VALENTINE
"It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;" - Annabel Lee, Edgar Allen Poe
February 13th
It was the eve of Valentine's Day and Ethan was in a video conference with Benny, they were doing their math homework over the video session. "Benny, what'd you get for number 11? I got 5 over 8." Ethan asked not paying attention to his screen, he waited a moment before snapping, "Benny, this is the third time you've ignored me, and earlier today you ditched me when I thought we were walking home, what the hell are you doing?"
Benny wasn't paying attention to Ethan, he was preoccupied with something else, he was reading a page in his spell book. "Hush Ethan, you're breaking my concentration!"
"You need to be concentrating on this algebra homework, if you get an F, this will be why!" Ethan threatened. Benny wasn't phased, he kept reading in his spell book, "Benny!" Ethan yelled. Benny waved a hand in front of his screen before tapping a key on his keyboard, ending the video session. Ethan blinked at the black screen. "His grandma's gonna kill him." Ethan then went back to his homework before snorting and chuckling, "Or spank him with lightning."
With Valentine's Day coming around the corner, Benny was working on a gift to his Valentine, but his Valentine wasn't Della, Sarah, or any other good looking girl at White Chapel High, most who just ignored or looked down on Benny, it was Erica, who ignored and looked down on Benny too when she became popular. Benny was taking a risk doing this, especially for Erica. In the back of Benny head he knew that Erica would probably burn all of his gifts than accept them, Benny was mumbling as he was reading in his spell book, Benny then said, "Auriolus cor, torquis" Then gold light formed in one of his hands for a brief moment before fading and a object was in his hands. Benny opened his hand and saw a gold heart-shaped necklace in his hand. "Whoo!" Benny yelled gleefully, "Who needs an expensive jewelry store? Not me!"
That's why Benny ditched Ethan earlier today, he went to a jewelry store to buy Valentine's Day gifts for Erica. He's already bought a box of chocolate, knowing she probably wouldn't eat them, and a teddy bear, knowing she'd probably rip it to shreds. He "charmed" a bouquet of flowers, but when it came down to the necklace, the jewelry store, they wanted 500 bucks, up front. So Benny decided to "charm" a "charm" instead. What Benny was about to do next would be considered overdoing it to the extreme, Benny had a large needle and a small brown box lying on his dresser, "This is gonna kill my arm." Benny groaned, he picked up the needle and stared at it, debating on doing what he was intending to do. Benny leaned back in his chair and sighed.
February 14th - Valentine's Day
At White Chapel High School, Valentine's Day was typical year after year. Boys giving girls gifts like roses and teddy bears, the girls repaying them with hugs and kisses. Days prior, Ethan bought Sarah a teddy bear and flowers, unlike Benny who decided to wait until the last minute. Sarah walked with Ethan through the hallways of the school, arm-in-arm, that day she didn't care what anyone else thought. Ethan awkwardly asked her, "Uh Sarah... my parents are going out tonight... you maybe, wanna catch a movie?"
"Depends, is this going to be some horror-scifi-geek flick and what are we going to do about Jane?" Sarah asked.
Ethan answered, "Zombie Return 4 and I was thinking Benny's grandma could watch over her."
"We get Benny's grandma to watch Jane first." Sarah answered.
Ethan nodded in agreement, he was about to say something else when they saw Benny quickly walking ahead of them. "Hey Benny!" Ethan yelled, Benny heard him and speeded up. Ethan groaned, annoyed.
"What's wrong with him?" Sarah asked, "He's acting weirder than usual."
Ethan answered aggravated, "I don't know. Benny's been acting strange since yesterday. He ditched me yesterday, he shut down a video session on me, he didn't answer my calls or texts last night... I don't know."
"That's nothing, did you see Rory this morning?" Sarah asked. Ethan shook his head. Sarah continued, "He was standing outside the girl's locker room with a huge bucket full of candy hearts and a sprig of mistletoe strapped to his forehead." Ethan shook his head again as Sarah asked him, "He does know mistletoe has nothing to do with Valentine's Day?"
Ethan answered, "I haven't had the time to stop Rory's antics because I'm worried about Benny's."
"And Erica, she's been getting love notes, candy, balloons, flowers; you name it, pretty much from every guy here, Rory included. He gave her a small teddy bear with a bunch of candy hearts and a balloon wrapped around them."
Ethan asked, "She accepted it?"
"Hell no, she opened the candy over his head and spilled it over him, popped the balloons, and rammed the teddy bear down his shirt." Sarah answered, "Surprisingly, Rory didn't seem hurt." Sarah answered.
Ethan replied, "Rory probably thinks it's Erica's way of show affection." Ethan and Sarah stopped at her locker, "Hey listen, catch up to you later?"
