Ben Dupree checked himself over in the mirror one more time. He had practiced this moment too many times to count, and he hoped that nothing would go wrong.

Ben popped the collar of his shirt and sighed. Grabbing his Dad's car keys off of the coffee table, he put his bouquet of flowers in the back seat and headed for the one place he'd been dying to go to for the last three years.

Amanda Benson's house.

It was a short drive, so he got there in no time at all. He grabbed the bouquet from the back and walked up to her front door. He knocked on the door, and Amanda immediately opened it. She smiled widely at Ben, "Hey."

"Um, hey Amanda." Ben said nervously, "Y-you look beautiful."

And she really did.

Amanda was wearing a casual peach colored dress, which stopped right above her tanned knees. On her feet she wore matching flats with a red floral pattern on it, and her hair was pulled up into its usual ponytail

"Thanks." She said, "You look good too."

Ben smiled, "U-Um, these are for you." He handed her the bouquet of pink roses. Ben had heard from Griffin that they were her favorite.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, taking the flowers, "They're so beautiful!"

"I'm glad you like them." He said.

Ben led Amanda to his Father's car and opened the door for her. He never thought he would be so lucky to be going out with Amanda Benson. He had asked her out last weekend and she had said yes!

It was quiet for a few minutes, and the awkward silence was starting to kill Amanda. She reached over and turned on her favorite music station, and the two began to bob their heads and sing along to Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen.

The song ended right around the time they got to their destination. Ben got out first and opened the door for Amanda, who smiled and patted his shoulder.

It was a cute fancy-ish diner.

"I-I hope you don't mind it here. I didn't want to go all out on our first date. I know it's not fancy or anything-"

Amanda held up a hand, "Ben, stop. I love it, it's so cute."

He smiled wide, and held the door open for her. She walked in and chose a booth in the back, and Ben slid in across from her.

Lunch went by quickly, so they decided to stay there and chat for a little bit longer. Amanda was having a wonderful time, and was laughing and smiling along with Ben.

"Ben?" Amanda suddenly said, stopping him just outside the front door to her house.

"What?"

"I just remembered, I have something for you too. Just close your eyes."

Ben nodded, and closed his eyes, and held out his hands thinking that she was going to hand him something.

Amanda leaned forward and kissed him on the mouth. She laughed when she saw how red Ben's face was.

"So, um." Ben said, regaining his composure, "Do you think you'd like to be my girlfriend, maybe…?"

Amanda nodded and kissed him again, this time without the surprise. He was practically jumping around with glee when Amanda stopped him.

"I just need you to promise me something." She said.

Ben nodded, "Anything."

"Don't tell anyone we're going out except Griffin, Savannah, Darren, and Melissa."

"Sure, but why?"

"I want it to be a surprise, alright? So, let's just keep it a secret."

Ben smiled, "No problem."

On Monday, Ben kept his promise. He told his friends first, and they were overjoyed with the news.

He didn't talk to Amanda in any of their classes, or sat with her at lunch, or anything. Ben wanted to be with her so bad, but he had made a promise. And he would keep that promise.

They did, however, meet after school when Amanda made sure no one was around to see them. She grabbed Ben's hand and they walked home together, and kissed him goodbye when they reached his house.

Then, on the next day, Ben was keeping his promise. He wanted nothing more than to be talking to kiss Amanda.

The same went for the next day.

And the next day.

And the next week.

And the next month.

It was unbearable, and he didn't want to do this anymore. Why couldn't they just tell everyone they were dating already? It made absolutely no sense.

He decided he would talk about it to her tomorrow at school. This needed to end.

So, on Tuesday, Ben followed Amanda to cheer practice and confronted her once it had ended.

"Amanda!" He shouted.

Amanda looked up, and did a horrible job of hiding a smile at the sight of him. The squad grimaced at him and nudged Amanda's shoulder.

"Who's that?" Asked a dirty blonde.

Amanda bit her lip, "I have no idea."

Ben hadn't heard any of this, and ran up to Amanda. He smiled and grabbed both of her hands.

"Amanda, I need to talk to you." He said.

The dirty blonde from before, Hannah, stepped in front of her Captain. She rolled her eyes, "Amanda has no business with Geeks like you."

The rest of the squad nodded. Ben was looking at Amanda, waiting for her to say something. Wanting her to say something.

"Amanda, look. I just need to talk to you. Please?"

