MAGE ; benny weir [1]

fifty-six

Standing at their respective lockers, Benny and Ellie couldn't help but notice Ethan talking to himself. He stood staring himself in his tiny locker mirror, holding a single rose in his hand.

"This is the most depressing thing I've ever seen," Ellie blurted to her boyfriend.

"I am totally winning this bet," Benny cocked.

Knocking Ethan out of his awkward trance, Benny shoved his best friend into the locker door jokingly. 

"Just so we're clear," Benny smirked. "I'll take my hundred bucks in dollar bills."

"Dude, the deal was that I had a year to ask Sarah out!" Ethan corrected.

"Well, you've got... five hours before you owe Benny that money, so chop-chop!" Ellie clapped, checking Benny's wrist watch.

"Rory, why are you walking like that?" Benny questioned.
Ethan and Ellie turned behind them to see a stomping Rory, who was trying to present himself as intimidating.

"The council wants to meet with you now, and this time, I've been authorized to use force!"

As Rory crossed his arms in embellished fury, the three geeks exchanged glances and tried their hardest not to giggle at their friend.

"Force? What force?" Ethan snickered.

The blonde vampire pointed to the back corner of the hallway, spotting two massive vampire council members growling at the geeks. "That force!"

"Ugh... let's just get this over with," Ethan groaned, unable to believe that the council could bother him so much. "I'll just ask Sarah out later."
"Sure, you will," Ellie told him sarcastically, patting his shoulder.

"On a completely unrelated note, I have pre-ordered a hundred dollars worth of the world's first self-chewing gum!" Benny taunted as Ethan and Rory walked away from them.

"I think you got ripped off."

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"What is Ethan being dragged here for this time?" Ellie groaned as she, Benny, and Rory waited for the vampire council to conclude their meeting.

"I don't know," Rory admitted. "They're still pretty mad at him for almost killing them with that mist thingy a few months back."
"That wasn't him, remember?"

As Benny, Ellie, and Rory continued to guess the reason for Ethan's summoning, the seer was presented back to them by two vampire guardsmen.
"Ow!" Ethan whined, holding his shoulder after the guardsmen shoved him out of the council room.

"Hey! That must've went well!" Benny joked. "You appear to be alive."

"Yeah, and I've got all day to ask Sarah out," Ethan smiled. "I've got this in the bag— GAH!"

Ethan's heart skipped a beat when Sarah came into the vampire council centre.
"Ethan!" she cried. "Erica told me you were here. Is everything okay?"

Ethan's posture straightened out of fear and he began to stutter.
"U-uh, yeah! Totally okay! Nothing... not okay here," Ethan grinned.
He desperately looked back to Benny and Ellie, watching them try to persuade him without speaking a word. It really just looked like the two mages flailing their arms every which way.

"Can I.. uh- can we, just—!" Ethan blurted, pulling Sarah to the corner of the room away from the guards and his friends.

"Uh- I'd like to..."

Ethan's eyes drifted behind Sarah's head to see Benny and Ellie giving him moral support, accompanying him with two thumbs-up and massive grins.

"I'd like to.. ask you- I mean, maybe we could.. uh.."