Royal Pain

Chapter 3: The Troublesome Trio

My hand touches the wind as my whole armrests outside of the window to Celia's car. The bass shakes the whole car and I glance back at Blake who's all-out jamming to some song that is way too inappropriate to play through a neighborhood. Glancing at my purity ring on my finger I watch as it wiggles in the wind and straighten out my fingers in just the slightest and suddenly see my ring flies straight off my finger and out the window.
"No!" I scream at the top of my lungs, "My purity ring just flew out the window!"

"Ok, but was he really worth it?" Blake questions from the back while Celia turns down the music.
"Not like that! My ring flew out of the window!" I scream as Celia swerves off the road before slamming on her breaks.
"Kill us today why don't you?" Blake comments about Celia's reckless driving. Throwing my door open I march back to the tree that I remember passing just as it fell off my finger.

"Can you guys help me find it?" I ask while holding my hair back and searching through the colorless rocks.
"Yeah sure ask the blind guy to find a ring on the side of the road," Blake grumbles.
"Blake get off your man period and off the road before someone kills you!" Celia scolds and Blake moves onto the sidewalk.
"That was from my dad," I mutter before Celia glances sympathetically at me.

Suddenly a loud engine roars from down the street and a familiar Arrinera Hussarya zooms around a curve before heading down the road we're parked in.
"Well look who the cat dragged in," Blake mutters as he no doubt hears the car's obnoxious roars.
"That's one hell of a rich cat," Celia grumbles in annoyance as the car begins to slow.

"Wow Harper two days in a row that I've found you on the side of the road, need a ride again?" Wyatt grins through his rolled down window and I glance at Gabriel who's seated in the front with a very bored expression.
"Shouldn't you two be at soccer practice?" I question while trying not to look like an idiot standing on the side of a road.
"No we got a game at 6, we were just going to hang at Little Red's until it starts," Wyatt explains and I realize that they were headed to my mother's diner, the same place we're going of course.

"So why are you three on the side of the road again?" Wyatt questions and I huff while looking at the ground again before spotting something shiny on the ground.
"Aha!" I cheer while picking up the tiny silver band with the smallest diamond on it, "This is why," I respond while waving it in the air.
"An engagement ring?" Wyatt quirks his head to the side in confusion.
"It's called a purity ring, something you really need," Celia comments before walking back to her car.
"Aw, that's so cute!" Wyatt gushes as he stares at the little ring.
"Well, I guess we'll see you soon cause we're headed to Little Red's as well," Blake comments as Eyes guides him into Celia's car and I follow.

"I have a better idea, there's a café downtown―" Blake starts right as we're all in the car. Blake and Wyatt have always been friends, however, Celia and I don't enjoy his company all that much.
"Oh for goodness sake Little Red's isn't that small we can sit on the other side if we want, plus they got a head start so we can be sure to sit somewhere else," Celia comments but I know she's just doing it because she knows I'll get free food there and right now I'm really short on money.
"We're heading towards your misery, not mine," Blake mutters while patting Eyes on the head.

The ride to Little Red's is short and right as we pull into the small parking lot I recognize at least five cars from school. Despite Little Red's being, well little, it turned into St. Apollos High School's hang out a while back. This gives me a pretty good status due to the fact that my mom runs the place.

"Harper!" a voice shouts the second I walk in and my head pops up to see my mother. I smile at her as she trots towards me in her serving outfit. Her short red hair is pulled back in a large puffy bun, flour is smeared on the side her face, and her green eyes seem brighter than normal.
"How was school today?" she pulls me into a tight hug before going onto Celia and Blake.
"It was good, we skipped 6th period though," I shrug casually and my mom blinks at me for a moment.
"Oh, make sure you ask your teacher what you missed," she nods slowly as if convincing herself that's fine.
"I will," I mumble.