Lucas And The Time-Traveling Fog A Field Trip To Remember
Chapter 5 Surprise Guests

Just as I thought I had things in control and were going well, there is always one person who comes along to ruin it. That person just happened to be Ben’s older sister Megan who just had to say,

“Mom, it’s nothing to worry about. Benji is still upset that I tricked him about us not having Sloppy Joes for dinner. Ain’t that right, Benji?”

“It still stings… a little, you know.”

I replied, looking down at my plate and proceeded to stuff my face with some mashed potatoes. Trying to hide what really was bothering me, “my” mother frowned at the sight and tried to cheer me up by saying,

“Awhh, don’t worry, Benji, I’ll make it up to you somehow.” She then gasped as she got a bright idea and asked,

“How’s about Monday night before you leave for DC we’ll have Sloppy Joes? How does that sound?”

I peeked my head up and said,

“Really? That would be great. Thanks, mom.”

“No problem, baby and by the way, how was Josh’s?”

About time she asked. Was starting to get worried. I thought.

I then suddenly blurted out,

“Oh, it went great, Josh finally got a hold of Goldeneye 007 and we played in his room where I somehow won a best of five.”

Before Ben’s mom could say anything, she paused and said something I never thought I’d hear:

“Speaking of Josh, you never did finish telling me about what happened between you two and Ally today?”

Wait, what? I never told her that. Or maybe... I did? I thought, looking at Ben’s reflection in the glass plate.

This was a first. I liked where this was going.

Megan couldn’t help but interrupt her mom again. “Wait, what’s going on between Ally and Josh, Mom?”

“Ben didn’t tell you?”

“No, he didn’t. If he did, I wouldn’t be asking you.”

“Benjamin,” his mom said in disappointment.

I just looked away from his mom and nervously rubbed the back of my head.

His mom continued, “Well, for the past two weeks or so, Ally and Josh have been butting heads.”

Before she could finish, Megan interrupted again. “That’s a surprise.” Her mom gave her a stern look that put her in her place and continued.

“Anyway, from what Ben told me before he biked to Josh’s, one of Ally’s new friends - Brittney Finch I think - kindly told Ben and Josh to give up being Ally’s friend as she is “theirs now”.”

Oooohh that Bi-I mean girl is something else. Who in their right mind does that? Is she really trying to be that one blondie from Mean Girls? But yeah, I see why I am here because clearly Benjamin didn’t do a good job keeping these two friends together the first time around.

Regardless, I wanted to hear the rest of the story, but Megan didn’t allow that. By interrupting the story again for the second time to say,

“I bet Josh was pissed.”

“You’re right, he was. Ben was going to tell me what happened today, since he and Josh were supposed to confront Ally about it. But he said he’d talk about it when he got back from Josh’s place.”

The two women turned to me and asked in unison, “So, what happened?”Like mother, like daughter, I thought. But that seemed to be about everything that transpired before I came along. Now that I had that settled, I could confidently say, “From what Josh had told me, things didn’t go exactly as planned.”

“What do you mean by ‘had’? You mean you didn’t go with him?” Megan asked curiously.Their mom then asked, “Why didn’t you talk to her about it, sweetheart? Got cold feet?”

“Well, um, you see, um…” I nervously laughed. “The gut is a funny thing.”

“Oh… my. Bennnnn,” His sister said, her voice filled with disappointment.“Hey, it’s not my fault I—”

“Benjamin.” His mother interrupted me with a hint of anger all the while Megan at the opposite end of this wooden table struggled to keep a straight face. Facing a losing battle here I said,

“Okay okay, sorry. So I couldn’t hold it, I had no idea Josh made his move by then. And if you know Josh once he’s mad he–.”

“Runs his mouth like a bull in a china shop…. oh no.” Megan interrupted me, heavily sighed and smacked herself in the head, shaking it in disappointment. That’s not what I was going to say at all about Josh but sure let’s go with that.

“Yeah and you can imagine what things were said between those two… not good.” I grumbled that last part to myself quietly as I too am disappointed in Ben’s actions as they are.

