She winced her eyes listening to the sound of the game controller being smashed as her cousin made shooting noises. She groaned, eyes fluttering open as she stared towards towards the television. Her eyes widened, staring at the alien character- Humungasaur.

She arched her eyebrow.

"Are you playing one of your games?" She asked, concerned. Ben nodded, quickly turning his head to see his cousin awake and laying on his pillow; in his bed. She breathed in, still drowsey from sleep.

"Why?" She asked rubbing her temple as she propped herself up on the pillows. Ben shrugged, continuing to play.

"Cause it's coming out and the game producers asked me to see if their was anything I didn't like about it; but it's AWESOME!" He chuckled clicking the controller. Gwen shook her head removing, breathing out as she laid her head against the wall.

"So, I was thinking; Mr. Smoothies later? I'm buying" He muttered towards her as he paused the game and turned to her. She nodded bringing her legs closer to her body as she stared down towards her cousin. She thought back to Kevin, they had arranged to meet up today for another driving lesson, maybe she could just leave her Plumber's badge at the library; would fool Ben.

"So?" He asked, eyes brightened and flickering her way. She nodded, expressionless on her face, lips pursed almost in a frowning matter. Kevin's words had been playing on her mind lately, about Ben and her always together, like she didn't have a choice. She wondered what would happen if she slowly slipped away. Would Ben chase after her? Or would he let her go?

But the answer was simple; she knew Ben would follow her to the edge of the universe and back to save her.

So why didn't he chase after her when she was injured, cold and bound for death?

Where did he go?

Did he seriously leave her to die in the woods?

She sighed, breathing out at the thought. Ben wouldn't do that to her; that was just demonic.

"Sure Ben," She muttered closing her eyes as she leaned her head against the wall, mentally cursing herself. That was before she felt someone touch her arm gently. Cold and clammy hands touch her skin. She opened one of her eyes, arching her eyebrow as she stared into an abyss of emerald green.

"You okay? Never seen you this tired before? Where'd you go after we kissed?"

That's when her frown grew further. She knew why she felt tired now. She was tired of him. His ignorance was eating away at her patience.

"Nowhere okay, let's just go to your stupid Mr. Smoothies" She muttered removing the blanket off her body before standing up and walking out the door.

"Wh- Gwen!" He raced after her, grabbing her shoulders and turning her around so that she would acknowlege her. Gwen had known for years now, that ignoring Ben is the simpliest way to get his attention; because he craved attention. That's why he was so hard to lose him. He would hunt her down in a middle of an exam just to show her his new Summo Slammer card. Literally.

"Listen, I'm sorry that I kissed you; I just did it cause' the producer told me too"

Her eyes bulged.

"This is unbelievable; I'm not even on their stupid contract anymore and I'm suppose to be making out with you; on camera"

Ben itched the back of his neck thinking back to the contract.

"I don't even get payed anymore" She rolled her eyes turning round and walking down stairs.

"Gwen wait!" He grabbed his keys running down stairs after the girl.

They sat opposite each other at Mr. Smoothies. Like always, Ben had a spot personally reserved for himself. Somewhere out of the way of the prying eye; as his cousin had requested at his expense. He didn't understand why she didn't like the attention; the boys who crowded over her; the girl's who wanted to be her. Smart; sexy; kind; powerful; yet gullible. She believed in the best side of people and got beat down for it.

She was innocent and sweat and dark and evil.

She could take the whole universe down in one swipe if she wanted to. She could. He knew she could. Yet, instead of being bad; she was good. More good then he was. She forgave people who didn't deserve her forgiveness. She let people step on her and remained silent about it. Like it didn't even bother. Like she didn't even care. Because she knew she could take them down in one hit. She was strong and powerful and shook off the evil's of the world. At home; at school. It was her life and she chose to ignore half of it by burying her nose in her books and study. He wondered why she didn't care more about the whispers of the girl's in her class who called her a witch; a psycho; a freak.

They meant nothing to her but they meant everything to Ben. He remembered visiting her school once, about to barge in on her and show off his new Summo slammers card to her but he walked past her locker. There was a note on it.

'PSYCHO-WITCH'

Ben gritted his anger, ripping the note off the locker and scrunching it up into a ball. He wanted whoever did this to her to pay. So he dragged her out of class during a test. Had her identify whose piece of paper it was without her opening it up. He sent her back to class, before waiting for school to finish. He found the boy, walking outside about to leave on his own. Darkened hair, blue eyes, loner, wanting to be accepted by the popular kids. Or maybe, he was one. Either way, he was a dead man walking. Ben had stalked the kid near his house, hiding in an alley and grabbing him as he walked past. He transformed into Goop, punched the boy in the stomach and in the face before grabbing him by the neck and threatening his life. He did it for his cousin; he protected her.

He sighed, leaning his arm on the table as he stared at her, sucking on his smoothie as his cousin watched the scenery of the cars driving by.

He couldn't help but noticed how distant she was lately. I mean, she was practically his 'side kick' shouldn't she be more closer to him. Like always watching his back; always saying yes to him. Not 'maybe'.

"What?" She muttered, noticing his stare towards her. He leaned back in his chair, thinking about her.

"Nothin!'" He shrugged. She leaned back in her chair, sipping her straw as she continued to watch the scenery.

"So Julie's coming over later" He began watching as his cousin turned her head and arched her eyebrow towards him.

"I'm surprised she's even talking to you after yesterday" Her eyes darkened as her lips pursed into a frown.

"I said I was sorry"

"You practically assaulted me without my consent" She slammed her fist down on the table about to go mental at her oblivious cousin.

"It wasn't assault" He retorted, staring into her etched daggered eyes.

"I didn't ask for it and I didn't ask for it to be put on television; for the whole world to see" She hit back.

