CHAPTER TWO
Benedict had himself another ride to school again from Kiera. When he had woke up by the sound of his annoying alarm, there was no one else in the house. He wondered where his sister had gotten off to and he figured that he was walking his way to school on his second day. That changed when Kiera came through the front door with her running gear on and was listening to music from her phone in an arm strap.
"Good, you're up. I'll take you to school again, I have to go to the store today anyway." She said while grabbing an apple and taking a bite out of it. Benedict nodded and ate the last of his cereal before he went back up to his room to get dressed. Kiera quickly put his lunch together in a storage container and put it into his rucksack. Benedict came down the stairs and saw his rucksack on the kitchen counter. He figured that she would be in the car waiting for him, grabbed his rucksack and headed out to the car.
He got into the car and headed off to school, wishing that the same thing that happened yesterday wouldn't happen again today for him. He didn't want Kiera to find out because she was too protective for her own good, but he loved that about her. Benedict noticed that Kiera was silent for near enough the whole car journey as she drove him to school to start his second day.
He was concerned, so he asked her about it. "What's bugging you?" He turned her his head to her as her hands tightly gripped the stirring wheel, confirming him on his theory that something was indeed bugging her.
She sighed. "Mum and Dad called this morning, just before I went for my jog." He took a deep breath as he processed this information that Kiera had just given him. He hasn't seen or heard from his parents in days, nearly a week, not since he hugged and waved them goodbye as Kiera picked him up to go to her house several hours away.
He missed them and his own familiar bed but being with Kiera was a good thing for him. He agreed with his mum and dad on that, he was more alike his sister than his brothers but being somewhere new and different with his sister would open him up a little. 'Make some friends, graduate from high school, spend quality time with your sister.' He recalled his father's words perfectly and he was trying to abide by them.
"What did they say?" He wondered if they called to check up on him, to see how he was doing and how his first day went. He would be more comforted and calm to go into the school today if they did.
Kiera tapped her fingers on the spherical curve of the stirring wheel. "They told me about the mischief that Enzo has gotten himself into. He got into another fight, unsurprisingly. The guy lost a few of his teeth." She rolled her eyes at the memory of the phone call. She wasn't surprised about Lorenzo's behaviour which would worry someone else but not her and Benedict.
He knew his big brother fairly well, him getting into more and more fights didn't shock or surprise at all. He only felt sorry for the poor chap who got into a head to head collision with Enzo to result in his teeth getting punched out. "And?" He asked her to continue what their parents told and brought to her attention.
Kiera turned the car into the school's car park and as she swung into a spot, parking the car there. She looked over at Benedict. "So, they think I can straighten him out with his anger issues and urge to punch people's faces in. He's going to stay with us for a while." Kiera revealed to him.
He slowly nodded. He got along with Lorenzo, so it didn't really bother him that he was going to live with him and Kiera for the time being. Although, he was worried with his affliction with the Princess of the school got any type of worse so would the wrath of Lorenzo and he was definitely sure that he would have a field day with that. For Benedict, the silver lining was that he had two very over protective siblings watching his back and wanting to fight his battles for him for what seems to be 24/7.
"When?" He asked, and she shrugged, unknowingly.
"Not sure, but soon." Vague, he thought as he picked up his rucksack from in between his legs and feet and opened up the car door so he could hop out.
He turned and looked over at Kiera as he felt her hand grip on the jacket on his arm. "They miss you." She told him sincerely with a soft smile.
Benedict smiled to himself. "Thanks." He told her, not caring how she knew that he needed to hear that. She nodded, and he closed car door and he watched her drive away, most likely heading to the store like she said she would, and when she was out of vision. He turned and headed straight toward the entrance way of the high school. He met with Charmy and Tails as he walked on through.
He gave them a simple smile before greeting them. "Hey there." They walked together huddled through the hallowed corridors, barely full of awaiting students as they chatted away.
Charmy nudged Benedict's shoulder with his own. "How are you feeling, Ben?" He grinned at him.
Benedict raised his eyebrow at him. "Worse now. What's happened?" He sighed, not particularly amused now and the comfort that Kiera gave him for the day was now fading, very quickly.
Tails looked at him with an apologetic expression. "It all happened sort of quickly." He tried to explain as lightly and gingerly as he could but that only made Benedict much more confused by each passing moment.
Benedict stopped in his tracks from going down the corridor. "It is too early in the morning, please, just spit it out already." He looked at the two of them rather annoyed.
Charmy glanced at Tails and then back to Benedict whom was impatiently waiting for an answer. "Well?" He asked irritated.
"A rather not exactly nice rumour is being actively spread around the school about you." Tails began to explain, trying to spare his feelings. He was beginning to like Benedict and wanted to consider him a friend.
That fast? He thought, sort of impressed. "By the bossy cheerleader, no doubt." He presumed, knowing his terrible first impression with Rouge didn't exactly go over too well.
"Bingo." Charmy nodded, giving Benedict a swift pat on the shoulder.
He looked at Charmy concerned and worried for his future here at this high school, knowing he won't be going anywhere any time soon, if this rumour was as bad as his imagination played it out to be. "What is it?" He asked him, although he was on the fence on whether he wanted to find out what rumour Rouge could conjure up in her stuck-up mind of hers.
"I quote 'the new kid is a total mama's boy, the woman that dropped him off looks as old as my step-brother. You know what that means: 16 and pregnant.'" As Charmy explained to him what horrible rumour Rouge has sprung from her lips about him to the school and that left him definitely not amused as well as not particularly happy but not as angry as Lorenzo would be if he was in the same situation and position.
"One. She is not my mother. Two. She is my sister. Three. She has never been pregnant." Benedict sighed aggravated, exhausted and not at all impressed with Rouge's 'scandalous' rumours about him and his family.
