AN: You guys did AMAZING with the reviews! You all make me so happy3 teehee. Anyways, as I promised, here is chapter three, my special Halloween surprise! So, this chapter might not be very good, because I accidentally deleted like the first half of it, and spent like two hours retyping it. So it's a little different than how I originally had it. I hope you all like it nonetheless! And let's not forget, I love reviews!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN MBAV, NOR DO I OWN ATTICUS MITCHELL OR MOST OF THE PLOT. But I do own Aria.
I walked with Ethan behind Benny and Rory as they argued about some superhero and a Transformer. I don't know. We walked past Sarah and Erica at their lockers, and they were talking. It looked private, so I stayed with my boys.
"What do you think, Aria?" Rory turned around to ask me.
I faltered "I, uh, you know, I think that…" Benny and Ethan looked at me as well, both wondering if I would give a legit answer. "I don't really know. Why don't you and Benny discuss more so I can give you a better answer?" I gave him a smile, and he smiled back.
"Okay." He smiled dumbly. Oh Rory.
They went back to arguing, and we came across the failure of a trophy case and Coach, who was taking out the only trophy.
"Hey Coach." Benny and I greeted.
Ethan asked "What are you doing?"
"Say goodbye, boys and girl. Time to put this old relic into storage." Coach told us.
"But isn't that, like, the only trophy Whitechapel High has ever won?" I asked. The others looked at me strangely. "What? I know things…" I shrugged.
"Yes, but it, uh, it sends the wrong message, you know? Winning isn't everything." Coach tried to salvage the school's dignity "Yeah, sure, our teams come last in points, but, oh boy, we come first in so many other important areas."
"Yeah, like point… avoiding?" Benny said, trying to help. Ethan, Rory and I chuckled, trying not to laugh too loud in front of Coach.
Rory went straight for the kill "That is one sad trophy case." He snickered.
Coach sighed and went to close the trophy case. "Can you hold that for a second?" He thrust the trophy at Ethan and me.
"Sure." Ethan and I both said, and we reached for the trophy together. As soon as we grabbed it, though, I froze, some sort of power emanating from it. Ethan felt it too, because I felt him stiffen besides me as well. A stream of light shot from the trophy, and then, a giant African American man appeared behind Benny and Rory, wearing old gym clothes.
"Nerd alert." He spoke, ruffling Benny's hair, "Get a haircut, beanpole."
Oblivious to the man behind him, Benny turned angrily to Rory and said "What'd you do that for?"
I stared in shock as the man just happily strolled right in front of Benny and Rory, who started to argue again, and they didn't even look at him. Almost as if they couldn't see him. The man stopped in front of Ethan and I and looked at Ethan strangely. "Wait, you can see me, moptop?" He asked. Ethan nodded, as did I. "You too, dollface?" He asked me. I nodded again.
"Who are you?" Ethan asked.
"Well, I am a winner kids. Probably why you don't recognize me. I was the best coach this school ever had right before it was overrun by nerds. Like you nerds." I looked down at my vintage Batman shirt. I was no nerd! At least not as big of a nerd as my boys.
"Hey!" I said, offended, until I looked behind the guy to see Benny and Rory almost fighting, with Coach holding them both back, throwing lame insults at each other.
"Why don't you transform and roll out, Dumblebee?" Benny snapped.
"You're a warp-ten butthead!" Rory said back.
Ethan and I looked at each other before shrugging, agreeing. "Okay, point taken." Ethan said, "So, what do you want?"
"First, I'd like to thank you for letting me out of that trophy. Feels great to be free after thirty years, because now I can finally do things like this." The man said before pointing his fingers down at Ethan's pants. Said boys pants dropped, revealing spaceship boxers.
Benny, Rory and I started laughing. I covered my mouth to try and hide my huge grin. Sarah walked by and said "Space themed, huh? I would've guessed Spider-man."
I snorted "At least they're boxers." Before Benny, Rory and I burst into a new round of laughter.
At lunch, I sat across form Ethan and Benny, next to Rory, as Ethan flipped through a really old yearbook. "Ah, here he is. Coach Ed. It says he was the gym teacher thirty years ago."
"He's ancient!" Rory said, bewildered. I giggled, poking him in the side, and he giggled back. We smiled at each other.
Leaning close to Ethan, Benny whispered "Is he here right now?" To show that he was, Coach Ed stood up and smacked the sandwich out of Benny's hand.
"Nice sandwich, halter top." Coach Ed sneered. I glared at him.
"I'll take that as a yes. Jerk!" Benny yelled.
"Here baby, have mine." I smiled at benny, passing him my sandwich. He smiled gratefully.
"There must be some way to stop him or get him to move on." Ethan said.
"Fat chance." Coach Ed scoffed "I ain't going anywhere."
