Chapter Three
Lauren knew it was wrong. But Lauren also found, like many other teenagers, namely, the ones in the car with her, that the knowledge that the act was wrong was not enough to deter her. She was just having a good time, after all. She didn't want to waste her summer away being a nobody. Besides, the chances that she could get hurt weren't THAT bad, right? Crashes only happened in movies.
Denial. That's all it was. Denial that anything bad could ever happen to her. She didn't know that, of course, but she was very much in denial. Sixteen, young and beautiful. She grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth. She was given everything she owned, from the clothes she wore down to her popularity. Lauren wasn't a bad person, not by any means. She was sweet and kind. But she was naive, and naivety could be deadly. She was about to find that out.
She was riding in the back seat, her two best friends in the front. Molly was driving, Mary sitting in the passenger seat, her feet propped up on the dashboard. It was a cool, peaceful summer night. The country roads were practically deserted, which gave them more confidence. They weren't going anywhere in particular, just joy riding. And they were all very, very drunk.
“Where the hell did you get your license?” Mary snapped as Molly jerked to the right to stay on the lane, pushing her into the door. “My grandmother could drive better than you, and she's dead.”
“I'm trying,” she said apologetically. “Sorry.”
Lauren couldn't really hear them too well, the bass was turned up too loud. She thought about asking them to turn it down because she was starting to get a headache, but she didn't want to spoil their fun. Besides, she knew from past experience that they would probably just turn it up louder to spite her. Part of being best friends was tactfully pissing each other off on the occasionally in good fun.
The first few times they had done this, Lauren felt guilty and uneasy. What if they had gotten in a crash? They could hurt somebody, or worse, themselves. It was highly illegal, too. Not to mention the fact that her collegiate parents, with their overly-pompous I'm better than everyone attitude would simply die of embarrassment if their daughter was caught in a car with drunk teens. Maybe her parents would actually pay more attention to her then, rather than going off to their stupid parties all the time. Maybe they'd actually remember they HAD a daughter.
Now Lauren had been lulled into a sense of security. They must have done this dozens of times, and nothing bad ever happened in the slightest. Besides, Molly was a great driver when she was sober. She trusted her. But that was part of naivety-- misplaced trust.
Molly reached a hand forward, and much to Lauren's relief, turned the music off. She turned to Mary and said, “Soo Mary, I heard you got a new boyfriend!”
Mary flushed her head and hid her face. “Let's NOT talk about that...”
“Let's so totally DO!” Lauren said, leaning forward, grinning eagerly. “When did THIS happen?”
“It... um...”
Something was up. Mary was a little shyer than most girls Lauren knew, but never to this extent. “Well, who is it?”
She made a face and said, “Sam Tanner.”
Lauren and Molly exchanged glances. Sam Tanner had been chasing after her for God knows how long, and she never bit down once. Mack wasn't a bad kid by any means, he just seemed a bit... too nice. Religious goody-two shoes nice. Like Mary's 72 year old grandma nice. Bottom line, he was too nice.
