Keeping updates coming quickly because I'm not planning anything out. Nor am I proof-reading. Ask me questions! I'll answer them in future updates.
Many thanks to all my commenters-comments honestly keep me going!
MBAV fan66: Still thinking of some ideas for the reveal to Ethan's parents. Let me know if you have other questions :D
BBCDP2: I like happy endings, so the wait should be worth it.
Bye Felicia: Yay! Let me know if there's anything you want to see Benny and Ethan deal with :-)
Two weeks after the incident:
Erica and Sarah approach Benny and Ethan in the halls before class.
"Hey Ethan, come hang out with me for a while," Sarah says tugging Ethan's shirt sleeve to pull him away from his boyfriend.
She's giving him a break. They all babysit Ethan in shifts so no one gets too burned out. While no one dares discuss Ethan's situation, they've naturally fallen into a pattern. Mrs. Morgan goes into work late. Benny walks Ethan to school. Sarah takes Ethan before classes start. Benny has three classes with Ethan. Rory covers another two. They have to rely on Tommy Jenkins third period, which is the worst hour of Benny's life.
Yesterday Benny ended up puking in the classroom garbage can. And then instead going to the nurse, he went outside to watch Ethan through the window of his history class. His mind racing through ideas to shake Ethan out of a death-spiral.
He resists until Benny gives him a quick peck on the lips. "I'll see you in class," Benny promises.
Benny sags against the lockers. The relief is exhausting.
"Alright lover boy," Erica says after what she has determined is an appropriate amount of time. "Open your mouth, tilt your head back." She's unscrewing the top off of a brown glass bottle.
"What? Why?" Benny asks suspicious of the older girl's motives.
"The less you know about this, the better," She informs him. It's probably true. Ethan's seer abilities haven't gone off since the incident, but that isn't proof that the curse is blocking his abilities. One morning when Benny grabs Ethan's hand to walk him to school, it could trigger a vision that clues Ethan into the web of lies that his friends and families have spun around him.
Regardless, Benny clamps his jaw shut, shaking his head.
"Fine, we'll do this the hard way." Erica shifts the open bottle into the palm of the hand holding the eye dropping. She yanks Benny's head back by his hair, using his wrist to open Benny's mouth. Wrenching her hand at an od angle, she's able to squeeze two drops into the spell caster's mouth. It may be more like five, but she really doesn't care.
"There, crybaby, I'm done." Erica stalks off while Benny is sputtering.
Everything seems… calmer. He's not worried about Ethan- no that's a lie. He's worried about Ethan, but it's important without hurting. Nothing hurts. Nothing feels. He's just here. Just an invisible eyeball seeing everything around him.
Grandma said it would take a month from the next full moon before the potion to cure Ethan would be complete. Just this morning Benny had been panicking about that fact. Now, Benny remembers, life is one day at a time.
Maybe he'll go see what Ethan and Sarah are up to.