Riley's Box

Part 3

At not quite long last, Whit spoke again. 

"You wouldn't," he said. 

Jason shrugged. 

"Oh, but I would," he replied. 

I had a feeling it was about time for me to cut in to lighten the mood. 

"Uh...what he means to say is that it would be awesome to work on the student council with you, truly! We can't help but stand back in admiration of you and Eric's glory and just think wow, you guys sure do a lot for the school! I mean, really, you two are fantastic and we can only live in the hopes of reaching the stars, metaphorically, of course, in a way that you have," I knew that I was rambling far too much now, and Whit's expression was enough to tell me that, too. "Anyway, that'll be it for now! Bye, see you later!" I told him and then grabbed a hold of Jason's sleeve, this time around, so I could tug him to move in my direction. 

The two of us made our way down the school hall and towards our first class. 

"I can't believe that you said all of that to him. I don't care what he thinks. I'm going for head boy," Jason said, removing his face from his hands. 

"Just make sure you don't go for the actual current head boy," I whispered back to him. 

The two of us promptly sat down in our seats, when we noticed that our homeroom teacher was staring at us with narrow slits for eyes, evidently annoyed by our apparent lack of timekeeping. 

I looked up to meet her with a friendly smile, but she had already turned her attention back towards the whiteboard, as she started to collect answers for a literature question she had asked. 

It wasn't too long after that the bell rang again, signalling that it was time for History class. I could get through it without falling asleep on my desk, surely. That being said, I had spent an inordinate amount of time, the previous evening, reading when I definitely should have been sleeping. Regardless, I tried to pay attention to every word that Mr. Castle said, until it was time for the bell to ring again. Lunch time. Thank God.  

~*~**~*~

By the end of what felt like the longest school day known to humankind, I wandered out through the main exit doors to find that my grandmother, Rachel, was waiting for me. 

I walked over to her with a smile, but I knew that I couldn't completely disguise the surprise in my gaze. 

"Uh, grandma, what are you doing here?" I asked her, looking around a little self-consciously at the other students walking to their cars or buses around us.

Honestly, I couldn't wait to be sixteen and have my own car. 

"Well, I had some free time. I'd just gone to get my nails done and bought some groceries. You know, as I usually do on my Monday afternoon before bingo," she was rambling now and I think she realised it, too. 

"Grandma," I said. 

"Right, right, of course! Anyway, I have some free time, so I thought I would give you a lift back home," she said. 

Oh no, I thought to myself, because if my grandmother's previous driving outings were anything to go by, I was surely going to end up in one of three situations. 

Number one: The car would get a dent in it. 

Number two: I would get a dent in me. 

Number three: Certain death. 

My grandmother's eyes widened then, as though she could read my mind, and she took my forearm in both hands- she needed the strength, so she could begin to walk the two of us towards her car. 

"Grandma..." my voice faded out. 

"My, my. Don't be silly, dear. I can drive. It's not as though it's hard! And don't worry...I haven't driven into a lamppost for two months, now! They said if I keep this up, they most definitely will not revoke my license," she said. 

Well, that was certainly comforting and I was sure that my grandmother was probably doing better with her driving, but still- I couldn't simply set my worries aside based on her word. 

There was only one thing for it- I was going to have to get into the car. 

 My grandmother's car was a little blue Mini and she hadn't changed it for the past ten years- once again, a worrying prospect. I wasn't even sure that it had passed its last exam. 

Either way, I needed to get home. I had important shows to watch and really needed to catch up on some sleep- and History homework- before I made myself sick, or got sent into a month long detention, whichever came first. 

Once she was sat down in the driver's seat, my grandmother put the key in the ignition and began to set off back home. 

After what was mostly a successful drive (she had narrowly avoided flattening two bicyclists like pancakes), we arrived on the driveway, and I released a deep exhale. 

"There!" my grandmother said and her pink-lipstick lips formed a happy smile.

I supposed there were some things to be thankful for. 

After all, I had returned home. I was still alive. 

"Thanks grandma," I said and quickly grabbed her into a hug, before I got out of the car. 

"See you soon dearie!" she said to me, before she swiftly reversed out of the driveway, only just narrowly avoiding running over my feet. 

Thankfully, with all of my toes still intact, I still had a few hours before the early onset of evening would plunge me into chaos. 

So, I decided to take a walk around the neighbourhood. 

The walk was a fairly calming one, until I felt someone's- or something's eyes on me. Now was not the time for this crap. Halloween was over ten months away, now. 

I peered around. 

Looking left, there was nothing. 

Looking right...Well, there was something- a dark, shadowy sort of figure, but it disappeared before I could get a good look at it.