MAGE ; benny weir [1]

thirty-six

"Alright, Sarah," Ellie spoke to her through her phone speaker. "I went shopping and I finally found something that I actually liked. Accomplishment achieved!"

"What is it, dorkette?" Sarah asked her.

"It's a light blue skater dress thingy that I found on the clearance rack and my Converse," she tried to explain. "I'm pretty uneducated in the clothing department."

"Ellie, it sounds great. You're the cutest geek I've ever seen."

"I wouldn't call that a compliment, but I'll take it," she chuckled. "I'll meet you at Ethan's in twenty."

After she hung up, Ellie changed into her outfit. Sending her hair into its familiar side braid, she laced up her sneakers and took off to Ethan's.

Ellie couldn't lie to herself: she was way more nervous about the dance than she was to battle Jesse. Going up against an evil vampire overlord of the undead sounded way less nerve-racking than figuring out how to slow dance. 

She pulled up to Ethan's front porch and found Sarah, wearing a dark purple dress and couple-inch heels.

"Woah! Look at you!" Sarah announced, eyeing Ellie up and down. "Benny will be happy."

"If you say so," she replied, feeling her cheeks turn pink. "You look amazing, too. Are you sure that you're not going to regret wearing heels?"

"I'll work with it." 

She rang the doorbell and Mrs. Morgan opened the door, smiling at the girls.

"Look at you two! I can't remember the last time I've ever seen you in a dress like that, Ellie," she said to the girls. "Me neither, Mrs. Morgan."

Mrs. Morgan turned around to shout for Ethan and Benny, but they were already stood there gawking at the girls.
"Hey, guys," Sarah and Ellie greeted.

"H-Hey," Ethan stuttered to Sarah.

Benny couldn't help but feel his cheeks burn as he stood next to his girlfriend. He was totally the luckiest guy alive.

"You look... awesome!" Benny cheesed.

Ellie couldn't help but feel really pleased by his compliment. "Thanks, B."

"Picture time!" Mrs. Morgan announced, holding up her camera. The four passed glances to each other, knowing they had to do something for Sarah. They stood in line with each other and waited for Mrs. Morgan to count down.

"1, 2, 3!"
On three, the three geeks quickly jumped in front of Sarah and made silly poses at the camera. When they looked at the picture on screen, you couldn't see Sarah at all. You wouldn't have seen her anyway, but Ethan's mom didn't need to know that.

"Gotta go, Mom!" Ethan called to his mom.

"Kids, don't drink too much of the red stuff."

"WHAT?!"

"...Punch? Don't they serve punch at high school dances anymore?"

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As the four finally reached the entrance to the school gym, Benny waltzed up to Ellie with his hand out.

"Shall we, madam?"
Ellie smiled and took his hand, walking into the gym. They went straight to the punch bar and stood there, waiting for Sarah's signal.

"This might take a while," Ellie sighed.
As they patiently waited for Sarah's cue, Ethan and Ellie watched Benny drink cup after cup of punch at a time. "Why are you drinking so much punch?"