what if → Benny Rodriguez

chapter 5 | grounded

"no," he chuckles, "not really. i was just coming to ask why you weren't at the sandlot today. and i was gonna ask if you wanted to come to the treehouse with us."

i sigh. "actually i'm grounded so i won't be able to see you guys for at least three days." i lean my head against the door.

"aw man," he puts his hands in his pockets, "that sucks. what did you do?" he laughs.

"my sisters and i snuck out last night to get taco bell. i guess it wasn't that big of a deal but my parents don't want me and Evelyn turning into Jordyn."

"oh, well if you wouldn't mind." he says grinning, "i would really like it if you stayed out of trouble. it was very boring without you today." then we both laugh. and i jokingly punched his arm.

"well if you can go 6 years without me, what's three more days?" i say still laughing.

"that's true i guess." he shrugs, "but i don't want to spend another day without you, if you're going to be moving away again eventually." i look at the floor. that was the last thing i wanted. to move away again.

"ok well if i'm caught having human contact with anyone but my family, the grounding will extend so i have to go." i purse my lips.

"ok, i'll just facetime you later!" Benny exclaims as he starts to walk backwards off my porch.

"sounds like a plan-" i cut myself off before i can say "stan" because that would've been ultimately embarrassing.

-

it had become dark outside, and i was lying on my bed watching tv waiting for a facetime call from Benny.

my door opens and slams against the wall. i look over to see Evelyn standing in my doorway. "what do you want?" i asked. maybe i would've been a little nicer if she hadn't almost put a whole in the wall slamming the door open that hard.

"where's the ipad?" she starts walking towards me.

"you mean, my ipad?" i emphasize my because i had gotten it for my 13th birthday. (i'm 14 now)

"no i mean the ipad. mom says you have to give it to me and that it's not yours." she's standing in front of me now with her hands on her hips.

"i highly doubt mom said that because she just told us a few days ago in the car that it was mine." i stood up and grabbed her shoulders, turned her around, and started pushing her out of my room.

"nuh-uh!" she tries to escape my grip, but her attempt was not successful. "i'm pretty sure i have ears. i'm not deaf i know what i heard mom say." she says in a snarky tone.

"well then you can get mom to come upstairs and tell me herself that i need to give you my ipad, and then you can have it." i let her shoulders go when we're out of my room, then take a step back into my room and shut the door with a "bye-bye!"

when i make my way back to my bed i see my phone is ringing. it was Benny facetiming me. i run over to the circle mirror hanging on my wall and quickly fix my hair before lunging on my bed and answering the call.

"heyyy!" i say but point my phone up at the ceiling. "did you go to the treehouse?"

"yeah but we decided not to have a camp out there until you could join us, so we all left a little early." Benny says.

"you guys didn't have to do that. i'm sure there would be more camp outs this summer." i say with a bit of a laugh.

"nah it's good, we wanted to have our first one of the summer with you." i could see him smiling through the screen.