Sarah released her arm from Ethan's and smiled, "Sure, we can talk later, go catch up Benny." Ethan smiled at her and started off, "And Ethan..." he stopped and turned to her, "Thank you." Ethan gave her a nod and smile before walking off, still smiling.
Ethan was about to turn a corner in the school until he felt something pull him to the side harshly. "Dude, I did it!" Benny said excitedly.
"Did what?" Ethan asked annoyed, snatching his arm from Benny's grip. "Did one of your spells finally work?"
Benny shook his head, "We'll know in two minutes." Benny said pointing ahead. They were standing at the corner eyeing the hallway.
"Benny all I see is a bunch of students at lockers, Sarah and Erica as well." Ethan then looked at Benny, "Benny, what did you do?"
Benny simply said to him anxiously, "Just watch dude!"
Sarah and Erica were discussing their Valentine's Day; Erica asking Sarah unzipping her backpack and showing her some Valentine's Day cards, "Which guy should I take out to dinner tonight? Brian, Austin, Marcus, Trey... ooh, Dirk... very hot in his uniforms."
"How about neither?" Sarah offered.
Erica shook her head unlocking her locker, "Sarah, you're just worried I'm gonna prey on one of these guys." Sarah stared at Erica with a questioning stare, one that said 'you know you will'. "Okay, maybe I would but still, I-" Erica opened her locker to see a huge pink box in her locker. "Well well, what's this?" Erica asked in a quiet mysterious tone.
"You don't remember getting it?" Sarah asked.
Erica shook her head and read on it, "All it says is "To: Erica, From: Your Valentine". Gotta love a secret admirer." Erica opened it, her back to Sarah, trying to keep her wondering, and found a teddy bear sitting in it, a box of chocolates, a bouquet of flowers and three smaller boxes in it, two in the form of a juice box and the other like a jewelry box. Erica immediately eyed a note in the bottom, she quickly read it to herself before shuffling around quickly.
"Well Erica, who is it from?" Sarah asked anxiously.
Sarah then watched as Erica walked to a trash can and slammed the box into the garbage can yelling, "That GEEK!".
"Erica!" Sarah yelled shocked at what she saw her friend do, "Haven't you hurt Rory enough today?"
Erica answered walking off, without going back to her open locker, "It wasn't from Vampire Dork, it was from the Wizard Nerd!" Sarah closed both lockers and caught up to Erica.
Benny stared speechless at what he just saw, you could almost swear you could hear glass shattering when Benny saw Erica trash his gift to her. "Benny, I'm so sorry." Ethan said sympathetically, putting a hand on his shoulder. Benny shoved it away and walked away, bumping into Rory.
Rory, snacking on candy, "What's wrong with him?"
Ethan looked to see a sprig of mistletoe hanging from a sweatband on Rory's head, Ethan snatched it off and handed it to him before answering, "The Valentine's Day Blues."
"Oh." Rory said, if he really knew. Rory looked at Ethan, "Want some candy, I've got plenty." Rory gestured towards his backpack.
Ethan shook his head, walking off to find Benny. Ethan went to the first place he knew he'd Benny, the school library, it was relatively empty, just a few other students and the librarian. Ethan saw Benny sitting at a back table reading his spell book, disguised under other books. "Benny." Ethan said sitting next to him. "I wish you had let me in on what you were doing, I would have helped, or tried to get you to forget it."
"Ethan, I just, I just wanted her to like it, not necessarily me... but that'd be a bonus." Benny said flatly and depressed.
Ethan said grabbing his friend's arm, "Benny, honestly I don't see why you're surprised... you would have had a better shot being any other girl's valentine. Anyone but Erica!" Benny made a wincing sound and grabbed his arm. "Benny what's wrong?"
"N-Nothing, nothing at all E." Benny said awkwardly. Ethan knew otherwise.
Ethan lifted Benny's shirt sleeve to see four band-aid's on his arm, "Benny, what the hell happened?"
"Nothing important." Benny answered in a sadden tone, grabbing up his things, leaving Ethan to sit and watch his friend walk away.
Walking outside the school, Sarah was furious with Erica, who was half listening. "Erica what's wrong with you? He's your friend!"
"No Sarah," Erica said still walking, but picking up the pace to try to get away from Sarah, "He's your friend."
Sarah ran in front of her and asked angrily, "So literally showering Rory with candy, bursting his balloons, and ramming his teddy bear isn't enough, now you go and trash Benny's gifts to you? He probably worked hard on that, could you have just accepted it?"
"I don't want anything from the geek population Sarah, you can all you want to, but I can leave it myself." Erica answered walking around Sarah.
Sarah shook her head and bellowed to Erica, "Erica, I didn't think you could be this cruel!"
