Predicted Love (A Poofless Story)

Chapter 6

Ben's POV
The next day I get up and put the concealer on. I walk down to the kitchen and make my usual healthy breakfast and some chocolate chip pancakes for the others. I finished as soon as the pancake mix ran out. Rob comes up and sees all the plates with stacks of pancakes. "Cool. Can I have a plate?" He asks. "Totally. That's why I made them." I say. A knock comes at the door. I groan and open it. "Oh hey um. Is Mary here?" A man asks. I stare at him and then do sign language. "Oh. Are you... deaf?" He asks. I shake my head and point to my mouth. "So mute?" He asks. I nod. "Well... If she's here, nod. If not, shake your head. If you don't even know Mary, wave." He says. I shake my head. He sighs. "When will she be back?" He asks. I hold up 5 fingers. "If it's at 5pm, nod. If it's 5 minutes, Clap. 5 hours uh...." He thinks. I roll my eyes. Preston comes up the stairs in his boxers and notices us. He jogs over. "How can I help you sir?" He asks. "Oh thank God. Um. When will Mary be getting back?" He asks. "Around 5 in the morning why?" Preston asks. "Oh. Why so late?" He asks. "She has 3 jobs back to back. Taking care of me, my sister, and my brothers. Now why don't you tell me why you're so impatient to meet her?" Preston snaps. "Oh I'm sorry. I'm her boyfriend, John. I wanted to take her out on a surprise date..." He mutters. I look him over. Hm. He's ok. Preston looks at me and I nod. "Oh ok. Well her off day is tomorrow. You can take her on your surprise date then." He says. He smiles. "Ok thanks." He says and walks off. "Can we trust him?" He asks. "Yeah. Not perfect but good enough for her." I say and go back to the kitchen. "You realize if he becomes our Dad you'll have to talk to him right?" He asks. He grabs a plate and starts eating. "I know. But until then leave it be." I say. The others come up and sit with us. The banter begins then and things get loud. I sigh and listen to their weird conversation.
Skip to Monday
Mom has been acting weird since her date with what's his face. I just brushed it off as them going to a new base. I put my bag on my shoulder and wake up Rob and Preston. Rob ended up staying all weekend. They groan and crawl off the trampoline of a bed. I still don't like the decision Preston had made to make that his bed. I hand them their backpacks. "Come on. We need to walk to school today. It's our work out day remember?" I ask. Preston and I made an agreement that I would deal with his annoying friends on the bus if we got to walk to and from school every Monday. I walk upstairs and see Mom had made breakfast before going to bed. Poor woman. She works too hard. I have no idea why she adopted me when Preston was already enough on her plate. They come up and eat with me and then we begin to walk. "So what are we doing at school today?" Preston asks. "We have a test in science, we start an essay in history, fitness tests in gym, grammar sheets in English, a test in French, algebraic equations in maths 2, and we're working on animation in adobe." I rant. "Two tests, an essay, and two work packets. Got it. Any idea on what the homework will be other than the essay?" Preston asks. "Anything we don't finish in math, which will be alot knowing you. Other than that I have no idea." Ben says. We nod and get to the school. Rob grabs Ben's hand. "Just until that jerk backs off. We need to be believable." Rob says. I glare at him. It's instinct. I'm her older brother of course I'm going to be protective even when it's a fake boyfriend. Also I'm just a bit jealous it's not me he's holding hands with. I'm confused about my recent change in hormones but I've decided not to hold it back because I'm only a teenager, I'll get over it soon. We get into the school and people stare. Someone grabs my shirt and pulls me into a dark room. Before I could even let out a yelp my mouth was covered. I open my eyes hesitantly. "Ok fag. You're going to tell me why my girl was taken by that Rob guy." Justin, the guy who bullies Ben, growls. "I-I don't know. Maybe she j-just didn't love you." I stutter. He punches me. "In more detail dumbass." He says. "You abuse her. She got tired of it. She never wanted to date you in the first place!" I explain quickly. He punches me again. "You're going to ruin their relationship or I'm going to ruin that pretty face of yours." He says. I nod, scared for my life. "Good. I didn't want to punch my lovers brother but it came down to it." He says and pats my shoulder hard. I whimper. He pushes me out of the room and I walk to my locker. When I get to class the teacher gasps. "What happened?!" Mr. Handel asks. "None of your concern." I growl and sit beside a surprised Ben. "No. It's all of my concern. Now tell me." He says and walk over to me. "Fine. Rob punched me. Happy?" I ask. Rob and Ben gasp. "No I didn't!" Rob says. "Isn't this the second time you've gotten into a one sided fight in two days?" Mr. Handel asks. "No! I've only had one when I hit that guy who was annoying Ben!" Rob says. "To the office Latsky. No excuses." He says. "No! Preston tell him I never layed a finger on you!" Rob says. I shrug. "That's not how I remember it. You punched me twice in the face." I say. Ben stands up. "Mr. Handel I can vouch for Rob. He was with me all morning." Ben says. "I was too. You were there when he did it. I can't believe you would choose you're stupid boyfriend over me." I mutter. "Office. Now." Mr. Handel says. Rob groans and walks off. "As for you Preston. Go to the nurse. Your bleeding." He says. I feel my lip and find that it was busted and bleeding. I groan and walk off to the nurse who fixes my lip. "This was Justin wasn't it?" She asks. "No. Rob." I say. "Rob? Someone else? Why this time?" She asks. "He thinks I'm gay. Called me a fag and punched me twice, telling me I'm not worthy to be his girlfriend's brother." I say. "Awww sweetie. Even if you were gay you wouldn't deserve that. I think gay people are wonderful." She says. I nod. "Thanks I guess." I say. "Is it ok that I report this?" She asks. "I'm pretty sure he's already in the office." I say. She nods. "Ok. Well get back to class. The bell is about to ring." She says. I nod and walk out.