MAGE ; benny weir [1]

seventeen

"I kept watching and there they were," Benny started to explain to Ethan and Ellie. "Talking, laughing; very, very close. Intimate, even. In fact, one might even say that they were canoodling."

Ethan and Ellie just stared at the pictures in confusion. "I can barely tell what I'm looking at."
Ellie's eyes went broad, "Is that supposed to be a—?"

"—Videos won't work with vampires, so I did my best!" Benny complained. Ethan crumpled up the pieces of paper in his hands and gritted his teeth.

"That's it. I'm gonna teach that pretty Kurt 'The Hurt 'boy a lesson. I will turn into a wrestling machine!" 

Ellie almost laughed at Ethan's confidence. 

"Okay, how are you supposed to do that? His nickname is 'The Hurt'."

"Well, he's also big, tough, and awesome. I could see why a girl would like him," Benny said, his voice trailing off through his sentence. He didn't know why he would think that Ellie would like him. Benny knew that she didn't, but that insecurity sat with him for a moment.

------------

"In the spirit of non-competition, I promise to be a non-partisan in tonight's match," Mr. G announced to the gym audience. 

It was time for the wrestling match of the century. Benny and Ellie were sat on the home bench, waiting for Ethan to be called into the game.

"Maybe every man win, or at least survive," Mr. G said, basically mentioning that only for Ethan.

"Representing Conway Collegiate, we have Kurt 'The Hurt' Lochner!"
Yells and cheers were heard across the gym as the students praised Kurt. Benny and Ellie rolled their eyes at the confident jock's entrance.

"And representing Whitechapel High, we—!"
Before Mr. G could begin Ethan's introduction, Benny immediately ran off of the bench and stole the microphone.

"Here we go," Ellie mumbled to herself.

"From a land of fear and nightmares comes a warrior born to destroy. He speaks only violence. He knows only hatred. His headlock is a crime against humanity. Behold, The Ethanator!" Benny rang as Ethan and Rory ran into the gym. Rory jogged beside of Ethan, wielding sparklers as the two entered.

Ellie tried her best to cheer over the huge amount of boos they received from the gym audience. Benny and Rory sat back down with Ellie as Ethan shook hands with Kurt. 

"Do your catchphrase!" Ellie yelled to Ethan from the bench.

"...Prepare to be 'ethanized'."

Kurt pulled out an apple, crushing it with only one fist.

"You're not gonna like these apples," he said, glaring at Ethan. Kurt threw the apple and Ethan whipped around to his friends sat on the bench.

"Even his catchphrase is better!" Ethan yelped. Benny and Ellie gave him a reassuring thumbs-up while Rory just looked terrified. 

Once the whistle blew to signal the first round, Kurt began to throw Ethan around like a ragdoll. Kurt dropped him onto the ground and slung Ethan around on his shoulders. 

"This won't end well..." Rory commented.

"Ya think?" Ellie said, sarcastically. "He's so gonna die in the next hour."

As soon as Ethan could find the floor, he tapped it three times to surrender. Kurt dropped Ethan down in front of his friends' bench.
"There's your friend, nerds."
Kurt winked at Ellie and put his hand up to his ear mimicking a phone, walking away with a smirk on his face.