Drifting

Chapter 3

When Taylor went to school the next day she was once again relieved to see that Michael wasn't at school, he had stayed home again. Michael and Nick were both at Michael's home in fact, but they wouldn't be for long.

"Hurry your lazy a** up!" Nick yelled to Michael as he shoved his way out of the house and jumped into the passenger side of Michael's black 2015 Ford Mustang.

"Yeah, yeah." Michael said, following Nick into his car and starting the engine.

"You brought your fake ID, right?" Nick asked.

"I'm not dumb enough to forget that yet." Michael asked as he began to drive towards the nearest liquor store.

"If you keep skipping school you might get that dumb sooner than you'd think."

"Oh shut up, a**hole." Michael said, but he and Nick both ended up laughing.

They pulled up to the rundown shop and walked inside, confident as ever. The clerk stared them down as they walked to one of the refrigerators and pulled out two cases of beer. They set the cases down next to the register.

"Do either of you have an ID?" The clerk asked, obviously doubtful.

"Oh yeah, here." Michael pulled out his fake ID and showed it to the man as casually as he could. The man scanned it, trying to find something wrong, but it was to no avail.

"Alright, that'll be $12.99." Michael pulled the money out of his wallet and handed it to the man who then gave them a receipt, and they walked out of the store and got back into their car.

"Dude, that was awesome. That guy was trying so hard to find something wrong with your ID, but he couldn't. Where did you even get that?" Nick asked in amazement. He was smiling like an idiot and Michael didn't want to ruin the fun for him by just saying 'I got it from some guy at school'. He would keep it a mystery.

"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." Michael said while trying to keep a straight face.

"Fine, don't tell me, but in return I won't tell you where all the coolest parties will be this weekend." Nick retorted as they pulled up in front of the house. When the car was stopped Michael pulled out his phone and pulled up messages and showed it to Nick. It said:

' From: Amber "Heyyy, I really hope you can make it to the party at my place on Saturday!

From: Sam "dude. i hear theres gonna be a killer party at ambers on saturday. you going?"

From: Jake " I'm throwing a party at mine Friday. You in?"

From: Macy " You should like, totally come to Amber's party on Saturday. It's going to be like, so totally cool. Plus, I'll be there. ;)"

From: Charlie "Hey, you going to Jake's on Friday?" '

It went on like that for a while, but Nick had already read enough to get the point.

"Fair enough, I guess you don't need me to get invited to parties. A perk of being the most popular guy in school." Nick said as he hopped out of the car and headed into Michael's house, Michael following closely behind him.

"What can I say, everyone loves me." Michael said in a boasting manner, but on the inside he couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling he was lying. No one at school cared about him, they only wanted him around to make themselves seem cooler. Even his parents didn't care, as long as he didn't get arrested they were fine with him doing whatever he wanted. They only even cared about being arrested because that meant they'd have to waste their time bailing him out. The only people who really cared about Michael in his mind were Nick and himself.

"Yeah right, you d**k." Nick teased, breaking Michael out of his thoughts.

"Whatever." Michael said back, not having the energy to come up with a proper comeback anymore. Nick noticed and shot Michael a concerned look.

"Hey man, I was just joking." Nick said, thinking that his earlier comment was what was upsetting Michael.

"I know man." Michael said.

"What's wrong Michael?" Nick said and it kind of surprised Michael, Nick only called him by his name when he was being really serious. The rest of the time Michael was called a**hole, d**k, man, dude, or something else like that.

"It's nothing Nick, I was just thinking about something." Michael said, but Nick didn't look convinced.

"You know you can talk to me, right? I may not be super touchy-feely, but I can listen at least." That was what made Nick such a great friend in Michael's mind. He was fun to hang around, and he knew how to party, but when you really needed someone to talk to he would always be there.

"Thanks, but I'm good for now." Michael said, and half smile towards Nick.

"Okay." Nick said, smiling back.

"Anyways, enough with the chick-flick s**t, let's make your only ditch day this week worth it." Michael threw Nick a beer from one of the cases while he spoke.

After that they spent the rest of the day playing video-games, drinking beer, and talking about stupid things. Eventually, Nick had to go, and Michael was left alone in his big house, but it didn't feel as lonely as usual. The atmosphere that usually made him cringe felt irregularly cozy with the mood from hanging out with Nick lingering in the empty air. That night, while he was falling asleep, he decided he was ready to go to school tomorrow. He knew he would have to face her eventually, and why not sooner rather than later? He set an alarm and drifted off to sleep with a small smile plastered on his face.