Broken

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

There was no reason for Britney's actions to come as any kind of surprise, it was exactly in keeping with her character. Even if she didn't believe a word of what she'd just told me, I really was on my way to becoming a social pariah, and her whole existence centered around becoming more popular.

Even so, knowing I was officially stranded at school with no way home, felt very much like the end of the world. We still didn't have a phone, and probably won't for weeks still, even assuming we somehow managed to keep our home through the end of the week. Calling mom and asking her to come and get me was out.

Presumably if I waited long enough Mom would decide something was wrong and come looking for me. Unless she was out hiking somewhere, in which case it might be a day or two before she realized I was missing.

There was nothing to do, but walk. I waited a few minutes to give Britney time to get out of the lab, and then walked in and grabbed my things. The other kids were already clearing out. Nobody even looked up as I left.

Luckily I'd worn sneakers rather than the exotic footwear most girls gravitated towards. If I'd been wearing anything else, I'd have been nursing blisters before I made it out of the parking lot. As it was, I quickly realized my little walk home was going to be twice as unpleasant as I'd expected.

The school most definitely wasn't in the pretty, green part of the region. Every step seemed to kick up a miniature cloud of fine, red dust that drifted into my lungs and slowly coated my clothes. The dust would've been plenty bad all by itself, but the heat made things even worse.

It was only an hour or two removed from the hottest part of the day, and the air was so dry it seemed to be sucking moisture out of me with each breath. I knew it was stupid to walk home. My one little bottle of water wasn't going to last me five miles in this oven, but I was tired of always having to be sensible about everything. I was going to walk, and that was it. Maybe if I passed out on the side of the road and end up in the hospital Britney would finally realize what a wench she was.

I was barely out of sight of the school, still vividly imagining Alec and Britney's faces when they found out that they'd put me in the hospital, when I heard a car approaching from behind me. Only it wasn't zipping by, it was slowing down.

Every scary story I'd ever heard about rapists, kidnappers and murderers suddenly flowed through my mind like a frayed rope catching at my insides as they went, pulling out all of the other thoughts and feelings until there was nothing left but a hollow, fear-filled shell.

I found myself praying for the first time since the accident, pleading with whatever might be out there listening to protect me and get me safely home. My heart was pounding so hard it almost drowned out the crunch of gravel as the car pulled even with me.

I didn't recognize the vehicle, which was a bad sign. It was a light-eating black, and emitted the throaty roar of a sports car. The windows were tinted; I could see that much out of the corner of my eye without acknowledging that it was there. That really seemed like the best course. Maybe if I pretended he wasn't there, the driver would just go away.

A hint of motion told me that wasn't going to be the case, the passenger side window was sliding down with the smooth, even motion of power windows.

"I've heard that some of you easterners have some really funny ideas. I guess seeing as how we don't have any mass transit out here you must've decided you needed to walk home. Don't you think it's a bit hot for that kind of environmental responsibility?"

The voice was familiar, but my mind initially refused to place it with a face. It was too unbelievable to be real. I took a couple more steps, and then looked to my left and was rewarded as an infectious grin slowly appeared on Brandon's face.