“Seems like you got yourself in quite the messy situation just like the mess on your plate.” His mom joked before biting a spoonful of the mashed potatoes.

“Yeah, tell me about it.” I grumbled. “What do I do?” I asked, looking at the both of them at the table.

Megan and her mom didn’t give me any helpful answers. Megan said we’d talk about it more tomorrow, and her mom said the same thing. I found that surprising, because Gary’s family usually talked things out at dinner or after. But this isn’t Gary’s family, it’s a different family that’s in the 21st century. I gotta remember that.

Anyway, Megan’s mom asked me how school was and how I thought I did on my test. I didn’t know there was a test! I should’ve known this adventure wasn’t going to be this easy. Megan clarified that she meant the Social Studies test that Al and I had studied for the past week.

“Oh, that test, yeah... I think I... did... good... on that... test that I... uh took,” I stuttered, silently cursing myself for how bad I sounded. Megan wasn’t going to let me off the hook that easily. She raised her eyebrows and asked with a fake shocked expression,

“Are you sure you did good? Because that didn’t sound confident at all. Did you even study with her? Or did you get bored?”

“Yeah, I studied,” I said to Megan, rolling my eyes. “And I know I did well on the test. It was basically like the study guide we went over.”

“Are you sure? Or are you just saying that so we’ll get off your back?”

“Megan, stop it,” our mom said, her voice sharp. “You know better than to pester your little brother.”

“But I was just curious!”

Mom said, “We’ll see.” Then she turned to me with a serious look. “And Benjamin, if you come home on Monday with anything below a B on that test, you’re grounded for two weeks. No TV, no video games, nothing.”

“What?!” I exclaimed. “You can’t do that!”

“Oh, yes I can,” she said. “And I will.”

I rolled my eyes and mumbled, “Whatever.”

“And watch it with that attitude, mister, before I make it three weeks. Do you want that?”

I gulped. “No.”

“Then stop talking or else you’re not going anywhere tomorrow.”

Megan took advantage of my silence to start talking about her day, but I couldn’t help but overhear her mention that she couldn’t wait for her friends to come over soon.

Oh no, this can’t be happening. From one thing to another, I thought.

I then asked with a slight panic in my voice, “What time are they coming over?”

“Sometime between now and 8:15,” she said.

I looked at the clock in the living room and it was already around 7:40. Megan must’ve seen me looking at the clock and said, “Relax, Short Round. We won’t bother you as much as last time. So you can go enjoy that precious hockey game of yours in the living room. Now you better hurry up with finishing dinner as I think it’s starting soon.”

She then got up, put her dish with whatever was left and dumped her scraps in the trash then put the dish in the sink. I was about to do the same, but their mom gave me an annoying cough. You know, the one that comes with a mean look and a finger point. That was right to my plate that still had a few greens left.

Almost forgot about this part of being a little kid, especially when it comes to eating your greens because I am technically “Still a growing boy” as Ben’s mother nicely put it.

The worst part about that was that she didn’t even have to convince me. I just groaned in pain and sat down in my seat in defeat, eating.

Once my plate was scraped clean and Mom gave me the go-ahead, I was outta there. Thank goodness I only have to deal with these people for a few more days, because I don’t want to be a kid for one second longer than I have to. But at the same time, I gotta admit it’s nice to have no plans, no people to see, and no homework to do right this minute. So I did what Megan suggested and headed for the living room with the gray shag carpet. I jumped on the purple sofa, turned on the TV, and was starstruck by the dozen or so channels. Let me tell you, this is a luxury. It’s so much better than only having three channels back in 1959/1960.

Megan said Ben was watching a hockey game today, but she didn’t say which one. According to this TV guide, there are a few teams playing tonight, but the only two playing at this time are the Buffalo Sabres vs. the Oilers and the Carolina Hurricanes vs. Montreal. So there’s a 50/50 chance I’m right. But you know what? I don’t care if I’m right this time. If anyone asks why I’m not watching that particular game, I can just say it was boring. Besides, I deserve this, so I’m going to watch the Hurricanes vs. Montreal.

