height for years until Ethan and Benny sprouted like string beans. 

"You'll never let me forget those numbers," Benny said. "Anyways, I brought a bunch of stuff so that we wouldn't bore ourselves to death."
"I hope it's cool stuff," Ellie smiled, reaching the Morgan's front porch. 

"Trust me, you guys are going to love it," he assured, knocking at Ethan's door. Realizing the door was unlocked and awaiting their arrival, the friends marched into Ethan's living room.

"Alright, I got pop, chips, and the first season of The Bloodsucker Diaries. Who-?"
Benny began his announcement to the home before he and Ellie was stopped by Ethan and Sarah in the living room.
"Oh... uh- hey!" Ellie greeted, trying to be personable and not awkward with her new friend.

"...Where's your bathroom?" Sarah asked, turning to Ethan to escape a now uncomfortable interaction.
"Oh, down the hall on the left," he said, pointing towards his kitchen. 

As Sarah quickly left the three teenagers to themselves, Benny and Ellie panned to Ethan wide-eyed and confused.
"I thought Erica was supposed to be babysitting you!" Ellie spouted to her friend.
"It's not for me!" Ethan said, whisper-yelling at Ellie. Benny chuckled to himself. 

"I guess Erica couldn't come so she sent her instead," Ethan assumed. 

"So she's like a substitute... babe?" Benny asked, once again trying to make Ellie jealous.
"I'll go check on Sarah," Ellie said, growing annoyed. She didn't really want to hear Benny talk about girls in front of her; it was starting to get irritating for some reason.