One Way Bridge

Chapter 19

My alarm went off Friday morning. I sighed and rolled out of bed, literally. My hands caught me before I smashed my face into the carpet. I scratched the back of my head before heading next door to the bathroom.

When I came back, I sat on my bed staring aimlessly into my closet. Only when my grandma yelled, "Emma, Justin's here," did I finally get dressed. I hurried, barely noticing what I was wearing before walking out to the kitchen.

Justin was sitting at the table eating some eggs that Grandma had made him. "Morning, Sweet Pea!" Grandma kissed the top of my head before setting a plate full of food on the table for me.

"Morning," I said in return taking a seat across from Justin.

"Hey Emma, ready for your first day of school?" Justin asked.

"Not unless I have a class called naptime." It was a bad joke, but I stifled a yawn quickly after so I couldn't be bothered that no one laughed.

"I have yet to find that elective," he smiled back at me. A smile spread over my face as I dug into my scrambled eggs. "Thanks Nana," Justin handed his empty plate to my grandma. I had to hold back a snicker at the nickname. They had a short conversation while I finished my own plate.

"Thanks Grandma," I stood up setting my plate in the sink. "We've got to go, I'll see you after school?"

"Sure thing, Sweet Pea. Have a great day." She kissed the top of my head and I blushed red when I saw Justin watching us.

Justin and I murmured goodbyes as we walked out the door and down to my car in the driveway.

"Thanks for driving me, Sweet Pea," Justin said once we were both seated in my car.

"Oh shut up!" I groaned. Justin laughed at my reaction, so I reached over to hit him. He went to hit me back, but I quickly stopped him. "No hitting the driver if you want to make it to school in one piece!" I gave him a warning look.

He gave it a moment's thought before stating, "I don't really want to go to school," and hitting me on the arm.

It didn't hurt, but I still decided to pout and not talk for the rest of the ride, that is until I got lost. "Where do I turn?" I asked in a rather harsh voice.

"Oh, so now you're talking?" I wasn't really mad at him, I was just mad that I had to lose this battle, and what made it worse was that he knew. I rolled my eyes and pulled over. I stared at him with my arms crossed waiting for an answer to my question. "Fine, you turn onto Barrick Road." Justin had an annoying smirk on his face. I didn't move from my position. "You're still mad?" I didn't respond. "Alright alright, Emma is the prettiest, smartest, funniest girl that lives in the blue house on the corner except for Nana Loraine of course." I couldn't help but laugh at the huge grin that spread across Justin's face.

"I guess I can't compete with grandma," I said before putting the car in drive. "Barrick Road? It would be a lot quicker if the bridge was still up by our houses."

"That was a walking bridge! If you lived here at the time you probably would have been the idiot that drove over it!" He exclaimed making me laugh.

"Yeah," I don't deny it. There was a park on the other side of the river and when my cousins and I were at my grandma's house we always wished we could just walk to the park and play. "How many times did that bridge collapse until they gave up?"

"I think twice. I remember the pickup truck, but not the first one."

"I remember the truck! It sat in that river for a couple years before they pulled it out."

"Yeah, our town needs a new bridge."

I laughed. "You can say that again! Only one car at a time can drive on the green one!"

"Hey, that one has lasted for..."

"Exactly, I don't think anyone knows how old that bridge is!"

"You're a city girl, you can't understand the beauty of simplicity." I rolled my eyes. I lived in the suburbs in South Dakota. Plus it's South Dakota, we were surrounded by the flattest farmland in the world.

"And you're a country kid? You live next to a city! There's an university ten minutes away!"

"Fair enough," Justin climbed out of the car and I joined him in the parking lot to my new school. It was smaller than my last one, but my old one was a kindergarten through twelfth grade school. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and joined Justin as he walked towards the front door. "Nervous?" he asked as he opened the door.

"I guess," I shrugged as I walked through the door he held for me.

"I would be, you're going to get a lot of stares. We haven't had a new kid since third grade." He smiled at me, but I could tell he wasn't joking.

I groaned, "people don't move here, because they're afraid that they'll fall into the river while driving over the bridge."

"Ha ha, come on, what's your locker number?" Justin asked while pulling me towards a row of lockers.

Full copyright 2013

Updated 6/29/2018