MAGE ; benny weir [1]

fifty-one

Ethan, Benny, and Ellie were all sat in Ethan's bedroom, playing video games at his desk. "Ha! Eat it, Ethan!"

"Shut up!" Ethan yelled to Ellie as they clicked away at their controllers. "It's not my fault that you're a master at Mariokart!"

"You're right, you just suck," Ellie laughed. "So do you, Benny."

"Wow, okay. What if I was just going easy on you?" Benny smirked to her. "You've been going easy on me for weeks?"

"Touche." Ethan felt his phone vibrate in his pocket as he picked it up.

"Hello?" Ethan seemed lost in the phone cal before Ellie asked him, "Who is it?"

"Rory said that he's gonna 'drop some beats' at the open mic tonight," Ethan explained to the two of them. "You wanna go?"

"Nah, sounds emo," Benny answered. 

"Sorry, Rory." Ethan hung up the phone and continued to finish their race. "You know, Ellie, I'm surprised you didn't sign up for the talent show."

Ellie furrowed her eyebrows and asked, "Why would I audition for the talent show?"

"Because you used to be a wicked instrument player!" Benny answered for Ethan. "You would play these really good songs and stuff on piano and guitar, why don't you play it anymore?"

"You two still remember that?" she asked in surprise. "I haven't been to a guitar or a piano lesson since Grade 6. I kinda forgot how to play them now, ever since the whole 'paranormal' stuff happened."

"I bet you still remember some chords," Ethan told her. 

"Oh, yeah? I bet you still remember those oboe notes," Ellie teased. "Burn!" Benny exclaimed, high fiving her.

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"Guys, she destroyed the audience," Rory explained to them as they each stood at their lockers. "I tried to destroy the paramedics when they showed up, but they just told me to be quiet while they worked."

"So you're saying that the entire football team is in the hospital?" Ethan asked, confirming what he said. "No wonder there's so much room in the hallway."

"Luxurious and wedgie-free!" Benny said, reaching his arms into the hallway. 

"If she can work a crowd like that, she's gonna own the talent show this week," Rory continued about the girl at the open mic.

"Psh. You're assuming the judges will have any unblown minds after they see my fruit juggling," Benny scoffed. He reached into his locker and pulled out three apples. "I learned this one from the book, El."

Benny threw each apple into the air, letting them stay there with magic as he sang one of those circus songs. "Pretty good, huh?"

Ellie chuckled as she held her hand up at the slightest height, forcing one of the apples to drop down to her hand as she took a bite out of it. "Learned that one from the book too, B."

"Look, there she is," Rory interrupted as he pointed down the hallway. "Her name is Serena." The girl wore all black and purple, with heavy makeup and different coloured hair. She walked up to a random student, sang in his ear, and made the student walk over to a teacher and give them a wedgie. "Woah! Isn't he usually the wedge-ee?"

"Attention, students," Mr. Stern groaned over the loudspeaker in the hallways. "The talent show tryouts are starting in the school auditorium. I know I can't wait, and yet somehow I will."

"Time to get my juggle on. I love you, but stop taking my apples!" Benny joked with Ellie as she took another bite of the one she took. "No promises."