"Well then you must not know me that well then, Sarah." Erica said continuing on. Sarah just watched her friend walking away, like what she had done was nothing. But in truth, Erica did just that, nothing. Unknown to Sarah; while Erica was shuffling around earlier, she was sticking the contents of Benny's gift in her backpack to look at later after she read his note. Erica stood beside the school away from everyone as she read his note again, It read:
"Erica,
I know you've probably gotten a million Valentine's Day cards, gifts, and other things. Before you ball this up and throw it away, I just wanted to say that I think you're okay.
I mean, I know you're beautiful, hot, and popular now, ever since you were turned at that party, you probably don't want to be seen talking to a loser like me or even want anything to do with your 'nerd days'. I just wanted you to know, that I thought that the geek you were before was beautiful too; beautiful, nice, and smart.
I just wanted you to know that, and to give you a few things; some flowers, chocolates, a teddy bear, a necklace I made myself, and my blood. I hope you have a great Valentine's Day!
From your friend, or so I hope somewhere deep down,
Benny.
P.S.: ENGAGE!"
Erica smiled at the note before looking in her bag to see a small box, she opened it and saw a beautiful necklace with gold heart, Erica eyeing in amazement, "The geek made this himself?" Erica asked shocked at what he made, for her. She put it around her neck, perfect fit. Erica then looked at the other things Benny had given her, which most boys had already done for her today, but the one thing they didn't do, was give her their blood, willingly. Erica picked up the juice boxes and sniffed them, "It really is his blood." Erica said even more astonished. She leaned back onto the building to look at what all Benny gave her. "Sarah was right... as usual." Erica hated to admit, but she did, Erica felt horrible.
February 14th - Valentine's Day Night
Sarah and Ethan were walking into the movie theater, talking about their friend's day. Sarah was telling Ethan about Erica, "I've been calling and texting her all day, she's not accepting my calls. She knows what she did with Benny's gift was wrong, the worse part, he saw her do it more or less."
"When I dropped Jane off at Benny's grandma, Benny didn't even come downstairs. I guess we should have just stayed home with him." Ethan said, he and Sarah handing their tickets to the ticket collector.
Sarah was shaking her head in anger at her friend, "Erica should be ashamed, she's probably somewhere now with her fangs in some hottie's neck."
Although it was quite the contrary, Erica was walking to Benny's carry a flat box in her hands, she had a surprise for him. Erica knocked on the door and she heard Benny's grandmother yell, "Benny, get the door!" Erica heard his footsteps coming to the door and the door unlocking and opening. Erica had a smile on her face when Benny opened it, but then Benny tried to slam it back, Erica's hand stopping him. "I guess you heard about what I did today huh?"
"I didn't hear it, I saw it." Benny said spitefully, trying to close the door in Erica's face.
But Erica's hold on the door was a lot stronger than Benny trying to close it, "Look geek, can I explain? I owe you that much." Erica said in a rising tone, but she lowered it. Benny stepped outside and closed the door behind him, him motioning at some chairs on the porch. Erica put the box she was holding and her backpack to the side as they sat and Erica began to explain, "Look ge- Benny, do I have to explain our school's status quo to you?" Benny had his arms folded and his back to Erica. "You're a geek, a nerd, not popular. I'm hot and popular."
"Don't remind me." Benny said lowly.
Erica could see Benny was still miffed at her, she then asked him, "Did you mean it?"
"Mean what?" Benny asked, looking at Erica.
Erica smiled at him, "When you said when I was a geek, you thought I was beautiful, smart, and nice; did you mean it?"
Benny then turned fully and faced Erica, his anger slowly decreasing, "I did. I thought you were beautiful, nice, and smart, and you still are... but just nice to Sarah." Erica then pulled something out of her shirt, it was the necklace Benny made for her. "Wait a minute... y-you kept it?" Benny asked confused, "I don't understand."
"All the hot guys at school that talk to me now, all they see is this hot chick magnet. Before I got bit and turned into this, all they could see is the "weird Dusk-obsessed girl". Even Count Dorkula did, and he was an even bigger dork than he is now!" Erica answered, calming down, "No one ever called me beautiful before I got these." Erica said showing her fangs.
Benny answered, "Well you were... you are." He then asked her, still confused, "Why did you trash the box like you were mad?"
"Status quo, Benny." Erica answered, "I guess I'm just afraid of getting the "nerd" label back... kinda silly huh?"
Benny shook his head, "No, I get it. Stephanie and the other girls used to push you around, guys ignored you as if you had the plague. Can't say if I were turned into a hot and sexy vampire with popularity that I'd want the "nerd" label back either."
"I'm sorry." Erica said in a sad tone.
Benny shrugged, "Don't worry about it!"
"Now I have a question for you, why did you give me your blood?" Erica asked him.
Benny smiled goofily, "I wanted to get you something I knew no one else would get you... something that you could really want. How was it?"
