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He gave everyone and heartfelt goodbye she thought Literally everyone, every single one of our kids, god even Principal Gutierrez and he despises the man. Except me.
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Benjamin was leaving for the ever sunny California in two days and of course, the theater kids had decided to throw him a big going away party. Jennifer had loved the idea. Despite the rocky start, he had become an important part of their little family.
So they all had got together and decorated the bunker and Jennifer herself had held him by hand and brought him to the party.
Turns out that for a man that claimed to hate emotion, Mr. Mazzara had a lot to show this day because he ended up pulling each of the kids aside to talk to them, say goodbye. Most of them, especially the ones closest to him, that he had seen growing up, ended up in tears, hugging him against his will.
One by one each of them came back to the party and another left, but Jennifer stayed in place, her smile getting faker as time passed.
“Ok, here we go…” Jennifer had whispered to herself, getting ready for the river of emotion that was about to wash over her, when all the kids were done and she was the only one left.
Benjamin joined the group slowly, while everyone put themselves in a circle, ending up between her and E.J, his hand coming to rest softly at the end of her back.
“Well…” he trailed off a bit and she thought this is it, it’s my turn . And then he kept talking “ I think I’m gonna take off.” And walked away.
Mouths flew open everywhere. Ashlyn shared a silent question with her cousin, who simply answered with a confused shake of head, Carlos gave him a pointed look and even Ricky, who normally couldn’t care less about all of this, gave him a look of confusion.
“Hum…” Jennifer took a step in his direction, her legs less stable than she wished they were.
“It’s just that, I have such a big day tomorrow so…”
“Mr. Mazzara, aren’t you forgetting something?” Nini was the one to speak up, carefully, trying not to stir things up too much.
Benjamin thinks for a few long seconds before talking again “Oh right. Jennifer…” the woman smiled at him with a sigh of relief “I forgot to sign those papers for the school board, could you please do that for me?”
“S…sure.” she didn’t try to hide when her heart sunk and her voice did too.
“Well, this was a very great time. Once again thank you so much.” And Benjamin Mazzara was out the door.
“What!?” Jennifer exclaimed in a shrill tone, louder and more high-pitched than she expected “I don't get a goodbye! It’s unbelievable, he says goodbye to everyone but me.”
“Maybe he thought that with your history it could be implicit.” Seb, dear kid, always trying to see the bright side and make everyone feel better.
“Well, it needs to be plicit.” Jennifer’s voice kept getting higher and no one had the nerve to tell her that wasn’t even a word.
“Maybe he was just spent from our talks, it was really intense you know” EJ entered the conversation while sitting in the nearest chair. Ashlyn and Big Red quickly agreed with him, telling how intense it was.
"Let's think about this, there's got to be an explanation." Gina, rational as ever, intervened "Did you do something that could have made him mad?"
“No I don’t think so.” Jennifer sat down too, replaying all their last conversations in her head “Don’t I deserve anything.” she stumbled over her words “A few tears, a cortesy hug.” Carlos was quickly next to her, placing his arms around her shoulders and his head next to her neck “Not from you, darling, but thank you.” She rubbed her hand up and down in his arm, letting him hug her for a few moments more.
“Miss Jenn if you are this upset you should go and talk to him.” Nini states simply like she usually follows her own advice.
Kourtney turned to her best friend “And say what ‘You owe me a goodbye’ she’s got more pride than that.”
“The hell I do!” And with this Jennifer was up and out the door, leaving the Wildcats to their fate.
She walked down the hallway at a quick pace, finding him still a few steps from his office.
“I don’t get a goodbye!” her voice made Benjamin turn around, eyebrows pushed together in confusion.
“What…” his voice was trailed and soft, the complete contrary of what it usually is.
“Everyone gets a goodbye but me. What do I got to do to get a goodbye hum? Work with you, forgive you everything, be best friends with you. Oh, wait a minute, I did all those things!” Jennifer’s voice was getting strident and sour at every word coming out of her mouth.
“Jennifer…”
“Or, or maybe I’m just not giving you enough credit, I mean it is difficult saying goodbye to ten people. Yeah, that must be physically impossible.”
Benjamin didn’t even say a word, his mouth opening and closing and his eyes searching her face for something she couldn’t understand.
“You know what, after everything we have been through, I can’t believe this is how you want to leave things between us. Have a good time in California.” giving him no time to explain himself, Jennifer turned away from him, making sure he saw her walk with assurance down the opposite hall where her office was located, tears burning her eyes and eventually her cheeks as they fell down.
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And that’s how Jennifer found herself sitting at her desk signing his stupid papers for the stupid school board and thinking about his stupid self.
She was in the middle of signing the third paper when Benjamin walked in, slamming the door against the wall with no care, making her jump off her seat.
“You really think I didn’t say goodbye to you because I don’t care?” he was pointing an accusatory finger in her direction, his voice breaking ever so slightly at each word.
“That’s what it seemed like.”
“I cannot believe that after all this time you do not know one thing about me”
“Fine then why didn’t you say something?” it came out sounding more exasperated than it maybe should.
“Because it is too damn hard, Jennifer. I can’t even begin to explain to you how much I am gonna miss you. When I think about not seeing you every day it makes me not want to go. Ok, so, if you think that I didn’t say goodbye to you because you don’t mean as much to me as everybody else you are wrong, it’s because you mean more to me. So there, alright, there is your goodbye.” Benjamin turned around, the exact same way she had done in the hallway. They did that a lot, mirroring each other.
“Benjamin!”
“What !?” he looked annoyed at her in a way that she hadn’t seen before the fire.
“You keep…You can’t…” Jennifer’s cheeks were burning red, same color as her eyes from once gin holding tears and her throat was in a knot. He had really said all that, he was about to leave and he had said everything she had wanted to hear even before the job offer had come.
“What, Jennifer, what can’t I…” his sentence and his thought got cut short with her hand on his shirt, pulling him in as she had once done, but this time, to kiss him sharply.
She let him go after a second, and took a few steps back, they looked at one another with wild eyes, before he grabbed her by the hips and pulled her in again, this time for a softer but in no way less intense kiss that she melted into immediately.
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“Well, it was about time. That man has been head over heels for her for a while now.” EJ was the first to comment, everyone else kept simply smiling as they walked down the wall, giving their teachers privacy (and deciding that there were things they very much preferred now to see).
“I’m happy for Miss Jenn of course, but if he even dares to think about breaking her heart, I swear to everything he is a dead man walking.” Carlos swung his and Seb’s hold hands a bit quicker at the thought.
Ashlyn kept her dreamy smile while saying “They do make a great love story.”
“Not to break the bubble or anything, I also think they are perfect for each other, but don’t you feel like you have seen this before somewhere?” The group slowed down, looking at Gina and giving her understanding looks before shrugging and keep going away. There are just things that don’t need to be thought over too much.