Chapter 9

The rest of the week went by quickly with little incident. The Saturday spent at Stone Inc. had Ben working with Veronica to prepare a formal report on the La Bella Restaurant expansion proposal to present at the end of the quarter meeting. He had examples of other proposals to work with and they both researched all the necessary data to make the case. Of course it wasn't all work as Veronica was still in a very thankful mood, taking him to their secret bedroom three times during the day.

On Sunday Ben spent his time doing his homework in all four subjects. English consisted of finishing up the third Act and writing another paper while the rest of the subjects all had questions to answer at the back of a chapter. He sent his completed Shakespeare essay to Madison and asked her to review it and then call if she needed any help with their other subjects' homework. She called back around four in the afternoon.

"Hello Madison, how is your weekend so far?" Ben asked when he saw it was her.

"Not so hot but that's none of your concern," she said. "I looked over your paper and it's actually pretty good so don't bother changing anything."

"Ok, thanks," Ben replied. "Do you need any help with math or biology?"

"Yeah, I'm stuck on the third math problem and it's frustrating the crap out of me," she answered.

"God I hope not, that would be messy," Ben said. "Let me open up my books and I'll walk you through it."

He spent the next half hour talking her through each question, not simply giving her the answer but explaining how to arrive at the correct solution.

"Whew, I'm glad that's over," she said, the sound of her slamming the textbook shut coming through the phone.

"How about biology?" Ben asked.

"I have a couple questions but they shouldn't take long if you have a few more minutes," she replied.

"Sure, let me get my book open," he said.

They worked through the questions, with Ben showing where she should look for the answers in the book and filling out the answers with his extra knowledge.

"It's so much easier to figure this stuff out when you explain it," she said when they were done. "Why can't the teachers explain it like that in class?"

"I'm sure time plays a factor in that as well as they want us to learn how to do it by ourselves," Ben reasoned. "Did you do the history homework already?"

"Yeah, I did that and English first to get it out of the way," she told him.

"Good, then we're all caught up for Monday," he said. "I'm going to read the rest of Romeo and Juliet to get ahead so she doesn't surprise me with her questions again."

"Good idea, she's not going to let up on you," Madison responded.

"So, care to tell me why your weekend isn't going well?" he asked. "Maybe talking about it to a sympathetic ear might help."

Madison was quiet for such a long time that Ben spoke up, "Or maybe you don't want to talk about it and that's fine as well."

"I spent Saturday looking after my sisters as usual," she started talking. "I even made supper and helped with the dishes and baths. Laura called and invited me over to her house at around seven thirty to hang out with her and Penny. I went over and was surprised to see Lance, Brad and Peter there and Laura's parents nowhere to be found. They were all drinking and tried to get me to have some but I knew where that would lead. I should have left right then but I didn't want to go back to my boring home so I stayed."

Ben didn't like the sound of her story already.

Madison continued after a short pause.

"It got awkward when Brad and Laura started making out and then Penny and Lance started up soon afterwards," she said. "Peter tried to get me to join him on the loveseat but I wasn't having any of that. I went to use the washroom to get away from him but he was waiting outside the door when I came out. He tried to kiss me while pulling me against him but got away and went back to the room the others were at. The others were still making out but had their shirts off so I just grabbed my purse and tried to leave. Peter stood in the door and wouldn't let me pass, even after I asked him too. That got the others' attention and they all tried to convince me to spend some time with him but I really don't like him at all. Laura made some threats about not being in the group if I didn't join in but I just pushed him out of the way and left."

"Good for you, I'm proud of you," Ben said.

"What's so good about it, now I have no friends and I'll be ostracized at school," she rebutted bitterly. "Laura called me this morning and said that they had to take care of Peter for me and I would have to take over if I wanted to still hang out with them."

"Now you can make real friends that like you for you, not just because you're beautiful," Ben explained. "You can hang out with me until you find other girl friends. I think you'll find that others will like you much better now that you're away from those bitches. Besides, I'm much better for your future than they could ever be."

