Your Time To Shine

Part 7

Sara sat on her doorstep, nervously tapping her foot to a non-existent beat. Her phone vibrated, and she didn’t recognise the number- that was weird. “Hello?” She spoke into the receiver.

“It’s Luke. Ashley gave me your number, because I needed it.”

“Yeah, what’s up?” She asked.

“My cars broke...” His voice trailed off into the distance, muffled by some shouting, before he was heard again. “So, would it be alright if we used your car?”

“It’s a good thing that I passed my test yesterday!” She huffed, but she didn’t really mind, it would give her some time to get even more used to the road. Grabbing her car keys from her bag, she tugged her skinny jeans up one last time before getting into the car swiftly. She hated being in the car on her own, it just felt so unnatural. “Where d’ya live?”

“Um, 23 Sparrow Road.” That wasn’t actually that far from where Sara lived- maybe a ten minute drive or so.

“Right, I’ll be over in ten or fifteen minutes. See you.” Sara ended the call- she didn’t want to mess about. Pushing the sleeves of her chequered top so they were three-quarters, she put the key into the ignition, letting the car release a furious roar. Reversing slowly, anxiously out of the drive, she soon found herself on the road. She slipped a bit at first, mounted the curb twice, but eventually got her control over the car. She was the car’s owner. She controlled the car. She was stronger than the car. She wished that his car hadn’t broken, because then she wouldn’t have had to drive. She didn’t mind the driving, just the weather she didn’t like. Smoothing her hands over the wheel, she glanced up at the door numbers several times until she found number 23, with Luke gawping at the window, obviously waiting for her. When she tried to stop the car, it stalled on her, and she banged her head against the wheel- it wasn’t hard enough to hurt her though.

Luke shook his head at her softly. “Do you want me to drive?” He offered after she’d wound her window down on the driver’s side.

“Yes, please. I don’t like this weather.”

“I’m sorry, really, if I could, I would’ve used my car but the cars up at the garages.” Luke admitted, biting his lip by accident.

Sara waved her hands, shaking it off. “It’s fine, really,” She pushed open the door after she’d undone her seatbelt so that Luke could drive. “Get ready for the wildest ride of your life, this car is so unpredictable, really.”

Luke smiled at her, helping her out of the car. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.” Clambering in the driver’s seat, he waited for Sara to get into the front passengers seat and fastened her seatbelt, then he started the car up again.

“Anyway, you still haven’t told me where we’re going...”

Luke frowned playfully. “And I’m not going to, either, because it’s a surprise.” The car was soon on the road, driving smoothly- Luke was obviously a very good driver-probably because he went to a private driving school that costs allot. Sara hadn’t spent as much on her driving lessons because most of her money went into her dance tutoring. “Next time somebody bullies you, you must come and tell me, yes? I can’t do anything now, but next time...” His voice wandered off into another dimension. “You can trust me, you know?”

“I know,” Sara promised him- she could trust him- he was one of the very few people that she could actually trust. “Luke, can I tell you something, seriously?”

“Yes, go on.”

Sara looked down at her feet- she didn’t know how to start. “When we kissed, I wanted it... but it felt wrong yet so right, but then one minute you’re so jealous of other boys, like Ashley, the next, you act as if I’m not here. And it really hurt, what Leta shouted about me, how you thought I was stuck-up.”