One Girl
(Friday Afternoon)
When Doug knocks Fairy Godmother responds, "Come in." and he unsurely opens the door before stepping into her office. "What can I do for you?"
Doug closes the door and then faces her, "I'm here about Ben."
She gestures to the seat across from her, and after he sits she comments, "Go ahead."
He nods before hesitating, "His father came to see him. He…" She patiently waits, her hands clasped on the desk. Doug faces her, "His father broke the lock on our room and then came in and grabbed him."
Fairy Godmother nods, "Anything else."
"What do you mean, anything else?" Doug disbelieves.
"Do you know what they were saying, for instance?"
His lets out a breath, "They were speaking French. That's like the one language I don't know." He insists, "But I don't need to know what they were saying to know it was bad."
"Doug," Fairy Godmother addresses, "you're not the first person to come to me about this. Many others came to me just yesterday with a similar story."
"Then you're doing something about it," Doug assumes.
"Not so much," the headmistress frowns. "There's no proof. It's all just hearsay."
"But there were witnesses," he denies.
"Look." Fairy Godmother explains, "The witnesses were no more than a select few teenage boys, and Ben's part of a royal family. Witnesses won't be enough in this case."
"But Aziz was there," Doug remembers. "Surely his word means something."
Fairy Godmother hesitates, "Maybe. Maybe not. Ben's family rules this country. I think it's safe to say we would need definitive proof to even get this investigated."
"There was a video taken of it," he frowns. "But Ben deleted it."
She nods, "Yes. I also heard about that."
"Please," Doug breathes. "There has to be something we can do."
It takes a moment for the headmistress to mention, "I'm going to ask Ben here Monday. If he comes forward, then there's a very good chance that this will be thoroughly looked at."
Doug shakes his head, "Ben's never going to do that."
"Which is why I'm asking you to encourage him to," Fairy Godmother retorts. "If you really want to help, this is the best way."
"And if I can't?" Doug questions.
Fairy Godmother carefully answers, "It would not be your fault." before she seriously continues. "However, if Ben denies the claims made, then as both the victim of the case and king of this country, the police and Social Services may have no choice but to drop the case."
Doug nods in understanding, "I'll try my best."
The headmistress partly smiles, "Let's hope it helps."
"Hey," Doug says as he sits across from Ben. He pauses the audio textbook on the laptop and takes his ear buds out, before he silently meets his eyes. "I think we need to talk about what happened yesterday."
Ben eyes down at the keyboard, "My father."
"Yes," Doug confirms.
He faces him again, "What about?"
"Well." Doug makes a noise before questioning, "Let's start with what he was saying to you. Why did he even come here?"
Ben looks off, "It doesn't matter."
"Ben." He waits for him to look at him before requesting, "I would like to know." Ben's quiet for a long minute. "Please. Just tell me what happened."
"What happened?" Ben questions, and it takes him a moment to answer. "My mother talked to Fairy Godmother, because I told her she didn't teach English for me. He knew, and…" Ben wets his lips, "My father doesn't need anything to do something. The talk went somewhere else. He just…"
When Ben gives up Doug quietly asks, "Where did the talk go?"
He faces him, "My mother." but then he pauses. "She means a lot to me. He doesn't like it, I guess."
"Why wouldn't he like it?"
Ben unsurely answers, "I think he thinks that I like her like… more than normal."
"You mean, like… like like?" Doug clarifies, and Ben merely nods. Doug takes a moment before inquiring, "Do you?" and then Ben furrows his eyebrows. "I only ask, because you said you thought you're messed up. This would be a reason why."
Ben glances down, "It's not like I think of her like that." and he lets out a stressed breath before facing Doug. "And we should stop talking about it before I do."
"Okay," Doug accepts, before he thinks aloud, "So, basically, your father came here because you told on them for not teaching you English and then he started accusing you of that." He slowly nods, before he comments, "Well, that's a good reason to get mad, I guess." Ben fails to respond. "Look. Ben," Doug sighs, before Ben meets his eyes. "I think you should tell Fairy Godmother what happened."
