doppelgänger

bex

After the little altercation Dennis had with Jack right outside school grounds, he was in a rush to get home. Bex had a hard time even keeping up with him.

"Slow down, Dennis! Jeez, do you have somewhere to be?" Bex complained, jogging beside him. His fast-paced walking was almost like running to her, and it didn't help that his legs were so long.

"Yes," he answered, "I actually do. Am I walking too fast?" he asked, truthfully unaware of how quickly he was walking.

"Um, yeah, you are," Bex admitted right away. "How could you not notice? I have to practically jog beside you!"

"I'm sorry," he said, slowing down the slightest bit. "It's just that I really do have somewhere to be. If that idiot hadn't threatened to fight me back there we wouldn't be walking as fast as we are now."

They walked the next couple of minutes in the quiet, all that could be heard being the tweeting of the birds in the trees.

"Tomorrow's the last day of school," Bex reminded. Dennis nodded, as if not caring one way or the other. "No more waking up early, no routine...."

Silence. Nothing else came from his lips.

She sighed, giving up. "Okay, Dennis. I may as well just ask you now since you're not telling me anything or taking any hints. What's wrong?"

He exhaled, his shoulders relaxing a little as they approached his house and walked up to the porch. "Remember how I took my driver's test yesterday to get my license?"

Oh, right. That.

Bex sighed again. "No, Dennis. I completely forgot."

"Yeah. Well, I didn't pass it."

"Aw, Dennis --"

"And I have to take it again today, in probably like a half an hour or so. That's why I had to rush walking home."

"Again, I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Yeah, thanks." He looked around him, tapping his foot and shaking his hands a little, hanging down by his sides. He must've not taken his medication. "I feel like my parents are hiding something from me. You know what I mean? Like, not anything bad, but something big."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Just something."

She placed a hand on his shaking arm, looking up at him. "I wouldn't worry about it. Your parents wouldn't keep anything bad from you that you would need to know." She kissed the side of his face, giving him a small smile. "Relax. Don't worry about anything. Everything's going to be just fine. It'll all turn out, you'll see."

He nodded. "You're right."

"Good luck on your driver's test. I love you, Dennis."

"I love you too, Bex." He smiled a little. "I'll see you tomorrow. You never know, maybe I'll pick you up in my nice car as a celebration for the last day of school."

She laughed. "Okay. If you don't text me about it, I'll look for it." She turned away, stepping down off the porch. "I'm sure you'll do great," she added with a confident smile.