"Oh, pray tell," she said, with a lighter voice.

"I'll do everything I can to get you into university while not pressuring you into doing something you're not ready for," Ben told her. "I'll also make sure that they don't bother you at school."

"What's in it for you?" she asked.

"I get to hang out with you and maybe I'll grow on you over time," he said.

"Don't hold your breath waiting for me to get cozy with you," she stated.

"I'm in this for the long haul, so I'm prepared to wait," Ben said with a chuckle. "I'm hoping your resistance to me will wear down eventually."

"I've seen what happens when a girl lets her guard down," she responded, again bitter. "It's not going to happen."

"That's fine, disappointing but fine," Ben said. "I still want to be your friend so feel free to hang around if you want. I'll induct you into my posse and you won't even have to wear the secret decoder ring if you don't want do."

"You're a nut," she said.

"True," Ben agreed.

"I should go, dinner will be ready soon," she said.

"Ok, thanks for reading my essay and I'll see you in the morning," Ben responded.

"You're welcome and thanks for the help with math and biology," she replied, "and thanks for listening and offering to be my friend. I appreciate it more than you know."

"You're quite welcome," Ben replied. "Cheer up; things will get better for you now. Ben Stone is on the job."

"You're a kook," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Have a good night Madison," he told her before they hung up.

All and all, Ben was pleased with the situation, though he was angry about what they tried to pull with her. In the long run, he hoped they both would benefit from what happened, especially since she didn't get hurt last night. He knew it would take a while until she was comfortable with him and even longer, if ever, that she would think of him as a boyfriend, but he was willing to wait as long as it took. Having Veronica in the picture certainly made it easier being patient with her.

Monday morning of the second week of school found Ben waiting by the math room in anticipation. He was hoping that she would at least talk to him if not stand close as well. While he was waiting, he continued to read ahead the next Act in the play for English. It was still hard to understand the old English but at least he knew the overall story, having looked it up online.

The rest of the class started gathering in the hallway, including the popular group. Ben ignored them by simply just continuing to read. He did say hi to Jim and Tom when they showed up but waited in the hallway for Madison when the teacher showed up. When there was only a couple minutes left before the buzzer she showed up.

"My sisters made me late," Madison explained as she walked up.

"Good morning, Madison," Ben told her. "You still have a minute or two before the buzzer."

"It's definitely not been a good morning," she replied, "and probably won't get any better."

Ben shrugged and followed her into the classroom, not close enough to be considered a couple but still entering together. He ignored the group at the back and sat down in his usual spot, as did Madison. Ben did see Laura ask her a quiet question and Madison reply with a shake of her head before ignoring her for the rest of the class.

Ben made sure he walked beside her to English, shielding her from the group. She was quiet but didn't seem upset so he figured there wasn't any opportunity to get into it with them during class. English was no different as eagle eye Mrs. Hungler made sure there was no talking in her class. Madison stayed beside him as they got into the hallway when the class was over.

"I have to get my lunch from my locker," she said.

"I'll go with you," Ben said and kept walking.

She sighed and said, "Ben, you don't have to be with me every second of the day. I'll be fine by myself. Just go get your food and I'll wait for you outside the cafeteria."

"Ok, but I'm coming to find you if you're not there when I get out," he promised.

She just shook her head and went down another hallway while Ben continued onto the cafeteria and joined the hot food line. When he came out to the seating area, she was waiting for him near the door.

"Jim and Tom are at the chess club meeting so it will be just the two of us," Ben explained as he led her to an empty table.

"That's ok, I don't really want to go from the popular table to the nerd group in one day," she admitted.

"You put too much importance on things like that," Ben observed. "You know that you'll probably never see most of your high school friends once you leave here, right?"

"It's not after high school that I'm worried about," she retorted. "We still have two years left here and I know what they can be like."

"They're not your friends and probably never have been," Ben told her as they sat down. "Maybe now you'll be able to make real friends that actually might care about your feelings."