The Way We Are (#ClichéCrunch, Short Story)

The Way We Are

Chapter 1

The motorcycle roared to life causing me to jump half out of my skin. I kept heading to my car thankful school was done for the week. I couldn't resist a glance toward the obnoxious air polluting noise just a few parking spots ahead of me. Seriously! What is the purpose of such a noisy machine? My glance met dark hair fringed bangs being brushed out of bright blue eyes. The strong jaw set as stubborn as always. His expression dark and unreadable. Trouble. He was trouble. Stay away. Not that he would ever be interested in me anyway. Sigh.

Aaron Lancaster, classic loner and all around 'bad boy' of our class. Thankfully my high school was large enough that we didn't cross paths, ever! Still, I couldn't resist another look and found him turning up the collar of that black leather jacket. Why must they all wear leather? Hot and uncomfortable, thinking it helped their image. Ha! Just seemed to be a barrier to keep others out. I wondered who he was, really.

"Lisa, wait up!"

I turned to find Rachel, my best friend. The motorcycle roared out of the small back parking lot reserved only for seniors as she caught up to me.

"Can you give me a ride home? Tom has a student government meeting."

"Sure," I smiled, forgetting all about jacket dude. "Hop in."

We rolled the windows down even though the weather was cool. Rachael cranked up the heat and we laughed. It was one of our favorite things to do. Our winters in central Kentucky weren't overly harsh, but as Christmas approached the air was definitely cold. We whisked out of the city and past the horse farms on this delightful Friday talking about the weekend ahead.

"Um, you know...Tom invited me to this party tomorrow night," Rachel said tentatively. "You should come with me."

"What? Really? What has gotten into you with this guy? You would never go to one of those parties before. The church lock-in is tomorrow, remember?"

"Oh yeah, the talent show. You would so rock that with the way you can sing...." She trailed off.

I glanced over to see her eyes sparkling with mischief. "But...haven't you ever wanted to do something you know you're not supposed to do?" She grabbed my arm. "Come on Lis, your parents will think we are at church, we'll cancel with Pastor Ron at the last minute and then crash at my place after the party since my parents are out of town. Freedom for one night. Imagine..."

I couldn't help the smile from forming on my face. Freedom! What an interesting concept. I rarely disobeyed, never lied to my parents, and was frequently fed up with being called a goody goody. The idea was tempting. After all, it was just a party. We didn't have to drink. What was the worst that could happen?

Chapter 2

We spent the next afternoon at the mall and then got ready together donning tight skirts and using way too much hairspray. My heart beat like a drum as we walked up the path to the large house in a new neighborhood surrounded by construction sites. The music was loud and classmates from our high school and others around town were scattered around the yard. Yelling and laughing, obviously drunk, I wondered why people thought this was fun. What a pointless way to spend a night when you wouldn't remember what had happened in the morning.

"Tom!" Rachel shouted and waved.

Her preppy boyfriend sauntered over to us with a couple of his friends. As president of the student council, he was popular in all circles. One of those decently good guys that everyone loved. I wished for just a ounce of his charisma. Rachel immediately melted and started flirting. I also wished for her ability to communicate with boys. She was so friendly. I smiled, but that was it. I was just too shy to put myself out there. I wondered how to be more like her, to fit in better, to be more popular.