People aren't always as they seem
I do not own Ben 10 or the Wizard of Oz or any other characters and/or plot lines that are and might be mentioned in this story
Chapter 1 and there was 10
A young boy at the age of ten was on his first day of 4th grade at school. His name was Ben Tennyson. He was a boy with green eyes and messy brown hair and was a little short for his age. Just like any other ten year old boy Ben hated school. Unfortunately for him and any other kid his age, he didn't have a choice. So on the morning of September 1st he and his peers walk through the school doors and each went to his own class. When Ben reached his own he sat down in a chair around the middle and looked around him. He saw a young red haired girl sit next to him. She sat there quietly and looked at the white board
"Hey new girl what's your name?" he asked her
The red haired girl turned to look at him and said
"First of all my name is not 'new girl'…" she began
"So what IS your name?" Ben cut er off
"I was getting to that" she said with an annoyed tone and let out a frustrated sigh
"My name is Gwen. Gwen Fox. What's your name?"
"My name is Ben Tennyson. More commonly known as Ben the awesome!" said Ben and tried to buff himself up without much success
"Jerk…" muttered Gwen
"Hey it's your loss doofus" said Ben
"It's your loss dweeb. A loss of brains and quite a bit of manners if I may add"
Ben opened his mouth but couldn't think of anything to say. He wished he could come up with a snappy come back but was drawing a blank. Before he could give it much thought the teacher came in
"Good morning class my name Tracy Pollen and I'll be your teacher for this term" she said. Most people would be intimidated by this kind of sentence, which sounded like a sentence of authority even though it is kind of a routine. But this teacher didn't seem very intimidating. She actually seemed warm and friendly. A relief for some kids and an easy way to make trouble for others depending on the student and how the teacher dealt with these kinds of thngs because she was new in the school so no one had any experience with her.
"Before we begin today I would like to know what your names are" said the teacher and one by one the kids said their names
"Jack Dawson" said a young blond kid
"Lois Lane" said a young black haired girl
"Peter Parker" said a brown haired boy
"Jenifer Cohen" said a young brown haired girl.
"Helen Garland" said another
"Helen Garland" repeated the teacher, pondering upon the girl's name
"I hope you don't mind me asking but would be related to Judy Garland by any chance?"
"Yes she was my grandmother. She died at an early age" said Helen with a sad look on her face
"yes I heard. I'm sorry if you found the question offensive"
"It's okay. I get that a lot"
"Why, who's Judy Garland?" asked the boy known as Peter Parker
Before Helen or the teacher could answer Gwen said
"She was an old actress from the forties and thirties. She's best known for playing the role of Dorothy from the original Wizard of Oz movie that came out at 1939" once Gwen finished the sentence there was an enormous hush in the class as if everyone thought Gwen had said something terribly rude. She blushed at the awkwardness of it. Everyone really went silent because they were impressed by Gwen knowledge especially Helen and the teacher. Ben rolled his eyes in annoyance to her show of knowledge but no one noticed
"Show off…" he thought
"How do know that?" asked the teacher with an amazed tone
"My mother told me. She is a big fan of classic movies" said Gwen
"Oh what a coincidence, I'm a fan of classic movies myself" said the teacher
"What's your name?"
"Gwen Tennyson" said Gwen
"Pleasure" said Helen
"Same here" said Gwen
"Excuse me can I ask a question?" Lois raised her hand. She seemed a little nervous about what she was gonna ask
"Certainly Lois"
"I really don't mean to sound insensitive and I'm really sorry if you find offensive but how did your grandmother die?" she asked Helen
"She died from a sleeping pill over dose in 1969. She we was 47 years old" replied Helen
"Oh no I'm so sorry" said Lois and put her hand on her chest
"It's okay" said Helen
"Sorry to break up the chit chat but we need to get back to business" said the teacher. A few 'sorrys" were heard here and there and the students continued saying their names
"Clark Kent" said a young black haired boy
"Seth Green" said another
"Ben Tennyson" said Ben and when the last student stated his name the teacher said
"It's a pleasure to meet you all. Now, I will be teaching you all of this year's subjects which include math, English, spelling, science, history…"
Ben groaned softly at that word. History was his most hatted subject. Luckily for him, no one heard his groan
"And this year you will be having another subject on your schedule" said the teacher
'The students that weren't listening until now raised their heads and listened
"This year and in the next few that will follow you will have one lesson every Friday when we discuss the passing week, talk about what bugged you and what you think needs to be fixed and about what you liked and think should be kept, we will try to solve fights if necessary and so on. The lesson will be called discussions class" everyone seemed to be interested in this except for Ben
"That is so lame. What are we little kids?" thought Ben. He wanted to protest but he knew better than to get into a fight with his new teacher on the first day of school
"Now in the half hour that remains we will go over some math problems to refresh your memory from last year. So please take out your books and open at page six" said the teacher and everyone obeyed…
At three o'clock that day Ben got off the school bus and waked into the house with a huff. He was still annoyed with that 'know it all' girl Gwen. She gave a lot of correct answers to the questions the teachers gave. It's as if she enjoys school. How could that be possible? Ben couldn't understand it. School is supposed to be the most hated place in the world for every student his age. He never was very good at school but even though he didn't have the self-discipline for it he wanted to try harder this year but it's gonna be very hard and humiliating to try to succeed under her already big and successful shadow which he found to be threatening and intimating…
"Hey Ben how was school?" Asked his mother who was washing a few plates in the kitchen
"Lousy. There's this new girl in my class and she's a big know it all. How am I supposed to try and succeed with this annoying girl in my way?"
"Come on now Ben, don't say. Give the girl a chance. You might like her" said his mother Sandra and put two plates of lunch for Ben and herself and they both sat at the table. Ben's dad won't be joining them because he is still at work
"She's not giving ME a chance. When I saw her all I said was 'hey new girl what's your name?' and she starts giving me a hard time about calling her 'new girl' which is not her name. I interrupted her and asked what real name is which seemed to get her even more annoyed"
"Interrupting her might have not been the most polite to do" replied Sandra
"But why did she react like that?" asked Ben
"Because you annoyed her; she has good reason to" said his mother
"Fine so she's annoyed, what am I supposed to do about that?"
"Apologize to her. it's as simple as that"
"I don't want to apologize to her, I don't like her and she probably doesn't like me"
"If you apologize to her I think she would do the same" said his mother
"I don't want to apologize because I don't want to have anything to do with her. The thing she's sitting next to me in class, I'll see if I can move" said Ben
Sandra simply sighed and shook her head and rested it in her hand. After a few seconds she said
"Fine it's your call. I was just trying to help"
"Thanks but I'm fine" said Ben and got up from his seat and put his dirty plate in the sink once he finished his lunch and went upstairs to watch some TV and maybe play some video games to calm himself down, not knowing that Gwen had the same conversation with her own mother…
To be continued…
Well? What do you think? Pretty interesting huh? Did you like it? Did you dislike it? Did you like it even more? Please tell me what you think on your reviews on your way out…
Thank you…
Note: This story is dedicated to the memory of Judy Garland