Misfortune by L.Bann (christmas read aloud TXT) 📖

of the journey.
We got off the bus and I saw Ben walking out of the parking lot. I walked towards him.
“Ben!” I shouted but he gave me a shake of his head. I looked behind him and saw his dad and Freddie. They looked at me and then started shuffling and talking to each other, occasionally looking back at me.
I followed Ben inside, who met up with Harry on the way. He kept looking back at me and talking to Ben but it seemed like Ben didn’t have much to say. I saw him smile to himself and looked back at me. He stopped walking with Ben and stopped to join me. Ben looked behind for a second, and then carried on walking inside.
“Hey Daisy” he said, still smiling.
“Hi” I said bleakly.
“What did you get up to last night?” he asked. He was entering very dangerous waters. I wasn’t going to tell him a thing about me and Ben.
“What do you mean?” I sighed, trying to act koi.
“Well, word is that you and Ben were found in the wood together, on the floor. And apparently Ben can’t see you anymore” he said, and was obviously over-joyed at the new because he gave a small laugh at the end of the sentence. I looked at him and he tried to disguise it as a cough but he couldn’t help smiling.
“I don’t think that’s any of your business, Harry, and I don’t think you should be spreading rumours like that, it could really hurt some people” I said, more harshly than I expected my voice to be. “Anyway, they’re lies”
He was about to talk when I started to run towards Ben. “Hey, Ben”
Ben turned around and gave me a hug. I hugged him back.
“Sorry for ignoring you outside” he apologized. “My dad thinks I’m, quote ‘leaving you to your life’”
“I have to ask you something and it’s kinda random” I started.
“OK, I’m ready” he said sarcastically.
“Well, you know our parents are being annoying as hell” Ben nodded. “Jenna suggested that we’d go away this weekend, like to a hotel in Des Moines”
He looked up in front of him. He was obviously thinking about it, but Jenna was right because he replied almost immediately after that.
“How much are we talking about?” he smiled.
“Well, the cheapest one was about $100 a night but it was only 2 stars, so we might have to spend quite a bit, but we’re only staying for the one night” I reassured, smiling back at him.
“OK, I don’t think we should talk too loud” Ben whispered, looking behind to see Harry walking quite close. I turned around as well and he looked quite embarrassed and started to walk slower.
“OK, we’ll talk at lunch, don’t mention it in lesson or anything, you know people around here talk” Ben whispered as we walked into registration together.
I spent the morning lesson talking to Jenna, trying to not mention the weekend. Though I did tell her I wouldn’t be going to lunch with her and April and that and Harry had heard. He was questioning me about why I wasn’t going to lunch.
“Harry, just leave me alone for once!” I said loudly in his face. I said it a bit too loudly since people around us looked back at me. Ben looked at me and sighed. I hoped that sigh was for Harry and not me for acting out.
Harry reconciled and looked to the front of the class. He didn’t speak to me for the rest of the lesson.
The bell went for lunch and Ben and I went outside to sit on a bench.
“So Harry was trying to figure out what you were doing at lunch” Ben said, putting his arm around my shoulders.
“You weren’t annoyed with me getting angry were you?” I asked. I would have hated to have pissed Ben off.
“No, if you didn’t shout, I sure of would” he smiled. Thank God. I don’t think I would have liked to see Ben get angry. It could be scary. I’m pretty sure those hard shoulders had a bad side as well.
“So we’re really going to go away this weekend” I asked.
“It would be the rebellious thing to do” he said. He looked at me, I looked back and he smiled kissed me on my forehead.
“How would we get there? A cab would cost a fortune” I asked.
“My dad and I have been working on a truck from scratch. We’ve finished it and we use it for fishing sometimes, we could use it. I’m sure he won’t mind it missing for two days”
“What time are we planning to leave?” I didn’t want to leave too early, I wouldn’t even be up.
“About eight, nine in the morning”
“Oh, that’s not too bad” I said to myself.
“I’m guessing you have issues about getting up early” he said, smiling.
“No it’s just, I would have to get ready in the morning since my dad would find me packing and he’s quite a light sleeper so he would hear me in the morning if I sneak out with bags and stuff in my hands. It’s better that we leave at nine or something like that since he leaves for work around 8” I explained.
“OK, I’ll pick you up at nine”
We sat there for the rest of lunchtime; we didn’t even get up to eat anything. We talked about what we would do whilst we were there. We figured out we wouldn’t have much time to look around Des Moines.
Our plan was to get to the hotel by four; we’d check into the hotel and go out for dinner. We’d get up at about nine or ten and look around for an hour or two then head back, planning to be home for about six in the evening. I would tell my dad I’m going away camping with Jenna and Ben’s going to tell his parents that he’s going away with his friend to visit his cousin. Hopefully it would work out perfectly; if not then we were screwed.
The rest of the day went slowly, since I wasn’t paying attention to classes but daydreaming. Everyone knows that if you don’t pay attention in any class, it goes slower, especially if you try to take a nap. I didn’t have any lessons with Harry so that was the upside, but the downside was that Ben wasn’t in my lessons. Jenna talked to me about the weekend and I told her to hide away for the weekend to act like she was away as well. She agreed but I had to buy her something at the mall to compensate. Though she liked the idea of us going away she did say to be careful. Ben and I have only really known each other for about a week and already we were taking ‘weekend breaks’ together. I wondered what she was talking about since we had gotten quite far in our relationship.
“Just, use the condoms, OK” she said before the bell for the end of the day went. I just looked at her and smiled. I had agreed to meet Ben before we went home so we could say goodbye. It’s not like we could be seen together in front of his brother or his dad so being in school was better for us.
I met him at my locker and gave him a hug. It was sad for my dad to say that he wasn’t good enough for me. I loved Ben and I knew I could trust him with my life. I know it seems a bit sad and soon since I met him a week ago, but I had never felt that way about someone before in my whole life. I just hoped that he felt the same about me.
We left two minutes later. Though we didn’t hold hands like we were together, Ben thought it would annoy his dad if we walked out together acting happy.
“I don’t have to act” I smiled. He put on his usual charming grin and we headed out of the school. We stood fairly close to each other when we both saw Ben’s dad waiting by his truck. I looked up and he had the biggest frown on his face. It was a good feeling to piss people off.
“Is that the truck you were talking about?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he replied. “I know it looks pretty bad but it runs fine since I re-did the engine”
“So, you’re a grease monkey?” I smiled.
“Only if you like it”
“I think it’s cool that you can build a car. It’s a good piece of knowledge”
“Wow, is that your view on people that can build cars? Sorry but that’s pretty lame”
“Thanks” I said grimly, he didn’t have to be so mean about it.
“I said sorry didn’t I”
“Yeah, because that made me feel loads better”
We stopped walking before we left each other to go home. Ben turned to face me.
“Well, this is where we part” he sighed, frowning. “I’ll see you tomorrow” He bent fore ward and kissed me on my head. I was surprised at Ben and looked straight over at David. He looked like he was going to have a lot to say we Ben walked over. I was just scared he was going to come over and shout at us. I hate parents. Always in the way.