I sighed, and continued snacking on my pretzels.
Walking through the halls with Benny and Rory, I noticed it was strange that Ethan wasn't with us. "Where's Ethan?" I questioned.
"I don't know. He smells nearby." Rory sniffed the air. His nose led us to Ethan's locker.
"You in there, buddy?" Benny asked the locker.
"Yeah, can you get me out?" Ethan told us his locker combination and we unlocked the door, but had a hard time pulling him out. Rory was left with that job.
"Coach jammed you in there good." Rory said, pulling on Ethan's arm, "I may have to dislocate one of your shoulders to get you out, okay?"
"No!" Ethan said. Benny and I stood idly by, watching awkwardly. I bumped him with my hip. He bumped me back. We continued our game of hip-bumping until Ethan came out of the locker.
"Come on Benny, Aria, aren't there any spells that get rid of ghosts?" Ethan asked desperately.
"I haven't read about any–" I started to say before Coach Ed cut me off.
"Nice try. My curse is ten times stronger than any little weenie magic show. Might as well give up now."
I fumed, clenching my fists. I was no weenie magic show, and neither was Benny! "What is your deal?" Ethan cried "Is this all about that dumb trophy?"
"That trophy's not dumb!" Coach Ed yelled "That trophy represents this school's finest hour. The school's only fine hour!"
"Okay, fine! If I get it back in the case, will you leave me alone?" Ethan asked hopefully. I crossed my fingers.
"The only way I'm moving on is if you win me a shiny new trophy."
Ethan started laughing, looking at Coach Ed like he was crazy "Me? Win a trophy? For sports?" He laughed. Coach Ed nodded. Ethan kept on snickering "No way, not in a million years."
"A million years?" Coach Ed regarded Ethan "I can do that." He pointed down at Ethan's pants again. "Bang." They fell, revealing his space-themed boxers again.
Benny and Rory started laughing again, while I covered my eyes and groaned. "Yeah, some things just never get old!" Coach Ed laughed.
"What if I win a trophy?" I asked, crossing my arms and glaring at Coach Ed.
He started laughing harder "If you can win something, dollface, go ahead and try." He said prejudicially. I narrowed my eyes and huffed, stalking back to Benny.
"I can't believe what a total asshole that guy is!" I seethed, walking with Benny and Rory after school. I was ranting about Coach Ed again, still smarting from his comment earlier.
"We know, Aria, we know." Benny hugged me to his side. I still pouted.
"Rory, let me hug you." I said.
"Okay!" He nodded eagerly.
"Why does he get a hug?" Benny demanded.
"Because I can squeeze him as hard as I want and he won't break." I explained "You'll get your hugs later." I wrapped my arms around Rory and squeezed, laying my head on his shoulder as we came to stop next to Ethan and Coach Ed. Ick.
Benny whistled in awe, staring at some guy "Kurt 'The Hurt' Lochner. Conway Collegiate's three-time city wrestling champ." I wrinkled my nose at the guy. He was kind of ugly.
I tuned Ethan and Coach Ed out, still mad. I squeezed Rory tighter, burying my face into his shoulder. "You are just so cuddly!" I informed him. I felt his smile against my head.
"Hey, let's go home." Benny said. I released Rory and nodded.
"Yeah, we should be going. Laters, Rory." I gave my blonde friend one last hug and walked off with Benny. I linked arms with him as we walked home. "You know, that Kurt kid is really ugly." I said. Benny laughed, and put his arm around my shoulders.
Coach Ed materialized "You like that beanpole? Even you could do better, dollface."
"Fuck off." I hissed, and he disappeared.
Benny stepped away from me, eyes wide. "What'd I do?"
"Not you, Coach Ed." I said, putting his arm back around my shoulder and playing with his fingers.
Ethan had texted me the next day that he was going to wrestle Kurt and win the trophy. After talking to Benny about it, I found out it was to impress Sarah who had been seen 'canoodling' with him.
The days went by until finally the day arrived where Ethan was going to wrestle Kurt 'the hurt' Lochner.
I sat with Benny at the side and listened to Coach announce the match. "Now, in the spirit of non-competition, I pledge to be a, a non-partisan referee for tonight's match. So, uh, may every man win." he looked at Kurt "Or at least survive."
"And so, representing Conway Collegiate, we have Kurt 'the Hurt' Lochner!" he gestured to Kurt and the crowd went up in cheers. When they died down he continued "And representing Whitechapel high we-"
Benny got up and rushed over to take the microphone.
"From a land of fear and nightmares comes a warrior born to destroy. He speaks only violence, he knows only hatred, and his headlock is a crime against humanity! Behold, the ETHANATOOOR!" I slapped my forehead and groaned. Really Benny, really?
