The Renegades

Chapter 9

Wesley comes out of the locker room last. The scouts who came to see Hunter decided to talk to him as well. Looks like he really is getting out of Ruby, even if it is just for four years.

Sabina is sitting on the concrete block at the front of the empty parking spot next to Wesley's beat up old truck when he gets there. She's looking up at the sky instead of down at her phone. It really does make her look like a freak, but she doesn't care. He likes it, too.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," he says, tossing his bag in the truck bed and unlocking the truck.

She stands up, suddenly nervous again now that she's in his presence. The sky had relaxed her and made her almost forget that she was waiting to go hang out with Wesley Parker. Now he's here, so she can't really forget. He slides into the driver's seat and waits for her to get into the passenger seat. He regrets not opening the door for her. She's the kind of girl he should be a gentleman for. He's never been very good at being a gentleman. She gets in the passenger seat, and he starts driving away from Ruby High.

The drive is pretty much silent. The only noises are those of the truck itself and of the radio humming country music quietly. Sabina still doesn't know where they're going, and her heart's beating way too fast for her to build up the courage to ask.

They pull into the parking lot of Fatso's Foods, that cliché small town diner with greasy food that every teenager hangs out at. She's a little disappointed that his surprise is just burgers and milkshakes, but instead of parking in the front of the restaurant, Wesley drives around to the back. Sabina's never been back there. Wesley knows only a few people ever actually have. He parks next the dumpster and gets out of the truck. Sabina watches him from the passenger seat as he climbs into the truck bed and onto the lid of the dumpster. Again, he's kicking himself for the lack of romanticism. Dumpsters definitely aren't the move. He doubts a dumpster has ever appeared in a romance movie or even a decent rom-com.

It finally clicks that Sabina's supposed to follow him. She jumps out of the truck, walks around to the back, and climbs into the bed. Wesley reaches out his hand to help her onto the dumpster. She's much shorter than him, so it's harder for her to get up there.

"See that ladder?" he asks. She nods. "Climb up it. Go to the left at the top."

She does as he says, and she gets off the ladder and onto a small stretch of the roof of Fatso's that juts out and has two lawn chairs on it. Wesley pops up behind her and turns her so she's facing the direction the chairs face. It's just open land. No buildings. No lights. No cars. No people. Just grass and trees and sky. She thinks it's beautiful. He knew she would.

"Woah," she says. There's nothing particularly special about the land other than its openness, but that's what she likes about it. That it's not spectacular but it's beautiful in its potential to be anything.

Wesley sits down in one of the chairs, and Sabina sits in the other.

"So this is your surprise?" she asks.

He nods. "Welcome to my favorite spot in all of Ruby."

"How'd you find it?"

He laughs and runs his fingers through his hair nervously. "The truth?" She nods her head. "Sophomore year I was making out with Valerie Bentley back here and a couple guys smoking weed started yelling at us from up here."

Sabina laughs. "Nice."

"You said you wanted the truth, so that's what you got."

They fall back into silence. It's not the type of silence that has them squirming in their chairs uncomfortably trying to think of some way to break the silence. It's the type of silence that makes them feel at home.