I Don't Bite

Chapter 6: Come in

I walked out to the front and tried to find Ryan's familiar blue Honda or my mom's black Nissan, but neither of the cars I wanted to see was there. At least it wasn't raining.

Zack lingered beside me. "Would you like a ride?" he offered.

"I'm just gonna—"

A loud honk pierced through the babble of students and busses and cars.

"Violet!" Dwayne's voice boomed across the courtyard, and my skin heated all over again.

"My ride's here, but thank you." I hurried to the car and yanked on the handle. Locked. I tapped on the glass and tried to glare through his tinted windows at him. The door flung open, clipping my thigh. I gritted my teeth and stepped into the car, slamming the door behind me.

"Why can you not just pick me up without the fanfare?"

"Because that's not fun at all and since Ryan got his license, I haven't gotten to embarrass either of you so, I'm capitalizing on the opportunity." He followed the line of cars out.

"You said Ryan was coming later."

"He did not come later."

"I figured that much out on my own." I sighed, "is he sick or hurt or anything that was a valid reason for him to leave me alone on the second day of school?"

"He was... preoccupied."

I pushed my bag onto the ground and leaned back into the chair. "You have an amazing way of answering without giving any information, you know that?"

"It's one of my charms." He whipped around the next corner, now free from the line of moms and dads trying to move safely away from the school. "So how was school"

"Absolutely not. We're not doing that."

"Doing what?" he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye as we came to a red light.

"You don't care what happened at school. You just want to find something to tease me about since Ryan isn't here to rein you in."

"Violet, I'm hurt that you think I would do that to you—"

"I'm taking a nap." I closed my eyes.

"The day was that rough, huh?"

I squeezed my eyes shut and crossed my arms. After what he said this morning, there was no telling what would come out of his mouth next, and I didn't want to chance hearing it.

"That's cool. Take it easy. I'll get us home nice... and... safe..." the car jerked around the final turn to our neighborhood, banging my head against the window.

"Dwayne!" I snapped.

He shrugged. "Should have had your seat belt on."

He pulled into his driveway, and we climbed out. I stared at my house for a moment. My mom's car was still not in the driveway and the lights were off, of course they were off. It was the middle of the day. I glanced at Dwayne as he climbed his patio steps.

"Will Ryan come over today?"

Dwayne paused with his hand on the door. "uh... I don't think so, we're kind of—"

"It's fine. I just needed to know how much dinner to make."

Dwayne looked at my house, my drive, and then to me. "Sorry, Violet. He'll be back over before you know it." He offered an unconvincing smile before disappearing behind his door. I dragged my feet across the lawn and into the house. The door left unlocked. I shouldn't do that. If mom came home and someone got in because I forgot to lock the door—I shook the thought away, banishing it from my mind. Tomorrow I'd remember to lock it and besides, it was the middle of the day. Who broke into a house in broad daylight?