Winchester High| 16+

Chapter 8: Questions

Carlos agreed to take me to the place I love the most.

We went over to his car which was parked in the nearby parking lot on east side of the school. I couldn't say much as a car-less teenager, but he had this cute, Fisher Price 'My First Four-Door' tan Toyota Corolla. It was washed in a way that matched Carlos' polished demeanor. 

We got in, and I just sat at first, looking at the trinkets he had hanging from his mirror. I tried to breathe while he put an arm behind me and squeezed the nape of neck. It wasn't painful, just a muscle-tension-releasing sort of pressure

I felt foolish getting nursed back to life by someone the same age as me. He opened the door for me and everything. I wished I didn't need saving. One of these days I'm going to have the strength to save myself. I gathered enough humility to sniffle myself back to my senses. I felt more okay, just enough to function as my own person.

I watched him shift gears as his limbs cascaded throughout the car. He was a giant in comparison to this shoe box his parents got him, but I couldn't talk. The top of his hair smushed against the roof of the car.

"I guess, you can direct me on the way." He said still carrying an unsure energy. I looked at him as affirmation. 

I took longer inhalations in car that smelled stronger than Carlos' natural musk. The surfaces of the car smelled just like lumber.

I only wanted to sit and stare through the window, in peace, and did just that, while simultaneously directing Carlos where I wanted us to go every now and then. It wasn't completely silent though, we spoke.

"I could kidnap you, you know?" He started. It sort of shocked me when he said that. I guess I was still jumpy.

He looked at my reaction, then smiled, "I'm just kidding... But we're basically strangers."

"What teenager would kidnap another... And forget it, everybody's a stranger to me." A felt stupid when I'd said that. But it was true. And besides that it's enough considering Carlos has shown me great support in the past hour, including Val.

"I doubt that." He said, finishing off the conversation. It was silent for a bit, then I realized what he said was partly true. Not the stranger bit, the not knowing him bit.

"Well it wouldn't hurt to know a couple things. I guess the only question on my mind is, why?"

"Why would I be apathetic and support someone?" He answered quickly, but not impolitely.

"Yeah, but someone you barely knew?"

"It's just the way of a kind, well-rounded person." I felt like he was taking shots at me, although I knew he wasn't.

"If you really want to know I like your attitude. You're jokes. Good humor is rare." I sat with what he said.

"You think I'm funny?" I said, I wasn't trying to make fun, it sort of came out that way.

"You're pretty, yeah. I like you." He said, he put an arm around me while simultaneously watching the road. I couldn't break eye contact. Then sadly, he let go and kept driving. He was a safety-freak, but he was so endearing. It was silent again, something I couldn't stand, now that we've already spoke.

"You think Nico and I did it?" I said finally.

"Did what, the graffiti? No."

"You seem so sure." I responded.

"Well, did you?" He jested.

"No."