"Are you feeling okay?
No. Of course not. "Yeah, I'm fine." I shot my mom a forced smile as I sat down at the kitchen table for dinner that night. I was sure she was referring to my swollen, bloodshot eyes; I had been crying in my room ever since I had gotten home. It seemed like I was crying a lot, lately, but you couldn't blame me considering everything that had happened.
"Well, good, because we have some very exciting news for you!" My mother beamed at me from across the table..
"Okay, what is it?" I asked as I speared some penne pasta onto my fork.
Both of my parents exchanged a look of elation before turning back to me. "We got you a car!" my mother exclaimed.
"You what?!" I dropped my fork on my plate. They had to be joking.
"Just signed the paperwork this afternoon," my dad said as he slid over a packet of papers. "It's the same one as your old Civic, just a year older and in black, but we figured you wouldn't mind."
"No, no, of course I don't. I can't believe this!" My eyes scanned over the description of the car to see that they were right - it was the same four-door Civic as my old one. Even though it was a year older, it still had the same features as the newer model, making the differences between them seem nonexistent.
Flipping to the next page, the price up in the right-hand corner immediately caught my eye. The car was less than ten-thousand dollars, but I was still worried about how my parents were able to purchase it. "How long will it take for me to pay you guys back?" I looked up at them to see their faces soften a bit.
"Don't worry about it," my dad started. "We got a really good finance deal and took out some loans so you don't have to worry about it."
"But I need to at least pay for something - "
"Kelsey, it's fine, really," my dad assured me as he drizzled balsamic vinaigrette dressing over his salad. "You already paid for your first car and paid off your ticket. We can take it from here."
"Wow," I breathed, continuing to analyze the rest of the documents as a genuine smile crossed my lips for the first time in ages.
"We're picking it up on Thursday afternoon." Which meant only three more days of restricted mobility outside the house.
---
And thank God those three days went by as quickly as they did.
Pulling into Michael's driveway across the street on the frigid gray morning, I beeped the horn on my new Civic, excited to finally be able to rely on myself to go places again.
I had told Michael about my car the day after my parents told me I would be getting a new one, so he wasn't at all surprised when he strolled outside of his house to see me there. I hadn't exactly told him that I would drive him to school that morning; I had just assumed he would want to come with me again since that's how it worked before my accident.
But my thought process proved to be wrong when I noticed Michael's car keys dangling from his fingertips.
I rolled down my window and peaked my head out into the wintry air. "Hey!" He turned to me. "Aren't you coming with me?"
He shook his head. "Nope."
"Why not?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows together. "There's barely any parking on the streets, especially with the snow - "
"I'm not going to school," he interrupted as he yanked open the door on the driver's side to his car.
"What?"