Ethan came jogging out with Rory in front of him holding sparklers and had flashing lights on his body. The crowd booed and I groaned again, covering my face in shame for them. Benny joined me on the bench at the side along with Rory. Coach brought Ethan and Kurt together to shake hands. Kurt looked like he was trying to break Ethan's hand.
"Do your catch phrase!" Rory called "Do it!"
"Prepare to be Ethanized." Ethan tried to say intimidatingly.
"What?" I asked, then shook my head "Ew."
The crowd echoed with what?'s, and Kurt brought out an apple and crushed it in his hand saying "You're not gonna like these apples." he threw the apple pieces at Ethan, who turned and said "Even his catch phrase is better!"
Benny gave a shaky thumbs-up, and I saw Coach Ed talking to Ethan, but couldn't hear his low voice. Then the whistle was blown and the match started.
Ethan ran at Kurt and was flipped over his shoulder and slammed to the ground.
"This won't end well." Rory said.
"I hope not!" Benny took out his camera.
"I can't watch." I groaned, covering my eyes in Rory's shoulder, who gladly wrapped his arms around me.
I heard a lot of thumps and pained groans from the match and cheers from the crowd. I didn't move my face from Rory until I heard the whistle being blown.
I looked up to see Kurt holding Ethan around his shoulders like a towel, and brought him over to us before dumping him on the ground.
"Here's your friend." he said. "I'll see you around too, dorks." he threatened to Benny and Rory. To me he smirked and said "Later, Babe."
"Don't call me babe!" I growled, standing up with Benny and Rory to help Ethan up from the floor and onto the bench.
"Get up, take a seat dude." Benny said.
"You survived a whole round without him breaking your spine in half!" Rory said enthusiastically. "Nice!"
"Sorry dude, but for a guy in agony you sure do make some funny faces!" Benny told him.
I rolled my eyes and sat down next to him, rubbing his arms. "You ok, Ethan?" I asked, concerned.
"Yeah..."
"Ethan! You don't know what you're up against, this guy is unstoppable!" Sarah came in.
"I guess that's why you like him." Ethan muttered accusingly.
"What? I don't like him." Sarah denied.
"Come on! I saw you watching him, talking, laughing, canoodling!"
"Mad canoodling." Benny added.
"Noodle what?" Sarah asked "Look, I thought Erica turned him into a vampire so I was watching him. I even checked his neck for bite marks. Which was hard, since he's so ticklish." she added as an afterthought. "But I do not like him!"
"You can't win by points anymore." Coach Ed materialized in front of us. "You're gonna have to pin him to win."
"I have to pin him? Impossible!" Ethan said.
"How about some magic? Let's see how well he wrestles with worms in his ears." Benny stretched his fingers out.
"No magic. You got to beat him fair and square or the deals off." Coach Ed shook his head.
"No magic, Benny. We can't cheat." I pushed his hands down.
"Then think of something!" Sarah said "Everyone has a weakness, right? Just find it and exploit it."
Coach Ed pulled Ethan up by his shoulders and said "Maybe you need a little heart." he stuck his hand inside Ethan's chest.
I let out a small shriek and clung to Benny, watching in horror as Ethan all but crumpled to the floor in pain.
"Whoa, what's wrong?" Benny asked, wrapping his arms around me.
I heard Ethan whimper in pain and fall to the ground. "Just please, stop. Leave me alone." he said, the pain obvious in his voice. I let go of Benny slowly, still in his arms.
"Looks like he's practicing new ways to beg for mercy! Smart." Rory said.
Ethan slowly got up "It's no use. I can't win. I've never won a fight. Ever."
"False." Benny cut in "Remember that time in grade two when I took your Pokémon lunch box? You whipped me good! I almost cried." he sounded like was choking up again and I looked up at him, leaning against his chest. He faltered, trying to look nonchalant at me "Uh, almost. I mean, crying is for babies..."
Ethan brightened up "Grade two. That gives me an idea... Thanks Benny." he turned and jogged off to the mats. The whistle blew for round two and this time I watched with interest as I sat down on Benny's lap.
"What happened in grade two?" I asked.
"Nothing... Much..." Benny said.
Ethan ran at Kurt, this time stopping to duck under his legs and getting behind him. Then he wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist in a kneeling hug from behind.
"The snuggie bear hug!" Benny explained excitedly "He's got it locked on, there's no escape!"
Somehow Ethan managed to push Kurt down to the mat and climb on top of him in a straddle, then started tickling his neck. I giggled and watched as Coach went over and hit the mats, signaling that Ethan won. Ethan pushed off of Kurt and said "He who laughs last, loses."
We stood up as Ethan was declared the champion.
"I did it! It's curtains for Kurt 'The Hurt' Lochner!"
