Chapter Ten: It's Infectious
It was odd, bizarre even, that surrounding the school many more people were acting like zombies. Dozens of students in the hallways were walking so slowly that Benny managed to be three minutes late to class and he was never late. Unexplainable to some, that typically dull lightbulb above Benny's head turned on brightly when one classmate complained of chest pains followed by four other people. Crud. The spell was causing others to be affected too, the question was just how. How was everyone else falling under the spell? Did he accidentally transfer it to the whole school? Rory would've fallen under the spell if that were the case, right?
Ethan had progressively gotten worse too, barely able to support his own standing and used his "boyfriend" as a third leg. His heart was throbbing, crying for some attention every time Benny didn't speak to him. Thankfully he felt better each time Benny was sweet to him, but that didn't happen often. Mostly he suffered in silence, admiring the way Benny's eyes fluttered when the teacher said something complicated and the way his lip was curve into a slight smile when he figured something out.
The two were seated in the lounge, snuggled in the cushions of the couch while Ethan kept a tight hold onto Benny's left arm. Since yesterday they were inseparable. Every so often they would catch a couple interested looks. Benny had never felt more aware of his presence in his entire life before, and he was a nerd! Nerds never got attention from anything they did minus being asked to do someone's homework.
"Hey, I just wanted to say that it was really brave of you two to come out and I'm on your side," a girl with curly hair and deep mocha skin said, smiling kindly at them and handing Benny a piece of paper. "The GSA would love to have you. We have meetings every Wednesday after school in room 145, you should come. Oh and I'm Whitney by the way," Whitney turned around and rushed away, handing out a couple more flyers in the the room before heading out of the lounge to her group of multi-colored hair friends.
It was very welcoming of her to do that and Benny appreciated the gesture, but there was no way he'd ever go into that place. He didn't need more questions and focus on the relationship that he had accidentally put upon himself. Keeping it on the down low was his goal even if it was difficult to achieve after the major blast on social media. A few birds on twitter even picked up the news and posted a photo of them holding hands. What kind of sick person takes a photo of a couple and posts it all over the internet for others to see? A true sicko, that's who!
Besides the dating rumors spreading, Benny had more pressing issues at hand. It appeared that the symptoms Ethan had were popping up all over the school. It was just like when he used the potion, only he couldn't figure out how this disease spread considering there wasn't a transferrable way for it to reach others. At least it didn't seem like there was. After lunch Benny would have to do some serious studying in his magic book.
"Dudes, what's up with this school?" Rory asked as he sat onto one of the arms and surveyed the room full of sick people. Not everyone was ill, but as the day continued it seemed like the populous would increasing. Rory could count how many bodies he could take under the fang, and it was too many for his little bat brain to count!
"I don't know yet. I'll figure out soon enough though," Benny wasn't himself either. He was the jokester of the group, the one to ease the situation whenever things were stressful. Today was too much. Between Ethan stuck to him, the girls at school thinking he was dating his best friend, and watching as more people were getting sick it was all too much at once for him. It was overload. No amount of easy jokes were able to lighten up the mood for him now, not even Rory's dumb comments.
"Could it have something to do with the heated babes coming our way?" Rory asked as he stared down one bat ready to kick some butt and another one with heart eyes. Had the spell seriously managed to get Erica too? This day was worse than yesterday and Benny didn't think that was possible.
"Benny, what did your pea brain conjure up?! Erica won't stop talking about this Erastus guy. I know she had a crush on him, but it wasn't this serious until today," Sarah had a tight hold on Erica's wrist, presumably for protection from the Greek guy. Perhaps the protection was from Erica actually, knowing that whenever she had a date it wasn't going to end well for the other person.
"His nickname is Eerie and I love him!" Erica attempted to be released from Sarah's grip but was failing. All she was craving was that dark blood to seep into her fangs as she tasted Greek food for the first time. English guys and German guys were so boring and just tasted of potatoes. She wanted a new flavor, one that she was bound to be addicted to. Erastus was her new addiction and she was fine with that.
"Who cares if she is in love? Let her be happy," Ethan said, shrugging his shoulders and not seeing a problem. Before his realization with Benny, he felt so hollow. Life without loving Benny was meaningless. Erica should be allowed to have that feeling too, of having the perfect person for her.
"Alright. Now that I'm seeing signs, I have more of an idea of what to look for. I promise I'll have it figured out by the end of the day. Just meet me by my locker after school," Benny promised her. In truth, seeing everything happening around him did give him a better approach of what to look for. Hints always helped.
"Fine. If you don't then you'll have a Greek vampire to worry about on your hands," Sarah walked away with Erica, not seeming any less angry than before.
"Dude, chicks are hot when they're mad," Rory said.