Proving Webster Wrong

Chapter Eight -- Drew

Chapter Eight

Drew

Lauren insisted that she ride home with me after church and not with Mom and Dad. She couldn’t wait to pounce, to start in with all the questions she had. I tried to tell her no, to get a little bit more time to myself before I had to start answering to everyone, but she already had the parents on her side, just like always.

"So, where was Crystal today? You obviously didn't go pick her up like you told Mom and Dad." She was bouncing up and down in the seat, questions spilling out before I could even start the car. Were all fourteen year old girls this bouncy? I tried to think back to when I was that age but I couldn't say for sure. You never notice these things with people when they're the same age as you, only when your looking down at the younger ones.

"She just couldn't come today." The truck took longer than normal to start. It all felt like a trap.

"Crystal always comes, even when she's sick. And I know you didn't even go to her house." I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and ask her what she knew. To ask why she always had to have her nose in my business.

The engine finally turned over but I just sat there. My left hand pulled my watch from my right wrist. My fingers stumbled as they played with the clasp. And then tangling the band around my fingers.

"You're playing with your watch. I must be right about something."

The parking lot was nearly empty. Even Mom and Dad and the lock up people had left. It was just us and the old women still standing around to gossip. Sometimes I thought the old women were worse than teenage girls.

I snapped my watch back onto my wrist and rested my head against the steering wheel. "What all did you tell Mom and Dad?" I asked, my lips brushing against the center of the wheel where the horn was.

"I haven't told them anything. Come one, we're suppose to trust each other with this kind of stuff." She gave me a smile that could only be described as sweet with a hidden agenda. She's a little sister, I guess she's always suppose to have her own hidden agenda.

I sit up and fix my seat belt. Without a word I put the car in drive and start to leave.

"What was that with Chloe? The two of you haven't talked in forever. Does it have to do with Crystal?" She leaned closer to me, practically laying in the seat with her seat belt stretched all the way. Her long dark hair falls around her face in a curtain, held back by the simple white band she has pushed onto the top of her head. She bats her eyelashes at me. "Or why Crystal isn't here?"

I press my hand into her shoulder and force her to sit back up. I look straight ahead but then something hits me. "When did you start wearing make-up?" It wasn't just a little make-up, there was a lot, like how much girls in my class would wear.

"When you were with Crystal." She crossed her arms and sat back, pressing herself as far against the seat as she could.

I try not to think about what she said but it still leaves a mark. Four years of spending all my time on Crystal. I couldn't remember the last time I ate after church with my family, at least without Crystal my side. Or the last time Lauren came to me to spill all her secrets like she did when we were younger.

I don't know what to say.

"So are you going to tell me?" She's looking back at me, her brown eyes burning into the side of my face.

"Why are you so obsessed with Crystal? Last time I checked I thought you hated her." I turn onto a side road short cut. No need to be in this car any longer than I have to.