Playing With Fate

3. High School Shenanigans

Although I loved my car more than anything, I always carpooled with RJ to school, and he was nice enough to let me drive his car, so I had absolutely nothing to object to. Actually, I liked driving his car to school a lot more for some absurd reason, and he has a BMW, so I mean there was pretty much nothing to dislike about it. 

RJ only lived a few blocks away from my house, so I walked to his house, following my everyday routine. Upon reaching his house, I saw him sitting on his porch, playing with his keys with the miniature pizza keychain attached to them. He threw them up in the air, and they fell back into his hands a few seconds after.

"Hey, you planning on skipping the first day or what? Where's your car?" I asked, walking up to him. 

He smiled big at me. "Good morning to you as well and we're not taking my car to school today," he said, smirking at me.

"Because?" 

"Because we've got another ride," he completed.

And before I could go ahead and ask him who that was, Phoenix and Fanny pulled up in an Audi A5, and I felt stupid for not realizing this soon enough. Phoenix was in the driver seat, and Fanny was next to him. Even though I was dead impressed by their choice of the vehicle, I and RJ were definitely somewhat shocked to see that they have an Audi. Last time I talked to Fanny, he told me economy wasn't being uncharacteristically generous at all, but it looked like things had definitely changed for the better since then.

"Come on, you didn't really think I wouldn't pick y'all up for school," Fanny told us, his eyebrows raised. 

"But we always pick up Beth too," I told him, seeing as there was no place for more than four people. Zoya told me that her dad was gonna drop her to school today since it was her first day and everything.

It was Phoenix who answered this time. "Actually Dex is picking up Beth and Nick today."

"You know who they are too?" RJ asked and shook his head at me lightly as I offered him a light smile.

"Yeah, why wouldn't we? They were very close to us," Fanny responded indifferently. "Come on, get in, we're getting late," he ushered us in. 

RJ and I shared a look amongst us, one that said, 'Of course, how could you not know them.'

The closer you got to the Audi, the more you realized how beautiful it was. While getting into the car, the most stupid question popped up in my head. Obviously, I welcomed the opportunity to embarrass myself with open arms and asked the question without thinking twice. "Can I drive?" 

"No," Fanny shut me down real quick. "No one gets to drive my baby."

"If that were the case, your baby wouldn't have gotten out of the garage," I said, retorting to his dumb refusal. I heard a chuckle arise from RJ as Fanny rolled his eyes at me. "Come on, you're letting him drive it," I pointed at Phoenix. 

"That's because he's my brother and also because he's part of the reason why I have this car in the first place. And I made it clear as day that this is the first and the last time he's getting to drive it," he replied, and I got in, not happy about the whole situation. Phoenix just shrugged his shoulders lightly and smirked at me. 

I sat behind Phoenix, and RJ sat behind Fanny. And it pained me to the highest degree to admit something like this, but Phoenix was an excellent driver. Just as I confessed to this in my mind, he adjusted his rearview mirror in a way that my face was evidently visible to him. His blue eyes were concealed with the help of the shades he had put on, but he removed them and kept them aside. A few strands of his hair were playing 'Gone with the wind' and even though I knew I should've broken away the eye contact, for some ridiculous reason, I couldn't.