The Quirky Tale of April Hale (Quirky Series #1)

5. Serendipity is Not The Word for Us

5. Serendipity is Not The Word for Us

“Here, April!”

There was a pang inside my stomach when I saw Andrew waiting for me at the parking lot after school. His grin was as big as his mouth could allow and his hand set awkwardly on the trailer of his faded blue truck.

Andrew was a tall, broad-shouledered guy with an extremely blonde buzz cut. Rumors said that he cut his hair so short to hide bleach work went awry, but then I saw that even his roots was super pale. That kind of coloring might look good if he was born female, but alas, he came out with a pair of balls and a dong. Unlike my brother, though, Andrew didn’t like dying his hair and opted for an easier way: be bald at the age of 17.

I immediately knew that I was stepping into a colossal amount of trouble when Andrew tried to reach for my shoulder. Remembering how Ryder warned me about his supposedly contagious skin-disease, I backed away fast.

“Hi,” I forced myself to grin, but really, I couldn’t really grin when I saw the place where I’d be spending the next half an hour or more. The truck looked like it belonged in a museum and looking at the tires, I was pretty sure that at least two of them needed replacing.

“Is that your car?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Andrew starched the back of his head shyly. “My mum wouldn’t let me drive the sedan and gave me this one instead. She said that I’d less likely die when I’m inside this. Dunno, my mum likes to crack jokes,” and then he proceeded to laugh.

I laughed, too, although it sounded more like a whimper of help. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that his mother wasn’t cracking jokes and was very probably protecting the son in the least pride-damaging way she could possibly find.

“So, yeah, I’ll drive you home? Q said that he’ll be home later.”

“Yeah,” I acquiesced.

Andrew opened the door on the passenger seat before then he slipped onto the driver’s seat. Immediately, Ryder’s words once again rang inside my head.

‘Don’t let him do anything for you, not even open the goddamn car door.’

Oh, darn. The subject of my fear wasn't there, but my psyche still caught fire whenever his face popped up inside my brain. The effect that Ryder Black had on me was huge. The effect that Ryder Black had on me, especially after he interacted with me, now became alarmingly gargantuan.

Because even though the car door was open, I found myself unable to get into the car.

I stared at the empty passenger seat silently, before then I slammed the car door shut, and then opened it again.

Andrew blinked several times at what seemed like a freak-show on my part, but he didn’t complain. That’s the thing that I actually liked from Andrew. He never complained if I was being too weird, or if I needed to eat certain food on certain days, or if I talked about fictional characters from various tv-show like they were my friends. He just nodded and laughed and pretended like I was actually a good conversationalist.

Not many people had the kindness to do that to me, mind you.

“How was school?” he asked me.

“It was good! I got an A for Maths and right before the last period, I finally remembered everything about Weiss and Curie’s theory and Marcy and Corinne let me join in their conversation. I actually contributed once.” I sighed. For me to be able to contribute in a scientific debate by two of our school’s most brilliant students was indeed a feat of its own.