The drive to Zaydon's house was long and quiet. Dannie turned on the radio for part of the time, but after flipping through the stations and finding nothing that interested either of us, she turned it off.
"How far out does he live?" I asked.
"Not too far, we're almost there. His house is like a block away from mine." Dannie replied and I nodded.
Dannie was right. About five minutes later she was pulling up into Zaydon's driveway. Hale was outside with Zaydon and another girl I'd never seen while being here. She had red hair, not like natural red, but red like cherry juice. She had on a dark blue spaghetti strap dress that went a few inches above her knees and held a black sweater in her arms.
"Who's she?" I asked, noticing the cold expression on Dannie's face.
"Zaydon's sister, Jaelie. She lives with someone else." Dannie said, then muttered something I couldn't hear. I decided not to ask what it was, mainly because Hale, Zaydon and Jaelie were already at the back car door, getting in. Jaelie was first, then Hale - who seemed pretty close with Jaelie. And Zaydon was last, smiling the heartwarming smile I missed seeing. Wow, how's the for gushing?
"Hey." I said with a smile.
"Hey." He responded. I couldn't help but smile bigger because his smile wasn't fading. I loved it.
"So.. Hiking?" Dannie asked, sounding irritated.
"Um, yeah." Hale replied, glancing at Jaelie.
During the ride, Dannie was quiet. The only chatter was between the three in the back. Zaydon didn't say much, but he didn't seem upset - just more interested in looking outside. It was still sprinkling, but the sun was shining more than usual today.
It wasn't too long until Dannie pulled into a practically vacant parking lot next to a park surrounded by trees.
As we began our walk through the trail, Zaydon quickened his pace and began walking next to me.
"Sorry for being so quiet and kind of rude to you." He said.
"Oh that's okay." I said.
"No it wasn't. It was really stupid." Zaydon said.
"Don't worry about it." I said with a reassuring smile. Just then we heard a shreik. We looked over to see Jaelie in a muddy puddle, and Dannie out of sight.
I followed Zaydon to the puddle where he helped his sister up.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Um, I'm so uncoordinated." She said quickly. "There's a little store down the road from here. I'm just gonna go get a change of clothes."
"Okay." Zaydon and Hale said in unison.
"Is it okay if I come with?" I asked and she nodded with a smile.
As the two of us walked to the store, I kept an eye out for Dannie, but couldn't seem to find her anywhere. Jaelie got another dress, like the one she was wearing before, only it was cherry red like her hair.
I waited outside the bathroom as she changed into the dress. When she came out she was folding her wet dress up and stuffing it into her shopping bag.
"Dannie pushed you into the puddle, didn't she?" I asked, but it didn't really sound like a question.
".. Yeah..." She said with hesitation.
"I think she's jealous of you and Hale." I told her.
"Me and Hale? What about us?" She asked, completely dumbfounded.
"Aren't you two.. dating?" I asked and she laughed.
"No. We're like best friends and he knows that. He's crazy about her, not me." Jaelie replied.
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(Jaelie is pronounced Jay-Lee - Just so you know :D)
