Group Therapy

Thirty One

Marissa

I've skipped school more than I can count. So why do I feel so badass this time? Why is my heart beating faster than usual? Maybe because this time, I'm with Mikey.

"Okay, what do you want to do?" Mikey asks me as we get into his car.

"I don't know. We could go to Ivanna's, but I'm kind of sick of that place."

Mikey gasps. "How could you ever be sick of Ivanna's?"

"I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not."

"I'm not. Ivanna's is the best place ever."

"Yeah it's great. But I did not skip school to go to Ivanna's. I can go any other time," I say.

After what happened last week at homecoming, things just keep getting better between me and Mikey. We've been hanging out more and he completely stopped talking to Autumn.

The one problem is that at our school, our lockers are put in alphabetical order by last name. If you're new, you just get a random empty locker. But sadly, my last name is Mint and that is very close to Morsatti. Luckily, Foster's locker is in between mine and Autumn's, but that doesn't stop her from giving me death glares.

"We barely skipped anything. We skipped the last hour. Some rebel you are," Mikey says sarcastically.

"I know."

"But you're right. We didn't skip just to go to Ivanna's. We're going to do something fun."

"Oh yeah, like what?"

"Have you ever been down to the city, Marissa?"

"Yeah, sure. I work at the mall, remember?" Where we live is super weird. We live in a town, Allenville. But the city next to us has a mall, in which I work at. But the mall is right at the edge of the city, so we basically never leave Allenville anyway.

"No, not that city. Like to Huntington."

I shake my head. "I just got my car and I'm way too scared to drive it yet." Barbara and Harold bought me a car for my birthday. It's a black Range Rover and I'm obsessed with it. I finally got my license but I haven't driven it yet because I'm scared I'll crash or something.

"Huntington is a magical place Marissa, I'll take you."

Huntington is, from what I've heard of, the best. It's the closest big city, not the little one that we live near. It's where all the sport centers are and all the big city lights.

"You'll take me to Huntington?"

"Yeah, sure. Why not?"

"Yeah let's go."

"I can't believe you've never been."

"Barbara never lets me go anywhere. She's so watchful of me. I run away one time and this is what I get, Lock down."

"Why'd you run away?"

"It was just some stupid fight I had with Barbara. I spent the night at Arden's without telling anyone but they obviously figured it out because I wouldn't go anywhere else. So technically, I didn't even run away."

"I've never run away before. I don't really know where I would go," Mikey responds.

"Yeah, well my runaway was a bust."

"You have to try more than once to succeed. But anyway, where do you want to go in Huntington?"

"Hardee's."

"Hardee's?"

"Yeah, you know that restaurant with the big happy star," I tell him.

"Yeah, I know Hardee's. But why there?"