Despite the things that had happened earlier in the day, Benji used his powers frequently in his trip to Africa. He made it half way across the Atlantic Ocean when he realized he hadn't brought a single rand with him. So, he went back and flipped through his currency drawer again. To Benji's horror, he discovered he had already spent all his rand. However, he did have an abundance of rupees, so he gathered those and ran to a currency exchange center in Africa, where he exchanged his rupees for rand (the people at the front desk gave him plenty of weird stares). Finally, the rabbit was able to head to the restaurant and have his meal.
Only, the restaurant was closed. Benji banged his head against a wall. He really hated time zone differences.
With a heavy sigh, he turned and ran home. His stomach was rumbling and he needed some food to replace the energy he had just lost from his ocean-crossing run. As he reached Massachusetts, he felt as though a hole had opened in his abdomen, creating an empty feeling where his stomach resided. He couldn't continue running, so he hailed a cab to take him the rest of the way to Sunny Haven. Luckily, he had just enough U.S. dollars to pay the cab driver. He slapped the bills into the driver's hand and stepped out onto the sidewalk.
"Benji!"
Startled by the sudden sound of his name, he looked around wildly. Eventually, he noticed a figure waving at him from a little ways down the street. As the cab drove away, the figure neared.
"Oh, it's just you, Jenna," said Benji, chuckling in relief. He didn't know why he had been so scared from someone calling out his name. Maybe it was because of the shadow people from Eli's vision. He was quite paranoid from the thought of creepy shadows grabbing at him and sucking him into the darkness in their plight to take over the world.
Jenna glared at Benji. "Where have you been?" she asked, her tone accusatory. "I've been looking everywhere for you. I waited through your entire track practice but you weren't there."
Benji smiled nervously. Jenna was an old friend. He had met her in fourth grade. Back then, Jenna had been much more free with herself, often rivaling Benji in her crazy antics. The two of them had formed a close bond of friendship as eccentric buddies. But as the years passed, Jenna became more mature while Benji remained very much the same. They were still best friends, but of a different kind.
"What're you talking about? I've just been... around," Benji murmured. He shrugged with his hands stuffed deep into his pockets. "Why were you looking for me anyways?"
"We were supposed to meet in order to work on our biology project. Don't tell me you forgot."
Benji mentally cursed himself. He had been so eager for the South Africa trip that he had completely disregarded his other commitments. "Oh. Well, uh... I forgot. Sorry," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. He couldn't meet Jenna's eyes. Those hard, blue eyes were probably glaring bullets at the moment.
Jenna could only release her frustration in the form of a sigh. Benji figured she was used to putting up with him, considering they had known each other for close to ten years. In high school, she had suddenly become really strong in academics, and she was the only reason why he managed to graduate high school with over a 3.0. She was also responsible for keeping his current GPA above zero, but she was too busy with her part-time job to help Benji on a regular basis.
"Okay, we can work on it tomorrow," Jenna said. She had taken out her phone and was scrolling through her calendar.
Benji almost agreed, but then remembered about the festival. He bit his lip. "Oops. Sorry, I can't do tomorrow. It's the New Year," he replied. He had told Jenna long ago that the Chinese New Year was special to the Patersons, claiming it was a longtime tradition of the family (which was the truth).
Jenna lowered her phone. "You know what?" she asked, brushing her long, auburn hair out of her eyes. Benji knew it was a rhetorical question, so he didn't bother answering. Besides, he was afraid of angering her. But Jenna simply smiled tiredly. "Marley and I can finish the project by ourselves. You go ahead and just... do whatever you do all the time."
Benji almost gasped in shock. "Really?" He looked incredulously at Jenna. She was one of those 'everyone has to pull their end of the weight' people and this kind of benevolence was unheard of from her.
"Yes, really. You can't focus on work anyways, so it can't hurt."
The rabbit resisted the urge to hop up and down like an idiot. Instead, he hugged Jenna in an unrestricted embrace. "You're the best, Jenna! I owe you one!" he exclaimed.
"You owe me more than just one," Jenna muttered, struggling to breathe as Benji hugged the life out of her.
"Yeah, about that..." Benji pulled away from the hug and thought for a moment, placing a finger on his chin. His eyes lit up when he thought of something. "I know! I'll treat you to lunch sometime."
"It's going to take you a whole year of lunches."
"Then I'll treat you to breakfast, lunch and dinner!"
"You'll be broke."
Benji pouted. "Geez. You haven't done that much of my homework... have you?" He laughed as Jenna gave him the classic what do you think? look. He was truly grateful to her for being one of his few real friends. Most people he knew only remained friendly with him because of his status as Sunny University's track star. That, and his family was filthy rich. But Jenna didn't really care about those things, although sometimes she did take advantage of Benji's surplus of money to buy herself a drink of something.
"So I guess I'll see you in bio," said Benji, turning to leave with a wave of his hand. He hesitated, then turned back around. "Hey, Jenna?"
Jenna had also been about to leave. She had just dialed a number on her phone and had the device held to her ear, so she was distracted when she acknowledged his words. "Hmm?"
Benji took a deep breath. "Could eating insects make you sick? Like, if they have poison or if they're carrying a disease or something?" he asked.
Jenna frowned as she thought. "First of all, you shouldn't go around eating insects. I know in many cultures they eat bugs, but those people would know what to eat and what not to eat. Second, why do you need to know?"
"Oh, you see, I heard about this really great restaurant in South Africa--"
Jenna held up her hand and pointed to her phone, signifying the person on the other end had picked up. Benji nodded, understanding the message. He pointed down the street towards his house and began walking away. This time, Jenna nodded. The two of them waved good-bye as Benji headed home.
Benji was still pooped from the run, so it was over fifteen minutes before he made it back to the Paterson mansion. Of course, his first destination was the kitchen. Hopefully, someone had gotten some fresh food. If not, he could always eat those bagels. He rushed past Miles, Mia, and Char and burst into the kitchen, panting heavily and eager for food. The first and only thing he saw was Kenneth, his shirt and face covered in blood. Benji screamed.
"HOLY SHIT! KENNY MURDERED SOMEONE!"