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Her hand was cool, since ere outside, and I noticed then that she still didn&039;t have a jacket and she was shaking lightly As we stared at each other for ait around her shoulders She started to protest and shrug it back off, although her face seemed reluctant to do so, but I immediately broke off her objections

"I don&039;t want it," was all I said And I didn&039;t want it I didn&039;t want that reuy I used to be I wasn&039;t him anymore and I didn&039;t want to pretend that I was I never wanted to wear that daain

She only nodded as she took in the expression on my face and the dead evenness of ed the fabric to her chest, like she hadn&039;t worn a coat in so long she&039;d alotten how nice it could feel to be warm and cocooned

I shivered a bit in the chill now, but I welcos indulged in the crisp, da even breaths She studied , "Do you want ht about that Did I want to go hoine walking back into that building, walking past scores of people I&039;d once been friendly ho noould barely look atpast multiple re ones and the dead ones

My eyes swelled withback up at her I could only say, "Yes"

She nodded as her brow scrunched further and her eyes flicked between ht ofoing to take all I could fro to take her hand again, but not wanting to disrupt her war infrom where it had slipped offit over me and shoved my hands intowards the student parking lot Everyone was inside, filling their heads with vital pieces of information that they would surely need to make it out there in the "real" world, so we didn&039;t run into anyone Saas quiet on the way there, which I appreciated She seemed to have taken my earlier request for silence quite literally

We approached an older looking Ca it from across her chest, underneath ed around inside the bag for the keys The car was black hite racing stripes and had definitely seen better days, but it was still pretty cool Darren loved Ca his Geo out with a flale on the front and a t-top in the roof I closed h ht hand on my shoulder woke me and I looked over to see Sawyer, keys in hand, silently co? I tried to shtly shaking my head She must think I&039;ot in while I waited This old car not having electric locks, she reached over the seat and unlocked ot in and stretched outrundown looking on the outside, it ell kept on the inside, clean and shiny and lightly s frorowl froine the unmistakable purr of a muscle car

She pulled out of the lot silently and I directed her to the general vicinity of ht to the school All she had to do was keep going straight and right as town started to fall away, she&039;d hit our house, the last house before the small trace of city civilization stopped Quite literally "where the sidewalk ends"

On the drive over, she bit her lip and looked to be barely containing her curiosity She didn&039;t see in her seat and I&039;d iine that if I were her, I&039;d have a bazillion questions for this odd boy beside her

"Go ahead," I said quietly, finally breaking our silence

Her words spilled out in a rush, like she&039;d barely been restraining theiven permission, she couldn&039;t hold the, you were involved in that?" She looked over at ray eyes suddenly looked very sorry that she couldn&039;t contain her questions

Keeping as calm a face as I could, I simply said, "Yes" In my head I prepared my answer for the question everyone asks

"OhI&039;m so sorry I heard that people died" Her eyes went back to the road while I tensed, both at her words and where I knew the conversation was heading Do I remember? Was I drunk?

She looked over atShe bit her lip and I opened ive the answer "Do youare you okay with this?" Her hand flashed out to indicate her driving

Not expecting her to ask that, ht she&039;d ask spilled from my lips before I could stop it "No"

She fully looked atunsure what to do The car slowed and she started to turn the wheel like she was going to pull over I shookon my words "No, no, that&039;s not I&039;m fine God, I&039;m sorry" I looked over at her, her face looked hopelessly confused It was sort of an adorable look "I&039;m an idiotthis is fine I&039;m fine"

She narrowed her eyes "Why did you say no?" Turning back to the road, her speed increased to normal

I exhaled heavily - because I&039; you to ask that People always askso else"

"Oh," she said quietly "What did you think I was going to ask?"

