Succession at Seventeen

Chapter 2

Walking out after their last class was over Ashley and Diana were back in good spirits. Try as she might Diana couldn't spot Jeremy or Chris throughout the rest of the day. Even checking the library after lunch had yielded no results. She would have loved to stick around and look but she had work and she couldn't ruin a perfect attendance record.

“I can't believe how hard that stupid test was!” Ashley growled. “I'm a fucking highschooler. What do I care about the battle of Thermoply?”

“That's Thermopylae.” Diana corrected with a laugh as she pulled out her keys and opened her door. As it turned out she had parked only two cars down from Ash so she was still within shouting range. “And it was like an Alamo for the Greeks.” She turned her key in the ignition. The engine never turned over. “What?”

“I don't care if it was Paris for the jerks! That has nothing to do with me or my future!”Ashley yelled over the sound of her car starting with a roar. A sound that, to be honest, made Diana just the least bit jealous.

She turned the key again, to no avail. Ashley pulled out and to the left bringing her right behind Diana's failure of a car. “See ya later Di! Call me if-”

“HEY!” Diana yelled as she jumped out of her car and waved her arms. “Wait!”

“What?” Ashley sighed, setting the car to park. “What is it now?”

“My car won't start and I neeeeeeed to get to work. Could you...” She moaned.

“OH NO I'm not going to be your patsy! All my favorite shows start just after four and I'll never make it back in time if I drive your butt to work!” She said shifting back into drive.

Diana ran up and grabbed Ashley's window frame. “PLEASE! I'd do it for you! And I don't expect you to do this for me free. I'll pay you back I swear!” The last thing Diana needed was to be late for work. She was going for that open assistant manager position and this could ruin any small chance she had.

Rolling her eyes Ashley nodded her head toward the passenger seat. “Fine, hop in.”

Diana grinned and ran back to her car. “Just a sec!” she called, grabbing her messenger bag and work clothes. She probably wasn't getting a ride home outta Ash, hell it was amazing that she could get the ride there, regardless of the fact that the Burger King she worked at was right down Alameda from Ashley's, so she'd need something to carry the clothes home in for the lengthy walk. Not to mention having the self defense spray that she always kept hidden in the corner of the center pocket would be nice to have being a teenaged girl walking through the city alone at night.

Di jumped into Ashley's hot little navy blue sports car knock-off. With a devilish grin that had always made Di cringe, Ashley had gotten her car first and loved driving her friends around to show it off for the first few months, Ashley sped off.

As Ashley whipped around the corner onto Kipling Diana suddenly began to question her atheistic view on the world. If nothing else it would have been comforting to have someone to pray to for protection right about then.

Shaking out her red uniform shirt as much as she could Diana snarled. Just before she'd closed up the store some kid had come running around the corner and tossed a full medium cup of sprite in her direction with a yelled 'catch!' unfortunately for her she hadn't. She looked up at the sky as she stuffed the over-damp thing into her bag. “It's beat up on Diana day isn't it?” She asked the sky.

As if in response a star fell from the sky.

“Is that supposed to be a sign or an apology?” She asked as she shook her head and set her sights on the sidewalk ahead of her.