"Look I'm sorry; the producer said I had to so the ratings would boost"

She rolled her eyes, groaning.

"You should've asked me first"

"I should've and I'm sorry I didn't" He muttered towards her, placing his cold clammy hands on hers. She stared at him shocked not knowing what to do. He smiled down at her.

"I'll make it up to you, Smoothies on me"

She rolled her eyes removing her hand and placing it back on her drink and looking away.

"But I need a favor" He stared her in the eyes. She sighed looking towards her desperate cousin. She knew what he wanted. She was just biting her tongue thinking about it. It happened everytime.

"I've got this major assignment and-"

She bit her lip thinking about it.

"...I was wondering if you could do it for me" He smiled cheekily at her. She tapped her fingers against the table, thinking about her options. The library was open til 10pm at night, which meant she could quickly do Ben's assignment and head it round Kevin's. She bit her lip thinking about it.

"What is it about?"

Ben reached into his pocket, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper. Her eyes widened, shocked, as he opened it and passed it to her. She removed it from his hand and read over it.

"A major problem facing the world today is the growing number of refugees. The developed nations in the world should tackle this problem by taking in more refugees. To what extent do you agree with this opinion?"

She sighed, looking down at the bottom of the crumpled up paper. Her eyes widened.

"This is due tomorrow"

"Yeah, and it's worth 35% so can you make sure to aim around 80-85 this time. Julie got pissed at me when I got 97% on the last assignment"

He sat back in his chair. She folded the piece of paper up nodding.

"This is going to take hours; I'll have to get started on this now" She stood up throwing her cup into the bin. Ben smirked standing up and grabbing his keys out his pocket.

"I'll give you a lift to the library" He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She just shrugged.

"I'll have to get my labtop from home first"

"Anything for my favourite cuz,"

She had been typing away for hours, trying desperately to finish her cousin's essay; 2000 words by 10pm. No, she wasn't at the library like she had initially promised; she was at Kevin's house about to have dinner with him...well...sort of. Currently, she was sitting on the couch, legs up, computer in lap, glasses on, notebooks glowing with resources. Kevin watched as she mumbled to herself. He groaned, annoyed at the girl.

"Are we gonna make-out or what?"

"I thought you were making us dinner?" She arched her eyebrow towards him. He nodded, looking over to his kitchen.

"It's still cooking, why are you doing your cousin's assignment?"

"So we could hang out; he thinks I'm at the library"

"It's 7:30"

"Yeah, and-"

He stared at her shocked.

"You usually at the library long?"

"Til it closes; 10pm. Get's me away from Ben" Gwen muttered continuing to type as fast as she could.

"I've almost finished, just got to do the conclusion and-" She smiled continuing to type.

"-Done" She smiled at him, saving her work and closing her laptop down.

"What no spell-check or sending to your cousin?" He laughed at her sarcastically. She rolled her eyes as she removed herself from the couch and walked into the kitchen.

"Firstly, my cousin never checks his work and secondly, if I send it to him then I would have to go straight home from 'the library'"

He smiled, removing himself from the couch and taking her hand, and leading her into the kitchen.

"Hope ya like pizza" He wrapped an arm around her.

"Seriously?" She giggled as she leaned against kitchen table as he removed the pizza from the oven.

"Hey, I made it myself"

She smiled at him as he turned round, oven mitt's on with a pink apron. Gwen chuckled, face turning red, with tears in her eyes. He frowned placing the pizza down onto a tray and watching her.

"Alright, alright" He blushed lightly, cutting it up. She tried to stiffen her giggles and compose herself before looking up and him and smiling. He shook his head smiling down at the pizza. He couldn't be more happier at this moment, finally able to do couple stuff with her. It annoyed him to death that he couldn't be seen in public with her though; as much as she put up a front about her 'cousin will have to live with it'. He knew she would. She would have to live with the consequences because she lived with Ben.

He looked up at her and smiled at her. Gwen sighed, placing a hand on his.

"I know that look" She muttered towards him. He skidded his hand away from her and began to cut up the rest of the pizza.

"It's just frustrating that you can't be seen with me in public"

"It's not like that"

"Yeah, it is"

"I'm not embarrassed by you if that's what you're thinking; it's just that..."

"...Your cousin"

She sighed, removing her hand from him and running it through her straight hair.

"I'm afraid he's going to do something stupid if he finds out we're still together"

"So you're just terrified of our cousin" He gritted his teeth looking away.

She sighed, hearing her phone ring.

"Can we please talk about this later, let's just have a nice meal and enjoy the rest of the time we have left"

She forced a smirk before answering her phone.

"Yes Ben?" She breathed out angrily. He rolled his eyes plating a slice for her and watching intently as she closed her eyes, holding her nose.

"I'm gonna be at least another two hours...It's a hard assignment topic of course it's going to take a few hours...Why would you think I'm stalling?...I-" She sighed.

"I'll be home soon..." She placed her head down as Kevin's eyes widened.

"Okay," She mumbled about to get up before Kevin grabbed her hand and stared into her eyes begging her not to leave.

"I'll be there in a bit" She muttered turning her phone off and staring back at him.

"You said you had til 10?"

"I know" She sighed looking away from him.

"I'm so sorry Kevin, I should've known that this was a bad idea" She closed her eyes feeling horrible for having to screw him around. He shook his head passing her a piece of pizza. She noticed the plate in front of her and stared up at him, wondering why he would be so nice to her. He forced a gentle smile before grabbing a piece of his own and eating it.

"I still think we should watch that movie though, even if it's round your house" He muttered, chewing on his pizza. Her eyes lit up shocked.

"Y-You would actually do that for me" She blushed. He shrugged his shoulders closing his eyes.

"Could be fun sneaking around Tennyson's back" He winked at her causing her cheeks to redden.