I sighed and looked out the , the houses were getting farther apart; ere reaching the end of town and the end of this weird car ride "If I relass of thebeside me

"Oh," was her quiet response After a few moments of silence she said, "I wouldn&039;t ask that" I looked back at her, surprised;to knohat I knew Since I never talked about it, there was only speculation about the wreck, and ed her shoulders as she looked at my face and then back out the"You either don&039;twhich is fine, or you dowhich ain "Either wayould I want you to think about that awful ry "I&039;ht it up" Her eyes turned back to the road "Sorry"

I nearly laughed She was sorryfor askingabout today? I was the town gossip I was so used to everyone trying to pry their nose intoto me that one person on this earth, not only didn&039;t want to know, but felt guilty for even bringing the topic up I could have kissed her I senuinely and relaxed back into my seat

"Don&039;t worry about it I did say you could ask" A tiny laugh did escape me then and she looked over at me oddly I really must seem a mental case to her We drove the rest of the way in a comfortable silence and I pointed atspectacular, a basic one-story, three bedroo blue paint and a mailbox that wouldn&039;t ever stay completely closed

She pulled into the empty driveway and stopped the car, but didn&039;t turn it off I looked over at her as I putto ht nohile better than being at school, wasn&039;t exactly going to be an easy thing - I had too ain to the house, indicating the white door with three tiny s inlaid at the top of it "Do you want to come in?"

She lookedoff the steering wheel She seeht for sure she&039;d say yes and move to shut the car off, but instead her near shtly, her pig tails swishing adorably "No, I can&039;t"

I frowned then too and noticing , I wish I could, but hed, "they&039;re sort of on the rae and they&039;d have ave me a wry look "I&039;m sort of on probation"

"Oh," I said quietly I was curious why, but one thing that I&039;d learned over the past few months was not to pry If she wanted to say more, she would I didn&039;t need to force her to She bit her lip as she watchedworried that I would ask She visibly relaxed when I shrugged and said, "Well, thank you for the ride" I looked down and shookout"

I looked back up at her when I felt her hand on my shoulder It was shquite a " Her hand drifted downit "People don&039;t seem to like you too much" She was quiet when she said that and it seeht question She&039;d been so nice to h

"They don&039;tthey blahtened on the door handle "They think I got behind the wheel with my friends while I was out ofthem all They think I forced them into the car, forced them to ride with me They practically think I&039;h in er No one understood what happened None of them at that school believed asped beside me in a way that almost sounded pained I turned to look at her and clearly saw the pain in her features I was confused for a rip I had on the hand that had been resting on mine earlier I flinched and retracted it Somewhere in my heated speech, I must have clenched her handhard I&039;d hurt her

"Sorry," I hed a little and rubbed out her paler and I added, "That&039;s not what happened I did lose controlbut that&039;s not what happened" This was the closest I&039;d co to anyone that I reme at the party, but the actual wreck? I glossed over that with feigned a and cocked her head while she regarded me The silence in the car seemed to thicken and swirl around us, but it wasn&039;t oppressive or clingy Like her hand, it arh I could see the debate in her eyes; she was judging my character based on all she&039;d seen and heard, and was deciding in this uilty of the crime the others had already convicted me of

Finally she opened her mouth to speak, and my body tensed in preparation for her condemnation It had been so nice to have someone who looked at me differently I dropped my head as her speech finally made it passed her lips "I believe you," was all she said

I sluistered, then my head shot up and my surprised face looked over her serene one "You believe mewhy?" No one else did, people who had known er believe ain "I&039;ve gotten to be a pretty good judge of character and" she shrugged, "I think you&039;ve got a pretty good one If you say it didn&039;t happen the way people gossip about, then I believe you I believe it was just an accident"

I stared back at her, speechless I feltback the stubborn tears Just an accident It sounded so simple that way Yes, I suppose in the very simplest of terms, it was just an accident, an accident that could have happened to anyone that night Accidents do happendid happen But it happened to s It had happened to me and my friends were dead because of it That was all that mattered While it would be nice if the town believed me and while it was exceptionally nice that Sawyer did believe metruly it was irrelevant Drunk or not, sober or not, none of that really matteredthey were still dead That was h, I only nodded and finally opened the door She leaned over the seat and called out after me as I stepped out of the vehicle "Lucas?" I bent down and poppedwith the putrid sle out of my jacket "Hereyou can take this back"

I shook my head "No I don&039;t want it" I repeated le to look at me "Keep it," I said quietly

She looked confused by that, and a tad relieved, like she hadn&039;t really wanted to give up her warmth I nodded at her and quickly shut the door before she could protest further

I walked up to , and , when I heard her car start to pull away I turned at the door and watched her wave from theas she backed into the street and then drove away, towards school

See you around bathrooreat, but I suppose it could have been worse I could have thrown up on Sawyer There&039;s that