She opened her mouth. She wanted to say yes so bad. She wanted to get away from her so-called 'friends.' But instead, she squinted her eyes, "Do I know you?" She asked. The words felt horrible, and she wished she didn't have to say them.

What was worse, though, was seeing the devastated look on Ben's face. He was just standing there paralyzed, his eyes beginning to blur with tears.

He walked around evil Hannah and stared deep into Amanda's eyes, "This was your reason, wasn't it? This is why you've been avoiding me, because you're afraid to be seen around me?"

He shook his head in disbelief, "I can't believe this."

"You know what?" He whispered, "We're over."

He looked at her one more time, then turned on his heel and walked off. Probably heading for Griffin's house.

Amanda stepped forward and reached her arm out, trying to choke back tears. The squad stared at her, "Do you know that loser?""

Yes. Amanda wanted to say, I do know him! He's my boyfriend~

"No." It felt like torture, saying that word. Like spoiled milk.

The squad exchanged glances then shrugged.

The next day, Amanda was desperate to find Ben. He had been avoiding her all day, for real this time.

She was relieved, however, when she spotted Griffin and the others in the hallways. She fast walked over to them and gave them her best cheerleader smile, "Hey!"

They turned their heads and practically stared right into her own soul.

"So, um, where's Ben?"

"Why do you care?" Griffin asked, stepping over to Amanda, "You don't want to be around him."

"Look, I can explain-"

"Oh, please." Savannah said, "It's obvious. You care much about impressing your stupid cheerleading buddies then being with Ben."

Amanda pouted, "But I didn't mean it-"

The group shrugged and walked off without her. Amanda stood there, alone in the hallway for what felt like hours.

I've done a terrible thing. She thought.

Amanda hitched up her backpack and ran over to the ladies' restroom, where she had a nice, long cry.

Amanda needed to fix this. But that meant finding Ben, and she had no idea where to start. And her friends were so fed up with her that Amanda knew they weren't going to give her a single hint.

But then she had an idea.

There was a Pep Rally in the Gym today, and it was required for all students to come. She however would be performing with her squad.

So, after third, Amanda bounced over to the Gym. A second after she got there, kids were already piling in.

There were performances and games, so it took a while before the cheerleaders to come out. They were second to last, the Eagletts were after them, and the dance team before.

Nervously, Amanda walked center stage and performed with her girls. After three cheers, the announcer lifted the microphone up and shouted; "Let's hear it for our Eagles Cheerleaders!"

Amanda walked over to him and shyly took the mic. She lifted it up and smiled at the crowd, "I'm Amanda Benson, I'm sure many of you know me."

"You may think you know me, but I'm not perfect. In fact, I've been keeping a horrible secret from all of you. And I believe it's time you knew."

She sighed, "Ben Dupree? Will you come down here, please?"

She saw him in the crowd. He hesitated for a second, but walked down and stood by her side.

Amanda leaned over and kissed him on the mouth. Behind her, she heard gasps from her cheerleading friends, which she ignored.

"I want you all to meet Ben here, we've been secretly dating for a month. But he broke up with me recently because I was too concerned on what everyone would think of me. I am so sorry Ben, and I hope you'll take me back." She whispered the last sentence, and he nodded.

Amanda threw herself on him, and squeezed him tight.

Hannah and the others walked up to Amanda, hands on their hips. "Amanda, you can't be serious. How could you date a Geek? That's so not cool."

Amanda rolled her eyes and flipped her ponytail, "I am completely serious."

Hannah huffed, then walked away. Amanda kissed him again and they linked arms. The two walked out of the Gym together, even though the Pep Rally hadn't ended.

There was an equal number of boos and cheers, but of course the Swindle team clapped and cheered the loudest.

After that, Amanda and Ben spent every waking moment together at school. The squad had shunned her, but were forced to listen to her at practice.

He always walked her to practice and kissed her goodbye. Amanda always stood up for him when he was picked on by jealous Seniors.

They always shared cute, geeky conversations in the back of Darren Vader's black van on their way out of town.

They were a completely and utterly perfect match.

As Amanda and Ben were back at the diner, which had become their couples' place. She realized that she could subdue her secret Geekiness, but she could never just shut out Ben. And she never would again.

He was just too special to her.

The End

A/N: So, I noticed many people were doing the hard-based stuff, which was mainly focusing on the all-wanted sequel to Swindle. But I knew that was far out of my creativity range, and tried to do something different. Focusing everybody off their Swindle missions. Hope you enjoy!

~Sellybelly411

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