MAGE ; benny weir [1]

fourty-four

Ethan, Benny, and Ellie walked into school and could hear the laughs of the people around them. Ethan and Benny's hair were slicked down from the conditioner that still resided in their hair, and Ellie couldn't help but snicker.

"Cut it out," the two boys mumbled to Ellie.

"Sorry, I just think it's funny how lucky I got with the water. I finished washing my hair right when the water shut off!" she chuckled.

"This won't help our reputations," Benny groaned.

Rory entered their hall and immediately started to chuckle. "Nice look, guys." Ethan started to explain the whole water situation and Rory started to ask questions.

"They were different showers, Rory! There is no one at this school who's got it worse than we do," Ethan said.

"Tell that to Erica and the new freshmen." Ellie pointed to the student lounge and they looked through the window to find Erica ordering the freshmen around like puppets while they were dressed as babies.

"You're right."

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"I have one single question," Ellie asked the two boys while she was tying her apron on. "Why did we pick Home Ec?"

"We need this credit to graduate, sadly," Benny answered. "If we had a better teacher, I wouldn't be complaining."

"Noodles! Cheap, easy noodles!" the cooking teacher yelled. "Learning to boil noodles is good, because some of you will be living alone for a long time." The teacher sent that last sentence to Benny, Ethan, and Ellie in the back.

"El, we don't know how to do this. We're basically depending on you," Ethan reminded her.

"Well, you're in luck. Since Dad works late almost every night, I have learned the arts of cooking decently well," she grinned, holding one of the bowls in her hand. Ellie turned the tap on the sink but nothing came. She turned it again, but still nothing.

"Did the water hit the school, too?" she asked the guys. Ethan shrugged and checked the pipes underneath the sink.

"See? We're gonna fail noodles," Benny sighed.

"Just don't pretend they're lightsabers and we'll be fine," Ellie said, holding his shoulder. While she was reassuring Benny, her phone got a notification. She checked it and it showed her geek no-how app.

"Pft, as if! Look at this, B," she showed Benny. "J.J. Abrams was referential without being reverential!"

"Uh, guys," Ethan tried to say. "If you two are still worried about failing noodles, then you both could help me."

"He conjured nostalgia without being restrained by it," Benny said, agreeing with Ellie. "Nerfherder," they both added.

"Woah!" Ethan yelped, backing away from the pipes under the sink. "Guys, something just moved down there!"

"Dude, this is Home Ec class. Food gets spilled around here all the time," Benny said as he flung a bunch of noodles at Ethan's head. "See?"

The two looked down to see what Ethan was talking about until they saw a green object drop down into the pipes. They shrieked and jumped back from the sink.

"Ladies!" the teacher yelled to the three of them. "Don't make me come over there. I am not as sweet as I used to be."

"Sorry, Mrs. Oppenheimer," they all apologized, standing straight and staring at the teacher, somewhat scared.

Benny slowly turned to Ethan and Ellie. "What the heck was that?" he whispered through grit teeth. They all leaned back down to the bottom of the sink and tried to see what was in the pipes again, but it was gone.