The crowd cheered and Ethan was handed the trophy and exchanged words with Coach. He jogged over to us, and we cheered in congratulations.
But Coach Ed broke our happy moment. "What? That's it?" he boomed "No, no, no, you got to be kidding."
"Oh yeah, I won the trophy, time to move on, Coach." Ethan smirked, taking off his helmet. "Deal's a deal."
"Bear hugs? Tickling? Come on! You took this as a joke, spice cake, so you can forget it. The deal's off. I'm gonna be on you until the end of time."
"What?" I exploded, rushing over.
"You too, dollface! I'll show you what happens when you mess with me!" he glared at me.
"He's backing out of our deal! And threatening Aria now, too!" Ethan called to Benny, outraged.
"What? He can't. A supernatural pact is binding in all dimensions!" Benny said, looking around for the ghost.
"Yeah! You can't back out!" I cried.
"Tough tortillas!" coach said "I ain't going anywhere, and you nerds can't make me."
All of a sudden a locker-shaped door fled down from above and crashed onto the gym floor, emanating a bright light.
"Oh, crud." Coach Ed said sadly "But maybe those nerds can."
"What? What is it?" Ethan asked.
"What is that?" I asked as well.
"I crushed a lot of nerd souls in my day." Coach Ed sniffled "And I suppose those souls had to go somewhere. Well behold, the locker of the Nile." he brought his hand up towards the locker. It opened and a bunch of tentacles of light came out of it. One shot forward and got Coach Ed, dragging him in with screams from him of "Don't just stand there pudding faces, help me!" Finally he disappeared in a brilliant light into the locker and it flew back up and away. Ethan and I stared in shocked amazement.
"Hey, you know what? I will not be beaten by a geek!" Kurt roared, and charged at Ethan, only to get clotheslined by Sarah.
"Go Sarah!" I whooped, hugging the fledgling.
She turned to look at Kurt "Update, you got beaten by a geek and a girl. Go get yourself a new shirt."
"Thanks, but I could've taken him." Ethan's said.
We laughed and Ethan asked Sarah "So uh, about Saturday night...?"
"Oh, that. I thought that if Kurt was a vampire, I'd need backup to take him down. But, we're all good now."
I mentally cringed. He totally thought it was a date.
"Right, yeah! Good, good. I thought it was something like that." Ethan said, obviously disappointed.
"But, if we're not catching vampires, we could go catch a movie?" Sarah offered.
"Yeah, cool!" Ethan agreed happily. "I should have the feeling back in my fingertips by then."
Saturday night we all ended up at Ethan's house, watching Skull Stealers 3. Ethan sat at one end of the couch next to Sarah, who was next to Benny, and Rory took the other end of the couch. I was in between Sarah and Benny, but more in Benny's lap as I clung to him in fright. Jane laid lazily on Rory and Benny and I, obviously bored while us teens were scared shitless.
"You gotta admit, watching Skull Stealers 3 beats having to shake and stake a vamp any day. " Ethan said.
"Just slightly." Sarah's phone rang "Hold on a second. Hey, Erica..." I tuned her out and watched the movie.
Another person was killed on screen and I curled into Benny's side, covering my eyes. The only good thing about tonight was one-sided cuddling with Benny.
So, not as much fluff with Benny as I'd like him and Aria to have, but hey, whaddya gonna do? I promise to make it up in the next few chapters ;D Next chapter goes up on Sunday! I'm updating at an earlier time than usual today because I have rehearsal for the play at my school tonight, and then homework. Can you believe that? Rehearsal on Halloween! Ugh! I'm hoping to get some candy anyways. Remember, you're never too old to Trick-Or-Treat!
All my love and hope goes out to my readers on the East Coast, getting hit with Hurricane Sandy. Pray for them, guys? I'm getting hit with rain from Sandy, and I'm not too happy about it (I don't like rain!)
So, review! Let me know how you like the story, any ideas you have, or if you just wanna say hi!
NOW TIME FOR MY BELOVED SHOUT OUTS!
Zebra02: I would love to work on a story with you! I'm relatively new to writing fanfiction, and haven't been a part of any collaborations, but I would love to try! Message me about you're idea! And I know how you feel, I read most fanfiction on my phone, and sometimes it just doesn't wanna log me in!
girl drama (guest): Thank you! I'm happy that you're happy! wach out for the next chapter, it's coming up on Sunday!
MeganRoseMaslow: Thanks hun! I'm guessing by you're username you're a BTR fan? Me too! I went to go see them on their Big Time Summer Tour... Oh man, most epic night of my life! Who's your favorite member? Mine is Carlos or Logan. I'm actually working on a BTR story, but it's going pretty slowly.
Alright, I'll see you all later! Review and I'll love you forever!