What They Left Behind

by Karen Teagarden

Ben went to school that morning feeling better about himself than he had for years. He wanted to tell the whole world that he and Charlene were in love, but he was patient and kept the news to himself.

  Before gym, he went to his locker. A small piece of paper was tucked into the door. He pulled it out. ‘Ben’ was written on it in big round letters. He unfolded it.

  Hi Ben:

  I just wanted to let you know that I made up my mind. Meet me in the library just before lunch and we can talk about it.

  Love,

  Charlene

  Love Charlene! Ben wanted to jump for joy when he read that. He put the note in his pants pocket and went to gym class.

  Nothing much happened in the locker room. He changed right next to the other boys and he noticed they were giving him menacing looks. He gave those menacing looks right back.

  Today they had to play floor hockey. He and Johnny were on the same team. He was the goalie and Johnny was the defense. Johnny did nothing but stand there while Ben tried to dodge large wooden sticks and a hard rubber puck flying at his head and other sensitive body parts.

  Mr. Yates blew his whistle. “Come on, Johnny! Put some effort into this!”

  After that, Johnny managed to put the bare minimum amount of effort into defending Ben, but the puck always got past him. Ben was not happy at the beating he was taking.

  While they were changing back into their school clothes, the other boys were giving him menacing looks again. It was seriously annoying Ben.

  “What the hell are you staring at?” he shouted at them.

  The other boys snickered, except for Johnny.

  “Nothing, asshole,” Jerry Stone said.

  “What, are you gay or something?” Ben shouted. “That’s the only reason you would all be looking at me.”

  They burst out laughing and continued talking amongst themselves.

  “Hey, Ben,” Dominick Marr said, “have you ever been laid? By a girl, not a guy. The baseball team has a betting pool going on with you.”

  Ben slammed his locker shut. “Actually, I got laid last night. While you guys were at practice, I was having fun with all of your girlfriends.”

  They burst out laughing again, except for Johnny. He actually looked worried.

  “You were probably playing dress up with them,” Kirk Cauley said.

  “No, I was dressing them down.”

  “Ohhh….” All the guys said mockingly.

  “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go to my next class. I don’t have time to screw around with jerks like you.”

  All the guys snickered. Ben heard the derogatory words being tossed about him. For the first time, he didn’t care.

  He met Charlene at the library just before lunch. She was sitting at a table way in back behind all the shelves. Ben had to look for a couple of minutes before he finally found her. It was hard to tell by her expression what she was going to say. Ben was worried because she didn’t look as happy as he thought she would be.

  He sat down next to her.

  “How are you doing?” he asked her.

  “Okay,” she replied.

  “You don’t look okay,” he said.

  “I’m fine, really,” she replied. “I’m just worried, you know…”

  “What are you worried about?”

  “Well, I told Johnny just before school started that I didn’t want to go out with him anymore. He didn’t take it very well.”

  “I’ll make sure he won’t hurt you or anything,” Ben said.

  “No Ben, it’s not about me. It’s about you. He asked me if my dumping him had anything to do with you. I said no, but he told me that if he ever saw me around with you that he’d kill you.”

  Ben scoffed at that. “He’s not going to do anything to me.”

  “I don’t want him to hurt you.”

  “I can take care of myself.” He wrapped his hand around hers. “Now, what was it that you wanted to tell me?”

  Charlene smiled. “You probably figured it out by now.”

  “Yeah, I probably have, but I want to hear it from you.”

  “I decided that…I want to be your girlfriend.”

  “That’s music to my ears,” Ben said. He gave her a long deep kiss on the lips.

  They had been locked in each other’s embrace for several minutes when Mrs. Rademacher, the librarian, approached them.

  “Can I help you?” she asked, looking down upon them with disapproval.

  Startled, they let go of each other quickly.

  “Uh, no,” Ben said. “We were just studying and we got a little carried away.”

  “Well, we don’t allow that kind of studying here,” the librarian said.

  “Oh, sorry about that,” Ben said.

  “It won’t happen again, Mrs. Rademacher,” Charlene replied.

  After the librarian walked away, Ben gave Charlene a quick kiss on the lips. “Let me take care of Johnny, okay?”

  “Okay,” she replied.

  Ben noticed from that point on, when he walked down the hall everybody would stare at him and whisper. He was sure the news had spread around the entire school by now. He just soaked it all in. Johnny and his friends had made themselves scarce and he was glad about that. He thought they had probably given up and wouldn’t bother him from now on.

  Just before his last class, he really had to go to the bathroom. He slipped into the nearest boys’ room and did his business at one of the urinals. He was about to leave when Johnny and the rest of the gang walked in. Before he could react, they grabbed him and threw him on the floor. Johnny kicked him while the other guys held him down. The blows took his breath away and raw pain coursed through his body.

  “Stand him up,” Johnny ordered and his friends did what they were told.

  Johnny cracked his knuckles and drew his hands into tight fists.

  “She’s not going to like you anymore after I get done with your face,” he hissed.

  “Well, what makes you think she’s going to like you?” Ben gasped.

  “You’re asking for it, aren’t you, you little prick?”

  “This isn’t going to help you get back Charlene. Actually, it’ll make you look more like a jerk.”

  “She’ll go back with me if she knows what’s good for her.”

  “Oh, really?”

  The boys holding his arms in a tight grip chuckled.

  Johnny tightened his fists again.

  “I could do a lot to you, you know,” Ben replied, trying to sound as threatening as he could. “If you punch me in the face right now, I’ll let the whole school know about your little problem.”

  “What problem?” Johnny said, though Ben could tell by his anxious expression that he knew exactly what Ben was talking about.

  “Want me to tell your friends about it right now?” Ben said.

  “I’ve got a switchblade in my back pocket,” Eric Pace said. “Want me to cut his throat?”

  Ben thought Johnny would say yes, but instead he shook his head.

  “I’m not going to jail because of a turd like him,” Johnny replied. “Just let him go.”

  Johnny’s friends stared at him in surprise, but they released their hold on him.

  There was an awkward moment when they were all just standing around wondering what they should say and do next. Ben smiled.

  “I’ll see you later, guys,” he said.

  “Go to hell,” Johnny spat out.

  “With pleasure,” Ben replied, and left the bathroom as quickly as he had entered it.

  Chapter 26