Ben shakes his head, "No."
"I know he hurt you." Ben hears the change in his tone. "He made your shoulder worse, didn't he?" Ben merely looks away. "You need to tell her."
Ben faces him again, "No one's going to know."
"Ben. You need help," Doug counters. "You can't keep this a secret."
"Why not?" he nonchalantly questions. "I have a lot. I can have one more."
"He hurt you," Doug worriedly whispers. "What if it happens again?" Ben can see the tears gleaming in his eyes. "You need to tell Fairy Godmother. It's okay to ask for help."
"No," Ben irritably interrupts. "It isn't." He shakes his head, "I can't hurt my mother like that. She would never…"
He notices his frustration, "Ben." and he looks up at him again. "If your mother gets upset with you for asking for help so that you can be safe, then maybe… Well, maybe you're better off without her."
Ben feels the tears intrude his eyes, "I can't do that. I need her."
"Ben," Doug tries to reason. "If she's letting this happen, then you don't need her. You would probably be better off if you could get away from them both."
"You don't get it," Ben erupts, before he gulps. "I need her in my life." His eyes shift, "I can't think of life without her in it." and then he shakes his head as the tears fall. "I can't get her mad at me. I can't make her sad. I'm not telling on him."
It takes a minute for Doug to quietly respond, "I know you care about your mother, Ben, but as king you need to take care of yourself first. You need to be safe."
"No," Ben shouts at him with furrowed brows. "No. Okay?" He lets out a long breath, "I am tired of not having things I want because I'm king. I want her. I need her. That's it." Doug stays silent, and Ben shakily breathes. "She is one thing in my life that makes it okay. She's always been there. No one is taking her. I have her. It's staying that way."
"If she cares about you," Doug slowly counters, "then she will stay with you even if you tell Fairy Godmother about what your father did." He watches Ben wipe the tears away as more fall. "You know I'm right. You need to tell Fairy Godmother. Your mother will understand."
Ben shakes his head, "She's never going to pick me over him." and Doug silences. "I can't tell on him. I can't do it."
It takes a moment for Doug to inform, "Fairy Godmother is going to talk to you on Monday. I know this is hard, but I want you to think about it more." He thinks up, "Is all of this hurt really worth one girl?" He watches as Ben shuts his eyes and turns his head down, hiding behind the laptop. Doug continues to frown, "It's just something to think about."
- Okay, so I thought I was using the 2015 calendar, because that's when the movie came out; however, because of what date I had Evie's birthday as in my notes and comparing to where I actually put it, it would realistically be taking place on the calendar of 2019. Seriously, I looked back for past years and it just kept getting farther and farther away (probably because of leap year), so 2019 is the only year that works. I'm so glad I didn't use Aziz that much in this fic. I thought Ramadan was going to be during the summer, but in 2019 it would be during the school year. I really could have messed everything up... I didn't describe the moon at all in this, did I? That's a thing I tend to do, and I feel like if I messed up the year then that would be messed up too...Jeezes. What else did I mess up? You know, I actually thought of something as I was writing the next two chapters. Does anyone want to guess which class Aziz takes with Ben? Anyone? Sociology, you say? Why would you think that? You're stupid. You're wrong. What? I wrote that last time I posted? No, I didn't. I couldn't have, because if you look back in the chapter The Difference Between Life and Death you will clearly see that they were taking Communications together... The fic is just too long, I'm telling you. I wouldn't be surprised if I made more mistakes. Feel free to let me know if you think you've found one. As of now, we can just assume that Ben and Aziz took both Communications and Intro to Sociology together in the afternoon, because that's not terribly convenient or cramped at all... When were Ben's other classes? I'm sure I... English. He takes Pre-College English with Evie in the afternoon too. Well, that's just brilliant. You know, they eat around noon (which I've clearly stated a lot beneath the chapter titles), so I don't know how they have enough time for three classes in the afternoon, but hey. I guess they do.