"I haven't had any yet, I've been kinda busy myself." Erica got up and walked over to the banister on the other side of the porch and got the box. "After school I was thinking about doing something for you... I remember when you and Ethan had all the girls at school falling for you two, Sarah was saying something about your favorite food and I-"
Benny cut her off, "You didn't?" He asked in an excited tone. Erica nodded her head, and handed Benny the hot box, which was a pizza box. Benny opened it, "Peanut butter cup pizza?" He began licking his lips then he looked at her, "You remembered?"
"Believe me, that's something I'm not going to forget anytime soon." Erica responded happily.
Benny lightly chuckled before eating a slice of the pizza after he finished the slice, he received something unexpected, a kiss on the cheek from Erica, "Listen, could you promise not to tell anyone that I-"
"You don't even have to ask." Benny answered putting a hand in her face, cutting her off, "Nice to know you care about me in some form... I remember when Ethan was turned into a werewolf you were going to let him eat me."
Erica sharply answered, "No I wasn't..." She saw Benny tilt his head to the side a little, "Okay maybe, but if I'd have known it was Ethan..."
She and Benny found themselves staring at each other, smiling. Benny then nervously asked her, "Hey listen... you maybe wanna... do something tonight. I mean it's still early."
"What do you have in mind?" She asked him.
Benny said, "Well Sarah and Ethan went to the movies... you maybe wanna join them... watch some zombies take over Earth... if you're not to embarrassed to hang out with me in public..." Benny was weary of what her answer might be.
But her answer surprised him, Erica was giggling softly, "I'd actually like that." Erica answered, "And I won't be too embarrassed." Erica then stood behind Benny and wrapped her arms around him. "Grab your pizza."
"W-w-why?" Benny asked nervously grabbing the box, he was wondering what Erica was about to do.
Erica whispered in his ear, "Hold on..."
Benny was confused, "Hold on for... wai-!" But by the time Benny figured out what she was doing, she had already took to the skies.
During the movie, Sarah's arms were around Ethan, Ethan freaked out about the movie, but at the same time, he was interested in it. Often taking a hand and grabbing a hand full of popcorn from the large popcorn bucket in Sarah's lap. Sarah looked from the trembling Ethan to the movie, shaking her head in disbelief in what she was witnessing. "Ethan it's just a movie!" She whispered before adding, "And a lame one at that! I'm scarier than this movie!"
"Sarah, that zombie sucked that guy's brain out, spit it out, and sucked on it again!" Ethan said in a tone with fear and excitement. He then said blandly, "You just suck blood." Sarah growled softly and gave him a stern look, Ethan frantically added, "But you can do much scarier things!" A smile then grew back on Sarah's face.
Just then they heard a familiar voice add, "So can I." They looked to see Erica and Benny, together, at the movies. "Can we join you two?" Erica asked. Both she and Benny grinning.
"Uh" was all Sarah could say staring at the two in disbelief of what she was seeing. Ethan was staring with his mouth wide open, a bat could fly it in it if it wanted to. "Sure." Sarah said, the two gleefully sitting down in the seats next to Ethan and Sarah. "So are you two, a couple now?" Sarah asked Erica.
Erica and Benny both laughed in unison leaving Ethan and Sarah in a world of confusion. Benny answered with, "For now, just two very good friends."
He looked to Erica who was nodding her head in agreement, she added, "I couldn't have said it better myself."
"Did that guy's head get ripped off yet Ethan?" Benny asked watching the movie.
Ethan groaned, "Benny, you had to remind me, that was just nasty."
Sarah gave a light chuckle, "You know something Erica, sometimes you surprise me."
"Oh Sarah, don't get used to this, tomorrow everything will be back to normal." Erica answered. Sarah just shook her head and gently nudged her friend's arm playfully, Erica doing the same.
Benny and Erica then began to watch the movie, both Benny and Erica then placed their hands on the seats arm at the same time. Benny and Erica lightly blushing at each other's unintentional hand holding, but they didn't let them go. "Happy Valentine's Day, Erica." Benny whispered into her ear.
Erica took his arm and wrapped it around her shoulder's to Benny's surprise, Erica threatened, "If you put your arms around me in school tomorrow I swear I'll rip the arm off."
"Wouldn't have it any other way." Benny responded contently. The two watching the movie with their other two friends.
The End. Since I posted this a week before Valentine's Day: Happy Valentine's Day folks! What did you think of Valentine everybody; like it, hate it? I tried my best not to let Erica fall out of character. Me personally, I can see Erica and Benny getting together on MBAV, for some reason Rory and Erica don't "click" to me. Please folks, give me some good reviews, I wanna know what you think; and don't forget to read my other MBAV fics: Clueless and Doll!