Tails nodded with a sad smile. "I'm sorry, Ben."
He shrugged. "It's not the worse rumour that I have heard about me and it wasn't that well thought of either." He smirked to himself and Charmy chuckled at what he said.
Tails smiled at him and was glad that he just shook off Rouge's rumour like it was nothing. He admired Benedict's strength and wonders which side of the family he got that from and he was a little envious of that. He was alone for a lot of his childhood, any other kid his age would be turned away from him by his two tails. So, he was thankful when Charmy started the same year he did and befriended him. Now, he was thankful that Benedict was beginning to be friends with them both. He remembered reading that there was safety in numbers.
It was lunch and Benedict was sat with Charmy and Tails, chowing down on their food brought from home. Tails and Charmy already knew that the food sold at the canteen wasn't exactly tasty or good for your health. Benedict knew not to touch the food given and provided by the school as his brother, Thaddeus, got food poisoning when he ate something wrong in his ham and cheese sandwich he bought so they were all careful with their lunches after that.
During his first two classes of the day, Benedict felt his fellow students staring at him and he knew he had Rouge to thank for that. It didn't really bother him, and he was showing everyone that, especially Rouge. When someone would ask him if it were true, – even teachers knew about this rumour – he would tell them the truth. He would say, 'you can believe whatever you want but I wouldn't put your trust in her'. It was wise but true and when Rouge heard what he said, she wasn't exactly happy with him – not that he cared but he did worry for her retaliation because he knew it was coming. She was the vindictive person, he could tell.
"Um, hi." They all raised their heads and looked at where the feminine voice came from. She stood in front of an empty seat of their circular table, holding onto tray of lunch she just bought from the canteen.
"Hey." The three boys answered her in unison.
She shifted her feet in her spot. She was nervous, Benedict could tell as she tightened her grip on her plastic red tray of food. "Could I sit with you, guys?" She asked softly. Her voice was small and shaky, confirming his assumption on her shaken nerves.
Tails and Charmy looked at Benedict, telling him it was his decision. They didn't mind. He nodded. "Go ahead." He gave her a small smile and she smiled gently back at him. She sat down beside Tails and in front of Benedict.
Charmy took a bite out of his red apple. "So, what's your name?" He hasn't seen her before, neither has any of them. They didn't see her yesterday either.
She put her bag beside her feet. "Cream." She told them.
"Charmy." He introduced himself and gave her a welcoming smile.
Tails were next. "Miles, but most people call me Tails." She nodded and smiled at him, she looked over at Benedict, waiting for his name.
"Benedict, but Ben in fine." He nodded and brought a chocolate chip cookie to his mouth, taking a stiff bite out of it.
"Thanks for letting me sit with you." Cream opened her bottle of smooth orange juice and took a sip out of it.
Benedict raised an eyebrow at her. "What makes you think we wouldn't?" He asked, seeing right through her.
She finished her gulp of juice and answered him. "Everyone else said no or they're full up." She shrugged, and he could tell she was hurt with their rejection.
"Sorry, you're welcome to sit with us anytime though." Tails told her, finished with his lunch.
Charmy agreed. "Totally."
Cream smiled thankfully at the three boys. "You're too kind."
She then turned to view Benedict, and he knew that look. She had heard about the rumour, as well. "You heard about the rumours about me?" He asked, opening a pack of ready salted Walker's crisps and putting one into his mouth to eat.
She nodded silently. Tails and Charmy looked at him shocked at him – they didn't even know she knew about that yet. "Do you believe them?" He then asked her.
Cream shook her head; she didn't believe them at all. He smiled, "Good, because they aren't true." She nodded and opened up a sandwich. She is oblivious to the reason of these rumours, but she wasn't going to push it with questions that she wanted to ask. They weren't true and that is all that matters now.
The four of them chatted their way through the lunch hour while simultaneously eating what they had in front of them. They asked Cream what lessons she had and compared them to their own timetables and luckily, she had a few with either one of them or two. Benedict shared science with her while Charmy had art and design with her. She had a lot more lessons with Tails and he was unsure of how he missed her in them but now he would make sure she wasn't alone anymore in there. Thankfully, there wasn't a strict seating chart in those classes.
As soon as the bell rang they set off to their respective lessons and agreed to meet up at the bike racks by the school car park, so they could talk before Kiera would drive up to pick up Benedict, then Charmy and Tails would walk back to their homes.
Benedict was already leaning up against the thick plastic sheet that substituted for glass for the bike racks. He smiled at the sight of Tails walking out of the building, lighting up when he saw him waiting for him. Benedict noticed something a little off about him today, he didn't eat that much or talk much at break or even lunch.
He decided to ask him as soon as he walked up before Charmy and Cream made their way out of the building. "You gonna tell me what's up?"
Tails looked confused, but he was masking something else, Benedict tried to make it out, but it seemed to be a mix of sadness and uneasiness. "What?"
"We're friends, you can tell me anything and I won't utter a word – who have I got to tell?" Well, he has his sister, but he doesn't think she really cares about his friends or their lives as mean as it is. She has no idea who they are, so he could see her reasoning.
Tails let his small façade drop. "Okay, I haven't told Charmy this yet either. I don't even know how to word it."
"Go with what feels right."
That was good advice, so he went with it. "Alright, so, um. I was going through old records in the attic at home and I found a bunch of files at the back."
"And?" He urged him to continue.
Tails nodded. "I found papers saying that I was adopted."
The discussion was immediately dropped as soon they heard Charmy's voice alongside Cream's. "Hey lads."
"Hey. Just waiting on Kiera." Benedict smiled at them both but made a side glance to Tails, he'll text him about what he found out about himself when he gets home.
His friend needs him.