8

We walked away from each other and I joined Jenna on the bus.
“I’m so jealous of your relationship, you both seem pretty happy together, even though you aren’t meant to be together” she smiled at me. “What did Ben’s dad say to Ben again?”
“That he wants Ben to, quote ‘leave me to my own life’ it’s pretty pathetic” I replied.
“When you get back next Monday, you have to tell me every detail, down to the gas prices. Not that I actually care about gas prices, I just want you to be thorough” We both smiled.
“I’m sure there will be a lot to talk about. Most hopefully a chance to use the condoms”
“You’re such a slut, Daisy!” She practically shouted it out.
“Jenna, shut your fat mouth! Besides, I don’t see point of labelling me ‘slut’ since it’s only sex and it’s not like I’ve had sex, yet” I said sternly to her.
“I will only call you slut if you make it this weekend. What if your dad finds out?”
“He will only find out if you surface from your house”
“I will only come out of my house if an emergency rises in town, if not, I’ll be on Facebook”
“Thanks. I can’t wait till we just get out of here”
We then heard someone shout something and the back of the bus. We both looked round and sitting right behind us was Harry. I couldn’t have been more shocked, paranoid and worried in my whole life. I looked back around and hid behind my seat, Jenna did the same.
“Do you think he heard?” I whispered.
“I hope not” Jenna whispered back.
“He was listening to his iPod, he couldn’t have heard us”
“You know, if he did hear us, he would probably tell your dad”
“Oh, God I think I’m going to cry. The only time Ben and I can spend time together and it’s already ruined!”
“You don’t know that, Daisy! He might not of heard us” She looked behind her quickly and turn back around. “He looked straight at me!”
I was silent on the bus ride home. I just hoped to God that Harry didn’t hear any of it. I would have had to kill him otherwise. Or Ben would, he