I was so glad I decided to watch this game! There was a fight in the first minute or two, and I was originally rooting for Montreal, but when I saw that Hurricanes player land a sick uppercut, I changed my mind. I was so into the game that I made myself comfortable for the first time since Covid started, ran to the kitchen to make some popcorn, and then settled in on the couch with my bowl of popcorn on the glass table next to me. Just as there was a commercial break with 10 minutes left in the first period, the doorbell rang. Megan yelled from upstairs, “Can you get that, Ben? I’m busy.”

Busy with what? I thought. It’s just friends, not the police. Fine, I’ll play the “good little brother” role for now and get the door for her. With groaning, of course, since I really didn’t want to get up from this couch. But I ended up getting up anyway and slowly darted to the door.

Opening the front door, I saw two teenage girls. One had black curly hair, mom jeans, a puffy jacket, and a blue shirt. The other was a dirty blonde like Megan, but with wavy hair and a similar outfit with a logo I didn’t recognize.

“Hey, Ben!” they said in unison, engulfing me in a bear hug. Why do they always do that? They finally let go, and one of them commented on how big I’ve gotten. Another girl sweetly asked, “How are you doing?” I casually responded, “I’m doing well, thanks for asking. I’m just watching hockey in the living room as usual.”

They understood that part and then asked the question I was dying to know so I could go back to watching TV:

“Where’s Megan?”

“Right here, Becky… beat it, twerp.” Megan said as she pushed my forehead, causing me to tremble backwards and luckily land on my feet.

“Go back to watching your precious hockey game, Benji. I’ll take it from here.”

“Thanks.”

I immediately darted back to the living room, only to replace that I had missed the Hurricanes scoring. I wondered what else I would miss with her around.

I thought for sure Megan would keep her word and not bother me the entire night. For the most part, she did. The doorbell only rang two more times, and I was only bothered every now and then when Megan would holler for me to come to her room for a “second opinion” on what a boy would think or something stupid.

It felt like I was a girl all over again being swarmed with these kinds of questions. I thought that’s what it was going to be the entire night until the middle of the third period of the hockey game, when the score was still 1-1. Nobody had scored in the second period, and I was in the zone. So in the zone that my eyes were glued to the TV screen while my hand subconsciously went for the purple plastic bowl of yellow buttery popcorn that I had in my lap.

So I was just chillin’, eating popcorn, when suddenly I heard the most bloodcurdling scream. I totally freaked out and dropped my popcorn all over myself, the floor, the couch, under the couch, and even under the coffee table. As I was trying to clean up the mess, I heard some muffled arguing coming from upstairs. I knew right away it was Megan, so I stopped what I was doing and headed up to her room. I burst through the door and asked what was going on. As soon as I saw the red nail polish all over her carpet, I knew exactly what had happened. Megan was so busted! A devilish smile began to creep on my face as I straight up told her,

“Oh, just you wait till mom replaces out... you’re so dead.” Meg with an evil smirk on her face said,

“She’s not gonna replace out… because… you’re gonna help.”

Say what?! What do I look like… a Butler? She’s old enough to clean up her own mess or so I thought. I scoffed at her little remark and replied,

“Uhh. This to me sounds like a you problem. I’ll show myself out.” pointing to the door “I gotta finish watching the game. Have fun cleaning up though.”

Megan snapped her fingers and that’s when one of Megan’s girlfriends in an oversize gray shirt with red plaid pajama pants shut the door right as I was heading for it and stood in front with arms crossed with a serious look on her face blocking my path. I turned around in shock where Megan announced, “You’re not getting out of this one, kid. Don’t forget that you live here too, so this is just as much of your problem as mine. Mom will have our heads if we don’t clean this up. So go to the kitchen and grab the nail polish remover that’s under the sink. While I’ll go to the bathroom and get some cotton balls.”

“What should I say if Mom sees me with the nail polish remover?”

“Just improvise, Ben. That’s what you’re good at.”