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BETHANY WAS LEAVING HER HOUSE, YELLING AT HER STEP-DAD, SID WHO WAS YELLING BACK JUST AS MUCH AT HER AS SHE LEFT THE HOUSE. She only slammed the house door roughly behind her as she stepped outside, adjusting her bag on her shoulder with a huff.
Johnny who was on his bike glanced back at her as she walked down the porch steps. He got up early and was ready so he wouldn't have to see Sid. "You good, sis?" Johnny asked her.
"Fine," she mumbled, running a hand through her hair.
"What was it about this time?"
"How I don't spend enough time with mom and him. There's a reason, I don't want to. I'm taking the window next time I leave," she mumbled, plopping on the porch steps.
"Anyone picking you up?"
"Susan," she mumbled, looking at her watch. It was only twenty minutes until school started and Susan was running late.
Johnny sighed. "All right, come on. Let's go."
"Go where?" she asked, looking up.
"Disneyland," he sassed. "School, genius."
"It's too early for the sass," she mumbled, getting on his bike as well.
"This is coming from someone who does it 24/7," he said, starting up his bike.
"I was born into this family. I put up with Sid, mom and you, I have every right," she said, holding onto Johnny as he sped off towards school.
***
Once they were done with school, she immediately found Ali and Susan, nudging Susan. "Dude."
"Dude yourself," she replied.
"You were supposed to pick me up this morning. What happened?"
"I called your house to tell you had tutoring this morning, your dad said he'd give you the message."
Bethany sighed. "And of course he didn't..."
"Who gave you a ride?" Ali asked as they passed by the study hall classroom Daniel was in.
"Your ex."
"That was nice of him, what did he want in return?"
"Shockingly nothing. Just gave me a ride, wish he was like that all the time," she mumbled.
"Was he ever like that?"
"When we were little," she answered with a sigh. "It's whatever. I got you girls, closest things I'm gonna have to sisters."
"Aw," Ali said with a small laugh.
Someone tapped on Bethany's shoulder. "Hey."
A genuine smile grew on her face as she saw Daniel. "Hi."
"How you doin'?"
"Even better now," she said before completely looking back at him, noticing the deep cut on his forehead. "Oh, jeez, what happened to...?"
His hand automatically reached up to his injury. "Oh, it was terrible. It was this gigantic, runaway zit."
Bethany and Ali let out a laugh while Susan mumbled, 'gross'.
"Funny," Bethany hummed with a smile.
"Why thank you, I do stand up every Saturday night," Daniel replied jokingly.
"You should invite me out to it then," she giggled.
Ali nodded to Susan who rolled her eyes. "Daniel, this is Susan."
"Hi," Daniel greeted.
"Charmed," Susan mumbled.
"No, but seriously. What happened?" Bethany asked him.
"I got in a bike accident but I'm okay," he replied with a shrug.
"Good," she said with a nod. "Wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you."
He smiled. "You do care?"
"Maybe a little," she teased slightly with a smile.
"What kind of bike do you have, Daniel? Honda? Suzuki? What?" Susan asked.
"Uh, no, it's uh, like, a Miyaji turbo, actually," he answered.
"Oh, really?" Bethany asked. "Maybe I could go for a ride with you one day."
"Definitely one day."
"Yay, so we're going to the arcade. You want to come?"
"Yeah, sure, sounds great to me," he answered.
"Cool, I've really been wanting to hang out with you."
"Well, you finally have me."
"Today must be my lucky day," she replied with a smile.
As Daniel looked ahead, he saw Johnny and his group of friends causing him to suddenly say, "I just remembered I got to- I got to... I-I forgot something so I'll catch up with you guys in a minute."
Bethany sighed, following him. "Daniel, its okay. You don't need to run away."
"I'm not running away from anything."
"Well, then, we gotta deal with this."
"You deal with things your way, I'll deal with them mine, okay? I'll see you, I gotta go."
She sighed as he walked away. "Daniel-"
"Hey, get off my case!" he called back to her, continuing to move further away from her.
She pouted slightly, her face falling. She was really looking forward to hanging out with him, whether as friends or maybe as a possible date, either way, she really liked him and her big brother was messing that all up.
Ali wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Come on, you can catch up to him later."
Bethany only nodded, leaning more into her arms, walking with her and Susan. "Anyway, you guys signed up to go help set up for the Halloween dance?"
"I did," Ali answered.
"Me and Barb did too," Susan added.
"Good to know, we all going together?" Bethany asked, trying to distract herself which was mostly working.
